Before the Zucker Brothers were catapulted into Hollywood history with The Naked Gun and Top Secret and before John Landis became famous with An American Werewolf in London, the two creative entities joined forces and spawned the outrageously strange amalgam of tasteless sketches that became the 1977 film, The Kentucky Fried Movie.
There is no plot, no point, and no pretense… this is a movie that goes for maximum laughs and pulls no punches when it comes to offensive and racy humor.
Now, to be perfectly fair to this movie, you have to look at each major sketch.
The 11 O’clock News: Funny little news previews scattered throughout the movie as the newscaster breaks in and says things like, “The popcorn you are eating has been pissed in. Film at eleven.” Always gives a good laugh.
Argon: A product of the seventies if I’ve ever seen one. A multibillion dollar oil company commercial where oil is extracted from the most strange places. A little gross, but pretty funny.
A.M. Today: A hit and miss sketch where everything that can go wrong on an early morning news program does.
The New Car: Short and sweet… dumb, but funny.
Catholic High School Girls in Trouble: This is probably the most sexually explicit sketch in the movie… a faux preview of a Samuel L. Bronkowitz production. Probably the most senseless (and funny) nudity ever shown on film.
Feel-A-Round: A more miss than hit sketch about the latest in sensory movie experiences.
Nightax PM: Another short and sweet commercial sketch. Funny as anything, though.
High Adventure: A clever and then painfully monotonous sketch about an interview and a wayward boom mike.
Samhedrin: Bill Bixby cameos in a headache commercial. Dumb, but it’s short enough to be funny.
Lingering Odors: Another short one, but the punch line is hilarious.
The Wonderful World of Sex: A couple decides to copulate their marriage with a recorded sex aid. Pretty funny stuff… and completely dates the movie because the recorded sex aid is on vinyl record.
A Fistful of Yen: The longest segment in the movie and perhaps the funniest… a comic send up of countless Bruce Lee and kung-fu movies where kung-fu secret agent Loo infiltrates the hideout of the evil Doctor Klahn. Hilarious stuff.
Willer: Probably the lamest sketch in the movie. A bunch of Krishnas go to a bar and order beer. The bit just doesn’t work.
Scott Free: A new game from Barker Brothers. Can you get away with assassinating the president of the United States? It’s a bit lame, but it’s audacity makes it interesting.
That’s Armageddon: Another Samuel L. Bronkowitz trailer… a comic send up of disaster movies. Features a very low key and funny cameo appearance by Donald Sutherland.
The United Appeal for the Dead: A sketch that is just so horribly wrong that it is funny. Does death really mean the end for the deceased’s place in the family. So wrong… yet so right.
Courtroom: Rapid fire jokes and puns abound in this courtroom drama. Features an appearance by Tony Dow and several jokes that get recycled into the Airplane movies. After a while, the lamity becomes funnier and funnier… but it’s still lame.
Cleopatra Shwartz: Samuel L. Bronkowitz is back with a new trailer as black Amazon Cleopatra falls in love and marries a short Hasidic Jew and together… they burn the ghetto to the ground. Outrageous and funny.
Zinc Oxide and You: Can you live without Zinc Oxide? This short send up of an educational film is a hilarious reason why you can’t.
Danger Seekers: This segment is the reason why this movie would never, ever, never, ever be made today. Racy and politically incorrect to an extreme… but the result is blessed gold and super offensive comedy.
Eyewitness News: The final installment of the movie finds the Eyewitness News team witnessing a little more than they expected to. Pretty funny and it gives the Zucker and Abrams team a chance to sneak in a final pair of breasts.
This movie is brazenly incorrect… it’s like Saturday Night Live without the censors… but with good writers and no tact. Some sketches and bits are on the lame side, but the laughs do outweigh the groans. If you’re a fan of the Airplane or Naked Gun movies, you should really check out this strange amalgamation.
Jason Gaston 