worst line: 'I like rape' - Blazing Saddles (1974) Discussion

[–] DBloodnok 17 years ago

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."

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[–] Defenseman13 11 years ago

The OP must be a blast at parties. Go watch a Disney movie. Well, no... not that.

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm2339870/

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[–] WingHaz 17 years ago

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.

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[–] jrs-8 17 years ago

You also have to remember Mel Brooks' signature line about himself, "I rise below vulgarity." Brooks went after every target he could with this film and never let up.

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[–] nateba 14 years ago

"I rise below vulgarity."

Now that's funny!

cinefreak

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[–] dpcole7 13 years ago

I think you and WingHaz are both right.

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[–] Euphrosyne 11 years ago

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.

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] robfwoods 11 years ago

Why belittle standards of 1974 - they surely were as high or low as anything now.

It's not a question of editing the line 'out' - it never should have been written .

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] robfwoods 11 years ago

Yeah - as hilarious as a barrel of dead babies -

Incredible what some people get their jollies from.

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] robfwoods 11 years ago

Give it a rest.

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[–] Nagumo2001 11 years ago

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

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[–] robfwoods 11 years ago

As I said - give it a rest -

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[–] raindogoutdoors 9 years ago

Yeah, that Richard Pryor doesn't know a thing about writing comedy. Glad that you are here to set him straight.

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[–] robfwoods 9 years ago

glad to help out!

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[–] marktayloruk (2502) 2 years ago

They were better then.

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[–] Jane_Doe01 17 years ago

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.

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[–] flyboy152 16 years ago

He's not talking out of his ass. It's only been in the last 20 years or so that rape has been more aggressively prosecuted, that rape victims are much more likely to come forward. Prior to, oh, about the mid-80s, most rapes went unreported, and the victim was usually harassed by the cops, if she was even taken seriously at all.

If the case actually went to trial, the victim was often portrayed as promiscuous even if not. Defense attorneys would routinely insult the victims, and rapists would often get off if it was shown (or sometimes even implied) that the victim had acted, or dressed, provocatively. It was somehow judged OK, sometimes even by women, for a man to rape a woman if she did anything to "lead him on"; "she was asking for it" was often used as a defense, and worked more often than not.

It wasn't only rape. Domestic violence was almost totally ignored by the police, and often the victims were blamed. It took some serious activism by women's groups to change attitudes, and force the system & everyone else to take these crimes seriously.

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[–] longbutter 14 years ago

You are absolutely correct about how the cops treated rape victs much of the time. If you can find it, watch the movie length documentary about Tina Brandon (aka the true story of the movie "Boys Don't Cry) it has the actual recording of the Sherriffs interview with her when she reported the rape, and it's disgusting the way they treated her. The sheriff is asking in a mouth breathing way all sorts of specific queries about the exact actions (ie it couldn't just be left at 'they anally raped me' he wants all these unnecessary details) and obviously blames the victim. It is seriously disturbing. It also reminds me of a Mad mag article from about 92 wherein it has a news report detailing a rape, with a pic shown the battered victim, giving her measurements and address and omitting the suspects details to "Protect his rights". I think that is a parody of the exact attitude you describe, and even though I was a kid in the early 80s I can still remember that kind of attitude being prevalent.

.-'-.-'-.-Once it was death for prophet - now it's death for profit-.-'-.-'-.

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[–] nightthorn 13 years ago

Things haven't changed that much. Look up 'slut walk'. That's happening now.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Mr_Rictus 16 years ago

Are you kidding? rape was practically a hobby back then.

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[–] carewser 16 years ago

^Well said!

Yeah, rape has nothing to do with sex except for the fact that's what they are DOING! And the fact the guy ejaculates at the end is also a hint it's kind of sexual. While there is an element of power and control to rape, it is still about sex. This is just another example of nonsensical feminist propaganda in an attempt to further denigrate men.

Why should Brooks feel bad about making a joke? The joke worked because it showed how bad the character was which means that rape was obviously considered a heinous act, even back then.

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[–] lostboytx 16 years ago

"While there is an element of power and control to rape, it is still about sex. This is just another example of nonsensical feminist propaganda in an attempt to further denigrate men"

The violent aspect of rape is not "nonsensical feminist propaganda". Speaking as a man, and not a pro-feminist one at that, I find your comment to be completely ignorant. Rape is a sexually-driven act of violence. Rapists, especially serial rapists, do not get generall get sexually aroused with anything other than the overpowering nature of a sexual assualt. For the victim, it's not about sex. The idea of being overpowered and violated is bad enough; take into account the fact that rape victims don't know if they'll be killed, and you have a life-altering traumatic event. Perhaps YOU should be raped, and you'll see how close to a sexual encounter it is for you. Rapists are not "men", and they should be removed of their manhood.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] mellowinman 16 years ago

carewser, every time I think I have met the dumbest person on the internet, someone else comes along to show me just how wrong I am. Today, you were the one.

It's called a BRAIN. ~USE IT!

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Seller7862 15 years ago

I find it funny that rape upset some nancyboys on this thread but everything else didn't. ROTFLMAO. I read these threads and remember why America is bankrupt - in every way imaginable.

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[–] Captain_Iron_Spider 15 years ago

I still find it funny. It wasn't condoning rape was it?

Just Kidding

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[–] Nagumo2001 11 years ago

No, it wasn't. Rape was used to identify the people who "loved rape" as being base neanderthals, the lowest of the low. Note, the people who loved rape were the bad guys of the film.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=22803231

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[–] zeldagirl923 10 years ago

Agreed! I can see why people would be uncomfortable with it, but it didn’t bother me overmuch.

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] TCall2004 14 years ago

"carewser, every time I think I have met the dumbest person on the internet, someone else comes along to show me just how wrong I am. Today, you were the one"

Second that emotion.....he is an insensitive boor.

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[–] rusher-5 13 years ago

Why do you insult carewser, he said nothing wrong...

There are different types of rape, so to say... Yeah, if we're talking about a "man in a park at night attacking women" then yes, it's more likely that the crime is commited because of that urge to overpower and physically dominate the victim... If, for example, it's some drunk highschool or college guy in a party who rapes some girl I seriously doubt that has something more to it than just guy's hormones and general want for sex...

Rape is a rape in any case... and I don't think in this movie the character wo said he likes to rape was th kind of man who is attacking women at parks during the night... he's probably of the sort of those who get drunk in some saloon and then just takes a women with no intention to beat her up or kill after he's raped her.... I doubt it has something more to do with than just an urge to have sex.

I doubt that in this case the person would not be able to enjoy sex in any other way than rape... the same goes with my previous example about college parties etc. And never once carewser said that people who were raped would enjoy/enjoyed it. He only said something about feminist propaganda that made everyone take up arms...

I don't think we should generalize although modern society likes to paint everything black and white and everyone is supposed to have the "politically correct" opinion....

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[–] maz89 12 years ago

If you doubt yourself so much, that's probably good enough reason for you to stop with that rambling.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

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[–] Sir_Big_V 16 years ago

How is it, then, that men can be raped?
Rape is a crime of violence and control. You are showing serious ignorance here. It involves sex but is about more than that.

Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.

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[–] wel_da_war 15 years ago

Rape is about control. Rape has nothing to do with sex. Any idiot with $20 can get a whore to have sex with him. Only a loser with low self esteem, looking for an ego boost, chooses to willingly rape a defenseless woman "just to get off". If you think rape is about sex and nothing else, you are a MORON.

The world is yours & everything in it. It's out there; get on your grind and get it.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] liscarkat (18373) 3 years ago

"Rape has nothing to do with sex."

There's your moron, revealed.

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[–] TCall2004 14 years ago

"While there is an element of power and control to rape, it is still about sex. This is just another example of nonsensical feminist propaganda in an attempt to further denigrate men"

Is there something WRONG with you?

You think RAPE is okay?????? Maybe you should experience it.

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[–] karsultimate 14 years ago

Maybe he should kill himself. Would that make you happy?

He's obviously taking about the false claims. Those are attempts to denigrate men or whatever.

Maybe you should experience a fist put through the back of your head, because you're sure as hell not using that brain.

"...Due to cruel circumstances that would not be allowed to happen quite that easily..."

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[–] Tommen_Forever 8 years ago

Yeah, rape has nothing to do with sex except for the fact that's what they are DOING! And the fact the guy ejaculates at the end is also a hint it's kind of sexual.

Then how come straight males rape other men in prison? 

Learn some basic psychology, moron. You can start with Wikipedia.

-------------
http://bit.ly/2fldLcQ

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[–] brscth74 16 years ago

Sorry but that is absolutely wrong. Rape has always been considered to be one of the most heinous crimes, even back in common law it was seen just as bad as murder. This is not my opinion, this is what I have read in my procedural criminal law book, and in my substantial criminal law book. We have since changed some laws like the ability to charge a husband for raping his wife, but little has changed since common law era.

As far as taking the line out of the movie, this is the first I have heard of it. I personally think it was funny because they are recruiting the most evil people they can find and a rapist was one of them. If this offends people they need to lighten up, its a movie.

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[–] MickBarr-1 16 years ago

Completely agree, re: They were recruiting the most evil people they could find.

Why it's funny: Who says "I like rape"? Not even a rapist.

OK, so let's summarize. Rape is not funny. A villain in a movie saying "I like rape"... That's funny.

Especially in the context of this movie, to find THIS more offensive than everything else is kind of curious, because it implies that you are OK with the other offensive material.

One either needs to take all of the movie in its proper context, or none of it. "None of it" only makes sense to me if you think that Brooks wrote "I like rape" and "Up yours, N****r!" as personal editorial commentaries.

It is clear to me that they are not.

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[–] ebon1313 14 years ago

Nod.

The only person that I've ever seen say something like that was Shakespeare's John the Bastard when he said "I am a plain-dealing villain". I could be wrong but I don't think most evil people consider themselves "evil".

//L.

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[–] karsultimate 14 years ago

Besides the earlier line about rape was way worse IMO.

"...Due to cruel circumstances that would not be allowed to happen quite that easily..."

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[–] wel_da_war 14 years ago

I agree with you that legally, rape has been a criminal offense for a long time, but socially, it hasn't been taken nearly as seriously as it has been for the past 20 or 30 years.

I don't know if the statistic has changed, but when I was in high school, we had to attend a thing where people from the group WINGS (Women In Need of God's Service) spoke to the students about rape, etc.

They said that something like 50% of rapes go unreported, and are often committed by somebody the victim knows.

It's not that the legal system doesn't care about rape, it's that society often doesn't. Even now, women victims tend to blame themselves for what happened, and sometimes even their own friends and family as well.

All of that aside, I still agree that there is nothing distasteful about the "I like rape" line in Blazing Saddles. As you said, it was there to re-enforce the idea that they were recruiting the most "evil" people they could find.

The world is yours & everything in it. Its out there; get on your grind & get it.

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[–] jolem53 14 years ago

Smart comment, WingHaz.

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[–] franzkabuki 12 years ago

"It was equated with general horniness, so, at the time, it came across as funny. We have since wised up".

Actually, the difference is that back then people weren´t such absurdly gentle souls unable to take a joke for what it is as they didn´t yet have their minds f-cked up by all these self righteous PC sentiments. And it still is amongst the funniest lines in the film.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

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[–] MaraJadeisamidalasky 11 years ago

Not so sure about that. Rape was taken pretty seriously then too. Didn't Dirty Harry say he didn't ask questions when he shot naked man with a boner with a knife running after a woman ?

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[–] clearthinkernow 8 years ago

I do remember the times and rape was taken quite seriously. Don't know when you decided to re-write history. Young women didn't routinely go around by themselves, nor did they "hook up" with strangers or drink themselves into oblivion like they do today. Rape, in my lifetime, has never been equated with general horniness. And never heard it suggested before you either.

Rape was a criminal act then, just as it it now. The only thing that's changed is that the defense can't get away with blaming the victim any longer.

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[–] justanicknamed 8 years ago

Young women didn't routinely go around by themselves, nor did they "hook up" with strangers or drink themselves into oblivion like they do today.

Yeah, for sure there was never a sexual revolution where women had complete control over their birth control and should that fail, have access to legal abortions.

Don't know when you decided to re-write history.

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[–] skw5430 17 years ago

I don't see why that line should be censored at all. Why is that joke any more offensive than a joke about killing or torturing? They're all heinous acts, but a funny line is a funny line. There are no sacred cows in comedy.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] scottythefield 17 years ago

Yeah, try to see the humour in it next time it happens to you, make it more enjoyable for yourself.

...But yeah, those PC standards can be a little excessive, and oddly skewed. Like if the guy had alternately said "Murder, rape, arson and murder...I like murder!", nobody would be offended - and yet murder is surely the more horrible crime than rape.

[For all that, however, I have to say that I love that line about "the Number Six Dance" - not the reference to rape, just the notion that they have a regular formal dance to celebrate a crime spree. That really amuses me. (Maybe if the actual line was "We get 'em drunker'n hell on corn liquor and screw the $hit out of 'em at the Number Six Dance later on!" instead...)

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] gaeligefairie 17 years ago

The line points out that he's this awful person, but in a funny way. I've been in a position where I very nearly was raped (Luckilly it was outdoors and a cop pulled up.) It was a horrible, terrifying experience, and I still laugh at that line. There's a difference between having a character say "I like rape," and having the director come out and say that he's condoning it. The fact that the guy who says it is a criminal makes some difference, too. If you want to advocate something, you get the good guy to say he likes it, not the bad guy.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Jane_Doe01 17 years ago

Who is the idiot who said rape wasn't taken seriously in 1974

Hah, who he is is obviously a poorly educated ignoramus who takes the popular modern trend of "olden days" vilifying too far.

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[–] staal75 17 years ago

gaeligefairie hit the nail
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A wizard arrives precisely when he meens to..... nooot :)

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[–] jcshetler 13 years ago

i laughed very hard.

The Dumbing-Down of America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbing_down

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[–] DanielSingh666 16 years ago

I laughed, I thought it was funny

I don't mind offensive humor, sometimes you can't take things too seriously and that is what comedy is all about

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[–] MuchToBeGratefulFor 16 years ago

I agree with the person who said that rape was viewed differently in 1974 than now. That's true. The misconception back then was that rape was a crime of passion, and having a character, even a criminal scumbag, say he likes rape, perpetuated that stereotype.

Like if the guy had alternately said "Murder, rape, arson and murder...I like murder!", nobody would be offended - and yet murder is surely the more horrible crime than rape.

One relevant difference is that while there are no murder victims who would be watching this film, there would be rape survivors that probably felt violated all over again. To call such a reaction and objection to the line as PC run amok, trivializes their experience.

I agree with other posters who state that Brooks was just showing how degenerate these people were, but the line still makes me wince.

You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi

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[–] scotbpens 15 years ago

Yes, rape is a terrible thing. So obviously someone who likes rape would be a terrible person - maybe even the kind of person who would take money to ransack a town - killing, looting, raping and burning.

And raping!

All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?

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[–] Devo-McDuff 17 years ago

Well said Sinbad.

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[–] beacitizen 17 years ago

If i were to make an assumption here it would be that people like yourself 'Dreamkilla2000' like to make big statements about subjects they aren't sentient enough to discuss while regarding life through a tiny crack in their window. If igorance is bliss, you must be *beep* delighted mon ami...

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[–] lastaria 17 years ago

I don't believe that has ever been cut out here in the UK.

Chris Thorpe

The lore of the mind counts further than the words of the mouth.

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[–] stevenackerman69 17 years ago

I didn't know that was in there when I first saw it on TV because it was edited out, but the idea was that the guy was a bad guy and he loved rape so he said it twice. That was the joke. No, rape is not funny, per se, but joking about it in that format is. Or here is another example of rape being funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] scotbpens 15 years ago

Or here is another example of rape being funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd.

AAGGGHH!! MY EYES!!!

All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?

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[–] Burk48917 (11356) a year ago

Elmer would like it

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[–] jonb666 17 years ago

I personally thought it was one of the funniest lines. Does that make me a bad person?

Well isn't this place a geographic oddity. Two weeks from everywhere.

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[–] 17 years ago

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