Tools of Characterization

Characterization in Blazing Saddles

Clothing

In any Mel Brooks movie, you're going to find a lot of people who like to play dress-up. This is mostly because of Director Mel Brooks' obsession with costumes and big stage productions. One of the best instances we see of clothing as a tool of characterization comes when Bart dresses up as a candy deliveryman and gives Mongo an exploding box of candy. To help convey the absurdity of this scene, Brooks plays the theme to Looney Tunes as Bart walks away from the explosion.

In a way, Brooks uses constant costume changes to remind us that his characters are totally made up. We see this humor especially in the final scene of the movie, where the characters dressed as cowboys stumble into other movie sets with people dressed up as characters from all across history. It all adds up to remind us that we're in the middle of a movie and that Mel Brooks can (and will) do whatever he wants whenever he wants.

Names

Hedley Lamarr is the villain of this movie, which you can pretty much tell from the moment you read his name on his office door. It's also a name that's suspiciously like "Hedy Lamarr," the name of a famous actress and inventor from the mid-20th Century. Check out Hedley Lamarr's Character Analysis for more on how Hedley and Hedy were basically polar opposites.

Meanwhile, we have a hero named Sheriff Bart, which sounds much more like a name we can get behind, especially in a movie set in the Old West. It also should go without mentioning that other characters in this movie, like Mongo, are pretty recognizable by name. Most of us might hear "Mongo" and think of a big hulking brute. And guess what? That's exactly what Mongo is.

Occupation

It's safe to say that the people of Rock Ridge need to get themselves a new sheriff after their last one gets killed by Hedley Lamarr's thugs. But it's also safe to say that getting a black sheriff as a replacement was the last thing they expected.

These are some really racist people, and Hedley Lamarr has intentionally sent them a sheriff that they'd kill instantly. But over time, Sheriff Bart shows us just how amazing he is by protecting the people of Rock Ridge in spite of their racism and eventually winning them over.

It's not like they deserve him or anything, but Bart's a hero and that's what heroes do: act all heroic.

Actions

Mel Brooks wants to play around with a lot of Old West clichés, and that means establishing early on who our villain is and who our good guy is. So he gives us a hero in Sheriff Bart, a black man who's hated by the people he's trying to protect. But he protects them anyway because he's a good guy and because that's his job.

Our villain Hedley Lamarr, on the other hand, is more than happy to kill every last person in Rock Ridge if it means building his precious railroad. He's basically one long, evil "Mwahahaha." So if you're looking to make judgments about characters in this movie based on their actions, you won't have much difficulty.

Physical Appearances

For starters, we know a lot about the character Mongo just by looking at him—he's twice the size of any other person in this movie and he moves like a gorilla. Meanwhile, we can pretty much tell from looking at Hedley Lamarr that he's the villain of the movie with his moustache and his fancy-shmancy suits and scheming eyes. Ugh.

But the most important physical appearance of this movie is Bart's, since he's apparently the first black sheriff in the history of America. And yes, the people of Rock Ridge don't respond very well to his skin color. But they'll have to get past their prejudices if they want Bart to save them.