Kentucky Fried Movie

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Comedy writers David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams of Airplane and The Naked Gun fame got their start at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, when they formed a theatrical group known as The Kentucky Fried Theater. The Kentucky Fried Movie is based on the KFT's gag-filled theatrical skits. Including well-known stars such as Bill Bixby, Donald Sutherland, Tony Dow, George Lazenby and Henry Gibson, the film has over 22 different segments of varying lengths. Some are seconds long. Longer segments include such highlights as: "Zinc Oxide," which spoofs school educational films; "Cleopatra Schwartz," a spoof of female blaxploitation action films, whose heroine is married to a rabbi; "Sex Record," which depicts a couple who are attempting to follow the step-by-step instructions of a how-to-do-it record; "Catholic High School Girls In Trouble," and "A Fistful of Yen," (the longest episode), which is an elaborate spoof of martial-arts films. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen), 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • • Widescreen presentation [1.85:1] enhanced for 16x9 TVs
    • Full-frame presentation
    • Audio commentary with director John Landis, writers David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, and producer Robert K. Weiss
    • Theatrical trailer
    • Behind-the-scenes photo gallery
    • On-set home movies
    • Talent bios

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  John Landis

• Producer:

  Robert Weiss

• Screenwriter:

  Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker

• Cinematographer:

  Stephen M. Katz

• Featured Music:

  Jo Stafford

• Composer (Music Score):

  Mort Garson

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Igo Kantor

• Editor:

  George Folsey, Jr.

• Art Director:

  Rich Havel

• Costume Designer:

  Deborah Nadoolman

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Bill Kaplan

• First Assistant Director:

  Peter Schindler

REVIEW:

• Released around the same time as other media-parody sketch-comedy films like The Groove Tube and The Boob Tube, The Kentucky Fried Movie shares with those films a fetish for female flesh and a reliance on sexually related jokes. What sets it apart from those other films is an obvious love for the targets of their satire. A parody of Bruce Lee films is funny for anyone, but those familiar with Enter the Dragon will appreciate the care that went into the details. Only true TV aficionados would actually get the adult Tony Dow to reprise his role from Leave It to Beaver, -- but have him play it as if Wally had never aged. The "ZAZ" writing team shows all the trademark techniques they would become famous for with the Airplane, Naked Gun, and Hot Shots films: bad puns, a penchant for the politically incorrect, and an ability to get at the heart of overworked genres. The disaster film, the blaxploitation films, and '70s soft-core sex romps are all parodied by trailers that manage to mock the excesses of those films by being so irreverently over-the-top themselves. It's a safe bet that this film would receive an NC-17 if it were released today. Director John Landis would not get this material completely out of his system. He went on to direct segments of the very similar 1987 effort Amazon Woman on the Moon, a film that, in its intermittent success, shows how difficult it is to make a sketch-comedy film as consistently funny as Kentucky Fried Movie. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi