Amazon Women on the Moon

[areaseven]

Amazon Women on the Moon
Universal Pictures, 1986
Directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, Innerspace), Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton (The Wonder Years, Thirtysomething), John Landis (Kentucky Fried Movie, The Blues Brothers), and Robert K. Weiss (nearly all of "Weird Al" Yankovic's videos).

Running Time: 85 minutes
Rated R for some violence, nudity, sexual situations and profanity.

"Did you know that every seven minutes, a black man is born in this country with no soul?" - B.B. King

Cast (In Order of Apperance)
Lots of Other Actors
Arsenio Hall as the apartment victim ("Mondo Condo")
Monique Gabrielle as Taryn Steele ("Pethouse Video/Murray in Videoland")
Lou Jacobi as Murray ("Murray in Videoland")
Michelle Pfeiffer as Brenda ("Hospital")
Peter Horton as Harry ("Hospital")
Griffin Dunne as the Doctor ("Hospital")
Joe Pantoliano as Sy Swerdlow ("Hairlooming")
Steve Forrest as Capt. Nelson ("Amazon Women on the Moon")
Robert Colbert as Blackie ("Amazon Women on the Moon")
Joey Travolta as Butch ("Amazon Women on the Moon")
Forrest J. Ackerman as the U.S. President ("Amazon Women on the Moon")
Sybil Danning as Queen Lara ("Amazon Women on the Moon")
Lana Clarkson (1962-2003) as Alpha-Beta ("Amazon Women on the Moon")
David Alan Grier as Don "No Soul" Simmons ("Blacks Without Soul")
B. B. King as himself ("Blacks Without Soul")
William Bryant (1924-2001) as the black Republican ("Blacks Without Soul")
Roxie Roker (1929-1995) as the black Republican's wife ("Blacks Without Soul")
Le Tari (1946-1987) as the Volvo-driving pimp ("Blacks Without Soul")
Christopher Broughton as the fan club president ("Blacks Without Soul")
Rosanna Arquette as Karen ("Two I.D.'s")
Steve Guttenberg as Jerry ("Two I.D.'s")
Henry Silva as himself ("Bullshit or Not?")
Sarah Lilly as the Jack the Ripper victim ("Bullshit or Not?")
Archie Hahn as Harvey Pitnik ("Critic's Corner"/"Roast Your Loved Ones")
Belinda Balaski as Bernice Pitnik ("Critic's Corner"/"Roast Your Loved Ones")
T. K. Carter as the party host ("Silly Pate")
Rip Taylor as himself ("Roast Your Loved Ones")
Slappy White (1921-1995) as himself ("Roast Your Loved Ones")
Jackie Vernon (1924-1987) as himself ("Roast Your Loved Ones")
Henry Youngman (1906-1998) as himself ("Roast Your Loved Ones")
Charlie Callas as himself ("Roast Your Loved Ones")
Steve Allen (1921-2000) as himself ("Roast Your Loved Ones")
William Marshall (1924-2003) as the pirate captain ("Video Pirates")
Tino Insana as Mr. Sylvio ("Video Pirates")
Ed Begley, Jr. as Griffin ("Son of the Invisible Man")
John Ingle as Felix ("Art Sale")
Angel Tompkins as the First Lady ("First Lady of the Evening")
Matt Adler as George ("Titan Man")
Kelly Preston as Violet ("Titan Man")
Howard Hesseman as Rupert King ("Titan Man")
Marc McClure as Ray ("Video Date")
Russ Meyer as the video salesman ("Video Date")
Corinne Wahl as Sharri ("Video Date")
Andrew "Dice" Clay as Frankie ("Video Date")
Carrie Fisher as Mary Brown ("Reckless Youth")
Paul Bartel as the doctor ("Reckless Youth")

Cast (Uncredited)
Robert Loggia as Gen. Valentine ("The Unknown Soldier")

Pirate 1: "Help yourself, mates. A chest full of video discs."
Pirate 2: "No!"
Pirate 3: "What good are they?"
Pirate 4: "Can't record on 'em."
Pirate 2: "They're not compatible with my system."

Lowdown
Amazon Women on the Moon is a collection of short skits that circle around a late night viewing of a cheap B-movie aptly titled "Amazon Women on the Moon". The film starts with "Mondo Condo", a skit where Arsenio Hall is just having the worst of luck when he enters his home - from getting his necktie stuck in the garbage disposal machine to getting socked in the face by an ejected videotape. As other segments poke fun at American pop culture, many of them actually pre-date life as we know it today, such as instant background checks ("Two I.D.'s" with Rosanna Arquette and Steve Guttenberg), media piracy ("Video Pirates") and virtual sex ("Video Date" with Andrew "Dice" Clay). The film even makes fun of Universal's horror film legacy with "Son of the Invisible Man", where Ed Begley, Jr. pretends to be invisible, but just walks around butt-naked.

As for the "Amazon" segment itself, it directly insults the B-Movie genre with its cheesy acting, piss-poor props (you can see the Earth and the moon dangling on a wire) and intentionally bad film quality (half of it gets burned off the reel). It's obvious that Universal spent majority of the budget on the big-name actors and $0 on production value. But hey - all the laughs are worth it.

One of my favorite segments is "Bullshit or Not" (a parody of Ripley's Believe It or Not?), where Jack the Ripper is revealed to be the Loch Ness Monster and the Titanic's maiden voyage is reenacted on a bathtub. Another funny segment is "Blacks With No Soul", a commercial with legendary musician B. B. King encouraging everyone to help black youths who lack the proper characteristics (i.e. black republican voters, a pimp that drives a Volvo, stand-up comedian David Alan Grier singing "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" and the Three Dog Night song "Joy to the World").

If you're looking for some good, cheap laughs, go pick up Amazon Women on the Moon. It's not Monty Python, but it's better than most recent comedy films.

Rating: A-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85ODBLO1IhQ
"Bullshit or Not?" - Henry Silva

DVD Extras: A-
The special edition DVD includes some bloopers and scenes deleted from the film. With the exception of "The Unknown Soldier", the deleted scenes are just not that funny.

Reference
The Internet Movie Database

Edited June 25, 2014 by areaseven

[UN Spacy]

Holy crap! I remember seeing this movie (on HBO) a very long time ago. One of the last skits involved an average joe renting a XXX casette tape from the video store (ah.....as A7 mentioned in his review....it's Video Date). Well, to make a long story SHORT there was a pretty gal moaning for da average joe (named Ray).

I don't know why I haven't picked up this DVD yet.

[areaseven]

I don't know why I haven't picked up this DVD yet.

Maybe because it's hard to find. I spent three hours today looking for it. Drove to best Buy in Porter Ranch - didn't have it. Went to 20/20 Video in Van Nuys - didn't have it. Went to Circuit City in North Hollywood - didn't have it. Then I finally found it at Best Buy in Burbank.

[JB0]

I don't know why I haven't picked up this DVD yet. 

Maybe because it's hard to find. I spent three hours today looking for it. Drove to best Buy in Porter Ranch - didn't have it. Went to 20/20 Video in Van Nuys - didn't have it. Went to Circuit City in North Hollywood - didn't have it. Then I finally found it at Best Buy in Burbank.

Can't be harder to find than "The Gods Must Be Crazy."

Which has never been released on DVD near as I can tell. Though a family member sighted it on shelves ONCE, neglected to get it, and never saw it again.

[kanata67]

"a social disease" was one of my favorte skits from it. Nothing like one guy welding another guys but because he went blind

kentucky fried movie was another movie of similar style.

were there any others?

[Southcross]

WooHoo!!!! I loved that movie, and I was just thinking about it this morning... The movie with "no commercial interuptions" after these messages....

It Rocks! I need to find it on DVD.

The "Catholic School Girls Gone Bad" skit was priceless (or am I thinking of "The Kentucky Fried Movie"?). In either case, gawd I love those two movies

[MSW]

I Found this DVD at, of all places, Wal-Mart

Isn't Amazon Women on the Moon sort of a sequel to Kentucky Fried Movie?...for some reason I always thought it was, Landis being involved with both...

also I thought I saw something saying that "the Gods must be Crazy" (BTW awsome flick ) was going to be released on DVD soon (like before the end of the month...like 2-10-2004) as part of a special edition package combineing it with the sequel...

[Bones]

I saw a double DVD of Gods Must Be Crazy I and II at Best Buy here in Dallas Yesterday. I have told my wife about it for years and she was teh one who actually spotted the DVD for me!

[Blaine23]

Definitely a video classic... I'd put it up there with the aforementioned Kentucky Fried Movie (Big Jim Slade!), the Airplane! flicks, Top Secret, and Hollywood Shuffle.

It's a shame that stupid comedy isn't nearly this funny anymore. Scary Movie, etc... they just plain suck compared to the quality of films like these. Too pop cultury and too limited to playing down to 12 year olds.

[bsu legato]

LOL! Thanks for reminding me of this gem, A7! Now I'll have to find the DVD this weekend.

[bandit29]

LOL! Thanks for reminding me of this gem, A7! Now I'll have to find the DVD this weekend.

same here. this movie is hilarious.

[areaseven]

Isn't Amazon Women on the Moon sort of a sequel to Kentucky Fried Movie?...for some reason I always thought it was, Landis being involved with both...

According to IMDb, Kentucky Fried Sequel was the working title of this film. It's also known in France as Cheeseburger Film Sandwich.