The Chief Executive Wasn’t Happy With Some Things
After the film was screened for Warner Brothers, chief executive Ted Ashley wasn’t exactly pleased with everything. Ashley cornered and told Brooks, “You have to do the following: take out (the N-word), take out the bean scene, punching a horse, the Lili von Shtupp and the black sheriff ‘you’re sucking my arm,’ or something. You’ve got to take it all out.” Brooks answered, “Great! They’re all out.” However, rather than doing what he was told, Brooks just walked away after throwing out the notes.
Inspired By A True Story
Film fanatics will most likely remember this scene quite well: when the brutish Mongo comes to town, he parks his bull in a no-parking zone. He gets confronted by a horse rider but Mongo just calmly walks up to the horse and clobbers the animal, knocking both the horse and the rider to the ground. Brooks apparently did not just make this part up out of thin air. Rather, a real-life story inspired it and his former boss Sid Caesar told him the story.