(When the chief bad guy points out that one bandit listed “rape” twice in his, uh, qualifications, the bandit replies blithely, “I like rape.”) As frequently savvy as the script (credited in part to Richard Pryor) is, none other than Brooks himself has acknowledged that the film could never be made today to Variety: “We have become stupidly politically correct, which is the death of comedy.” Whether that latter point is true, he’s right about one thing: There’s no way this movie would exist now. Blazing Saddles is well-known for an iconic but gross sequence in which a group of cowboys sit around the campfire and let a bunch of farts rip, but it’s also got scenes where bandits are hired based on how terrible their crimes have been. If there’s any doubt this film couldn't be made today, the opening scene after the credits, in which the n-word is thrown around with heedless abandon, should confirm it. In the mid-'70s, Mel Brooks shook up the state of Hollywood comedies with Blazing Saddles, a wild parody of the Western genre.
