Sheriff Bart from "Blazing Saddles" by Tony Moore

For me, "Blazing Saddles" is the definitive Mel Brooks comedy. I was surprised that Cleavon Little wasn't rocketed to a larger movie career after, because he’s simply fantastic in it. He steals the show throughout, no small feat when the other lead is Gene Wilder! It’s always bothered me that some think the film is racist, when the underlying message of the film is that the villains’ attempts to work against Sheriff Bart are thwarted by the weakness of their inherent racism: since they can’t conceive of Sheriff Bart being an intelligent and exceptionally clever person, their poorly-conceived attempts to defeat him are doomed to fail. Mel Brooks himself has described the film as a live action Looney Tunes story in which racist Elmer Fudd’s have no hope against the clever Bugs Bunny, effortlessly humiliating them at each turn. In the past couple years I’ve been delighted to learn that exactly this interpretation of the film has been taught in some college cultural studies programs. To top it off, the film is damned funny, particularly the camaraderie between Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder. I wanted this piece from Tony Moore for a while, so I treated myself to a sketch card sized piece when he started them for the holidays. He loves the movie too, so he loved the request.
Commission 2020.