Editing Blazing Saddles (section)

== Release ==
The film was almost unreleased. "When we screened it for executives, there were few laughs," said Brooks. "The head of distribution said, 'Let's dump it and take a loss.' But [studio president John] [[John Calley|Calley]] insisted they open it in [[New York City|New York]], [[Los Angeles]], and [[Chicago]] as a test. It became the studio's top moneymaker that summer."<ref name="40thinterview">Mel Brooks interview, 40th anniversary Blu-Ray release</ref>

The world premiere took place on February 7, 1974, at the Pickwick Drive-In Theater in Burbank; 250 invited guests{{snd}}including Little and Wilder{{snd}}watched the film on horseback.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lozano |first=Carlos V. |title=Death of a Drive-In: Pickwick Theater Shuts Down, Ending an Era for Burbank Moviegoers and Film Makers |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-08-me-287-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 8, 1989 |access-date=May 31, 2016 |archive-date=January 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200119204625/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-08-me-287-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Critical response ===
While ''Blazing Saddles'' is now considered a classic, critical reaction was mixed upon initial release. [[Vincent Canby]] wrote:<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/08/archives/screen-blazing-saddles-a-western-in-burlesque.html |title=Screen: 'Blazing Saddles', a Western in Burlesque |first=Vincent |last=Canby |work=The New York Times |date=February 8, 1974 |access-date=July 3, 2020 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308021441/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/08/archives/screen-blazing-saddles-a-western-in-burlesque.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{blockquote|''Blazing Saddles'' has no dominant personality, and it looks as if it includes every gag thought up in every story conference. Whether good, bad or mild, nothing was thrown out. [[Woody Allen]]'s comedy, though very much a product of our Age of Analysis, recalls the wonder and discipline of people like [[Buster Keaton|Keaton]] and [[Laurel and Hardy]]. Mr. Brooks' sights are lower. His brashness is rare, but his use of anachronism and anarchy recalls not the great film comedies of the past, but the middling ones like the Hope-Crosby [[Road to ...|"Road" pictures]]. With his talent he should do much better than that.}}

[[Roger Ebert]] gave the film four stars out of four, calling it a "crazed grab bag of a movie that does everything to keep us laughing except hit us over the head with a [[rubber chicken]]. Mostly, it succeeds. It's an audience picture; it doesn't have a lot of classy polish and its structure is a total mess. But of course! What does that matter while Alex Karras is knocking a horse cold with a right cross to the jaw?"<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger |last=Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blazing-saddles-1974 |title=Blazing Saddles |work=Chicago Sun-Times |date=February 7, 1974 |via=[[RogerEbert.com]] |access-date=July 3, 2020 |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605091753/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blazing-saddles-1974 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Gene Siskel]] awarded three stars out of four and called it "bound to rank with the funniest of the year," adding, "Whenever the laughs begin to run dry, Brooks and his quartet of gag writers splash about in a pool of obscenities that score belly laughs if your ears aren't sensitive and if you're hip to western movie conventions being parodied."<ref>[[Gene Siskel|Siskel, Gene]] (March 1, 1974). "Shootout at 'Cockeyed Corral'". ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. Section 2, p. 1.</ref>

Critics often perceived ''Blazing Saddles'' as inherently "un-cinematic",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Symons |first=Alex |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/835909859 |title=Mel Brooks in the cultural industries : survival and prolonged adaptation |date=2012 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-7648-4 |location=Edinburgh |pages=118 |oclc=835909859}}</ref> defying some expectations for Hollywood filmmaking in the era, often displaying production style associated with Broadway theater and US television variety shows. This was in part due to its "simplistic framing" and the casting of Harvey Korman, known for ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]'' (CBS, 1967–1978), which was similarly "low on characterization and story, instead opting for a high volume of one-liners and visual gags."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Symons |first=Alex |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/835909859 |title=Mel Brooks in the cultural industries : survival and prolonged adaptation |date=2012 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-7648-4 |location=Edinburgh |pages=64 |oclc=835909859}}</ref> Typical to this perception, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote: "If comedies are measured solely by the number of yocks they generate from audiences, then ''Blazing Saddles'' must be counted a success ... Few viewers will have time between laughs to complain that pic is essentially a raunchy, protracted version of a television comedy skit."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Film Reviews: Blazing Saddles |magazine=Variety |date=February 13, 1974 |page=18}}</ref>

[[Charles Champlin]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' called the film "irreverent, outrageous, improbable, often as blithely tasteless as a stag night at the Friar's Club and almost continuously funny."<ref>[[Charles Champlin|Champlin, Charles]] (February 7, 1974). "Was the West Ever Like This?" ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. Part IV, p. 1.</ref> Gary Arnold of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' was negative, writing: "Mel Brooks squanders a snappy title on a stockpile of stale jokes. To say that this slapdash Western spoof lacks freshness and spontaneity and originality is putting it mildly. ''Blazing Saddles'' is at once a messy and antiquated gag machine."<ref>{{cite news |last=Arnold |first=Gary |title='Blazing Saddles' On a Dead Horse |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=B15 |date=March 7, 1974}}</ref> Jan Dawson of ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "Perhaps it is pedantic to complain that the whole is not up to the sum of its parts when, for the [[curate's egg]] that it is, ''Blazing Saddles'' contains so many good parts and memorable performances."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dawson |first=Jan |date=June 1974 |title=Blazing Saddles |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=41 |issue=485 |page=120}}</ref> [[John Simon (critic)|John Simon]] wrote a negative review of ''Blazing Saddles'', saying: "All kinds of gags{{snd}}chiefly anachronisms, irrelevancies, reverse ethnic jokes, and out and out vulgarities{{snd}}are thrown together pell-mell, batted about insanely in all directions, and usually beaten into the ground."<ref>{{cite book |title=Reverse Angle: A Decade of American Film|url=https://archive.org/details/reverseangledeca0000simo/page/145|url-access=registration|last1=Simon|first1=John |publisher=Crown Publishers Inc. |year=1982 |page=[https://archive.org/details/reverseangledeca0000simo/page/145 145] |isbn=9780517544716|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

On review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Daring, provocative, and laugh-out-loud funny, ''Blazing Saddles'' is a gleefully vulgar spoof of Westerns that marks a high point in Mel Brooks' storied career."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blazing_saddles/ |title=Blazing Saddles |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |archive-date=September 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925134922/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blazing_saddles |url-status=live |access-date=February 8, 2024}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]] it has a score of 73 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.<ref>{{cite web |title=Blazing Saddles |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/blazing-saddles |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=September 22, 2022 }}</ref>

[[Ishmael Reed]]'s 1969 novel ''[[Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down]]'', a satirical take on the traditional Western, has been cited as an important precursor or influence for ''Blazing Saddles'', a connection that Reed himself has made.<ref>{{cite web |last=Glenn |first=Joshua |url=https://www.hilobrow.com/2018/12/24/10-best-adventures-of-1969/ |title=10 Best Adventures of 1969 |website=Hilobrow |date=December 24, 2018 |access-date=April 24, 2021 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124095706/https://www.hilobrow.com/2018/12/24/10-best-adventures-of-1969/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Box office ===
The film earned [[theatrical rental]]s of $26.7 million in its initial release in the United States and Canada. In its 1976 reissue, it earned a further $10.5 million and another $8 million in 1979.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title='Blazing Saddles' In 109, $288,194 On New Trail|date=March 28, 1979|page=7}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=Big Rental Films of 1979|date=January 9, 1980|page=21}}</ref> Its total rentals in the United States and Canada totalled $47.8 million from a gross of $119.5 million, becoming only the tenth film up to that time to pass the $100 million mark.<ref>{{cite magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991007042514/http://www.variety.com/numbers/video.asp|title=All-Time Top Film Rentals|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=1998|archive-date=October 7, 1999|url=https://variety.com/numbers/video.asp|access-date=December 24, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl4064773633/rankings/ |title=Blazing Saddles (1974) |website=Box Office Mojo |date=January 1, 1982 |access-date=November 1, 2012 |archive-date=July 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714112524/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=blazingsaddles.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>