worst line: 'I like rape'
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Blazing Saddles
davidmmiller — 18 years ago(December 07, 2007 08:53 PM)
I'm talking about the scene where all the outlaw baddies (and bikers and klansmen) are lining up to get a job on Hedley's gang, and one of them is asked by him to explain why he wrote "rape" twice on his resume, and the outlaw smiles and says "I like rape."
Of all the edits BS has undergone over the years, this line is the one I first noticed to go. In 1986 I watched this for my millionth time on video with my white flatmates in New Zealand (I'm a Yank), and the whole movie was met with a studied silence. When the "I like rape" line was delivered, my female flatmate turned to me and said "That's a joke?"
And as much as I hate to see movies get sliced to ribbons, that line always did make me wince. Call it politcal correctness or whatever, but I don't miss it. Fortunately the rest of the movie is hilarious. Side note: I ushered during this movie in the early '80s. We were showing Woody Allen's "Stardust Memories," and apparently it wasn't a big enough draw, so they added "Blazing Saddles" and made it a double featurekinda like pairing wine with grits! -
DBloodnok — 18 years ago(December 08, 2007 09:13 AM)
Perhaps not the funniest line of the movie, but nor do I think it should be edited-out. If any first-time viewer is so offended by the line, they have the choice to turn off the set and go and do something else.
"Someone has been tampering with Hank's memories." -
Defenseman13 — 12 years ago(June 09, 2013 04:19 AM)
The OP must be a blast at parties. Go watch a Disney movie. Well, no not that.
http://us.imdb.com/board/22339870/ -
WingHaz — 18 years ago(December 08, 2007 09:11 PM)
You have to remember the times. Rape wasn't taken as seriously as it should have been in 1974. It was equated with general horniness, so, at the time, it came across as funny.
We have since wised up. We know now that rape is about violence, not about sex.
I thought it was funny back then. I don't think it's funny now. I'll bet Mel Brooks feels the same way. -
Euphrosyne — 11 years ago(April 13, 2014 11:07 AM)
This is very true.
You can't take it out of the context of when the film was made.
Drunk driving didn't have the connotations of today either, and was very often used as a rather benign joke.
By the standards of 1974, the joke is funny and the movie works. -
Nagumo2001 — 11 years ago(May 19, 2014 01:42 AM)
Why don't you take your own advice. It's people like you, that have a permanent twist in your panties, that are the problem.
Blazing Saddles not only broke barriers regarding racism and sexism, but was funny as all get out. At least to people with a sense of humor.
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=22803231 -
Jane_Doe01 — 18 years ago(February 21, 2008 08:49 PM)
You have to remember the times. Rape wasn't taken as seriously as it should have been in 1974. It was equated with general horniness, so, at the time, it came across as funny.
You must have a real knack for talking out of your ass. I highly doubt you were around in 1974 either, nor that Mel Brooks regrets that or ANY line he's ever written into a film.