''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' is a 1977 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

sketch film, produced by

Kim Jorgensen Kim M. Jorgensen is an American film director and the owner of distributor Landmark Films. Jorgensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He founded Landmark Theaters, the largest art film, art house movie theater chain in the United States, and was ...

, Larry Kostroff, and Robert K. Weiss, and directed by

John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing comedy films such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978), The Blues Brothers (f ...

. Among the numerous star cameos are

George Lazenby George Robert Lazenby (; born 5 September 1939) is an Australian retired actor. Lazenby began his professional career as a model and had only acted in commercials when he was cast to replace the original James Bond actor, Sean Connery, playing ...

Bill Bixby Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III (January 22, 1934 – November 21, 1993) was an American actor and television director. His career spanned more than three decades, including appearances on stage, in films, and on television series. He is known ...

Henry Gibson James Bateman (September 21, 1935 – September 14, 2009), known professionally as Henry Gibson, was an American actor, comedian and poet. He played roles in the television sketch-comedy series ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1971, w ...

Barry Dennen Barry Dennen (February 22, 1938 – September 26, 2017) was an American actor and writer. He is best known for playing Pontius Pilate on the original 1970 recording of ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' as well as the subsequent 1971 stage musical and 1 ...

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (17 July 1935 – 20 June 2024) was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received List of awards and nominations received by Donald Sutherland, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award ...

, Tony Dow, Stephen Bishop, and the voice of Shadoe Stevens. According to writer

David Zucker David Samuel Zucker (born October 16, 1947) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is recognized for collaborating with Jim Abrahams and his brother Jerry as part of Zucker, Ab ...

on the DVD commentary track,

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...

auditioned for the role of the newscaster, but was not selected. The film also features many former members of

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improv techniques we ...

and

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has b ...

. The "feature presentation" portion of the film stars Evan C. Kim and ''

hapkido Hapkido ( , , ), also spelled ''hap ki do'' or ''hapki-do'' is a Korean martial art. It is a hybrid form of self-defense that employs joint locks, grappling, chokeholds, throwing techniques, kicks, punches, and other striking attacks. ...

'' grand master

Bong Soo Han Han Bong-soo (; August 25, 1933 – January 8, 2007), also known as Bong-soo Han, was a Korean martial artist, author, and the founder of the International Hapkido Federation. He was one of the foremost and recognized practitioners of hapkido ...

. ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' 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! ''Airplane!'' (alternatively titled ''Flying High!'') is a 1980 American disaster film, disaster comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams and brothers David Zucker, David and Jerry Zucker in their List of directorial debuts, directoria ...

'', ''

Top Secret! ''Top Secret!'' is a 1984 action comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker ( ZAZ) and Martyn Burke. It stars Val Kilmer (in his film debut) and Lucy Gutteridge alongside a supporting cast featuring Omar Sh ...

'' 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 film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

s. The film's longest segment spoofs early

kung fu film Kung fu film () is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in ''wuxia'', a related martial arts genre that uses historical ...

s, specifically ''

Enter the Dragon ''Enter the Dragon'' ( zh, t=龍爭虎鬥) is a 1973 martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse and written by Michael Allin. The film stars Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Ahna Capri, Bob Wall, Shih Kien and Jim Kelly. ''Enter the Dragon'' was ...

''; its title, ''A Fistful of Yen'', refers to ''

A Fistful of Dollars ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (, (''For a Fistful of Dollars'')) is a 1964 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Si ...

''. Parodies of

disaster film A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, offensive (military), military/terrorism, terrorist att ...

s ("That's Armageddon"),

blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

films ("Cleopatra Schwartz"), and softcore porn/ women-in-prison films ("Catholic High School Girls in Trouble") are presented as "Coming Attraction"

trailers Trailer may refer to: Transportation * Trailer (vehicle), an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle ** Baggage trailer, a large flatbed baggage trolley ** Bicycle trailer, a wheeled frame for hitching to a bicycle to tow cargo or passen ...

. The fictional films are produced by "Samuel L. Bronkowitz" (a conflation of

Samuel Bronston Samuel Bronston (; 7 August 1908 – 12 January 1994) was a Bessarabian-born American film producer and media executive. His films have earned a total of seven Academy Award nominations. Born in Bessarabia, Russian Empire (present day Moldova), ...

and

Joseph L. Mankiewicz Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. A four-time Academy Award winner, he is best known for his witty and literate dialogue and his preference for voice-over ...

, but also a spoof of B-movie producer and

American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...

co-founder Samuel Z. Arkoff). The sketch " See You Next Wednesday" mocks theater-based gimmicks like

Sensurround Sensurround is the brand name for a process created by MCA Inc., MCA and developed by Cerwin-Vega in conjunction with Universal Studios, Inc., Universal Studios to enhance the audio experience during film screenings, specifically for the 1974 film ...

by depicting a dramatic film presented in "Feel-a-Round", which involves an usher physically groping a theater patron. Other sketches spoof TV commercials and programs, news broadcasts, and classroom educational films. The city of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and its high crime rate are a running gag portraying the city as a hell on Earth; in "A Fistful of Yen", Dr. Klahn orders a captured CIA agent to be sent to Detroit after which the agent screams and begs to be killed instead.

Cast

* Evan C. Kim as Loo (segment "A Fistful of Yen") *

as Dr. Klahn (segment "A Fistful of Yen") * Agneta Eckemyr as Ming Chow (segment "A Fistful of Yen") *

as The Clumsy Waiter (segment "That's Armagaeddon") *

as The Architect (segment "That's Armagaeddon") *

as himself (segment "Headache Clinic") * Tony Dow as Wally Cleaver (segments "Courtroom" and (Courtroom part 2") *

as himself (segment "United Appeal for the Dead") * Marilyn Joi as Cleopatra Schwartz (segment "Cleopatra Schwartz") * Saul Kahan as Schwartz (segment "Cleopatra Schwartz") *

as Driver (segment "His New Car") / Technician #2 (segment "Eyewitness News") / Grunwald (segment "Courtroom") * Marcy Goldman as Housewife (segment "Household Odors") * Dulcie Jordan as Guest #1 (segment "Household Odors") * Gracia Lee as Guest #2 (segment "Household Odors") * Sheila Rogers as Guest #3 (segment "Household Odors") * Joseph G. Medalis as Paul Burmaster (segment "High Adventure") (as Joe Medalis) *

as Claude LaMont (segment "High Adventure") * Colin Male as Spokesman (segment "Argon") / Voice Overs * Ed Griffith as Host (segment "Danger Seekers") * Robert Starr as Rex Kramer (segment "Danger Seekers") * Richard Gates as Boy (segment "Eyewitness News") (as Rick Gates) * Tara Strohmeier as Girl (segment "Eyewitness News") (as Tara Strohmeir) * Neil Thompson as Newscaster (segment "Eyewitness News") *

Jim Abrahams James Steven Abrahams (May 10, 1944 – November 26, 2024) was an American film director and writer, best known as a member of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. Life and career James Steven Abrahams was born on May 10, 1944, to a Jewish family in ...

as Technician #1 (segment "Eyewitness News") / Stephen McCroskey - Announcer (segment "Courtroom") *

Jerry Zucker Jerry Gordon Zucker (born March 11, 1950) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is one third of the filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. He is best known for his role in writing and directing comedy spoof films like ...

as Technician #3 (segment "Eyewitness News") / Man (segment "Nytex P.M.") / Beaver (segment "Courtroom") / Hands (segment "Fixative") * Gwen Van Dam as Mrs. Burke (segment "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble") * Uschi Digard as Girl in Shower (segment "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble")

Sketches

Notes

Production

Background

and

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

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 The revived Anchor Bay Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company owned by Umbrelic Entertainment co-founders Thomas Zambeck and Brian Katz. Anchor Bay Entertainment markets and releases "new release genre ...

released a region 1 DVD in 2000. This release is presented in widescreen (1.85:1)

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

and full-frame (1.33:1). It includes commentary by Landis; writers ZAZ; and producer Robert K. Weiss. On July 4, 2011,

Arrow Video An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a Bow and arrow, bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like St ...

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 ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted by Waldo Salt from the 1965 novel by James Leo Herlihy. The film stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with supporting roles played by Sylvia Miles, J ...

'' * 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 Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

released the film on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

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

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a score of 83%, based on reviews from 35 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 Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

it has a score of 61% based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". At the time, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' described the film as having "excellent production values and some genuine wit" but also noted that the film was juvenile and tasteless. Lawrence Van Gelder of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote, "Lots of people will probably like ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'', just as they like

Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's s ...

and

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

hamburgers. But popularity is still no reason for deifying mediocrity."

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' 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." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' called it "a diverting hit-and-miss satirical anthology." Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' 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." 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. Maçek III of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' 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.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kentucky Fried Movie, The 1977 films 1977 independent films 1977 comedy films 1977 martial arts films 1970s American films 1970s English-language films 1970s martial arts comedy films 1970s parody films 1970s sex comedy films American anthology films American independent films American martial arts comedy films American parody films American sex comedy films English-language action comedy films English-language independent films English-language sex comedy films Films about the assassination of John F. Kennedy Films directed by John Landis Films produced by Kim Jorgensen Films produced by Robert K. Weiss Films shot in Los Angeles Films with screenplays by Jim Abrahams Films with screenplays by Jerry Zucker Films with screenplays by David Zucker Sketch comedy films