The House that Farts Built

Please excuse the title. For this month's classic movie review, I am going to break a little from the norm. The movie in question broke so many barriers I don't know where to start, and you'll have to forgive me, Mom, because I am going to talk about farts. That's right, a movie who's center attraction was the loudest, most outrageous, most hilarious fart scene in film history. I am of course talking about one of the funniest comedies of all time: Blazing Saddles. Mel Brooks' work of genius was and is to this day, one of the most un-P.C. movies ever made. You couldn't make a film like this today, you just couldn't, not without complete backlash of all of society's self-picked watchdogs. Racism is rampant, rape is mentioned as a fun pastime, govenrment officials are complete kooks or just plain evil, and religion is poked fun at. It even has a scene with gay dancers dancing "The French Mistake". All this and more resides in a movie from 1974. If something outrageous in a comedy made you laugh and think "That's never been done before", think again, because Blazing Saddles probably did it. If you didn't see it in this movie, it was most likely written for the film but not allowed to stay in. Not only did Mel Brooks write for it, but even the great stand-up comedian Richard Pryor wrote for it, along with three other writers, plus input from the actors themselves.

Blazing Saddles did many things that even today's comedies might not do. The "N" word is said so many times that it would rival a rap song... make that a rap album. A lot of racial slurs made it into this movie. The thing is, the people using the "N" word are usually inbred white trash. The small western town of Rock Ridge, in danger of being destroyed by the evil, moneyhungry railroad builders, is seemingly full of kinfolk. Every member of the town hall has the same last name: Johnson. Hey Carl, are any of them related to you? ;) The people in charge of overseeing the railroad construction are all dumb Cowboys. One of the head cowboys commands his troops to "Dock that Chink a day's pay for nappin' on the job", when one of the few Chinese workers collapses from heat exhaustion. Toward the end of the film, as the railroad workers request some land to call their own in exchange for helping Rock Ridge fight its enemies, one of the leaders of Rock Ridge agrees to give land to some of them, "but we don't want the Irish!", but eventually gives in and agrees to accept everybody. Even Mel Brooks himself gets in on the jokes and plays a small part as the chief of the Sioux indians, only he speaks Yiddish. Although many of today's comedies are much more edgy and are aiming to push the envelope of political correctness and good taste, this movie outdoes them in droves, and it is over 30 years old! Yet, it still manages to be funny and not offensive. Most of today's over-the-top comedies can't succeed in being funny, but succeed completely in being offensive. This film never has to coax a laugh out of you by saying "Relax, it's just a joke! Don't be offended! It's just a movie." Blazing Saddles' raunchiness is overshadowed by its humor.

And speaking of which, it certainly is a laugh factory. Back to the centerpiece of this comedy: the fart scene. It remains to this day the funniest moment in film. Not before, not after, not ever, have I laughed more in my entire life than the first time I saw it. Nothing but a rabble of bandit Cowboys sitting around the campfire eating beans, LOTS OF BEANS, and letting nature take its full course, so to speak. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. I must have lost conciousness for a short moment. I can say with full conviction that I have never laughed harder. I am sorry that many of you are put off by bodily humor. The sound of a fart in all its glory doesn't make you giddy. I feel for you. I am sorry that something so simple, so natural, so necessary, doesn't make you keel over red faced and breathless, holding your sides. The beauty of it was the overtly loud presentation. Each one was louder than the other, and some were so rambunctiously loud and potent that they only could be called "superhuman". "How 'bout some more beans, Mr. Taggart?" "I'd say you've had enough!"

Another barrier tackled is the concurrence of the storybook west and the real world of the movie studios. As Rock Ridge's inhabitants and the railroad workers duke it out with the bandit Cowboys, the fight carries over into other sets on the Warner Brothers lot, into the studio commissary, and out the front gate, reminiscent of the Benny Hill show when all the actors and pretty ladies would chase eachother around in hyperspeed. It gets your blood pumping and makes you want to get in on all the fun! The head Cowboy(Slim Pickens) goes as far as to say he's working for Mel Brooks. Hedley Lamarr(Harvey Korman), the film's heavy, actually enters the famous Mann's Chinese theater, trying to pass himself off as a student to get a discount, orders a pack of raisinets, and watches the film he is currently starring in, only to learn that he is being followed by Sheriff Bart. The film is capped with our hero, Sheriff Bart(Cleavon Little), and his sidekick, the Waco Kid(Gene Wilder), riding off into the desert sunset in a stretched limo. Classic.

Now, about the title of this post. I bought the 30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD of Blazing Saddles just the other day. Towards the end of the behind-the-scenes featurette, the producer, Michael Hertzberg, mentions that when people ask him about his success, he always tells them that he is living in the house that farts built. And a fine house it is, sir. A fine house indeed.