# Is Blazing Saddles the funniest movie ever made? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254 "2005-08-02T03:23:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bomzaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Bomzaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bomzaway)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/61 "2005-08-02T17:45:18Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > Your the second one to mention **Something About Mary**. My wife decided that we are both immune to Ben Stiller’s humor. He is never funny to either of us.\* I certainly understand why people think Stiller is funny, but like you, it’s not all that funny to me. He plays pretty heavy on the outrageously embarrassing bit, but I find that kind of humor to be hard to watch. I liked him better in Zoolander, which in itself was not that great of a film. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/62 "2005-08-02T17:54:47Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > The less said about Mel Brooks films from _Spaceballs_ onward, the better Bupkis. _Spaceballs_ and _Robin Hood: Men In Tights_ are still a riot. A lot of Brooks humor _is_ shock value, to be sure, but absurdity enters into it as well. That’s why _Young Frankenstein_ remains so funny – you can’t get any more absurd than Marty Feldman. Spaceballs and Robin Hood also have a lot of absurdist humor and go lightly on the offensive jokes. Admittedly, they’re heavy on pop culture references, which can date them and make them less funny to newer generations. Some Brooks movies are indeed heavy with the offense, so much so that they become worthless when they’re edited for TV. _History of the World_ is the victim I’m most familiar with; just about every single joke in there is offensive, rude, or crude, and the TV-safe result is only mildly amusing. But even if a lot of it is shock value, there’s pure gems in there: “Give to Oedipus! Give to Oedipus! …Hey, Josephus!” “Hey, motherfucker!” And no matter how many times I see it, no matter how often I _visualize_ it, I always crack up at: Vespa: “_I_ am Princess Vespa, daughter of Roland, king of Druidia!” Lonestar: “…That’s all we needed. A Druish princess.” Mog [turning to mug at the camera]: “Funny. She doesn’t look Druish.” I know it’s coming, I can play the scene over and over in my head, and it never loses its hilarity. It’s possible I simply have a very low threshold for humor, but most of Brooks’ stuff passes it easily. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/63 "2005-08-02T17:55:43Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > …This Is Spinal Tap… > [@lhovis73](#): > > …Funniest movie ever: tie between Spinal Tap… > [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > …of Spinal Tap and Christopher Guess’ similiar “mockumentaries”… > [@Duke of Rat](#): > > …Spinal Tap had the same effect… Just wanna take a second to pay homage to Spinal Tap’s precursor, the SNL / MPFC’s: [The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077147/) ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/64 "2005-08-02T17:56:28Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > This might be absolute bollocks, but someone once told me that the sound effects from the eating-beans-around-the-camp-fire sceme were cut from the version shown somewhere in Scandanavia (you can show explicit sex to a 12-year old but not the sound of farts?). My poor old mum couldn’t watch that bit without killing herself laughing. When it’s shown on network TV in the states they cover the fart noises with horses whinnying. Who knew farts went against the ratings codes? ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/65 "2005-08-02T18:50:28Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I got more laughs out of _Young Frankenstein_ but bigger laughs from _Blazing Saddles._ An excellent description. All the race stuff in Blazing Saddles is still outrageously funny – even moreseo today, actually, because there’s no way such a film could have gotten made any time in the last 10 years – and the cast is uniformly excellent (although that’s twue of Young Frankenstien as well). But there are long stretches of Blazing Saddles with rather few laughs. On the other hand, it’s also got one of the top five funniest bits of all time “Do you realize that man is a ni-- Sorry, wrong guy. Do you realize that man is a ni–?” For me, that’s one of those lines that you’re so familiar with that as it’s coming up you have to struggle to keep from laughing too soon and stepping on it. –Cliffy P.S. I agree that Love & Death is brilliant. “Tell Boris this. After many trials und tribulations I have found that the best thing…” “Yes? Yes?” “is blonde, twelve-year-old girls. Two of them were never possible.” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/66 "2005-08-02T19:32:37Z")
Guess I’ve got some movies to see. “The Big Lebowski” and “Love and Death” better not suck as much as “The Producers”, though. I’m warning you. {shakes finger at people recommending movies} I don’t know if I’d list it as funniest movie ever, but Peter Sellers’ “The Party” is definitely worth a watch if you liked the other movies listed here. It’s dated and spotty, but it has laugh out loud moments with Peter Sellers doing what he did best. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/67 "2005-08-02T19:38:42Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > I don’t know if I’d list it as funniest movie ever, but Peter Sellers’ “The Party” is definitely worth a watch if you liked the other movies listed here. A classic! “Birdy Num-Num” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/68 "2005-08-02T19:39:15Z")
_My Favorite Year_ deserves a mention, if only because Mark Linn-Baker was funnier in any five minutes of this film then the entire run of _Perfect Strangers_. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/69 "2005-08-02T19:42:43Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > _My Favorite Year_ deserves a mention, if only because Mark Linn-Baker was funnier in any five minutes of this film then the entire run of _Perfect Strangers_. One of my all time favorite movies but not a laugh riot like BS ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/70 "2005-08-02T19:55:38Z")
Well, if it’s riots you want, I nominate _Bad Santa_. The boxing scene never fails to kill me. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/71 "2005-08-02T20:00:39Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Guess I’ve got some movies to see. “The Big Lebowski” and “Love and Death” better not suck as much as “The Producers”, though. I’m warning you. {shakes finger at people recommending movies} > > I don’t know if I’d list it as funniest movie ever, but Peter Sellers’ “The Party” is definitely worth a watch if you liked the other movies listed here. It’s dated and spotty, but it has laugh out loud moments with Peter Sellers doing what he did best. Love and Death is very funny, but far more cerebral than any Mel Brooks film. I own Big Lebowski and have watched it at least 6 times. I think I’ve laughed maybe 6 times at it. It’s just not that funny, IMO. O Brother was a far funnier Coen Bros. film. “Hrmp! My hair!” ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/72 "2005-08-02T21:16:08Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I don’t think BS is really that funny a movie on the whole, but ‘Nobody move, or the nigger gets it’ is a priceless scene. “Oh, that poor man!” The first time I saw this scene I laughed so hard I almost fell on the floor of the movie theater. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder at any one scene in a movie. And don’t forget Lili von Shtupp’s song: “They’re always coming and going, and going and coming, and always too soon.” 😃 Yup, Blazing Saddles is one of my favorites. But the ending does kinda make it all wonky. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/73 "2005-08-02T21:36:10Z")
The post-modern surreal absurdity of the ending of Blazing Saddles is what makes all the anachronisms, homages and referential humor up until then _work._ It goes on a tangent and fearlessly follows it to its own conclusion. I have never seen another movie like it just dive off into the weird (the fistfight spilling over into the “real world” movie lot) and then calmly reign its way back again (with Bart and the Waco Kid going in the theater to watch the end of their own movie) and gently glide back into the weird (as the movie Bat and Waco drive off into the sunset in a Hollywood limo.) Not nearly enough praise has been given to Harvey Korman’s brilliant exceution of Hedley Lamarr as one of the funniest, most bombastic, scheming, conniving, horny and sexually obsessive late 19th century movie villains ever. I expect decent minded Dopers who follow this post in this thread to rectify this immediately by nominating him for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. “Now go do… that voodoo… that you do… so…well!” ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/74 "2005-08-02T21:45:31Z")
_Blazing Saddles_ is definitely in my top 5, along with _Young Frankenstein_. Any poster who has posted that _BS_ is not funny has been placed on my “pay no mind” list. Nothing you ever say in any post about any subject can be taken seriously. Your worldview is seriously skewed and you cannot be relied upon to make a witty or insightful statement to save your life.[sup]1[/sup] If forced to round out my top 5, I’d have to say _Dr. Strangelove_, _The Pink Panther_, and _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_, with an honorable mention to _A Fish Called Wanda_. [sup]1[/sup]If you take this statement seriously, I really will put you on my “pay no mind” list ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/75 "2005-08-02T22:08:39Z")
Listen, Bart… > [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > The problem with this is that once the shock value wears off, the film is progressively less amusing. “Springtime For Hitler” was audacious when _The Producers_ was first released, but now that the joke is well-known and anticipated, and the younger generations are removed from the horror by time, moral relativism, and 1960’s sitcoms, it’s just not that gasp inducing. Around 1999, I was the only one of my friends who had seen _The Producers_ (which I also put above _BS_), so I gathered the rest of them together and played it for them. They were QUITE surprised by that great shot that reveals the dancers in swastika formation, which I think is the best joke in the whole movie. That may be less surprising now, because the musical has become a big hit and that just makes Nazi humor that much more common. Still, great movie, and I agree with many of your other points. My top five… yiy. _Duck Soup_ (#1), _A Night at the Opera_ (non-musical parts), _A Fish Called Wanda_, _The Big Lebowski_, and… hmm. _YF_/_Producers_? Put me down in the ‘never liked _Something About Mary_’ camp. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/76 "2005-08-02T22:16:17Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > “Why so much raping?” It’s “You said ‘rape’ twice.” ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/77 "2005-08-03T02:05:46Z")
People, people… can’t we all get along? With the miracle of DVD technology we have room for all these movies! Besides, some styles of funny just can’t be compared to others. I like my movies to have quotes that make me giggle both in and out of context. Blazing Saddles beats Young Frankenstein on quotability and post movie giggles. Woody Allen style humor has never amused me. Something about Mary was a horror movie wasn’t it? I know I cringe whenever anyone mentions playing it. Holy Grail was slightly funnier in the middle than Life of Brian, but of course Brian had much funnier ending. Both tie as reigning champions of Quote movies. Airplane stands alone on the top of the hill in it’s underwear, daring us to kock it ff the hill of funny. Pink Panther is funny, but I just don’t put it at the of my list. Too much action and intrigue interfering with the humor. And no list of funny movies would be complete without The Jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Baggins111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@Baggins111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggins111)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/78 "2005-08-03T02:15:44Z")
I gotta say \*\*Young Frankenstein \*\* is my favorite over **BS**. “Vootschteps! Vootschteps! Vootschteps!” (gotta do the little stompy dance) ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/79 "2005-08-03T02:25:50Z")
Slim Pickens is my favorite in BS. “What in the wide, wide-world of sports is going on here?” “Someone go back and get us a shitload of dimes”. 😃😃😃 ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254/80 "2005-08-03T03:03:29Z")
Blazing Saddles has always been my number one, followed by **Airplane** and **It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World**. Can’t believe no one mentioned airplane. Sheesh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-blazing-saddles-the-funniest-movie-ever-made/315254.md?page=5)