The ruse works, leading to Barts self-praise into the camera… he also acknowledges they are so dumb.
Barts broad shenanigans match not only the stupidity of the townspeople but also the tone of theMel Brooksclassic.
Little, Brooks, and all the writers contributed to the success ofBlazing Saddles.
But holding the whole thing together was a comic genius, who excelled at playing calmness amid chaos.
Were talking about Gene Wilder as none other than the Waco Kid.
The Calmest Hand in the West
Gene Wilder entersBlazing Saddlesin an appropriately wacky scene.
Wilders cherubic face is unshaven and his curly locks dangling.
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Are we awake?
asks Bart, fully aware of the ridiculous sight.
When Bart answers in the affirmative, the Kid continues.
But were very puzzled.
The exchange falls in line with the absurdity of the movie, and its both cartoonish and satirical aspects.
It also shows off Wilders comic skills, which is the secret ingredient that makesBlazing Saddlesan enduring classic.
Wilder doesnt compete with Little for the screen.
The scene serves to establish the connection between the two.
So the conversation has a gag in the middle, in which Bart hands the Kid a joint.
Despite the funny voice, Wilder never drops the Kids look of concern for Bart from his face.
He plays the scene straight and lets the gag stand for itself.
Brooks eventually cast Academy Award-winner Gig Young as the Kid.
But Youngs alcoholism made him collapse on the first day of shooting, and Brooks fired him.
In a pinch, Brooks turned to Wilder, with whom he had worked onThe Producers.
Brooks had Wilder in mind forBlazing Saddlesvillain Hedley Lamarr, which eventually went to Harvey Korman.
But its hard to see anyone but Wilder in the part, exactly because of his relaxed screen presence.
If youre the Kid, then show me something, the sheriff challenges.
To demonstrate his point, he lifts his right hand, which holds still.
Yeah, returns the Kid, lifting his left hand which shudders with delirious tremors.
But I shoot with this hand!
He continues with the exact same earnest seriousness that one would find in the Westerns that so inspired Brooks.
The Kid talks about his unhappy reign as the fastest gun in the world.
I must have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille.
Wilder doesnt underscore the DeMille crack, nor does he oversell the pathos of his character.
Instead he delivers the lines exactly like a proper Western hero.
He only allows a slight bit of exaggeration when he describes the moment when a six-year-old kid challenged him.
