110 of 1001 Movies: Blazing Saddles(1974)

Mel Brooks goes there in his comedy Blazing Saddles, which is most likely the highlight of his comedic directing career. Blazing Saddles is often said to be the movie that you probably couldn't make nowadays as it is blunt in what it means, and the characters use a lot of words that have gotten censored with their racist meanings. Mel Brooks though tackles the subject, particularly close to when these things were very heated still as well, and makes it comedic while empowering, by portraying the racist as not as smart as they hope to believe.

Hedley is a corrupt political boss who receives a request from a town for a sheriff after they have faced several attacks. In order to destroy the town though since they are on bad terms he sends them a sheriff they will hate, and will turn on. He sends Bart, a black man, to become sheriff of the town, and they town instantly reacts with outrage until he begins preventing the crime in the town with the help of a cocaine addict, Jim, who was a prisoner at the town when he arrives there. While the town still remains very rooted in their dumbness they do begin to turn over a new leaf of realizing who is on their side.