Tom Galloway sent me this link to a great interview with Mel Brooks, who's promoting the release of Blazing Saddles on Blu-ray. A couple of points of interest…
Brooks tells about how he wanted to quit the picture because Warner Brothers wouldn't let him cast Richard Pryor in the lead. I always thought he was lucky he didn't get what he wanted there. Pryor was, of course, a much funnier actor than Cleavon Little, who did get the part. But the central point of Blazing Saddles was that the town hated the sheriff strictly because he was black. He was heroic. He was handsome. He was a great guy. But he was black.
Now, Pryor was not as handsome, not as heroic-looking, not as ideal a sheriff, skin color aside. Also, he was at his funniest when he played weak, nervous, dark, troubled, hostile, etc. I think the film works because Sheriff Bart is none of those things. I can see reasons other than his race why the people of Rock Ridge wouldn't have liked Pryor as their sheriff. I can't see any why they wouldn't have embraced Cleavon Little…and that's kind of what the movie is about.
Also in the conversation, Brooks says something interesting about the original movie version of The Producers. Talking about a night spot in New York, he says, "That's where I met Alfa-Betty Olsen…who wrote The Producers with me and who helped me cast it." Interesting way to put that. Alfa-Betty Olsen was a screenwriter and author whose involvement in that film has been debated by film historians. She received no credit for writing on it, nor to my knowledge has she ever claimed she deserved any, describing her role more as secretary than co-writer. But now here's Mel talking about her like she was a co-author…
Anyway, check out the interview. Thanks, Tom.