Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) Review

Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

By Winston • April 2, 2008

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Starring: Colin Male, Janice Kent, Michael Laurence, Larry Curan, Michael Hanks

Director: John Landis

Writer(s): David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker

Studio: United Film Distribution Company

Rating: R

Official Bar Score:

A review for this gem of a movie has been overdue for quite some time now. “Kentucky Fried Movie” is a series of sketches parodying late 70’s television and pop culture. Sketches include various commercials and infomercials (”The Joy of Sex”), movies (in particular Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon” with the film’s longest sketch “A Fistful of Yen”), movie trailers (”That’s Armageddon”, “Catholic School Girls in Trouble”), television news shows, and various other items of that nature. The film is setup as almost a day in the life of a zany television station, but this is never confirmed nor is it important. Each segment stands on it’s own and can be appreciated by itself, with the exception of a few running gags. A perfect description of what “Kentucky Fried Movie” is can be summed up like this: KFM is a 70’s “Robot Chicken”.

KFM is a cult classic in the truest sense. It’s one of those films that has survived due to word of mouth recommendations for decades, and will last far into the future because, despite some of the topical humor being dated, everybody will find a joke or two that they will remember and quote regularly regardless of their lack of knowledge of 70’s pop culture. To those that know the era well, there are TONS of subtle little nuances that take the film to another stratosphere. For example, the film relies heavily on exploitation film parodies, a genre I am lifelong fan of. So when every fake film trailer from “American International” and “Samuel L. Bronkowitz” pops up, they strike a heart string with me, and I am positive it does with other fans as well. It’s little things like this that make the film special. The film is a masterclass on how to make people of all walks of life and sense of humors laugh, a feat that is hard to match.

The film was extremely successful in it’s era and catapulted John Landis and the Zucker Brothers and Abrahams team (”The Naked Gun” series) into superstardom. It deserves mention in the discussion of their best works, a bold statement considering the body of work that they have produced. I am hard pressed to find many comedies that are funnier than “Kentucky Fried Movie”, and that combined with it’s longevity and loyal fan base justify the Classic Status rating, especially considering the sense of humor that runs rampant throughout the writers here at The Bar.

This whole review came about because of a discussion between myself and honorary Bartender Mike Lundie, one of only a handful of people I know that had seen it before, but it had been forever and a day since he and and he was worried that it wouldn’t stand the test of time. We decided to watch it anyway because I hadn’t seen it since the mid 90’s when I had a VHS dub of it. Needless to say it held up with both of us, in addition to gaining new fans in my fiancee High Five and The Bar’s own Shane Train. Word of mouth has kept the film alive for a long time, a trend that doesn’t look to be dying off any time soon. It defines the term “cult classic”. Check it out as soon as possible, you will happy you did.