In 1926, Buster Keaton made a movie titled The General. According to the American Film Institute, it ranks as number 18 on the list of all time hilarity. Has anyone in this millennium watched this thing? Who actually placed votes for this debacle starring a lipstick-wearing moron? I doubt that I'm alone in this thinking process, but it would seem that Chevy Chase in Fletch should have taken that #18 spot, considering Fletch wasn't even on the list, and Buster Keaton is about as funny as herpes.

Now, before I get all sorts of e-mail from Keaton whackos (well, that would seem a bit of a stretch since most of the people who saw The General in the theater have turned in their cafeteria trays, if you know what I mean), yes, I have seen Buster Keaton on screen. I had no choice. It was a film class I took in college. I went to NAU, where all the cinema classes were 400-level, enabling many students to strike off some easy upper-level Liberal Arts requirements while still maintaining their astute attention to Jamaican and Columbian agriculture. Nevertheless, I watched that movie more than twice, because I fell asleep the first time and had to watch it again to prepare for the test, which went something like this:

During the railroad boom in the late 20's, many years before motorized cars or trucks became standards of transportation, Buster Keaton filmed a silent comedy on the following method of transportation:
A. Train
B. Car
C. Train
D. Truck

It was ridiculous, just like the obvious omission of Fletch from the Top 100 list. Fletch was released the year I graduated high school. By that time, Animal House and Caddyshack had already spent all their tickets and viewers were longing for a new hit. Chevy was the man at this point in time. Everything that I could possibly want to be in life was wrapped up in this character: Fletch was a hilarious, intelligent, wanton writer, hot lover, bloody mary & steak sandwich eater and clever banterer.

It was Fletch's world and I watched it unfold at the Scottsdale Drive-In every Friday night for over a year, laughing and yelping, spitting out beer and popcorn and bites of corndogs, completely taken by the subtle and obvious humor, before Fletch was ripped from the screen for Friday the Thirteenth Part IV.

Buster Keaton and his flicks live strong, though. There are shows skipping around America with a full orchestra in tow, cranking out the old laughs of The General from 75 years ago. In fact, the Alloy Orchestra, a modern group specializing in accompanying music to silent films, will be in Tucson with The General, shortly before Thanksgiving, playing live as the grainy images of 'ol Buster, doing his thing, flitter across the screen.

Fletch is now mostly forgotten, except for those of us who rented it long ago and never returned it, forcing our parents to wiggle their way out of the ludicrous charge. A third Fletch movie in the works, titled "Fletch Won," a promising title (and great book), but it's doubtful that it will be considered on any future lists put out by the AFI. Movies just aren't that funny anymore, and Fletch will not win again.