Hollywood Tried to Bury This 'Disgusting' Western Comedy—Now It's a Cult Classic
Before Warner Bros. was shelving Batgirl and tax-writing entire films into oblivion, they almost tanked one of the funniest comedies ever made — because it had fart jokes.
Yep. That movie was Blazing Saddles.
In 1974, Mel Brooks delivered his wild, chaotic, deeply inappropriate Western spoof to the studio, and the execs… panicked. They screened it, turned pale, and immediately considered flushing the whole thing. As Brooks later put it, "It was anarchy. They could not believe what they were watching."
According to Brooks, one high-ranking Warner exec sat in stunned silence and then said, "Well, I suggest we eat the picture. Let's bury this. It's disgusting. I don't want Warners' name on this."
The crime? Not just the racial satire or the constant fourth-wall breaks — but audible farts. The campfire scene was apparently enough to make grown executives want to disown the entire movie.
Fortunately, someone came to their senses. Instead of burying it, the studio dumped Blazing Saddles into a quiet, barely-promoted release in a handful of cities. It exploded. Word of mouth turned it into a full-blown phenomenon.
By the time the dust settled, Blazing Saddles had made over $100 million — only the tenth film in history to hit that number at the time. It snagged three Oscar nominations, cemented Mel Brooks as a comedy legend, and became one of the most beloved films of the 20th century.
And all this because Warner Bros. almost threw it in the trash... over beans and a fart.