The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

A series of short, highly irreverent, and often tasteless skits.

Director:

John Landis

Writers:

David Zucker, Jim Abrahams

Stars:

Evan C. Kim, Bong Soo Han, Bill Bixby

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marilyn Joi	...	Cleopatra Schwartz (segment "Cleopatra Schwartz")
Saul Kahan	...	Schwartz (segment "Cleopatra Schwartz")
David Zucker	...	Man (segment "His New Car") / Technician #2 (segment "Eyewitness News") / Grunwald (segment "Courtroom")
Marcy Goldman	...	Housewife (segment "Household Odors")
Dulcie Jordan	...	Guest #1 (segment "Household Odors")
Gracia Lee	...	Guest #2 (segment "Household Odors")
Sheila Rogers	...	Guest #3 (segment "Household Odors")
Joseph G. Medalis	...	Paul Burmaster (segment "High Adventure") (as Joe Medalis)
Barry Dennen	...	Claude LaMont (segment "High Adventure")
Colin Male	...	Spokesman (segment "Argon") / Voice Overs
Ed Griffith	...	Host (segment "Danger Seekers")
Robert Starr	...	Rex Kramer (segment "Danger Seekers")
Richard Gates	...	Boy (segment "Eyewitness News") (as Rick Gates)
Tara Strohmeier	...	Girl (segment "Eyewitness News") (as Tara Strohmeir)
Neil Thompson	...	Newscaster (segment "Eyewitness News")

Storyline

Madcap spoof, a collection of comedy skits includes the Kung-Fu parody, "A Fistful Of Yen" and "Catholic School Girls In Trouble." Enjoy the future of movie-going with the "Feel-A-Round" theater experience. See a notable and highly respected actor as the clumsiest waiter in motion picture history. Watch such character as Cleopatra Schwartz and Big Jim Slade tickle your funny bone until it has to be removed surgically!

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Plot Keywords:

sex scene | large breasts | female nudity | kissing breasts | two in a shower | 

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Taglines:

This movie is totally out of control!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Korean

Release Date:

4 November 1978 (Japan)

Also Known As:

A Fistful of Yen

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$650,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$15,000,000, 31 December 1977

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,000,000, 31 December 1978

Company Credits

Production Co:

KFM Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Forrest J. Ackerman: As a Jurist in the segment "Courtroom". He also cameoed in the sequel, Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), as the U.S. President in the "Amazon Women on the Moon" segment.

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Goofs

The courtroom sketch takes place in 1957, when there were only 48 states. However, a 50-star flag is shown in the courtroom.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Newscaster: The popcorn you are eating has been pissed in. Film at eleven.

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Crazy Credits

Before the credits start, there is a short bit with the TV anchorman saying "The popcorn you're eating has been pissed in, film at eleven". For the TV version, this is replaced with "I'm not wearing any pants, film at 11"

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Alternate Versions

A version aired on Comedy Central (and perhaps on other channels) features a small variety of edits:

• The 'Cleopatra Schwartz' sequence is censored heavily for language and nudity
• During the closing sequence (where the teenagers are having sex on the couch, and the news crew is watching), the camera zoom is altered several times so that nothing but the teens' faces show. The zooms are awkward, and blatantly added.
• The entirety of the 'Catholic School Girls In Trouble' scene is missing. It is listed in the credits, however.

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Connections

Referenced in A Planet Comicon Panel with Helen Slater (2011)

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Soundtracks

Happy Birthday
(uncredited)
Written by Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill
Performed by David Zucker

User Reviews

A tasteless comedy of extraordinary magnitude!!

"Kentucky Fried Movie" is tasteless, unsophisticated, and decidedly sophomoric... and one of the most hilarious films ever made! A string of politically incorrect segments made by the creators of "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun", "KFM" is an "R"-rated romp that today, nearly 30 years after its release, would be too shocking to even warrant the dreaded "NC-17" rating. Forget those unfunny amateurs Broken Lizard or the overrated Farrelly Brothers. We're talking naked breasts, oral sex, racial slurs, violence... and yet each segment leaves you delirious from not only laughter but disbelief at the fact that the Zuckers actually go away with all this. I've discovered that it really takes a certain kind of innocence to make a movie like "KFM", a naive belief that people will simply laugh at the crude spectacle of it all. Segments include a wholesome couple listening to a 1950s style "how-to" record on foreplay (wait till you see what the record comes equipped with), a thrill seeker whose trademark stunt is going to a crowd of black men and yelling out the N-word (how bold is this scene? No one has dared imitate it since), and a political debate between two analysts that ends with one of them cheerfully telling the other to "blow it out your a**" and giving them the finger. The highlight is the mini-movie within the movie, "A Fistful of Yen". A parody of all the Bruce Lee films, its hero, Loo, fights the evil Klahn, a one-armed criminal mastermind with a fondness for the phrase "extraordinary magnitude". It also pokes fun at the endless fights from the Lee films, as well as the characters' fractured English (little trivia, the actors really were Asian and spoke poor English in real life, so it wasn't intentional on their parts) The twist ending of "Yen" is one of the goofiest things you ever saw in your life. Despite the often offensive humor of "KFM", it's not a mean film by any means. No one is really safe from the wacky chaos it inflicts, and it's just hilarious. In our time of hand-wringing political correctness, "KFM" offers a cathartic experience of laughing out loud at our fears, prejudices, and, yes, stupidity. This is indeed a finger-lickin' good comedy.