The 1970s Western John Wayne Turned Down: Blazing Saddles' Waco Kid

Blazing Saddles, released by Warner Bros. on February 7, 1974, is the Western-comedy classic most closely tied to a famous John Wayne rejection. Director and co-writer Mel Brooks offered Wayne the part of the Waco Kid, a washed-up gunslinger who becomes the deputy of a Black sheriff in a frontier town, according to Wikipedia's entry on the film.

What Mel Brooks says happened

Brooks has recounted the story on the film's home-video commentary and in later interviews, including with outlet Cheat Sheet. He said he met Wayne in the Warner Bros. commissary, handed him the script and asked him to read it overnight because he wanted an actual Western star to lend the Waco Kid a sense of authenticity.

A separate Yahoo Entertainment account describes a similar exchange but renders Wayne's words differently, saying he found the script enjoyable yet too explicit for him to take part in. The two accounts use different wording for Wayne's exact phrasing, but they agree on the substance: he praised the script, declined over its explicit content, and said he would be first in line to see the finished film. Wikipedia's article on the film likewise states Wayne found the script too explicit for his fans and promised to watch the finished picture first.

Who played the role instead

The part did not go directly to Gene Wilder. According to Wikipedia, Brooks initially cast Gig Young as the Waco Kid, but Young collapsed during filming from alcohol-withdrawal symptoms and had to be replaced. Wilder stepped in and played Jim, the Waco Kid, opposite Cleavon Little's Sheriff Bart.

Blazing Saddles grossed about $119.6 million against a roughly $2.6 million budget, becoming only the tenth film to cross $100 million at the North American box office at the time, Wikipedia states. It received three Academy Award nominations, including a Best Supporting Actress nod for Madeline Kahn, and was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2006.

Why the story resurfaced in 2026

The anecdote has circulated for years, but it gained fresh attention around Mel Brooks' 100th birthday on June 28, 2026. On that date, the American Film Institute announced it was moving Blazing Saddles from No. 6 to No. 1 on its "100 Years...100 Laughs" list of the funniest American films, according to AFI's official announcement. The honor displaced Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, which had topped the list since it debuted in 2000.

AFI President Bob Gazzale said Brooks had long argued his film belonged at the top, and that AFI was now acknowledging this in honor of Brooks' birthday. Brooks is the only director with three films in the list's top 15: Blazing Saddles at No. 1, The Producers at No. 11 and Young Frankenstein at No. 13, per AFI.

A pattern in Wayne's choices

Blazing Saddles was not the only high-profile 1970s part Wayne passed on. A separate Yahoo Entertainment report notes Wayne was also offered the lead in Dirty Harry around 1970 and declined it in favor of a slate of Westerns; Clint Eastwood took the role instead, and Wayne later acknowledged that passing on it had been a mistake. Dirty Harry is a crime drama rather than a Western, but the anecdote illustrates how often Wayne turned down roles that later became landmark films.