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The Kentucky Fried Movie
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Wikipedia article
'The Kentucky Fried Movie' is a 1977 American independent sketch comedy film, produced by Kim Jorgensen, Larry Kostroff, and Robert K. Weiss, and directed by John Landis. Among the numerous star cameos are George Lazenby, Bill Bixby, Henry Gibson, Barry Dennen, Donald Sutherland, Tony Dow, Stephen Bishop, and the voice of Shadoe Stevens. According to writer David Zucker on the DVD commentary track, David Letterman auditioned for the role of the newscaster, but was not selected. The film also features many former members of The Groundlings and The Second City. The "feature presentation" portion of the film stars Evan C. Kim and 'hapkido' grand master Bong Soo Han. 'The Kentucky Fried Movie' marked the first film appearances of a number of actors who later became famous, and launched the careers of the Zucker brothers, Abrahams and Landis.
Landis was recommended to direct 'National Lampoon's Animal House' in 1978 based on his work with 'The Kentucky Fried Movie'.
The film's writers were the team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker, who subsequently wrote and directed 'Airplane!', 'Top Secret!' and the 'Police Squad!' television series and its film spin-offs, 'The Naked Gun' films.
Content
'The Kentucky Fried Movie' contains largely unconnected sketches that parody various film genres, including exploitation films. The film's longest segment spoofs early kung-fu films, specifically 'Enter the Dragon'; its title, 'A Fistful of Yen', refers to 'A Fistful of Dollars'. Parodies of disaster films ("That's Armageddon"), blaxploitation films ("Cleopatra Schwartz"), and softcore porn/women-in-prison films ("Catholic High School Girls in Trouble") are presented as "Coming Attraction" trailers. The fictional films are produced by "Samuel L. Bronkowitz" (a conflation of Samuel Bronston and Joseph L. Mankiewicz, but also a spoof of B-movie producer and American International Pictures co-founder Samuel Z. Arkoff). The sketch "See You Next Wednesday" mocks theater-based gimmicks like Sensurround by depicting a dramatic film presented in "Feel-a-Round", which involves an usher physically accosting a theater patron. Other sketches spoof TV commercials and programs, news broadcasts, and classroom educational films. The city of Detroit and its high crime rate are a running gag portraying the city as a hell on Earth; in "A Fistful of Yen", the evil drug lord orders a captured CIA agent to be sent to Detroit, and the agent screams and begs to be killed instead.
Sketches
The credits list the sketches incorrectly, as the writers changed the show order after the credits had been written. On second cut, they corrected this error. The following list is in the running order used in the film:Production
Background
David Zucker, Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams made the rounds of the Hollywood studios with the concept and were rejected by all of them, being told, "audiences didn't like movies composed of sketches". Since the three believed in their material, which they had honed in front of the audiences with their improvisational troupe "Kentucky Fried Theater", they decided to make the movie on their own.A wealthy real estate investor offered to finance the film if they would write a script. After completion of the screenplay, the investor had second thoughts and decided he did not want to finance the film alone. He said he would try to attract other investors if the three filmmakers would produce a 10-minute excerpt of the film, which he would finance. When the trio presented a budget of the short film to the investor, he backed out.Litwak, p. 136
Filming
The prospect of shooting the short film so excited the trio that they decided to pay for it themselves. The 10-minute film cost $35,000, and with it they again approached the Hollywood studios. This time, they attached a young director named John Landis to the project, who came to their attention after an appearance on 'The Tonight Show' promoting his first film 'Schlock'. However, once again, the studios turned them down.Distribution and release
Curious as to how audiences would react to their film, they persuaded exhibitor Kim Jorgensen to show it before one of his regularly scheduled films. When Jorgenson saw the short, he "fell out of his seat laughing." He was so impressed that he offered to raise the money needed to make the full-length version. By having his fellow exhibitors screen the film before audiences in their theaters, he convinced them to put up the $650,000 budget. When released, 'Kentucky Fried Movie' was a box-office success, returning domestic American rentals of $7.1 million.
Home media
Anchor Bay Entertainment released a region 1 DVD in 2000. This release is presented in widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio and full-frame (1.33:1). It includes commentary by Landis; writers ZAZ; and producer Robert K. Weiss.On July 4, 2011, Arrow Video in region 2 released a two-disc special edition DVD with the following special features:
* Feature presented in widescreen 1.85:1 and full-frame 1.33:1
* Original mono audio
* The audio recollections of director Landis; writers ZAZ; and producer Robert K. Weiss
* A conversation with David and Jerry Zucker: A feature length interview with the co-creators of 'The Kentucky Fried Movie', 'Airplane!' and 'The Naked Gun' about their lives and career, from growing up and starting out in show business to their comedy influences and spoofing 'Midnight Cowboy'
* Jerry Zucker's on-set home video shot during the making of the movie
* Behind-the-scenes photo gallery
* Original trailer
* Four-panel reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork
* Double-sided fold-out artwork poster
* Collector's booklet featuring brand new writing on director Landis by critic and author Calum Waddell
On July 2, 2013, Shout! Factory released the film on Blu-ray in a 1.85:1 aspect widescreen transfer. This version includes the original theatrical trailer, Arrow DVD release filmmaker commentary, and Zucker Bros. interview.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 81% based on reviews from 32 critics. The site's critical consensus reads: "The now obscure pop culture references and spoofed commercials add to 'Kentucky Fried Movies' anarchic, anything-goes spirit and wit." On Metacritic it has a score of 61% based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
At the time, 'Variety' described the film as having "excellent production values and some genuine wit" but also noted that film was juvenile and tasteless. Lawrence Van Gelder of 'The New York Times' wrote, "Lots of people will probably like 'The Kentucky Fried Movie', just as they like Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's hamburgers. But popularity is still no reason for deifying mediocrity."Van Gelder, Lawrence (August 11, 1977). "'Kentucky Fried' A Yolky Film". 'The New York Times'. 55. Gene Siskel of the 'Chicago Tribune' gave the film two stars out of four and wrote that the best moments were "one-joke gags; its writers can't sustain their humor for longer pieces. So, what you're left with is a half-dozen decent gags, one overlong karate flick, and a few shots of bare breasts thrown in to titillate teenage boys."Siskel, Gene (October 4, 1977). "Parody is overcooked, so 'Kentucky Fried Movie' doesn't quite pan out". 'Chicago Tribune'. Section 2, p. 5. Gary Arnold of 'The Washington Post' called it "a diverting hit-and-miss satirical anthology."Arnold, Gary (October 13, 1977). "Kentucky Fried Movie". 'The Washington Post'. B15. Kevin Thomas of the 'Los Angeles Times' wrote, "As is inevitable in such undertakings there are some sophomoric moments, but on the whole 'Kentucky Fried Movie' is, amazingly enough, almost continually funny in its ribald way."Thomas, Kevin (August 11, 1977). "'Kentucky Fried' Ribaldry". 'Los Angeles Times'. Part IV, p. 18.
Writing three decades later in 2008, Ian Nathan of 'Empire' magazine calls the film "occasionally funny"... "in a scattershot and puerile way", and he concludes the film is "smart and satirical, but very dated". J. C. Maek III of 'PopMatters' wrote, "'The Kentucky Fried Movie 'is, however, profane, experimental, violent, silly, hilarious, and occasionally quite sexually explicit (all of which surely helped its success over the years)."
The film ranks number 87 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies list.
See also
* 'Amazon Women on the Moon'
* 'Disco Beaver from Outer Space'
* 'Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex*'
* 'The Groove Tube'
* 'Tunnel Vision'
* 'UHF'
* 'Robot Chicken'
* 'Loose Shoes'
* 'The Onion Movie'
* 'Movie 43'
* List of films featuring fictional films
References
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