Blazing Saddles

A Black railroad laborer (Cleavon Little) becomes the sheriff of a Western town in the first of Mel Brooks’s parody films—still one of the best of the genre. Brooks satirizes racism in what is arguably his most taboo-breaking film, full of dialogue both unprintable and endlessly quotable. Blazing Saddles earned nominations for its Film Editing, the uproarious title song by Brooks and score composer John Morris, and Madeline Kahn’s performance as the Dietrichesque “Lili Von Shtupp,” part of a peerless cast that includes Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, and Brooks himself in multiple roles.