Blazing Saddles

Our daughter is 9 and loves Mel Brooks movies. This one was less comical and more pointed than the first two we showed her: Space Balls or Robin Hood Men in Tights, which were more accessible. All the same, she loved this one, and it was a great opportunity to talk about racism and political or satirical comedy. We also talked about the difference between bad words like Shit or Asshole and derogatory words like nigger, chink, or faggot, all of which are used in this movie. The seduction scene went totally over her head, but older kids might notice. The most cringeworthy line was shot almost entirely in the dark, after blowing out the candles, starting Madeline Kahn as a German showgirl and Cleavon Little as the black sheriff: Lili Von Shtupp : Tell me, schatze, is it twue what they say about the way you people are... gifted? [sound of zipper opening] Lili Von Shtupp : Oh, it's twue. It's twue. It's twue, it's twue! In terms of violence, there's a scene where the big guy Mongo punches a horse, that falls over. There's shooting and fist-fights, but no blood, death, or major injuries. Gene Wilder plays an alcoholic that takes big gulps straight from his bottle of whisky and is visibly inebriated in some scenes, and there's also a scene where the main character rolls and lights a "cigarette" and then passes it to him to finish, and it makes his voice get high pitched. Heads up just in case substance abuse is a concern for you.

I’ve seen this movie so many times it gets funnier each time. It is funny because it was a western written by comedic geniuses. Has a lot gags. I love the movie but be warned they say the N word a lot and the cursing is not censored so if you can’t handle offensive language then don’t want it but if you can have a great time watching it