Kentucky Fried Movie shares many comedic devices with that first bout of Python filmmaking. We get a quite embarrassing, but in a good way, sketch about a TV interview going up the left, like in ANFSCD when John Cleese does the brilliant interview with Graham Chapman. We get lots of News Items, like in ANFSCD when they had all the News Items. We have a gorilla invading the set of various productions, like in ANFSCD when the man who played Three Blind Mice would run through the set of the next scene and so on. In fact, there are plenty of parallels.
But whilst Python was more acidic with regards the satire, the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team tend to go for the more slapstick type shenanigans, and with plenty of the sexing.
Like I typed a few paragraphs ago, it's fairly hit and miss. The news report what kicks the whole affair off, a segment for which David Letterman tried, and failed, to get a part, makes sense in terms of establishing themes and so on, other analytical stuff, but as a bout of the comedic sketching, it's fairly weak. Thankfully, it's followed up with such delights as the aforementioned Catholic High School Girls trailer, which offers not only many, many, many naked people, but also manages to be very funny, and even quite sophisticated, amidst all the breasts.
The breast and sexing malarkey was actually filmed last, in case the investors would get all outraged and offendified at the notion of a film awash with sleaze.
The centrepiece of it all, A Fistful Of Yen, outstays its welcome somewhat, but it's still good fun for much of it's duration. But this brings us to The Big Problem What These Sorts Of Shenanigans Have.
Whilst this may have been among the first to do the Let's Make Fun Of The Kung-Fu Films malarkey, it suffers now simply because of the flood of similar fare which followed. Like that bit in The First Of The Scary Movies where they make fun of The Matrix. Sure, it might have been quite chucklesome way back in the dark ages of 2000, but fuck, man, we've had any number of bullet-time spoofs since then. Folks who watch Scary Movie now probably don't care that it was there first, motherfucker. They just think, "Oh, they're doing a spoof of that bit in The Simpsons when they did the bullet-time".
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
You might also want to pay attention to "Amazon Women On The Moon" which uses late night teevee as the framing device, and Sybil Danning instead of Uschi Digard for the boobs.
Plus a middle-aged man trapped in his teevee in his underwear.
2 - kirk
You definately have your own unique style of movie review! But I guess you take a chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street or sticking your face in a fan. But really, it's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.
3 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Kirk, i am baffled by your comment. Maybe its cause its 5am, or maybe its cause you've hit upon some hitherto undetected plateau of commentary. Either way, im lost
:)
4 - Vic
I loved KFM when I first saw it many years ago and I have to say that I am amazed that there you found enough there to do such an in-depth review!
Props to you, dude. :-)
Vic
5 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Thanks Vic. Recieving Props from the screen ranter himself is something of an honour for The Duke is what.