The Box Art Designer for This ‘Blazing Saddles’ HD Re-Release Clearly Never Watched the Movie

Box art designer only pawn in the game of life.

That could be the excuse that the artist responsible for the cover of the Blazing Saddles 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release uses if they were ever questioned about their confusing creative decision that takes the title of the film suspiciously literally — unfortunately, they’ve almost certainly never seen the movie and would never get the reference. 

See, anyone who has actually watched Blazing Saddles understands that the title has nearly nothing to do with the Western comedy itself, and it’s just an evocative little name that catches the eye and sets the tone for the Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little-led satire of racism and the Old West as it’s portrayed in Hollywood. 

Sadly, as Mel Brooks fans on Twitter recently discovered, the graphic designer who drew up the disc sleeve of the remastered re-release of Blazing Saddles has only ever seen the movie’s name. Maybe the unnamed artist can use part of their commission check to invest in a physical copy of the film — it sure seems likely that they’d have that Amazon link somewhere.

As Brooks revealed in the director’s commentary for Blazing Saddles (which is presumably included in the unnecessary super-HD remaster), the eventual title that the above artist took too literally wasn’t his first choice for the film. Originally, Brooks wanted to call the film Tex X, in reference to the civil rights leader Malcolm X, but he worried that the overuse of a certain letter would lead audiences and perverts alike to believe the movie was a smut film. Brooks then switched the name to Black Bart, a name that was used in the failed Blazing Saddles TV spin-off, and he briefly considered The Purple Sage as well. Eventually, the winning name came to Brooks while he was in the shower: Blazing Saddles! 

Brooks first pitched the title of Blazing Saddles to his wife, Oscar-winning actress and director Anne Bancroft, before clearing it with his writers. With “ayes” across the board, Blazing Saddles became the official title of the greatest Western comedy ever made, despite the fact that no saddle, stirrup or rein is ever set ablaze in the film, let alone multiple saddle infernos. 

Still, if you were a graphic designer (or a generative A.I. model) who had never seen the classic film, you’d probably think that a saddle on fire amidst a generic Western backdrop would be a safe choice for the Blu-ray cover art. 

However, as Twitter so gleefully pointed, out, you’d be wrong.