The Dawn Of Cinematic Greatness..."The Kentucky Fried Movie"

Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

Starring Bill Bixby, George Lazenby, a whole host of others!

Directed by John Landis

The Story:

Movie trailers. The news. Commercials. All of that, and more, are about to get put through the comedy wringer in a movie-unlike you've ever seen before!

Well, that only took me 39 years to get around to finally seeing.

Odds are, if you rented movies in the 80s, you saw this poster on the wall, or at least saw the box as you browsed through the comedy section.

Was it worth the wait?

Hardly.

Basically it takes an episode of Saturday Night Live, then only 2 years old, and brings the format of rapid-fire sketch comedy to the big screen.

Bigger budget!
Badder language!!
Less wardrobe!!!

However, it works as a great time capsule that shows the beginnings of the creative genesis of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker.

Yes, this is the very first feature film from the trio of minds that would launch Airplane and Police Squad! at the beginning of the 80s.

It's also the 2nd feature directed by John Landis.

His next 4 films?

Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London and Trading Places. 

Like all good (and not-so-good) sketch comedy, some jokes/skits work better than others.

That is totally on display here as well.

The biggest misfire for me, was the "feature length" A Fistful of Yen in the center of the movie. It was too long, and too unfunny. Perhaps if I was a bigger Enter the Dragon fan, I would enjoy it more.

Currently streaming on Amazon Prime as of this writing.

Final Grade:  C

Throwback Thursday Streamer! "Trading Places"

Trading Places (1983)

Rated R

Starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche

Directed by John Landis

The Story:

The Duke Brothers (Ameche and Bellamy) make a wager that they can take a street bum (Murphy) and give him everything he could want while taking a life of luxury from someone (Aykroyd) which would cause him to resort to a life of crime. Their behavior experiment works at first, but when the two figure out what the Dukes are up to, the tables are about to be turned!

 And just like that, I snuck a Christmas movie in on you that you probably forgot takes place around Christmas time. :)

Eddie Murphy was on his meteoric rise to stardom, following up 48 Hours with this buddy comedy before moving on to star in Beverly Hills Cop.

The movie is still pretty fun, if a little dated, throughout.

However, for a movie over 30 years old, it's still got more than its fair share of comedy that still works after all these years.

 So, if you're still slowly easing into the holidays, here's another one that you can watch that's a Christmas movie, without being overly Christmas-y.

:)


Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: This one gets revisited every decade or so.

Was it Over When the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor? "National Lampoon's Animal House"

Toga! Toga! Toga!

The Story:

The Fraternity that everyone wanted to be a part of, Delta House.  The students, and I use that term loosely, are bent on having a good time.  As they initiate their newest pledges, Larry (Tom Hulce) and Kent (Stephen Furst) the Deltas, led by Boone, Eric and Bluto  (Peter Riegert, Tim Matheson and John Belushi) are going to show them everything not to do in college, in comparison to the uptight fraternity nearby, including the likes of Neidermeyer (Mark Metcalf) and Greg (James Daughton).  Little do the Deltas know they are on double-secret probation from Dean Wormer (John Vernon) and he is out to expel the whole lot of them.

The results ensure that people will attend college for generations, just in the hopes that any part of this movie is real.

: )

So where do you begin?  Harold Ramis' first movie that he wrote.  Check.

John Belushi's first big screen role? Check.

John Landis' first big-budget feature film? Check.

First or early appearances for most of the cast? Check.

The name National Lampoon actually meant something? Check.

Welcome to lightning in a bottle.  It doesn't happen with every movie, but when it does, it's often magical.

Don't believe me?

Consider that this movie is now...drumroll.... 35 years old.

And it's still as awesome as when it first came out.

Perhaps it's that perfect synergy of all those new people working  and not knowing what they could and couldn't do, so they threw it all out there and hoped it would find an audience.

It did.

And it continues to find a new audience with every passing generation.

It's crude. It's crass.

It's a classic.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I do own a copy, and it doesn't see much replay in the house because much of it is not intended for the demographic in my household. ; )  I'll probably have to show it to the older kids someday to warn them how NOT to do college.  : )