Matt Zoller Seitz & Odie Henderson Present: Blazing Saddles
Like the Blaxploitation Westerns released alongside it, Mel Brooks’ hilarious parody plops a “suave urbanite” Black man into a rural genre primarily reserved for White actors only. Cleavon Little’s Sheriff Black Bart is sent to the racist town of Rock Ridge to encourage White flight; instead, he cleans up the town, partners with Gene Wilder’s Waco Kid and shows Madeline Kahn’s Lily von Shtupp the truth about how gifted he is. Richard Pryor contributed to the script of one of the funniest, rudest films ever made.
There will be a book signing accompanied with the film. The new book “Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxploitation Cinema” will be available for sale in the lobby.