50 Fun Facts About Blazing Saddles

In which year was Blazing Saddles released?

It opened on 7 February; Brooks released Young Frankenstein the same year.

Which stand-up comedian co-wrote Blazing Saddles and was originally intended to play Sheriff Bart?

Brooks dropped the casting plan by early 1972; the story treatment came from co-writer Andrew Bergman.

Who plays Sheriff Bart?

Little had won a Tony for the musical Purlie in 1970 and later an Emmy for a Dear John guest spot.

Gene Wilder plays the Waco Kid, a gunslinger with what problem?

Wilder co-wrote Young Frankenstein with Brooks the same year and later teamed with Richard Pryor in Silver Streak and Stir Crazy.

Which actor was originally cast as the Waco Kid but collapsed on set from alcohol withdrawal?

Gene Wilder stepped in; John Wayne had also declined the part but promised to go and see the film.

Which Western icon turned down a Blazing Saddles role but told Brooks he would be first in line to see it?

The film parodies the whole John Ford tradition he embodied.

Harvey Korman plays the scheming territorial attorney with what name?

The real actress Hedy Lamarr sued over the name and settled out of court.

Which real film star sued over the villain's name?

Korman was best known from The Carol Burnett Show, where he won four Emmys.

The saloon singer Lili von Shtupp is a parody of which star?

Her number 'I'm Tired' earned Kahn her second Oscar nomination in two years, after Paper Moon.

Which Blazing Saddles performer received an Academy Award nomination for the film?

The film's other two nominations were for film editing and original song.

Which former NFL defensive tackle played Mongo, the brute who punches out a horse?

The four-time Pro Bowler for the Detroit Lions later starred in the sitcom Webster.

Which two roles does Mel Brooks himself play in the film?

The governor is named after Joseph Pujol, a French flatulence performer billed as Le Pétomane.

Governor William J. Le Petomane is named after Joseph Pujol, a French performer famous for what?

Pujol headlined the Moulin Rouge in the 1890s and could blow out a candle from yards away.

What is the name of the frontier town the railroad must pass through?

Lamarr appoints a Black sheriff hoping to drive the townspeople out; they end up building a decoy town packed with dynamite.

Which bandleader and his orchestra appear playing in the middle of the desert?

It is one of the film's deliberate anachronisms, greeting Bart as he rides to Rock Ridge.

Which crooner sang the film's title song without realising the movie was a comedy?

He thought it was another High Noon-style Western and belted it straight; the song was Oscar-nominated.

Which of these was among the elements Warner Bros. executives wanted cut before release?

They also objected to the racial slurs, Lili's seduction scene and Mongo hitting a horse, but Brooks had final cut.

The film's climactic brawl breaks the fourth wall and spills onto what?

The fight crashes a Busby Berkeley-style musical and ends up at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Which comedian plays Buddy Bizarre, the director whose musical number is invaded by the brawl?

His number is called 'The French Mistake'.

How do Bart and the Waco Kid finally leave town at the end of the film?

They ride off on horseback, then hand the horses to a wrangler and climb into a stretch limo.

Roughly how much did Blazing Saddles gross worldwide against its $2.6M budget?

It was Warner Bros.' top moneymaker of the summer.

Where did Blazing Saddles rank on the AFI's '100 Years... 100 Laughs' list?

The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2006.

In which year was Blazing Saddles added to the US National Film Registry?

The registry preserves films deemed culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

Which working title was dropped so audiences would not mistake the film for something X-rated?

It was the title of Andrew Bergman's original story treatment.

Who played Bart in the 1975 CBS television pilot Black Bart, based on the same story?

Steve Landesberg played his drunkard sidekick; the pilot was not picked up.

Slim Pickens, who plays Lamarr's henchman Taggart, is best remembered for riding what in Dr. Strangelove?

The former rodeo clown took his stage name from a manager's warning of 'slim pickins' for prize money.

Harvey Korman won four Emmys for which long-running variety series?

He also voiced the Great Gazoo on The Flintstones and reunited with Brooks for High Anxiety and History of the World, Part I.

Which other Mel Brooks comedy did Gene Wilder co-write and star in the same year as Blazing Saddles?

The screenplay earned Wilder and Brooks an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The actress who played Lili von Shtupp got her first Oscar nomination the year before, for which film?

She later won a Tony for The Sisters Rosensweig in 1993 and died in 1999 aged 57.

Mel Brooks was born under what name in Brooklyn in 1926?

He is one of the few EGOT winners, having taken Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.

Which 1960s spy sitcom did Mel Brooks co-create with Buck Henry?

Brooks started as a writer on Your Show of Shows and created The 2000 Year Old Man with Carl Reiner.

Which actress was married to Mel Brooks from 1964 until her death in 2005?

Their son Max Brooks wrote World War Z.

Which comedian did Gene Wilder marry in 1984?

After Radner's death from ovarian cancer in 1989 he became a cancer-awareness campaigner.

The former football player who plays Mongo was suspended from the NFL in 1963 for what?

He was banned alongside Green Bay's Paul Hornung, and later did Monday Night Football commentary.

Which sitcom later starred Mongo's actor as adoptive father George Papadopolis?

His real-life wife Susan Clark played his on-screen wife.

Which award did the actor who played Bart win in 1970 for the Broadway musical Purlie?

He also picked up a Drama Desk Award for the role.

Which two Western themes had the theme's singer already recorded, making him a natural choice?

'Mr. Rhythm' was born Francesco LoVecchio in Chicago; his cover of 'High Noon' outsold the film version.

What was Blazing Saddles' Rotten Tomatoes approval rating, according to the film's encyclopaedia entry?

The critics' consensus called it 'gleefully vulgar'.

Which lawman post does the villain trick the governor into giving Bart?

Lamarr expects the racist townsfolk to flee; instead Bart wins them over.

Where did the film's fourth-wall-breaking finale finish?

Bart and Jim watch the end of their own movie there before riding off.

Brooks said in 2012 that if Blazing Saddles were remade today, studios would leave out what?

The film's satire of racism is the reason it is still studied and still argued about.

In what year on the American frontier is Blazing Saddles set?

Brooks loved the idea of 1974 hip talk happening in 1874, exactly a century before the film came out.

What natural hazard forces the railroad to be rerouted through the town in the film?

Bart and the Waco Kid learn of the reroute from Bart's railroad friend Charlie, which exposes the villain's land grab.

Who was going to play the sheriff in an abandoned earlier version, with Alan Arkin directing?

Andrew Bergman's original outline fell apart before Brooks bought the rights and hired a writing team to expand it.

Which late-night host turned down the role of the scheming attorney general?

Gene Wilder also passed on the part before Harvey Korman took it and made it his own.

Which composer wrote the music for the title song, to lyrics by Mel Brooks?

Brooks wrote words and music for three other songs himself, including 'I'm Tired' and 'The French Mistake'.

Where did the film hold its world premiere, with 250 guests watching on horseback?

Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder were among the guests in the saddle at the Pickwick Drive-In on 7 February 1974.

What do Bart, Jim and Mongo build in the raiders' path to buy time?

The gang has to send back for change, giving the townspeople time to finish their dynamite-rigged replica town.

What did the large sign Brooks posted for his writing team say?

Brooks had not worked with a writers' room since Your Show of Shows and later described the process as a drunken fistfight.

Which paranormal drama titled a 2011 episode 'The French Mistake' in tribute to the film?

The nod fits: the Supernatural episode has its heroes crashing through into a world where they are actors on a TV set.