The Horse Goes Down
One of the most infamous scenes (not that there aren’t plenty to choose from) of the film was the scene when Mongo knocks the horse clean out. Of course, Mongo didn’t mean to hit the horse – just the guy who was riding it. Unfortunately, his aim was a bit off and he wound up hitting them both. But fans were not happy that the film would go to such great lengths for a shot as to hurt an innocent animal.
In 1974, the inner workings of how these things were made weren’t as well-known as they are these days. So, animal activists started calling in about the mistreatment of the horse. Little did they know they were in fact watching a stunt scene, with a highly trained stunt horse.
Rejected by John Wayne
John Wayne was a legend on-screen, especially when it came to Western films. His breakthrough role came about in 1939, when he was cast as the lead in John Ford’s 1939 hit film, Stagecoach. So naturally, Brooks’ first choice when it came to the lead in his own film was the major star. But Wayne wasn’t exactly thrilled about the prospect of appearing in a spoof film, so he turned down the role.
It wasn’t all bad news for the director, however, because Wayne did admit that he was excited to see it – just not star in it. So, Brooks had to return to the drawing board and move on to his next choice. Casting the stars would prove to be much more difficult than he’d hoped, however.
A Budding Friendship
After Wilder landed his breakthrough role on Brooks’ film, The Producers, it was only a matter of time until the two were both good friends and business partners. After Wilder passed on in 2016, Brooks paid tribute to his longtime friend and partner on The Tonight Show, saying that he missed being able to call him, and that he’d felt blessed to have him in his life all those years.
The friendship between the two started to build during the three years it took Brooks to acquire the funding to film The Producers, which was originally set to be called Springtime for Hitler. After the success of their first project, they went on to work on several films together, including Young Frankenstein, which came out the same year as their Western parody.
The Stunt Show
Horses are highly intelligent animals, so it’s no wonder they started being used in films in the early 1900’s. Then, when Westerns became popular in the 60’s and 70’s, stunt horses became even more common. The type of horse used in this scene in particular was trained to take a fall when it saw a certain command, and thus, no animals were actually hit in the film.
Unfortunately, animal rights haven’t always been enforced in filmmaking and many animals have been abused and neglected in the industry – but the stunt horse in Blazing Saddles is not one of them. Thankfully, laws have been tightened up to protect animals within the American entertainment industry.
Fighting Attempted Censorship
The pre-production stages of Blazing Saddles saw some troubled waters, since Warner Brothers had some major issues in backing a movie that they felt uncomfortable with. Some executives even laughed at it during the initial screening process.
They tried to get Brooks to change his language within the script, but he stood his ground, since the entire purpose of the film was to shake things up and make people face things like extreme racism to remind them it exists. After the film’s release, Brooks said he got plenty of angry letters, but he had no regrets about following his gut.