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Amazon Women on the Moon

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Amazon Women on the Moon
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoe Dante
Carl Gottlieb
Peter Horton
John Landis
Robert K. Weiss
Written byMichael Barrie
Jim Muholland
Produced byJohn Landis
Robert K. Weiss
CinematographyDaniel Pearl
Edited byMalcolm Campbell
Music byIra Newborn
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
September 18, 1987
Running time
85 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million
Box office$548,696

Amazon Women on the Moon is a 1987 American satirical comedy film that parodies the experience of watching low-budget movies on late-night television. The film, featuring a large ensemble cast, was written by Michael Barrie and Jim Mulholland, and takes the form of a compilation of twenty-one comedy skits directed by five different directors: Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis and Robert K. Weiss.

The title Amazon Women on the Moon refers to the central film-within-a-film, a spoof of science fiction movies from the 1950s that borrows heavily from Queen of Outer Space (1958) starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, itself a movie that recycles elements of earlier science fiction works such as Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1955) and Forbidden Planet (1956).[1]

Film actors making cameo appearances in various sketches included Rosanna Arquette, Ralph Bellamy, Griffin Dunne, Carrie Fisher, Steve Guttenberg, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kelly Preston and Henry Silva, alongside television actors such as Ed Begley, Jr., Bryan Cranston, David Alan Grier, Howard Hesseman, Peter Horton, William Marshall, Joe Pantoliano, Robert Picardo and Roxie Roker.

Other notable people in the cast included voice actors Corey Burton and Phil Hartman, talk show host Arsenio Hall, adult film actress Monique Gabrielle, science fiction writer Forrest J Ackerman, B-movie stars Lana Clarkson and Sybil Danning, musician B.B. King, radio personalities Roger Barkley and Al Lohman, composer Ira Newborn, director Russ Meyer, model Corinne Wahl, comedian Andrew Dice Clay, Firesign Theater member Phil Proctor and independent film actor Paul Bartel.

John Landis had previously directed The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), which employed a similar sketch anthology format.

Plot

Channel 8 WIDB-TV experiences problems with its late-night airing of science-fiction classic Amazon Women on the Moon, a 50s B-movie in which Queen Lara (Sybil Danning) and Capt. Nelson (Steve Forrest) battle exploding volcanoes and man-eating spiders on the moon. In place of the faltering film, the channel airs various other movie clips, trailers, commercials, public service announcements, infomercials and talk shows in between a few snippets of the main feature.

These segments feature: Arsenio Hall as a man who nearly kills himself in a series of mishaps around his apartment; Monique Gabrielle as a model who goes about her daily routine in Malibu, California, completely naked; Lou Jacobi as a man, zapped into the television, wandering throughout sketches looking for his wife; Michelle Pfeiffer and Peter Horton as a young couple having trouble with eccentric doctor Griffin Dunne delivering and then concealing their newborn baby; Joe Pantoliano as the presenter of a commercial recommending stapling carpet to a bald head as a hair loss prevention measure; David Alan Grier and B.B. King in a public-service appeal for "blacks without soul"; Rosanna Arquette as a young woman on a blind date, employing unusual methods of investigation to reveal the past indiscretions of Steve Guttenberg; Henry Silva as the host of a show entitled "Bullshit or Not?", clearly intended as a spoof of In Search Of . . .; Archie Hahn as a man who dies after a critical mauling (Roger Barkley and Al Lohman resembling Siskel and Ebert) and is roasted at his funeral by a variety of people, including his wife; William Marshall as the leader of a gang of pirates illegally bootlegging videotapes; Ed Begley, Jr. as the son of the Invisible Man, having trouble with his formula; Angel Tompkins as a First Lady who is also a former hooker; Matt Adler as a sexually frustrated teenager who becomes a spokesperson for a condom company; Marc McClure renting a personalised date video; and an epilogue at the end of the credits, with Carrie Fisher and Paul Bartel in a black-and-white ephemeral film warning about the spread of "social diseases" in the style of Reefer Madness.

Alternative versions

An alternate version of the "Pethouse Video" sketch was filmed for the television broadcast of the film, with Monique Gabrielle in lingerie instead of appearing naked throughout the segment. Most European TV broadcasts of the film, however, retained the original theatrical version. "Bullshit or Not" was retitled "Baloney or Not" for the TV version.

The DVD release features an unreleased sketch titled "The Unknown Soldier", starring Robert Loggia. Some Television broadcasts of the film featured the sketch "French Ventriloquist", which was not present in the theatrical version.

Cast

Critical reception

Amazon Women on the Moon has a rating of 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews, indicating a mixed critical response.[2]

The majority of critical opinion agreed that the quality was inconsistent throughout the film. Variety called it "irreverent, vulgar and silly... [with] some hilarious moments and some real groaners too."[3] Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times felt that the exercise was somewhat unnecessary: "Satirists are in trouble when their subjects are funnier than they are."[4]

Janet Maslin of the New York Times, in a largely positive review, described the film as "an anarchic, often hilarious adventure in dial-spinning, a collection of brief skits and wacko parodies that are sometimes quite clever, though they're just as often happily sophomoric, too."[5]

Certain portions of the film were singled out for praise. "The funniest episode probably is "Son of the Invisible Man," directed by Carl Gottlieb, in which Ed Begley, Jr. plays a man who thinks he is invisible but is not," wrote the Chicago Sun-Times.[4] "The film's best sight gags come from Robert K. Weiss, who deserves kudos for the inspired idiocy of his Amazon Women segments," was the opinion of the New York Times.[5]

In a retrospective article for Entertainment Weekly, Chris Nashawaty called this film "the beginning of the end of Landis' career." He cited the episodes featuring Monique Gabrielle, Archie Hahn, Ed Begley, Jr. and David Alan Grier as "inspired," but criticised others for their failure: "You'll never see Michelle Pfeiffer look as trapped as she does in her skit with thirtysomething's Peter Horton, or Joe Pantoliano and Arsenio Hall as unfunny as they are in their skits."[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Amazon Women on the Moon". dvddrive-in.com. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  2. ^ "Amazon Women on the Moon Movie Reviews, Pictures". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  3. ^ "Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)". variety.com. January 1, 1987.
  4. ^ a b Ebert, Roger (September 18, 1987). "Amazon Women on the Moon :: Reviews". rogerebert.com.
  5. ^ a b Maslin, Janet (September 18, 1987). "Amazon Women on the Moon". movies.nytimes.com.
  6. ^ Nashawaty, Chris (September 7, 2006). "Chris Nashawaty mourns for John Landis' career". ew.com.
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