John Landis

February 24, 1997

Landis was born on August 3, 1950 in Chicago. Originally a stuntman, Landis incorporated a lot of his experiences doing stuntwork into his films. Many of his early films are full of broad slapstick and incredible stunts. His early claim to fame was his teaming with Jim Abrahams and Jerry and David Zucker (the ZAZ boys) on The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), a hilarious compilation of skits, spoofing everthing from disaster pictures to Bruce Lee Movies. Landis started gaining hit after hit, which include the riotous comedies Animal House (1978), The Blues Brothers (1980) and Trading Places (1983). Landis also delved into horror and Science Fiction during this period with An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Twilight Zone-The Movie (1983). The latter was notorious for the death of actor Vic Morrow, during the shooting of Landis' segment for the film.

However, Landis has (since 1985) hit a major snag in his career. Most of his work, save for his hit Coming to America (1988), has mostly consisted of bloated comedies that attempt to capture the essense of screwball comedies. Into the Night (1985), Spies Like Us (1985), Oscar (1991) and the horrendous Three Amigos are just a few examples of the type of films that tend to clear theaters, rather than fill them.

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