2. Studio Tried To Mangle Blazing Saddles, Forgetting They Gave Mel Brooks Final Cut Privilege
Blazing Saddles is a classic satire from Mel Brooks, an extremely funny mockery of how Hollywood mythologises the Old West, and essentially white-washes history. While this might have been a contentious subject in the mid-1970s, Warner Bros' attempts to sabotage Brooks' vision failed because of their own stupidity. Studio executives called Brooks into a meeting, where they gave him a laundry list full of things they wanted him to change before release, such as cutting every use of the N-word, and eliding the now famous beans scene, which was the first fart joke in a major studio feature. Being the conscientious type, Brooks took extensive notes of the meeting, reportedly only to dump the notes in the garbage outside following the meeting, well aware that he had final cut privilege on the film, and nobody was going to be able to tell him what to do. Brilliant.