Posted on 05/09/2014 7:05:49 AM PDT by rktman
There are plenty of lousy film comedies, but there are only two that I outright hate: "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby." Both were released in 2006 when Hollywood's fury against George W. Bush had reached its peak, and both let the voters who re-elected him in 2004 have it with both barrels.
On its face you would think that Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" chose the exact same targets (rural Red Staters) to humiliate, but he didn't. With his masterpiece (that has just been released as a special 40th anniversary edition Bluray), Brooks managed to craft a hilarious comedy with a social message, and do it without coming off as a cold, mean-spirited Hollywood snob.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
"Let's get 'em, girls!"
I think Pryor was not in a state where he could even be depended upon to show up on a given day (well into substance abuse by that point) so they needed somebody more grounded and reliable. In hindsight, it’s hard to envision anyone in the role beside Little.
Actually Pryor realized he would not be a great cast and steered Brooks to Cleavon Little as his replacement.
“Hey, where da white women?”
I have an old betamax recording when it played on TV. They bleeped out the obvious stuff but made up for it with the out takes. One on my favorite comedies.
The sherriff is near!
Correct me if I'm wrong but with Mickey Rooney passing last month all stars of MMMMW are now gone.
I feel on the floor when he lit Frankenstein's finger on fire.
Read the comment by Cliff on this page.
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/books/whos-afraid-of-song-of-the-south-by-jim-korkis-73980.html#
Disney almost released it as one of the Walt Disney Treasures series. They even had the packaging set-up.
I've seen it at least twice myself. I think it's a good film, just not the masterwork some feel it to be. One thing I found prophetic about Brazil was how terrorist events would happen and be cleaned up while everyone basically ignored them.
Those retailers can only be selling bootleg copies, probably sourced from a laserdisc at best. There is no Disney release of Song of the South on DVD.
I remember on our family trips to Florida stopping for breakfast at Sambo's. The menus had drawings of the tiger and the little boy. That's all I remember, but those places were gone later in the 70s. I think one of the other well-known chains is the descendant of Sambo's, but I don't recall which one.
You don't remember the tiger butter? In college in 1979 there was still one at the edge of campus. Various student groups held their meetings in the back room and once a month the black student union met there. Nobody seemed hypersensitive about the place at the time. I think Denny's took them over.
I thought casting Gene Wilder was a good way to play around with the Western genre. A nice Jewish boy playing an alcoholic gunslinger... who’da thunk it?
The sheriff is a ni-*CLANG!!!*
“and then went ahead with the release without removing any of them.”
IIRC, _South_Park_ did the same thing. Slapped with “NC-17”, they agreed to tone it down to an “R”. They added a quadruple-entendre subtitle to the name, resubmitted, and got accepted.
It’s surprisingly available in the South.
Interesting, thanks, ifinnegan!
soul mate
Nice to know I m not alone
I started taking throat lozenges to the plays to get folks to quit coughing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.