Blazing Saddles
Legendary drollery director Mel Brooks says his authoritative Western spoofBlazing Saddleswould never get made today because of the“stupidly politically correct”climate of today ’s society . Brooks , of course , is the godfather of godless motion picture comedy , lampooning everything from Nazis in two versions ofThe Producersand a movie monster caption inYoung Frankenstein , to history itself inHistory of The World Part 1andStar WarswithSpaceballs .
But perhaps none of his films cut to the comic bone and frazzle as many tender cheek than his 1974 funniness masterpieceBlazing Saddles , where a black sheriff ( Cleavon Little ) fends off racism in modest Western townspeople with the avail of a recovering alcoholic gunfighter ( Gene Wilder ) . Also starring Harvey Korman , Madeline Kahn , Slim Pickens and Alex Karras ( " Mongo only cat’s-paw in game of life,“he excellently deadpanned ) , the biting caustic remark boldly tread over the line with its shocking dialogue , which , among other thing , includes several racial slurs point at Little ’s graphic symbol .
In a new audience withBBC Radio 4(viaVariety ) , Brooks was asked which of his films could be made today . Brooks says"maybe a few"includingYoung Frankenstein , but he resolutely stopped short ofBlazing Saddles . He said :
" Never Blazing Saddles , because we have become stupidly politically right , which is the death of comedy . It ’s okay not to offend feelings of various tribes and groups . However , it ’s not good for funniness . clowning has to walk a thin bloodline , take risks . Comedy is the lecherous little brownie whisper into the king ’s ear , always telling the truth about human behavior . ”
While Brooks made it clear in the interview that he ’s feed up with the"PC culture,“the Jewish film producer and theatrical manufacturer ofThe Producers(whose titular character shockingly shop the musicalSpringtime for Hitler ) enjoin there are lines that he but wo n’t traverse . He says :
“ I personally would never impact gas chambers or the death of baby or Jews at the hands of the Nazis . Everything else is okay . ”
prepare for the opening in three week of the phase reading ofYoung Frankensteinon London ’s West End , Brooks seems to be content with adapting his moving picture for the theater crowd . Brooks understandably find success on stage before , with the musical edition of 1967’sThe Producersre - craft for Broadway in 2001 ( only for the musical to be conform into a raw film in 2005 with its Broadway stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick ) , so his work is as relevant today as it ever has been .
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Source : BBC Radio 4(viaVariety )
