Sometimes I’ll be talking or thinking about a movie—I’ll remember plot details, characters and specific scenes—only to realize that I only know it from the MAD magazine parody I’d read as a kid. I have my cousins’ ’70s-era collection of MADs to thank for this:
Guess Who’s Throwing Up Dinner? (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?)
Boob and Carnal and Tad and Alas (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice)
Airplot (Airport)
PUT*ON (Patton)
Catch-All-22 (Catch-22)
On a Clear Day You Can See a Funny Girl Singing “Hello Dolly” Forever (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever)
The Foul and the Prissy Cats (The Owl and the Pussycats)
Lover’s Story (Love Story)
What’s the Connection? (The French Connection)*
Antenna on the Roof (Fiddler on the Roof)
The Poopsidedown Adventure (The Poseidon Adventure)
Serpicool (Serpico)*
The Ecchorcist (The Exorcist)*
Muddle on the Orient Express (Murder on the Orient Express)
Coma-Toast (Coma)
Alias (Alien)*
Crymore vs. Crymore (Kramer vs. Kramer)
Undressed to Kill (Dressed to Kill)*
Assaulted State (Altered States)
On Olden Pond (On Golden Pond)
Witless (Witness)
* Seen years later, but first and lasting impression came from the MAD version.
