I was seeing double. I was watching Denzel Washington, as he introduced himself to the Western townspeople he is about to save — but all the while, I was waiting for them to recoil, saying something like, “The new sheriff — he’s a N……!”
In point of fact, I was watching the new “Magnificent Seven,” just out in movie theaters — but in my head, for most of the movie, I was really seeing and hearing “Blazing Saddles.”
Of course, “Blazing Saddles” is No. 1 on my list of movies. I think it’s the greatest movie of all time, with the only possible competition being Mel Brooks’ “The Producers.”
No matter how many times I watch it, sooner or later I bust a gut laughing.
One time it’s Mel Brooks in war paint as an Indian chief, commenting in amazement (and in Yiddish) about black settlers: “Schvartzes!… They’re darker than I am!”
Another time, it’s Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp, doing a priceless send-up of Marlene Dietrich as she sings “I’m Tired!”
And every time, it’s Harvey Korman as the delicious mustache-twirling villain whose evil plot is to send a black man as the new sheriff to the town of Rock Ridge, so the townsfolk will run away and leave valuable land up for grabs.
In fact, my double vision actually started before I even got to the movie theater.
It began the moment I heard director Antoine Fuqua being interviewed about his new “Magnificent Seven.”
“Personally,” he said, “what (made) me really want to make this movie is to see Denzel Washington on a horse in all black as a cowboy.”
Immediately, the image sprang into my mind, too — but it wasn’t Denzel I was seeing.
No, it was Cleavon Little as Black Bart, Brooks’ sheriff.
In “Blazing Saddles,” the townsfolk are all incredibly racist, and just about to lynch their new sheriff, when my absolute favorite scene in the movie arrives: Bart takes his own gun, puts it up to his face, and yells out, “Nobody move, or the n……r gets it!”
Much to everyone’s surprise, the gimmick works!
I went to see the new “Magnificent Seven” to see if I could get the double vision out of my head… but it only grew stronger as the movie went on.
I can even cite spots where I think Brooks must have based his movie on the original “Seven.”
For example, in the original (which I watched, purely in the interests of research), there’s a moment early in the film where you see the name “Wm. Johnson” painted on a wooden wall behind the character “Vin,” played by Steve McQueen.
It feel sure that this was the inspiration for Mel Brooks’ Johnson brothers, whose scene eating beans at a campfire is probably the single most unforgettable (dare I say “incendiary?”) part of the film.
I also re-watched “Blazing Saddles” recently.
It was as hilarious as ever, but I found myself wondering if it could even be made today.
The Daily Beast asked Mel Brooks the same question, recently, and his answer was a resounding, “No!”
Not that he’d had it easy in 1974. “I actually got notes from the studio head in vivid detail who said, “Lose the fart scene, cut out any racial and ethnic jokes, edit scenes where a horse and an old lady get punched,” and my favorite note: “Can you reshoot Black Bart with a white actor?” If I had made their changes the film would have been just 14 minutes long!”
Finally, there were some moments when “The Magnificent Seven” parted company with “Blazing Saddles.” They came, in fact, when I braced myself for the townspeople’s racist reactions to Denzel Washington the gunslinger… and… nothing!
Things just went on as a matter of course.
I have no idea what white — or black — people were really like in the actual Old West.
But if here and now, in spite of everything going on in our nation today, we can have Denzel Washington as the hero in a remake of “The Magnificent Seven” — and no one bats an eye, either in or out of the movie — at least there has been some progress.
In my final analysis, “The Magnificent Seven” is a fine movie, and if a Western with lots of shootin’ and killin’ is what you want, then by all means go and see it.
But if you want a Western that will make you laugh all the way through — at the world, at prejudice, and at yourself — then “Blazing Saddles” is still your No. 1 bet.
