Mekagojira no gyakushu (1975)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Yukiko Takayama (screenplay)
Yukiko Takayama (story)

Release Date:

March 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Metal meets monster.

Plot:

Godzilla comes to the rescue when an alien race rebuilds Mechagodzilla to destroy Earth's cities. A traitorous scientist gives them a second weapon: Titanosaurus.

Plot Keywords:

Godzilla | Mechagodzilla | Alien | Scientist | Dinosaur

Cast

Katsuhiko Sasaki	...	Biologist Akira Ichinose
Tomoko Ai	...	Katsura Mafune
Akihiko Hirata	...	Dr. Shinzô Mafune
Katsumasa Uchida	...	Interpol Agent Jiro Murakoshi
Goro Mutsumi	...	Alien Leader Mugal
Tadao Nakamaru	...	Interpol Chief Tagawa
Shin Roppongi	...	Yûichi Wakayama
Tomoe Mari	...	Yuri Yamamoto
Tôru Ibuki	...	Tsuda (bearded alien)
Kenji Sahara	...	Army Commander Segawa
Kotaro Tomita	...	Professor Ôta
Ikio Sawamura	...	Mafune's Silent Butler
Masaaki Daimon	...	Submarine Captain Kusakari
Toshio Kirishima	...	Alien Henchman #2
Kazuo Suzuki	...	Alien Henchman #1

Also Known As:

Mechagodzilla vs. Godzilla
Mechagodzilla's Counterattack (Japan: English title) (literal title)
Monsters from an Unknown Planet
Monsters from the Unknown Planet
Revenge of Mechagodzilla
Terror of Mechagodzilla (USA) (video box title)
The Escape of Mechagodzilla
The Escape of Megagodzilla
The Terror of Godzilla (USA)

Runtime:

83 min | UK:89 min | USA:79 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Norway:11 (video premiere) | UK:15 | USA:G | West Germany:12 (nf)

Company:

Henry G. Saperstein Enterprises Inc.

Trivia:

In the original script, the final battle was supposed to take place entirely in Tôkyô (which would be devastated by the end of the film), but Tôhô deemed this too expensive, so the entire battle was placed in the more cost-effective countryside near the city.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In several shots when Godzilla is being blown aside by an explosion, kicked across the landscape, or flung high into the air by his upper lip, it is obvious that he is actually an empty suit, because he looks inexplicably thin.

Quotes:

[the Interpol staff watches on live TV as Mechagodzilla completely wipes out part of a city with his new improved Finger Missiles]
Interpol Chief Tagawa: Revolving missiles... Mechagodzilla has new weapons!
Interpol Worker: It's terrible! Godzilla might lose!!
[an alarm buzzes, indicating that Godzilla is approaching, as Wakayama stares in grim silence]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Little Red Riding Hood (2009) (V)

awesome exit

Terror of Mechagodzilla is one of the best of the classic era Godzilla films. Just as the Godzilla series went on a hiatus, they started to really get it right with human beings playing a part with the monsters, and in this one they managed to do it with a romance! This has all the classic elements, a mad professor, a cyborg, space invaders, secret police, but they are not presented in the normal way! A woman is a cyborg, a police investigator becomes involved in a personal relationship, the space invaders are actually trying to lay low, and the mad professor is an ambiguous guy.

Tomoko Ai gives a great physical and also subtle performance as Katsura the cyborg, and in almost every scene she does not blink once.

The scenes of destruction are great, and you get to see actual destruction of a city by Mechagodzilla. Great editing also.