MovieChat Forums > Blazing Saddles (1974) Discussion > worst line: 'I like rape'

worst line: 'I like rape'

posted 17 years ago by davidmmiller
205 replies | jump to latest

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 feature--kinda like pairing wine with grits!

[–] Marmadukebagelhole 13 years ago

That line always did make me wince..But you're fine with all the comedic references to murder and physical assault, racial prejudice.

I seriously don't understand how people can be selective about what jokes are acceptable based on their subject.

My rule is. If the taboo subject is being exploited and an utterly false premise or prejudice is being used in a non-ironic capacity to score cheap yucks at the subjects expense then that is not acceptable because it's not comedy. It's just exploitation.

Using a prejudice , a double-standard or a taboo to lampoon or challenge people's perceptions of that subject (or if the entire context or forum for the jokes is a satirical one) should be acceptable whatever the subject is.

Then again there's nothing to stop a joke observing all those standards and still just not being funny enough.

[–] megArnold 13 years ago

If the taboo subject is being exploited and an utterly false premise or prejudice is being used in a non-ironic capacity to score cheap yucks at the subjects expense then that is not acceptable because it's not comedy. It's just exploitation. Using a prejudice, a double-standard or a taboo to lampoon or challenge people's perceptions of that subject (or if the entire context or forum for the jokes is a satirical one) should be acceptable whatever the subject is.

Whoo, are you a lawyer or lawmaker? If not, you should really think about a change in career...

(but you forgot to add some "and/or"s and "including, but not restricted to"s...)

--
Hmmm?

[–] reallyme 11 years ago

I agree. There are quite a few bad things in the movie if taken out of context, especially the use of the word *beep* I remember a lot of people in 1974 thinking the movie was racist. Obviously they didn't understand the movie was, in fact, anti-racist. It is interesting an outlaw putting rape on his resume twice is taken as not funhy, without commenting on the other "non funny" aspects of the movie like murder, robbery. racist, and general mayhem. It's not like Brooks is a politician and telling women to "lie back and enjoy it". Before the Texas candidate for governor, Clayton Williams, stated this in 1990. it had been stated by a TV weatherman in 1976
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tex_Antoine

[–] muzilon 11 years ago

Yeah, here's a review by some politically-correct critic who bursts into tears about about how "terribly offensive" and "insensitive" Blazing Saddles is, what with a horse being punched on the nose and people using the N-word: http://www.imdb.com/reviews/221/22140.html

Oddly, he doesn't mention the rape jokes.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] rwsmith29456 13 years ago

I thought that was funny as ****. I still do and was thinking about it just the other day.

[–] arthur_nonimus 13 years ago

Am I to take it that white Kiwi's have no sence of humor and that Yanks (or rather Tanks) do? But lets not get bogged down in that.

The line is a joke that is supposed to emphisise that fact that the character saying it is a bad man, and just what is being sought for running the towns people out of their town.

It's a comedy, plain and simple! DON'T OVERTHINK IT!!

[–] daggers-1 13 years ago

It fit the character of the movie, and of the type of characters Lamar was looking for.

And it's as funny as race jokes, which the movie is full of. I'm not clear on how racism, sexism, national background and cultural reference jokes are funny, but this isn't.

Perhaps Mel Brooks is not for you.

http://www.MichaelZWilliamson.com

[–] MagikGimp 13 years ago

To all those pretentious PC-gone mad morons who are saying that somehow the 70s were as backwards as the actual Wild West- he's a bad guy! Bad guys say bad things! It's a funny line!
Not for a second is anyone condoning rape in this scene as acceptable, humorous or otherwise; what is this world coming to?
If you were bothered by such a line but are little affected by some of the things deemed acceptable in the modern entertainment industry, you really need to go get your head looked at.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Dextrousleftie 13 years ago

I wasn't the least bit offended by that joke, and I'm a woman. This cartoon-character bad guy put rape twice because he 'likes rape'. That is pretty funny, frankly. Especially the way Hedley said "Charming" and smiled smarmily afterward. In that same scene, the Sheriff gets their attention by pulling off his white hood and yelling: "Where da white women at?!" That was incredibly funny, too. It was always clear that Mel Brooks was making fun of all the built-in bigotry and racism and sexism of the 'good ol days', not very subtly and very over-the-top, and incredibly amusing for the most part. He poked at everyone indiscriminately, which is what i like best about it. Sad that some people are so PC that they can't laugh at the exxagerated humor just because it might 'offend' someone. The best humor is often the most offensive, as well. Especially when it makes you think about things in a new way, like pointing out the way racism can be extremely subtle and woven into the fabric of ordinary life without people sometimes thinking about the way they perceive others who aren't 'like them'. in any case, I find this movie to be hilarious and am floored that there are actually people who are offended by that line.

[–] mikekrit62 12 years ago

I have to laugh at some of the idiotic, pretentious comments in this thread. "Oh, WAY back then, rape happened all the time and nobody cared." "20 years ago the police just laughed at rape victims."

Are some of you so deluded and brainwashed that you think you are more "advanced" than your parents or grandparents simply because you've been trained to be frightened and offended by EVERYTHING?

Yet how many of you scolds hardly bat an eye at what passes for comedy in this day and age because you think it's "edgy"?

[–] lastmidnite2 11 years ago

Exactly. Knocked Up was a piece of crap but it was treated like a classic comedy. As far as this thread goes, save me from the PC police. They bore me to tears.

[–] foster1234 11 years ago

I cannot believe tou guys got 15 pages out of this

You don't have to stand tall, but you have to stand up!

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] madjew_2000 11 years ago

i am just adding to this thread to bring it into 2014

When you got to shoot,shoot. Don't talk.-Tuco

[–] 11 years ago

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