Film of the Week: Blazing Saddles

Gene Wilder has made us laugh for years. Whilst nearly every film he has starred in made a huge impact on the viewing audience as a whole, the one that stands out the most for everyone is “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. It’s the perfect family entertainment film that anyone can watch and enjoy. Willy Wonka is a mysterious person and even though we see every part of his factory, we really don’t get to know everything about the owner straight away. We’re fed small snippets every now and again to keep us interested. Gene’s portrayal of the character couldn’t have been copied. With a famous story such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, written by Road Dahl, it’s guaranteed to have multiple adaptations, and so you can see why they wanted to modernise the film some years later. Johnny Depp’s talent of portraying weird, incredible characters, he didn’t capture the true essence of Willy Wonka’s persona as much as Gene did, which is why I still believe, as do so many other people, that Gene Wilder’s version is the superior and will remain so. It is a hard performance to beat. Whether it will be remains to be seen.

But as you can see by the title, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is not the main focus of this article. I could have talked hours upon hours of why I enjoy the incredibly intricate details that went into the making of that film, but I thought I would instead focus on something that’s equally as famous. The first time I watched this film, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I’ve heard about this, of course, but I was too young to watch it due to its content. I knew this much: It’s a comedy film based in the old-west. And that’s it.

This wasn’t just a typical comedy film. When I was younger, the only other classic comedy films were Airplane and The Naked Gun Trilogy. In those films, all the characters take themselves seriously in a world that isn’t at all serious, and that made sense to me. Whenever a ridiculous situation came up, or one of them made a huge, comical mistake, they dealt with it seriously whilst reacting in the correct way – confused, trying to bring order to what is clearly disorganised, and then moves on having just accepted that it happened. With Blazing Saddles, it took some getting used to when I saw the characters not taking themselves at all seriously in a world that is serious. It was a complete 180 on what I was used to, and although I did have to get used to it, it didn’t take me long and soon I was laughing hysterically right until the very end.

Gene Wilder plays Jim, who is a recovering alcoholic and is the fastest shooter in town. Jim teams up with the main character, Sheriff Bart, who is played by Cleavon Little, to win over the townspeople of Frontier Town in which everyone has the same surname, Johnson. Those that disapprove of the new sheriff attempts to do whatever they can to get rid of him, however, Bart always manages to outsmart them and eventually he does get them on his side to fend off those that are trying to destroy the town in order to finish building the new railroad.

As the films continues, it gradually and increasingly becomes sillier, yet the world is still serious and the characters are still not at all. However, it’s only when the war between the townspeople and the railroad workers begin does it ramp the entire film to the next level. It completely shatters the fourth wall as the fight spills over onto the next film set. This was the moment when I was confused again, but in a good way. It was difficult for me to grasp at first, because I wondered if the characters really did take themselves seriously all along, which is why they are fighting outside the film set, or the nature of the film has just been ramped up to eleven with everyone still not taking themselves seriously. I came to the conclusion that I didn’t need to come to any real conclusion. The film introduces the characters and their personality, and the world they live in, and then proceeds to ultimately throw that all away because it’s a very funny film. I was more laughing out of surprise that all of that happened more out of hysterical at this point.

The entire fight scene immediately became my all-time favourite fourth wall break in film, and remains as such to this day – even after watching such films as Spaceballs. But, there is a moment that I must single out during the entire fourth wall breaking fight, and that’s when the two main characters actually go into the cinema to watch the ending of the film that they are in – and then it jumps back to Sheriff Bart saying goodbye to the townspeople, as if all that previously happened didn’t happen at all. It was an interesting moment when I sat there thinking about the main characters sitting in the cinema watching the ending to the film that they are in with me. Every single time after the epic fight, that thought always pops up and changes the very nature of the film itself, giving it so many layers whilst only focusing on the one. After the film has finished and the credits start to roll and you’re left there thinking “what on Earth had just happened”, yet somehow completely understand every single scene at the same time, they proceed to jump into two modern cars and drive off into the distance, leaving you thinking some more.

Gene Wilder’s performance throughout kept me engaged. His character became just as essential to the plot as Sheriff Bart, and that gradual development from beginning to end wasn’t done quickly and therefore ruined the whole thing, but instead done so subtly that you almost don’t notice it, but when it comes to showcasing Gene’s character’s importance to the story, it just feels all natural not as if he shouldn’t be there instead, and no other actor could have performed anything close to that. Gene was perfect for that role.

Gene Wilder will be missed by me and countless others. His films will remain in my own personal hall of fame, and they will impact on so many others who’ve yet to come. Gene’s CV of films extends through all ages, and so they can enjoy his talent and personality as a child, as a teenager, and as an adult. Not many people are capable of successfully adapting themselves to multiple demographics as Gene was.

RIP Gene Wilder

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)