TV TATTLE
TCM host Jacqueline Stewart filmed an intro for Blazing Saddles on HBO Max, providing "proper social context"
-
As she did with Gone with the Wind, the film scholar was asked to film an intro that automatically plays at the beginning of the 1974 Mel Brooks classic comedy film that puts the bigotry and racist language in context. "As the storyline implies the issue of race is front and center in Blazing Saddles," says Stewart. "And racist language and attitudes pervade the film. But those attitudes are espoused by characters who are portrayed here as explicitly small-minded, ignorant bigots. The real, and much more enlightened perspective, is provided by the main characters played by Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder."
TOPICS: Jacqueline Stewart, TCM, Blazing Saddles, Gone with the Wind
More Jacqueline Stewart on Primetimer:- Turner Classic Movies to kick off a series on problematic classic films tonight with Gone with the Wind
- Gone with the Wind returns to HBO Max, with a prologue about how the film "denies the horrors of slavery"
- HBO Max taps TCM's first African-American host Jacqueline Stewart to introduce Gone with the Wind
- Turner Classic Movies hires its first black host: Jacqueline Stewart
