Plot: What’s it about?
Few movies these days (or any days) are as irreverant as The Kentucky Fried Movie. Written by the famous, or I should say “infamous” trio of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker, this movie really has somehting in it to offend everybody…that’s why I liked it so much. As we all know, the “ZAZ” trio is responsible for some of the funniest movies around, including “Airplane!” and the whole “Naked Gun” movies (all of which are suprisingly not available on DVD as of this wriring…odd). The movie was directed by none other than John Landis who is also responsobile for his portion of top grossing comedies as well. Some of those include “Trading Places”, “National Lampoon’s Animal House”, “An American Werewolf in London”, “Spies LIke Us” and “Scholck”. So if slapstick comedy is your thing, relax and pop in “The Kentucky Fried Movie” for a fine time. Onto the plot…well, that’s kind of hard to say. The movie is more of an assortment of short clips rather than a whole movie,
Some of what can be expected is a spoof on “Enter the Dragon” called “A Fistful of Yen” which is a takeoff on the popular Bruce Lee movie. Also included throughout the movie are hilarious movie clips of a newsman who spouts out fragments that grab one’s attention such as “I’m not wearing any underpants…story at 11”. And what would the world be without Zinc Oxide? Well, you’ll find out that this particular element mix has to do with a lot of the things we use today. What if a gorilla went wild on a TV set? What if Jackie Brown and Yentel mixed? What if the newsteam could see you making out with your girl/boy friend…odd eh?
As you can see “The Kentucky Fried Movie” is as diverse as it is funny. If you’re a fan of the ZAZ movies, and like slapstick comedy, then this is one movie you’ll have to own. If you like to see people get shot in the heart by an arrow for no apparent reason, then this is your movie. If you like large-breasted Catholic School Girls taking showers, then this is your movie. If you’re a fan of anything funny, then THIS IS YOUR MOVIE!
Video: How does it look?
Probably one of the lowest budget movies around, yet is still has the talents of Donald Sutherland, Terrance Stamp and Bill Bixby. The image is presented in a full frame transfer and a brand new 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer courtesy of Anchor Bay. While some scenes look great, others leave a lot to be desired. I think it’s the source material, and since I have never seen this movie before, I really have nothing to compare it to. Still, I think that the image looks great considering the age of the film and it’s good to see that Anchor Bay is still taking pride in their efforts…no matter what the title.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Kentucky Fried Movie is presented in it’s original mono soundtrack, and I’m glad. I don’t want any movie like this being presented in a “remastered” 5.1 track. The skits speak for themselves and with the mono track in place, the jokes wouldn’t be any funnier in a 5 channel mix. Sounding a bit dated, though the movie doesn’t lose any of it’s humor due to sound. It has a rich feel and taste and if there’s anything distracting about the movie, it shouldn’t be the sound…it should be the content.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Anchor Bay is on again/off again with their supplemental material, but they gave “The Kentucky Fried Movie” a lot of extras for our benefit. The most outstanding feature has got to be the commentary between the ZAZ crew and John Landis (the producer is also included). Talk about funny, the commentary is almost as funny as the movie. These guys have known each other for years and they had a good time doing the commentary. It’s right up there with the “Mallrats” commentary in terms of being that great. Also included is a home movie section that they filmed while on the set of Kentucky Fried to prove to their parents that they were working in Hollywood. Also included is a photo gallery, the original trailer and some very informative cast bios. All in all, this is most likely everything you wanted in this movie packed into one disc. If you’re a fan of the ZAZ movies…get it (what are you waiting for)?
