Original artwork, not a still
You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.
— Blazing Saddles • 1974
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The joke is Jim's weary charm: he dresses a bitter truth about prejudice in a mock-ethnographic tone, then lets the last word fall flat. In a film that satirises racism by making the bigots the fools, this is the line that says so outright. It is still quoted whenever anyone needs to explain a crowd's stubbornness with affectionate contempt.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Blazing SaddlesShow the scene
In Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles (1974), Hedley Lamarr has the governor appoint Bart, a Black railroad worker, as sheriff of the all-white town of Rock Ridge, expecting the townspeople to be so outraged that they will flee. Bart's welcome is so hostile that he escapes by taking himself hostage, and the next morning a sweet old lady he greets on the street answers him with a racist insult. Jim, the drunken former gunfighter known as the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), consoles the stunned Bart with this speech, ending on the deadpan word morons. Jim becomes Bart's friend and deputy and helps him win the townspeople round.
Sources (3)
- Wikiquote: Blazing Saddles, Jim (The Waco Kid)Section 'Jim (The Waco Kid)', line addressed to BartReference checked
- Wikipedia: Blazing Saddles, PlotPlot sectionReference checked
- Blazing Saddles (1974) transcriptThe morning after Bart arrivesReference checked
Context reviewed
