Yet another film about a giant gorilla terrorizing a city. And another one capitalizing off the De Laurentiis King Kong of ‘76. This one was produced by the Shaw Brothers, a Hong Kong Studio famous for making the greatest Kung Fu movies of all time! This is one of the more entertaining knock offs that happened in the late 70s. Roger Ebert even gave it 3 out of 4 stars in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times! Pretty good for a cheap monkey movie.

I got the opportunity to watch this at Portland’s Hollywood Theatre some years ago and really enjoyed it, though there were some really ridiculous things going on. The special effects were pretty doggone bad, a lot of matte masking to show the size of the “giant” ape in relation to humans. Still this was pretty entertaining, and fun to watch.

One of the big differences to the other ape movies is that the girl was friends with the ape instead of being terrorized by him. Samantha, an orphaned girl who has grown to a woman of the jungle is friends with all the animals. She plays with all the beasts of the jungle while dressing in a very sheik jungle outfit (which she wears throughout the entire flick).

Dancing with this leopard without him mauling you? This leopard deserves an Oscar for his performance!

Sooner or later the ape ends up in Hong Kong and all hell breaks loose. The ape climbs the tallest building he can find dies in the end. Original ending, huh?

So there have been a few new films produced by Warner Brothers based on King Kong, and Godzilla that my friends are telling me are actually pretty good. I have not seen them. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a film snob or anything like that, it’s just that when it comes to a movie about a giant monster stamping out a city, I’m really into the olde skool special effects. It’s probably linked to my childhood and the wonder I had when I watched those movies. As a child, they looked so real, but I knew they could not be. I actually had this fantasy that Godzilla was a giant mechanical machine driven by a stuntman as he stomped out a real city. Well, when I saw these films when I was older, and reminded of my old ideas, I was quite embarrassed for myself. Still I love these guys in sweat filled suits stomping on toys and ignoring the strings on the copters and jets, and pretending that they are not swishing around in an indoor pool when there is a water scene.

This brings me to my favorite Kong movie of all. The 1976 Dino De Laurentiis King Kong remake. I do not know when I first saw this, but I did see it in the theater. It was not first run, but I do remember that when I was a kid here in Portland, in the late 70s there was a deal my parents got, where my little sister and I could see one movie a week in the summer and saw some awesome movies. This was when it was just fine to send your 2 under 10 year old kids to the movies for the day and not bat an eye.

Anyways, on with the flick. This movie has it all. Jeff Bridges, The Dude himself, and Jessica Lang In her first acting job, creenplay by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. of the Batman TV show fame (another favorite), and a ferocious Kong. The third act in the city where kong goes on his rampage is classic. The audience is directed to feel empathy for the ape and what he is going through. Several views of him zoom in on his eyes, as if the viewers are invited to see Kongs actual vision. The scene at the end where he climbs the twin towers of the World Trade Center, is a classic reimagining of the original where Kong climbs the Empire State Building. Special effects are sub-par by todays standards but for the 1970s they were pretty epic. There was even a 40 foot tall mechanical Kong, though it was used sparingly (it really looked bad).

I wanted to show this film to my 6 year old, but decided to watch it first. Good thing too. The part where Kong kills a giant snake is very gory, as well as when the Hueys shoot Kong off the buildings-very bloody and graphic. I guess she will need to keep watching the Toyo movies at least for now. More Kong to come!

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