In a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly timed to the 40th anniversary of “Blazing Saddles” hitting theaters, Brooks praised Pryor’s “profound” impact on the screenplay. “He gave me some really beautiful 126th Street, St. Nicholas Ave. [Harlem] lines,” said Brooks.

The longer Brooks and his writers worked with Pryor, the more convinced he became that the comedian had to play Sheriff Black Bart. Alas, this didn’t fly with Warner Bros, which cited Pryor’s drug-related run-ins with law enforcement as evidence that he was unreliable and, thus, uninsurable. Enraged, Brooks quit the film and only came back three days later when Pryor said Cleavon Little would be a terrific Black Bart.

As Brooks told EW:

“Richard came over and said, ‘If I was the black sheriff, I could pass for Cuban because I’m coffee-colored. Now, this guy Cleavon Little: He’s classy, he has poise, and he’s really charming. But he’s black as coal. He will scare the s*** out of them.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’m coming back.’”

Brooks came back alright and knocked out a comedy classic that’s lost none of its zip 50 years later. Again, this isn’t because Brooks and company had more leeway to use the n-word for laughs. It’s the brazen stupidity of the racist characters that make us howl. And Little’s sophisticated demeanor provides the perfect contrast to this knee-jerk, unapologetic bigotry. As Wilder’s Waco Kid asks of Bart during their first bonding session, “What’s a dazzling urbanite like you doing in a rustic setting like this?” Making these white townsfolk look like the uncultured bozos they have no idea they are.