# "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499 "2020-03-14T21:18:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/1 "2020-03-14T21:18:45Z")
How did this become so popular? Was it “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”, or was it all the movies that came after that referenced it, usually through parody? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/2 "2020-03-14T21:38:15Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/3 "2020-03-14T21:42:25Z")
I first heard it on WKRP and thought it was funny. I had no idea it was a parody. Such is my life though. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/4 "2020-03-14T21:46:27Z")
I think the phrase took off after it was used in [Blazing Saddles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lj056ao6GE) in 1974. [Google Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stinking+badges&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cstinking%20badges%3B%2Cc0) bears this out, with few instances between 1948 (when _Treasure of the Sierra Madre_ came out) and that date. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/5 "2020-03-14T22:46:06Z")
Fun fact: in _Sierra Madre_, it’s actually [“We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqomZQMZQCQ) ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/6 "2020-03-14T23:01:22Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I think the phrase took off after it was used in [Blazing Saddles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lj056ao6GE) in 1974. [Google Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stinking+badges&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cstinking%20badges%3B%2Cc0) bears this out, with few instances between 1948 (when _Treasure of the Sierra Madre_ came out) and that date. I LOVE that site… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/7 "2020-03-14T23:03:27Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Fun fact: > > in _Sierra Madre_, it’s actually [“We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqomZQMZQCQ) I knew that, which is a tiny reason why I wanted to know what influenced it. I just couldn’t imagine people saying it in the late 40s after the movie was released. I remember it being said in “Blazing Saddles”, but I know I’ve heard it many times. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/8 "2020-03-15T00:13:42Z")
I first heard it in _Blazing Saddles_, and somehow, pre internet, searched down the original source and eventually rented the VHS tape of _Sierra Madre_. I remember being all excited when the iconic scene played. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/9 "2020-03-15T00:31:03Z")
I first heard it in **Brother From Another Planet**. Had never heard the phrase before, but most of the audience had. It was a premiere at a film festival, so not surprising that it was so well known (except by me!). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/10 "2020-03-15T00:49:09Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I think the phrase took off after it was used in [Blazing Saddles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lj056ao6GE) in 1974. I saw _Blazing Saddles_ in the theater when it first came out, and recall being pleased at myself for catching the reference, which also suggests it wasn’t widespread before that. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges/849499/11 "2020-03-15T01:31:27Z")
Did someone say badgers? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gx6TBrfCW54/maxresdefault.jpg "We Don't Need No Stinking Badgers!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx6TBrfCW54)