The Kentucky Fried Movie
Los Angeles, CA
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"The Kentucky Fried Movie" (1977) strings together dozens of short comedic sketches parodying television commercials, news broadcasts, and film genres, written by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team who would go on to direct "Airplane!" three years later. Its rapid-fire, loosely connected sketch format, more akin to televised sketch comedy than a traditional narrative anthology, established a comedic anthology style that directly influenced the ZAZ team's subsequent spoof films and the broader genre-parody comedy tradition that followed. The film's segment "A Fistful of Yen," a lengthy parody of "Enter the Dragon," became its most fondly remembered and frequently referenced individual sketch among the film's cult following. Its combination of its influence on the ZAZ team's subsequent spoof comedy career and its foundational role in sketch-style comedic anthology filmmaking has made "The Kentucky Fried Movie" one of the genre's most influential cult entries.
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- Top 6 Anthology Films of All Time
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