John Landis: 10 Best Movies According To Rotten Tomatoes
Although he has moved mostly into television directing in the past 25 years, director John Landis blazed a trail from 1978 to 1988 that produced no fewer than six movies considered classics today (Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, and Coming to America). You could also include Spies Like Us, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and even Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video. That is an eleven-year run unmatched by almost any other director.
Of course, Landis has not been without his fair share of flops. Oscar, starring Sylvester Stallone, holds a 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. And 1994’s Beverly Hills Cop III (just 10% on the Tomatometer) was a complete misfire, which is surprising given the success of the first two BHC films and the track record of Landis-Eddie Murphy collaborations (Trading Places and Coming to America). But forget those duds. Let’s remember the good times. Here are John Landis’ 10 Best Movies According to Rotten Tomatoes. (Note: For simplicity purposes, we are not counting TV movies, documentaries, anthology collaborations, or music video work.)
10 Innocent Blood (1992): 39%
Landis directed this mash-up of vampire and gangster movies to modest critical success in 1992. The film featured a Fench vampire named Marie (Anne Parillaud) who feasts only on the blood of criminals. After attacking and nearly killing mob boss “Sal the Shark” Macelli (Robert Loggia), Marie is forced to flee, leaving Sal to become a vampire himself.
Sal then goes on to turn his own men into vampires in an attempt to gain revenge on Marie and the undercover cop pursuing him, Jospeh Genarro (Anthony LaPaglia). The horror-comedy was a commercial flop upon release, earning a mere $4.9 million against a budget of $20 million.
9 Blues Brothers 2000 (1998): 46%
Taking place 18 years after the original, the film begins with Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd, reprising his original role) being released from jail after an 18-year stint for the crimes committed in the original movie. Elwood, whose brother Jake passed away while he was in prison, learns from “The Penguin,” Sister Mary Stigmata, that the orphanage is once again in need of money, this time for a children’s hospital.
Elwood then must once again reunite the band to earn enough money for the children’s hospital, all the while avoiding various pratfalls along the way. Co-starring John Goodman, the film once again featured musical numbers, car chases, and multiple musician cameos. Unlike the original, though, the sequel was not nearly as well-received and is generally disregarded by film fans.
8 Three Amigos (1986): 46%
Written by Steve Martin, Saturday Night Live head honcho Lorne Michaels, and singer/songwriter Randy Newman (his only screenwriting credit), Three Amigos is generally regarded as a comedy classic, with multiple memorable quotes and some catchy tunes throughout.
Starring Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short, with cameos by Joe Mantegna, Jon Lovitz, and Phil Hartman, Three Amigos tells the story of three silent film actors, recently fired from their studio contracts, who are hired by a small Mexican village to reprise their heroic roles in order to fend off real-life bandits, unbeknownst to the actors themselves. Incredibly rewatchable and timelessly funny.
7 Schlock (1973): 67%
Eight years before he directed the horror-comedy classic An American Werewolf in London, Landis directed this homage to the monster movies of the 1950s. The movie tells the story of Schlock, an apeman-like creature who falls in love with a blind teenage girl and displays some unusual abilities.
The film was Landis’ directorial debut and although it has gone on to achieve cult status, Landis is not a fan of the movie. It may not be a cinematic masterpiece, but it did mark the beginning of Landis collaborations with effects guru Rick Baker, who would go on to bring the creatures in An American Werewolf in London to life.
6 Coming To America (1988): 67%
Landis’s second collaboration with Eddie Murphy, after 1983’s successful role-reversal comedy Trading Places, is arguably the high water mark for both. Co-starring Arsenio Hall, Coming to America stars Murphy as Prince Akeem, a member of the royal family of Zamunda, a fictional African nation, who is set to enter an arranged marriage on his 21st birthday. Unhappy with this traditional arrangement, Akeem sets off for America to find true love.
The film is packed with memorable scenes and quotable lines and is full of cameos. With a long-awaited sequel due out in 2020 (not directed by Landis, by the way), it should also be noted that it is a quasi-sequel to Trading Places.
5 Kentucky Fried Movie (1977): 81%
Landis’s second film was a comedy anthology comprised of various, unconnected sketches. Written by David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams (who would go on to great success with Airplane! And The Naked Gun series) based off sketches developed at their improv troupe, Kentucky Fried Theater, the movie was a series of sketches spoofing popular movie genres and television commercials.
Independently financed, Kentucky Fried Movie would ultimately gross over ten times its production budget of $650,000 and lead to Landis landing the directorial gig for Animal House.
4 The Blues Brothers (1980): 84%
The first film to be adapted from a Saturday Night Live sketch, The Blues Brothers is a wild musical comedy romp in and around the city of Chicago. Starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as Jake and Elwood Blues, the brothers decide to reunite their band in an effort to raise the $5,000 needed to save their childhood orphanage from closure.
The movie is chock full of cameos from musicians such as James Brown and Aretha Franklin and features some of the most memorable musical performances and car chases ever captured on film.
3 Trading Places (1983): 87%
Starring two of Landis’ frequent collaborators, Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy, Trading Places is a tale of two completely opposite individuals, a wealthy New York commodities broker named Louis Winthorpe III (Aykroyd) and a homeless street hustler named Billy Ray Valentine (Murphy).
The two have their lives flipped upside down, Valentine for the better and Winthorpe for the worse, as a result of a petty one dollar wager between super-wealthy brothers Randolph and Mortimer Duke. Co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis as good-hearted prostitute Ophelia and Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche as the Duke brothers, the R-rated comedy was a huge box-office success following its December 1982 release.
2 An American Werewolf In London (1981): 87%
Perhaps best remembered for its incredible werewolf transformation scene (which won effects artist Rick Baker the first-ever Academy Award for Best Make-Up), this horror-comedy (more horror than comedy, by the way) spent 12 years in development before its 1981 release. Landis wrote the screenplay in 1969 but was unable to get it financed until after his successes with Animal House and The Blues Brothers.
Werewolf tells the tale of David Kessler (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne), a pair of American backpackers in England who are attacked by a werewolf on the English moors. Jack is killed, but David survives, only to carry on the curse of the monster that attacked him. The film is considered by many to be the greatest werewolf movie of all time.
1 National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978): 90%
In only his third film, Landis scored a massive success with the college frat screwball comedy. Animal House grossed over $141 million, making it one of the highest-grossing films of the 1970s. Known most famously for John Belushi’s scene-stealing role as John “Bluto” Blutarsky, it also featured Kevin Bacon in his feature film debut.
Co-written by Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters), Animal House received a mixed critical reception upon its release. As evidenced by its 90% Tomatometer score, it has since gone on to be hailed as an American comedy classic, inspiring countless imitators over the years.