Coordinates	44°25′57″N26°6′14″N
name	The Kentucky Fried Movie
director	John Landis
producer	Kim JorgensenLarry KostroffRobert K. Weiss
writer	Jim AbrahamsDavid ZuckerJerry Zucker
starring	Bill BixbyGeorge LazenbyEvan C. KimTony DowDonald SutherlandTara StrohmeierBranscombe Richmond
music	Igo Kantor
cinematography	Robert E. CollinsStephen M. Katz
editing	George Folsey Jr.
distributor	United Film Distribution Anchor Bay Entertainment (DVD)
released	August 10, 1977
runtime	90 min.
country
language	English
budget	$650,000
gross	$20,000,000 (Global) $15,000,000 (USA) + $5,000,000 (Non-USA)
followed by	}}

The Kentucky Fried Movie is an American comedy film, released in 1977 and directed by John Landis. The film's writers were the team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker. This same team would go on to write and direct Airplane!, Top Secret! and the Police Squad! television show and its movie spinoffs, The Naked Gun films. The "feature presentation" portion of the film stars Evan C. Kim and hapkido Grand Master Bong Soo Han. Among the numerous cameo stars were George Lazenby, Bill Bixby, Tony Dow, Donald Sutherland, and the voice of Shadoe Stevens. According to David Zucker in the DVD commentary track, David Letterman auditioned for the role of the newscaster, but was not selected. The movie also features many former members of The Groundlings theater, as well as some from The Second City.

This film is number 87 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies", and is considered, along with The Groove Tube, to be one of the original groundbreaking pioneer films of the entire spoof and mockumentary genres of film making that followed it. The Kentucky Fried Movie marked the first film appearances of a number of actors who later became famous as well as being the vehicle that launched the careers of the Zucker brothers, Abrahams and Landis. It was Landis' work on this film that was largely responsible for him being recommended to direct National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978.

Production background

David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams made the rounds of the Hollywood studios and were rejected by all of them, being told that "audiences didn't like movies composed of sketches." Since the three believed in their material, which they had honed in front of the audiences in their 140-seat improvisational troupe billed as 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 ten-minute excerpt of the film, which he would finance. However, when the trio presented a budget of the short film to the investor, he backed out.

However, the prospect of shooting the short film so excited the trio that they decided to pay for it themselves. The ten-minute film cost $35,000, and with it they again approached the Hollywood studios. This time they attached young director John Landis to the project. However, once again, the studios turned them down.

Curious as to how audiences would react to their film, they persuaded exhibitor Kim Jorgenson to show it before one of his regularly scheduled movies. 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.

Description

The Kentucky Fried Movie has no unified plot; it consists of numerous parody sketches.

The most common target of these sketches is exploitation films. A spoof of early kung-fu movies (primarily Enter the Dragon) titled A Fistful of Yen in imitation of A Fistful of Dollars, is the film's "feature presentation" and longest segment. Parodies of disaster movies (That's Armageddon), blaxplotation (Cleopatra Schwartz) and softcore porn/women-in-prison films (Catholic High School Girls in Trouble) are presented as "Coming Attraction" trailers. The sketch See You Next Wednesday mocks theater-based gimmicks like Sensurround by depicting a pornographic movie presented in "Feel-A-Round," which involves an usher physically accosting the patron.

The fictional movies portrayed are all produced by "Samuel L. Bronkowitz" (a conflation of Samuel Bronston and Joseph L. Mankiewicz).

Other sketches spoof TV commercials, programs and news broadcasts, and classroom educational films.

The city of Detroit and its high crime rate are a running gag throughout the film, each reference jokingly portraying the city as a hell-on-Earth.

Writer Jerry Zucker appears as "The Beaver" from Leave It To Beaver opposite Tony Dow (who originally played Wally Cleaver) in the courtroom sketch.

The film's original production budget was $650,000 and later increased to $1,000,000 after post-production costs were added in. The film grossed about $20 million, making it one of the most financially lucrative films of the 1970s, and one of the most successful comedies of all time. It has become a cult film within the comedy genre.

Some consider Amazon Women on the Moon to be a sequel to this movie, due to the similar style of the two films and John Landis' involvement as a director of a few sketches. This is evident in the French title of the film The Cheeseburger Movie, while The Kentucky Fried Movie is The Hamburger Movie. Also, IMDB lists one of the film's working titles as "The Kentucky Fried Sequel."

Sketch selection

The film's credits listed the sketches incorrectly, as the writers changed the order after the credits had been written. The following list is in the running order used in the film: ^{Sketch Details}

#11 O'Clock News (Part 1) (:04) #Argon Oil (1:13) #A.M. Today (6:05) #His New Car (:24) #Catholic High School Girls In Trouble (2:00) #See You Next Wednesday in Feel-A-Round (4:52) #Nytex P.M. (:35) #High Adventure (3:01) #11 O'Clock News (Part 2) (:05) #Headache Clinic (:40) #Household Odors (:40) #The Wonderful World of Sex (4:55) #A Fistful of Yen (31:34) #Willer Beer (:58) #11 O'Clock News (Part 3) (:05) #Scot Free (:58) #That’s Armageddon (2:17) #United Appeal For the Dead (1:42) #"Courtroom" (Part 1) (4:35) #Nesson Oil (:14) #"Courtroom" (Part 2) (3:02) #Cleopatra Schwartz (1:24) #Zinc Oxide and You (1:59) #"Danger Seekers" (1:02) #Eyewitness News (4:24) #11 O'Clock News (Part 4) (:09)

Sketch details

Release

On July 4, 2011 Arrow Video will be releasing a new 2-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 John Landis, writers Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams 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

4 panel reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork

Double-sided fold-out artwork poster

Collector’s booklet featuring brand new writing on director John Landis by critic and author Calum Waddell

See also

Amazon Women on the Moon

The Groove Tube

References

External links

Frankin-Sterling Hill website, including "Zinc Oxide and You"

Category:1977 films Category:1970s comedy films Category:Independent films Category:Films directed by John Landis Category:Anthology films Category:Package films Category:Sexploitation films Category:American black comedy films

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