Don't Be A Chicken

A couple of posts back, I talked about the Judge Reinhold comedy Off Beat, and how there was a group of actor's being positioned to be the next comedy king of the silver screen. One of the actor's mentioned was Steve Guttenberg. I've always thought of Guttenberg as the poor man's Reinhold. I don't mean that as an insult. I like a lot of Guttenberg's work, and over the next few days, I'm going to take a look back at a few of his forgotten films that are deserving of a dvd/blu ray release.

One of my favorite childhood memories was when my parents would let me stay up to watch the late night movie. There was this independant station, KPLR out of St. Louis, that would air some really obscure films. This was my introduction to films like Rancho Deluxe, The Seven Ups, and The Chicken Chronicles.

The Chicken Chronicles featured Guttenberg in his first starring role as David, a high school senior whose main goal is to lose his virginity to the head cheerleader, Lisa Reeves, but life is getting in the way. His principal, Ed Lauter, is riding him to get his grades up. If he doesn't, he could be drafted for the Vietnam War. He has a job at the local chicken shack where he is hounded by his boss, the great Phil Silvers, to do a better job. And his younger brother, Gino Baffa, is better with the ladies than he is.

Guttenberg is pretty good in this, but Silvers and Baffa steal every scene they are in. I can't believe Baffa didn't get more work after this. He is a natural.

It may sound like your typical 70's drive in, sex comedy, but The Chicken Chronicles has a lot more going on than naked starlets.