# Dopers of Color: Was "Blazing Saddles" offensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 26, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393 "2003-03-26T23:24:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kewk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ab992/32.png) [@Kewk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kewk)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/61 "2003-03-29T17:45:04Z")
Blazing Saddles is still one of, if not the, funniest movies ever. I’m white and I don’t get offended at _all_ the demeaning white jokes that I hear when im flipping through channels and happen to see a comedy show on BET. It’s comedy… right? ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/62 "2003-03-29T20:04:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MeanJoe \* > **The entire scene with Mel Brooks and the paddle-ball’s…** Ever since a child I thought I was a little retarded because I couldn’t do the paddle-ball–just like the Gov. ---
**Author:** ![stofsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@stofsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stofsky)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/63 "2003-03-29T20:15:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > \*\*Oh God! That old lady always cracks me up. “Stewardess? I speak jive. Just hang loose, blood. She’s gonna catch you up on the med side.” \*\* Spend a little time on TVLand, young’un. That’s Barbara Billingsley, best known as June Cleaver from “Leave it to Beaver.” She was also the voice of “Nanny” on “Muppet Babies.” ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/64 "2003-03-29T21:47:28Z")
Yeesh, was Barbara Billingsley sufficiently aged enough when she did Airplane!" to be called “an old lady?” I think she’s younger than my mom! I feel so very ancient now. Someone hand me my cane? Um, anyway, “Blazing Saddles” isn’t the least bit offensive, and normally merits quarterly viewings in our household. I know people who find it unfunny, but I don’t know of anyone who finds it offensive because of the race-based humor. ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/65 "2003-03-30T03:56:35Z")
Slight hijack, but this has been bothering me for many years, and reading the thread brought it back. Could someone clear up whether the following was ever a part of the movie, or have I been hallucinating it? After the candy-gram scene (which _doesn’t_ do in Mongo), Sherrif Bart (dressed as a carnival barker) is giving a spiel next to a deep diving suit and a well. He tells Mongo that on that spot, hundreds of years ago, a galleon sank filled with Spanish dubloons. Mongo: Spanish Balloons? Mongo like spanish balloons! Then Mongo goes down in the suit, Bart takes a break from working the air pump, Mongo passes out from asphyxiation. Cut to him chained up in the jail. I have the DVD, but it’s not in the movie, no deleted scenes included, and no mention during the commentary. So, has anyone else ever seen this, maybe included in TV broadcasts that cut the bean scene? A google search on “blazing saddles” and “spanish balloons” comes up with just three links (a personal least on a serious search), referring to Mongo’s balloon line, but nothing about the movie itself. And oddly, I suddenly have a hankering for schnitzengruben with a Teutonic Titwillow. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/66 "2003-03-30T05:27:41Z")
**sciguy** , I do have vague diving bell memories. But that’s all I can say… ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/67 "2003-03-30T05:35:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sciguy \* > \*\*And oddly, I suddenly have a hankering for schnitzengruben with a Teutonic Titwillow. \*\* Another question: was she a Marlene Dietrich impression? The awful singing voice. . . the costumes. . . it just made me wonder. ---
**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/68 "2003-03-30T06:36:14Z")
No, the movie’s not offensive to me. It’s downright hilarious. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/69 "2003-03-30T06:41:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > \*\*Another question: was she a Marlene Dietrich impression? The awful singing voice. . . the costumes. . . it just made me wonder. \*\* You got it! Specifically, she was parodying Dietrich’s role in _Destry Rides Again_. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/70 "2003-03-30T07:29:02Z")
**sciguy** , have a peek [here](http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0071230). One of the versions of the film released for commercial television had a few extra scenes, one of which was indeed the “Diving For Dubloons” bit. I was a little taken aback the first time I saw it, m’self. I kept wondering how I’d seen the movie twenty or thirty times over the years, and **never** caught that scene before. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/71 "2003-03-30T16:15:32Z")
“Work work work work work…Hello boys, we missed you.” ---
**Author:** ![Witch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Witch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Witch)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/72 "2003-03-30T18:46:08Z")
“…they quote you Byron and Shelley and jump on your belly… and bust your balloons…” My dad introduced me to that movie when it first came out (white Irish girl). My dad is _very_ cool. I’ve probably seen it 30 times. Love, love LOVE it. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/73 "2003-03-31T01:23:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Mel Brooks: THAT’S HEDLY. HEDLY LAMARR. NOT HEDY !!! > > Harvey Korman: What are you worried about, she won’t be born for 80 ( sic) years- you can sue HER !!! > [@](#): > > What in the Wide, Wide world of sports is going on here??? > [@](#): > > Coming and going, and going and coming ( and always too soon- yanno what I mean, right girls??? ) I love that flick. Now I must say I am a bit dissappointed here. We seem to have the creme de la creme of Mel Brooks fans in this thread, and nobody’s naming his first amazingly hilarious creation- **The Twelve Chairs**. For those who are not initates, I urge you all to go out and find it on the Internet and buy it and own it and memorize it. I dare not hijack so perfect a thread as this with quotes from THAT classic ( inner turmoil !:p) , so I will leave it at that. Go. Find. Enjoy. Weep with laughter. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393/74 "2003-03-31T03:39:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by delphica \* > There is possibly no better way to show your age than to break out with “I was born a poor black child” when asked to say a few words about yourself, and then suffer as teenagers look at you (a white person) in confused discomfort. I speak, sadly, from personal experience. > > What ever happened to the classics, people? \*\* I’m a teenager and I know what you’re talking about! I happen to think that Steve Martin is hilarious. I sometimes wish I was twenty years older just so I could reminisce with my parents about the pre-Father of the Bride Steve Martin. Ho-hum. Sarah [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-of-color-was-blazing-saddles-offensive/164393.md?page=3)