The "Waco Kid" in the film "Blazing Saddles", says he has likely killed more men than which famous filmmaker?

In the 1974 movie release "Blazing Saddles", it was made as an American satirical Western comedy epic from Mel Brooks (with writing help from Richard Pryor) which mercilessly spoofs the Western film genre. Jim, the "Waco Kid" (Gene Wilder) in "Blazing Saddles", said that he most likely killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille. This was a joke which had specific meaning behind it.

There was an old joke in the Hollywood movie industry. It was based upon the fact that Cecil B. DeMille used tens of thousands of extras in his films. His large scale epic movies had battle scenes involving hundreds of participants at a time. Ergo, people 'died' in DeMille films. Hollywood didn't have proper health & safety standards at that time.

With no standards in place, DeMille in the early days of film was known for his total disregard for the safety of anyone on set. His original 1926 "Ben-Hur" was infamous for how many animals were killed or maimed during production. Many cast and crew members literally avoided death by inches.