Fletch, Blazing Saddles, and Beverly Hills Cop are on Netflix right now. i'd only seen Saddles before, decades ago and mostly forgotten. the first two did not age well. the third aged alarmingly well.

i've never been much of a Mel Brooks appreciator (maybe Spaceballs is ok?) but gosh, almost no laffs were had in Blazing Saddles. it is wild to imagine silent gens and boomers like my parents losing their shit to this in 1974, deeming it an influential masterpiece of the comedic form, while to me it's near completely chuckle-free. it's silly! it's got some fun performances and lines. but what once seemed the height of comic absurdity, like punching a horse--can you believe it?!--is now beyond passé. we punch horses all the time!