Amazon Women on the Moon

This is a supposed sequel to a John Landis movie I've never seen called "Kentucky Fried Movie". I will say that this movie is a heck of a lot better than the spoof of T.V. movies that I've seen such as Tunnelvision or The Groove Tube.

The film has some weaknesses. Due to the presence of 5 directors, who all came up with their own material, the film lurches through different types of situations. From hilarious commercials, to spoofing T.V. shows, to SNL style sketch comedy, to even making old black and white short films, as well as the title film, it changes without any rhyme or reason. There are some cruel sketches as well.

Still, the film is a classic because of the memorable characters created. In particular, David Alan Grier's Don "No Soul" Simmons, who appears in the "Blacks With No Soul" and a segment where you can buy his albums are hilarious. I'd love to get those "albums", especially "Don "No Soul" Simmons Gets Down And Funky". I feel that Alfonso Ribeiro's character of Carleton Banks from "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air" was derived from him; they look, dress, talk, sing, dance, and have the same interests in music. Joey Travolta's attempt to ape his brother John's Barbarino character in the "Amazon Woman" segment is pretty hilarious, too. Of course "Mondo Condo" featuring Arsenio Hall in an apartment cursed with Murphy's Law is still hilarious, as is the two segments featuring Archie Hahn "Real Life Movie Review" and "Roasting A Loved One" (actually based on a show that existed, where comedians got roasted on T.V.). Some great lines from those segments:

"I'm sorry, but I have to give Harvey Pitnik a big thumbs down"

"We're here to put two things to rest: Harvey and the fact that Charlie Callas is funny!"

"We've got two pieces of bad news: Milton Berle couldn't be here and Rip Taylor is."

Even the two black-and-white featurettes are interesting. Ever wanted to see Ed Begley Jr. naked. Here you go. Ever wanted to see a glimpse of what a message film from the 30's about the evils of sexual diseases was like? It's here.

The commercials are alright. Other than the "No Soul" commercials, the Silly Pate (I'm eating Popeye.) comes close, the rest are weak, although the Irving Sidney novel commercial should have given Sidney Sheldon a good idea for a future novel.

The SNL skits are a mixed bag. "Mondo Condo" is a classic. The one with the then married couple of Michelle Pfeiffer and Peter Horton trying to get their delivered baby from a doctor played by Griffin Dunne is great for one line uttered by Horton:

"That's not our son! That's a Mister Potato Head!"

The cruel skit involves Matt Adler, Kelly Preston, Steve Cropper, Howard Hesseman, and Ralph Bellamy and it's about a teenager buying condoms for the first time and finding out that he was the billionth man to buy them and is paraded around in embarrassing fashion. The "Video Date" one is pretty good, until it gets a bit nasty in the end, but since it features Russ Meyer (and Andrew Dice Clay), it wouldn't surprise me if Meyer came up with the plot for this one, as a lot of his movies are like this. The "Two I.D.'s" skit with Steve Guttenberg and Rosanna Arquette is a frightening portent of today's fears of your private life being available for the public to know about. "Video Pirates" is weak, why this one was made is beyond me, as well as seeing Lou Jacobi in a running joke of being trapped on T.V.

The movie says it has a lot of actors in it's opening credits. You'll see old-movie stars, established actors, up and comers, bluesman B.B. King, comedians and cult movie directors such as Meyer and Paul Bartel. As well, one of the most beautiful array of female talent ever assembled. A female cast with Michelle Pfeiffer, Rosanna Arquette, Kelly Preston, Sybil Danning (in the "Amazon Women" segments), Lana Clarkson ("Amazon Women"), Angel Tompkins (Irving Sidney), Carrie Fisher (you Star Wars fans loved her outfit in "Return Of The Jedi"), former Playboy Playmate Monique Gabrielle (an honourable mention in my tops list for beauty) and former Penthouse Pet Corrinne Wahl (nee Alphen). You can't beat that.

Put it all together, and you have a film that must be seen once a year at least. An ambitious project, and even though it has a few flaws, it's great. I wish they'd make something like this today.

The movie is funny in general. Several segments are good, and they are smart enough to know when their welcome is worn out.

The highlight for me is Don "No Soul" Simmons, the unhippest black guy ever born, and poster boy for the charitable campaign to aid black people born without soul.

David Greer singing "Blame it on the Bossa Nova" over the closing credits is worth the price of the rental.

There's no subtlety with "Amazon Women on the Moon"; a lot of the gags are on-the-nose and sometimes I actually wanted to shake my head for laughing. But I think the key here is the execution.

For starters, just look at the cast on this thing. It's one name actor after another, and I don't think there's a weakness among them. Also, the subject matter (late-night TV) seems ripe for parody; it lends itself to the movie's shameless mix of ribald and farcical. But more important than all of this is the ability to surprise. My favorite segment (aside from Arsenio Hall's being systematically attacked by his own apartment) is Don "No Soul" Simmons:

"Did you know that every seven minutes, a black person is born in this country without soul?"

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that David Alan Grier walks away with this movie.

There's just something about this that works; it's consistently funny, the bits are largely memorable, and it's got John Landis' fingerprints all over it. Sold!

8/10

I'm sure this is the last time we will see this kind of Cuisinart comedy collection directed by, at the time (1987), some of the cinema's top comedy directors. And that's a shame. Because "Amazon Women On The Moon", although not perfect by any cinematic measuring stick, represents a small victory for loopy, silly comedy anarchy. Look at this line up of comedy vets: John Landis ("The Blues Brothers", "Trading Places", "Animal House" among so many others), Joe Dante ("Gremlins", "Innerspace", "Matinee"), Robert Weiss (TV's "Police Squad!"), Carl Gottlieb (co-writer of "Jaws" AND "The Jerk") as well as newby Peter Horton (of "thirtysomething" fame).

This anthology features some real groaners to be sure, but surprisingly hits more times, and with more genuine laughs, than would be expected. Cobbled together as a de facto follow up to Landis's 1977's "Kentucky Fried Movie" (the picture that boasted the first unspooling of the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker genius that would soon launch "Airplane!" three years later) on a low-low indie budget way outside his usual 80's big-budget Universal stomping ground, "Amazon Women..." manages to both successfully surpass AND fail to reach the dizzy, laff-a-minute, rat-a-tat-tat of the 70's midnight circuit fave.

This picture has several clinkers of flat comedy (Landis's opener nearly stops the film dead with the always-unfunny Arsenio Hall), but hits with so many other vignettes that it's easy to get into the groove of this short-but-sweet skewer of 80's late-late-night TV. The standout segments in this comedic buffet are abundant, but the best of them belong to Dante, Weiss & Gottlieb: the Universal-International "Invisible Man" short with Ed Begley Jr.; his hilarious run at the Leonard Nimoy "In Search Of" chestnut as "Bullshit Or Not?" with pitch-perfect host Henry Silva; the stay-for-the-end-credits 1930's "Reefer Madness" health scare jewel starring the late, great Paul Bartel and Carrie Fisher; or the crossed-circuit tributes to BOTH the "Siskel & Ebert" show AND the old Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, featuring a dream cast of vaudeville and 50's Vegas comics that has to be seen to be believed.

Landis's standouts include a "no soul" infomercial featuring David Alan Grier and BB King, a funny hospital sketch featuring Landis players Griffin ("American Werewolf") Dunne and Michelle ("Into The Night") Pfeiffer (!) and a respectful nod to the earlier "Kentucky Fried Movie" wrap-up featuring an interactive video that stars Marc McClure, "UltraVixens" cult director Russ Meyer and Andrew Dice Clay. Highest marks, though, go to the running-gag "Amazon Women On The Moon", which lovingly - hilariously - mocks everything from "This Island Earth" to "Robot Monster" complete with film splices and gorgeous, over-saturated Eastmancolor.

If you have ever loved crappy TV, the Universal Studios backlot or any of the directors who have contributed to this dog's breakfast of SNL-inspired skits (written by two ex Carson-era "Tonight Show" writers), take a look at this one. Plus, it's only 85 minutes of your life that you'll never get back. Bullshit, or not.

Greetings, one and all! "Amazon Women on the Moon" is one of my all-time favorite movies, not because it is perfect, but because it effectively yet respectfully lampoons so many genres, including 50s movies, late-night television of all sorts, and even different styles of literature available throughout a good portion of the 20th century. Find a trend in literature of the 40s and 50s, movies of the 50s and 60s, or television of the 50s through the 70s, and it is somehow made fun of in this movie.

Another reason that I like this film is the fact that everyone involved, and there are many, many recognizable names involved with this project, seems to be having so much fun doing it. Several of the best moments for me are those when actors are playing, tongue-in-cheek, the same types of roles for which they were famous in other "serious" movies.

The movie is incredibly funny if you are in the right mood, and with the right crowd. Even if not, however, there are enough funny moments to make this worth watching. The pacing and style are sometimes uneven, which I found worked toward a purpose, but that may make it hard for some to watch the movie straight through. If that is the case, watch it in two sittings; it's worth the extra effort.

One game you can play, if you know the times or are old enough to remember first-hand, is to find how many books, TV shows/icons, and movies are good-naturedly ridiculed throughout the movie.