King Kong (1976)

Director:

John Guillermin

Writers:

Merian C. Cooper (idea) and
Edgar Wallace (idea) ...

Release Date:

17 December 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The most exciting original motion picture event of all time.

Plot:

A petroleum exploration expedition comes to an isolated island and encounters a colossal giant gorilla.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Gorilla | King Kong | Oil | Ape

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Jeff Bridges	...	Jack Prescott
Charles Grodin	...	Fred Wilson
Jessica Lange	...	Dwan
John Randolph	...	Captain Ross
Rene Auberjonois	...	Roy Bagley
Julius Harris	...	Boan
Jack O'Halloran	...	Joe Perko
Dennis Fimple	...	Sunfish
Ed Lauter	...	Carnahan
Jorge Moreno	...	Garcia
Mario Gallo	...	Timmons
John Lone	...	Chinese Cook
Garry Walberg	...	Army General
John Agar	...	City Official
Keny Long	...	Ape Masked Man

Also Known As:

King Kong: The Legend Reborn (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (British Columbia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Finland:K-12 (cut) (1977) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1998) | Argentina:13 | Iceland:L | Canada:14A (Ontario - 2005) | New Zealand:PG | Australia:M (cable rating) | Australia:PG (original rating) | Norway:11 | Norway:12 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Biltmore Hotel - 506 S. Grand Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Dino De Laurentiis Company

Trivia:

The full-sized mechanic arms were suspended from a crane in order to extend and lift Jessica Lange 30 to 40 feet in the air.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Kong is revealed to the public, the flashes from the cameras in the crowd reveal the wooden roof of the stage where the close-ups were filmed.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Joe Perko: OK, Boan, how much you got here?
Boan: About eighteen hundred.
Joe Perko: Eighteen hundred? What's going on?
Boan: There's Bagley.
Joe Perko: Hey, Mr. Bagley! Something's haywire. They only loaded me enough pipe to push one test hole. Less than two thousand feet.
Roy Bagley: Yeah, that'll be enough.
Boan: Are you kidding? On Bagatan, we didn't come until we were past twenty-six thousand feet.
Roy Bagley: You take my word, fellas. This hole proves out within two thousand, or it's a write-off.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Superior Firepower: The Making of 'Aliens' (2003) (V)

An underrated failure of a remake.

The popular label stamped on this film is that it is a failure. While this I agree, there are certain good points that are done better than the original.

In the original classic, Ann Darrow, the damsel in distress, had no good feelings whatsoever for the unfortunate giant ape. Her function in the story was to be carried about by Kong, and, of course, scream. This remake, however, is more developed as a drama. Kong is treated more as a character, rather than a destroying machine that happens to have a certain bewildering attraction to blonds. Ann is also portrayed more as a character than a screaming doll, and she develops a liking for Kong that allows this film to become quite touching. And the eccentric who captures and brings Kong to the civilized world is appropriately portrayed as the scoundrel he should be.

But the problem is, King Kong is not just any old love story. What is lacking in the remake is action. While the original Kong spent half the movie beating up an impressive collection of fanged agents of death, this film contains only one other monster, which, after a very brief and very boring struggle, never shows its rubber muppet-like self again. The quality of the effects is also very bad. Although the film is in colour, the effects are, in all practicality, inferior to that of the original, which was already over forty years old at the time.

Another potential problem is that this film, on top of the lack of action, ended up a little too serious than need be. One element is that, what was a film-making expedition in the original was turned into a corporate-run oil expedition. While this is no problem in itself, it strays a little too far from the fact that King Kong is not expected to be anything more than entertainment. Personally, I feel that this message of how dangerous corporate society can be is a very good and important one, but in this movie it lacks the ominous subtlety I believe best fit for it (as in the earlier "Alien" movies, for example), and, as if aware of the fact that fans don't want a story too dark, this angle seems to be only half-heartedly pursued. The effect is that it comes out a little deliberate and cheesy.

All in all, the good thing about this movie is that it puts emphasis on the drama. The bad thing is that that is all it pays attention to. It was a very good try, but to sum up the mistakes of this movie, while the drama of King Kong is what mostly makes it distinguishable from other monster flicks, this story is simply not allowed to be just a drama. The lord of all monster movies is, after all, a monster movie, and the makers appear to have forgotten that.