Blazing Saddles (1974) on Netflix
A railroad must be rerouted through Rock Ridge, and Hedley Lamarr wants the town emptied. He talks Governor William J. Le Petomane into naming Bart, a Black railroad worker, the new sheriff.
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Plot summary
Rock Ridge sits in the path of a railroad that has to be rerouted around quicksand, which would make the town worth millions. Territorial attorney general Hedley Lamarr wants the residents gone and sends Taggart with a gang of thugs to shoot the sheriff and wreck the place. The townspeople, led by their prominent citizens named Johnson, ask Governor William J. Le Petomane for a new sheriff. Lamarr talks the governor into appointing Bart, a Black railroad worker facing execution for assaulting Taggart, calculating that a Black sheriff will offend Rock Ridge and leave it at his mercy. Bart meets a hostile reception, takes himself hostage to escape it, and finds an ally in Jim, a gunslinger with a drinking problem known as the Waco Kid.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Blazing Saddles (1974)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Brooks offered the Waco Kid to John Wayne, who turned it down as too blue for his family-oriented image but promised he would be first in line to see it. Gig Young was cast instead and collapsed during his first scene from alcohol withdrawal syndrome, so Gene Wilder was flown in to replace him.
- Richard Pryor was Brooks's original choice for Sheriff Bart, and the story went that the studio found him uninsurable because of drug arrests. By 2013 it was acknowledged that Brooks had dropped him by early 1972, and Michael Schultz said Brooks feared Pryor would overshadow him; Cleavon Little took the role and Pryor stayed on as a screenwriter.
- The film's running joke names a character Hedly Lamarr while everyone calls him Hedy Lamarr instead. Four months after release the retired star Hedy Lamarr sued Warner Communications and Brooks for $10 million over it; Brooks said he was flattered, and the company settled out of court for a small sum and an apology.
- Warner Bros. executives fought Brooks over the film's frequent use of a racial slur, Lili Von Shtupp's seduction scene, the campfire flatulence and Mongo punching out a horse, but Brooks's contract gave him final cut and he removed only Bart's closing line in the seduction scene.
- To sing the title song Brooks advertised in the trade papers for a Frankie Laine-type singer, and Laine himself offered his services. Laine sang it straight, nobody had the heart to tell him the film was a spoof, and he never heard the whip cracks, which were added later.
