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?
Ever since a child I thought I was a little retarded because I couldn’t do the paddle-ball–just like the Gov.
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.”
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.
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.
sciguy, I do have vague diving bell memories. But that’s all I can say…
Another question: was she a Marlene Dietrich impression? The awful singing voice. . . the costumes. . . it just made me wonder.
No, the movie’s not offensive to me. It’s downright hilarious. 
You got it! Specifically, she was parodying Dietrich’s role in Destry Rides Again.
sciguy, have a peek here.
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.
“Work work work work work…Hello boys, we missed you.”
“…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.
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
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