‘Blazing Saddles’: What the Producers Didn’t Want You to Know

1974 was a stellar year for the world of comedy in film. Filmmaker Mel Brooks brought us not only one of his best but one the funniest movies ever made. ‘Blazing Saddles’ hit theaters and made huge waves, waves that still impact the movie industry today. But apart from what we’ve seen in the movie, which was cinema gold, there are the behind the scenes secrets that the film’s producers weren’t so keen on the public knowing at the time.

However, given the amount of time that’s passed, it’s now safe to reveal the things that we weren’t supposed to know back then! To give you an idea of what was concealed: intense scenes were cut out, actors were fired, and some were intoxicated on set. And did you know that the legend himself John Wayne rejected a part in the movie? But all’s fair in love and war in the film industry. At the end of the day, the movie is what we see and in this case, laugh our butts off at.

Mel Brooks Had a Secret

When Mel Brooks took on the project of making ‘Blazing Saddles,’ his son Max was born. Brooks was low on cash, so he really needed to make the movie work. The pressure was on.

Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images

Brooks wasn’t a fan of doing things just for the money, and though he didn’t want to seem like a sellout, he said how he felt like Charles Dickens for taking on a project for the money.

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