Sunday, March 20, 2011

Saturday, March 20th 1976


The day started out pretty good. Terry, his friend Dwight, and I were going to go to Cincinnati, then to Newport to see BLAZING SADDLES again. Terry and I ended up going into town alone but I didn't buy anything. Then we walked from the Stadium to the new Coliseum and got the Dawn tickets. He paid but I wasn't happy when he childishly wouldn't even let me keep my own ticket. He insisted on hanging onto both for some reason. I hate it when he does things like that.

Eventually, we did get to BLAZING SADDLES and, if anything, it seemed even funnier than before! While we were at the Newport Shopping Center, I picked up the Beatles YESTERDAY AND TODAY on 8 track tape rather than as an album. I even got some Wendy's to take home for mom and dad when Terry showed me the Wendy's over there.

It had threatened rain all day and I found out later that there was a tornado watch the whole time we were out! Mom was out shopping though, too. She bought me the ingredients for my own leisure suit! Neat! It finally did storm after we all got home, harder than I have ever seen it before! It was like in that Ray Bradbury story, THE LONG RAIN.

NOTES: I had mentioned Dwight before and that I couldn't quite recall what happened to him. I asked Terry recently and he reminded me that he had accidentally drowned.

BLAZING SADDLES--represented here with a rarely seen poster--was Mel Brooks' outrageous western farce mixed with parody and more than a little satire. I became a big Brooks fan but I still think this was his best feature. Cleavon Little is amazingly charismatic as the new sheriff who just happens to be black. Although co-written by Richard Pryor and perhaps intended asa vehicle for himself, I can't imagine the more sedate Pryor of this period being anywhere near as good. There is no attempt at a true linear plot and anachronistic gags crowd the screen every moment. Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn, Alex Karras and particularly Gene Wilder all received career boosts from this BLAZING SADDLES. If you haven't seen it, do so...now.

1 comment:

  1. I too , love Blazing Saddles !! I even wrote a column for Express News and Reviews concerning the first time that I ever saw the film . Yes , the character of Black Bart WAS originally for Richard Pryor . Pryor also wrote much of Alex Karras' lines as Mongo. Mel Brooks said that Pryor LOVED writing for Mongo !!

    ReplyDelete