The Chicken Chronicles (1977)

Director:

Frank Simon

Writer:

Paul Diamond (writer)

Release Date:

October 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The Spirit of 69...When The Lights Turned Off...The Kids Turned On!

Plot Keywords:

Sex Comedy | Pot Smoking | Teenager | Chicken | High School Newspaper

Cast

Phil Silvers	...	Max Ober
Ed Lauter	...	Vice Principal Nastase
Steve Guttenberg	...	David Kessler
Lisa Reeves	...	Margaret Shaffer
Meridith Baer	...	Tracy Vogel
Branscombe Richmond	...	Mark
Will Seltzer	...	Weinstein
Kutee	...	Maddy
Gino Baffa	...	Charlie Kessler
Robert Resnick	...	Stuart
Joseph G. Medalis	...	Mr. Phinney (as Joe Medalis)
Robin T. Williams	...	Vanessa
Clark Brandon	...	Lee
Jon Gries	...	Tom (as Jonathon Gries)
John Starr	...	Saul

Runtime:

Brazil:95 min | USA:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 | USA:PG (re-rating on appeal) | USA:R (original rating) | UK:X (original rating)

Company:

AVCO Embassy Pictures

Trivia:

The writer, Paul Diamond, absolutely avers that the title was a tribute to Ray Bradbury's 'Martian Chronicles"

Movie Connections:

Edited into 42nd Street Forever Part 4 (2009) (V)

Soundtrack:

Traces

Worth A Peek

Before there was "American Pie," before there was "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" and even before there was "Porky's," there was "The Chicken Chronicles." Although this teen comedy is considerably tamer than any of those later films, it's still a very amusing example of the genre in it's infancy. Back in the mid-70s when this kind of movie was very popular drive-in fare, this was one of the better ones. Everything's here....high-school hijinks, playful sex, good-natured drug and alcohol use and a general atmosphere of adolescent anarchy. Fairly obscure today(not currently available on video or DVD), it's worth a viewing if you ever see it pop up on cable TV.

This was one of Steve Guttenberg's very first major roles and he displays some of the mock-innocent, winking wiseacre bad-boy charm that he would later put to good use in the Police Academy movies. The late Phil Silvers provides some of the biggest laughs as the irascible, foul-mouthed boss of the fried chicken restaurant where Guttenberg works.

Director Frances Simon displays a nice feeling for late-60s southern California, making the movie an entertaining look at a more innocent (though no less wild) era gone by.