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Richard Pryor in Blazing Saddles? It Almost Happened

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Starting with 1976's Silver Streak, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were joined at the hip as a comedy duo. With Pryor as the improvisational dynamo and Wilder as his hapless accomplice, their on-screen chemistry was electric -- on par with Laurel and Hardy's.

"The timing of everything we did on-screen came so spontaneously to us that it was almost like sexual attraction," Wilder said in his memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger. It was a relationship that stretched into the '90s; in all, they made four films together.

The duo's debut was supposed to have come in 1974, in Mel Brooks's Western spoof Blazing Saddles. Brooks hired Pryor to work on the script and planned on casting him in the lead. Pryor had previously penned episodes of Sanford and Son and had been shopping a script for his own politically incorrect Western comedy, The Black Stranger. But hopes of casting the bright young comedian were dashed when he started bringing Courvoisier and cocaine to script sessions. Cleavon Little got the part, though Pryor's pungent racial humor is in evidence throughout the film.

Drug problems also led to another casting change. Gig Young was supposed to play the whiskey-guzzling Waco Kid, but his real-life alcohol problems got the better of him. Wilder came in to save the day for what would become the year's most unexpected blockbuster.

Click here for a full schedule of Blazing Saddles on AMC.

Posted by Robert Silva
February 28, 2009 12:00am


Comments

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By Navion on February 28, 2009 9:03 PM

As happy as I am to see ANY viewing of this classic, I'm REALLY disappointed that you chose to censor out the "Nigger" and other language, blunting some of the best lines, especially with no notice. The work stands on it's own. The movie was powerful EXACTLY because it lampooned behavior like...yours.

I'm thinking Clint would be pissed, too.

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By Jean on February 28, 2009 9:18 PM

I absolutely enjoy this movie every time it's on.
Even though I liked Richard Pryor, this movie would not have been the same without Gene Wilder and Madilyn Kahn. Have to agree nothing should have been ommitted and for the same reason!

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By Laura J on February 28, 2009 10:13 PM

I agree about the censorship. My dad (age 75) never saw this till tonight and unless I had been there to tell him the missing words, it lost it's humor and satire.

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By wvumounties8 on February 28, 2009 10:21 PM

I agree that the movie should never be censored. It completely takes away from what Mel Brooks is trying to convey with his satire.

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By Robert Silva on March 2, 2009 1:37 PM

Jean, I too imagine the movie would have been completely different with Richard Pryor. He never stuck to the script and the picture would likely have had a much more improvisational quality, that might not have been altogether beneficial.

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By zainejaz on December 26, 2010 9:44 AM

i dont think you ever read this stuff but ya think you could email me?
Zain from Tulsa Courthouse

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