Fifty years ago, actor and director Mel Brooks released what many consider to be one of the greatest films in American cinema, "Blazing Saddles," a movie that highlighted the struggles of the American West and challenged racial stereotypes.
As Hollywood celebrates five decades of "Blazing Saddles," movie theaters across Massachusetts are showing this film again on Sept. 15 and Sept. 18.
The movie, which was released in 1974 and written and directed by Brooks, stars Cleavon Little as Bart, the first Black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a town on the cusp of destruction to clear the path for a new railroad, according to a synopsis from rottentomatoes.com.
The people of Rock Ridge initially dislike Bart as their new sheriff, but they warm up to him when they realize he and his sidekick, Jim the Waco Kid, played by Gene Wilder, are the only protection against a group of thugs threatening the town, the synopsis said.
The film is a comedic take on the Western movie genre, a movie that highlights the struggles, attitudes and culture of the American West. "Blazing Saddles" is different from your typical Western, however, in the sense that the film is trying to poke fun at the genre.
Western films have a history of white-washing or even embracing the racism of the American West. Films like "The Birth of a Nation" were infamous for falsely portraying the white terrorist organization the Ku Klux Klan as heroes during the the Civil War and Reconstruction era.
But Brook's decision to cast a Black man as a sheriff protecting a small western town from a group of thugs pushes back against the historical stereotypes cast upon African Americans in this genre, according to Screen Rant, a movie review website.
"Not only does 'Blazing Saddles' shed a light on the prejudice ignored by previous westerns; it points out the absurdity of that prejudice," according to an article from Screenrant.
Bringing in nearly $120 million at the box office, Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" was the highest-grossing Western until 1990 when "Dances with Wolves" premiered, according to the Library of Congress. "Blazing Saddles" was also nominated for three Academy Awards and in 2006, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
You can watch "Blazing Saddles" on the big screen at the following theaters on Sunday, Sept. 15 and Wednesday, Sept. 18, according to Fathom, a specialty distributor of content to movie theaters.