King Kong (1976)

Pretty Good

Excellent but underrated film

An Exercise In Nonsense

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The first half is fantastic. A terrific and creative set-up with the famous story altered so that oil speculator Charles Grodin is seeking the island surrounded by fog as a possible origin for that gushy stuff that keeps cars running...Jeff Bridges, as a "hippie" stowaway who bribes his way aboard the ship/freighter, knows the island has a big secret, and yet even he's not sure exactly what... Had another actor been cast in this preachy photographer role, liking and even thinking he understands simians over humans (especially the 11th hour American Military in Copters that he infamously cheers upon their destruction), would be annoying and/or pretentious, even cliché: Given his cred, it's no surprise that Bridges can be just cool enough to add a tinge of pulpy action hero to the hairy modern do-gooder...And after what are the best scenes occurring on-the-way to Skull Island, he's part of, along with the mostly doomed search party on land that includes character-actors Ed Lauter and Julius Harris, the same kind of old school adventure vibe, keeping the action at a neat, economical pace: something director John Guillerman can do nicely. ranging from SHAFT IN AFRICA back to THE DAY THEY ROBBED THE BANK OF ENGLAND...In search of the initially lost-at-sea and now reluctant monkey's bride is a would-be actress with the strange name of Dwan, played by the extremely gorgeous Jessica Lange, an airhead character who probably wouldn't have made a good actress, so Jessica's own performance may seem stilted and campy, but like Bridges, her unique presence makes-up for any otherwise damaging flaws. "My horoscope said I was in crossover water," she says about the powerful man who can possibly change her life with a big role, and, unaware of the underlined irony that waits ashore, continues with: "And that I was going to meet the biggest person in my life."Skull Island more a tropical Hawaii than the original's African vibe Meanwhile, Grodin, with his usual glib persona, is a snarky, funny and likeable villain (whose forced selfish dialogue fleshes-out any and all villainy), and at one point says "Let's not get eaten alive on this island... Bring the mosquito spray!" And he's ultimately not as lucky as Robert Armstrong's original instigator, Carl Denham: after all, Hollywood prefers directors to oilmen...But this entertainingly epic yet nicely contained popcorn flick hits a gigantic Kong Wall, ironically when the Ape arrives and the story centers on he and Lange's idyllic honeymoon that's not only corny, but makes this formidable creature lack the complete and edgy, monstrous quality needed for his Big Apple destruction later on (but at least he doesn't ice skate like in Peter Jackson's multi-million-dollar vanity project). Kong is also inevitably bogged down by dated special effects... despite beautiful matte painting backdrops and Rick Baker's costume (Bridges says at one point: "Who do you think went through there: some guy in an ape suit?"), which seems genuine and palpable up-close as opposed to wider shots, the opposite of the 1933 classic - still the champ after all the sequels, remakes, expanded tales and in this particular case, with the working tag-title extension THE LEGEND REBORN, is one of the first reboots despite that term not being used (much) in 1976, one year before effects-driven pulpy adventure movies would be changed, forever.

An expedition to find oil on a remote tropical island discovers a giant ape (simian expert Rick Baker in a pretty convincing gorilla suit) instead.Director John Guillermin gives this picture an impressive sense of scope, keeps the enjoyable story moving along at a steady pace, and stages the exciting climax atop the World Trade Center with flair and skill. Lorenzo Semple Jr.'s bright, but uneven script cleverly updates the premise with then timely and topical references to the oil crisis, the porno chic fad, the astrology craze, and the feminist movement which now date the movie in a charming way as well as offers the inspired touch of reducing Kong to a commodity that's crassly exploited by a greedy major corporation. However, the campy humor produces more groans than laughs while the variable special effects are strictly hit or miss throughout (Kong's dramatic entrance rates as a definite rousing highlight while his fight with a huge fake snake fails to pass muster).Fortunately, the sturdy acting by the fine cast helps a lot: A hirsute Jeff Bridges contributes a likable performance as decent and humane hippie paleontologist Jack Prescott, Jessica Lange makes an appealing cinematic debut as the sweetly ditsy Dwan, and Charles Grodin pours on the slimy snark as smarmy and unscrupulous oil company executive Fred Wilson, plus there are sound supporting contributions from John Randolph as the venerable Captain Ross, Rene Auberjonois as nerdy scientist Bagley, Julius Harris as the tough Boan, Jack O'Halloran as the dim-witted Joe Perko, Dennis Fimple as the goofy Sunfish, and Ed Lauter as the gruff Carnahan. John Barry's majestic orchestral score hits the stirring spot. Richard H. Kline's sumptuous widescreen cinematography provides a breathtaking glossy look. By no means a perfect film, but certainly not anywhere near as bad as its undeservedly poor reputation suggests.

I had first seen the outstanding original of 'King Kong', still transcendent and captivating in its then-prescient use of special effects wizardry, then Sir Peter Jackson's recent remake, which was still extremely impressive. I had only heard horrible things about the 70's version, but I have come to admire Guillermin's films that I had watched, and look at that cast, so when I found the blu used, for a good price, I took a chance. It's definitely the runt of the litter, but is by no means a disaster. It's intriguing that they had originally wanted Joseph Sargent to direct with Peter Falk starring, and that Meryl Streep was considered for the role that eventually went to Jessica Lange. The changes they made to update Kong for the seventies were intriguing (as they wanted the script to be completely different from the Cooper/Schoedsack masterpiece), and I'm left curious, had Sir Peter Jackson chosen to make Kong a 21st-century schizoid apeman instead of doing a period piece, how that would have transpired. Even being Canadian, seeing the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center made me wistfully nostalgic. The only part of the film that was excruciating to watch was when Kong is made to perform for the American Bicentennial festivities, and at the ending, I was curious how Lange got down from the rooftop of one of the towers so fast. The answer probably lies on the cutting room floor, and the editing was probably rushed for release date, so no one must have noticed...

This is the King Kong movie from my year of birth. It gave me nightmares as a young child, but I've always loved the movie.I disliked the 1986 sequel 'King Kong Lives' but this one -to me- is still very likable. I love the humor and the acting is at its best.Yes, the effects are outdated and not convincing anymore, but at least it were live action effects and back then way more convincing than the CGI of today. Yes, Kong is the guy in a suit, but there was no Andy Serkis around back then or other actors who were capable of studying gorilla's and their movements (concidering the idea that Kong has to be a giant gorilla, instead of another unspecified unique primate), but later films had even worse convincing apes ('Trading places', 'Greystoke, the legend of Tarzan', 'Gorillas in the Mist', etc.).I just finished watching it today since like 30 years and I was surprised how good the acting was. I've never seen the 1933 movie, but I did see Peter Jackson's version. I prefer this one over Peter Jackson's version, because Jackson's version is too long in running time and boring from the moment with the giant insects on.Kong is the metaphor, the Carl Jung kind of archetype, that represents the dark and fierce side of nature that fascinates us. The story is a mirror to us, the other primates, showing us how stupid we are when we think we can dominate nature and bend it to our will, and destroying it when we discover we can't, because we are too proud to confess how stupid we were in the first place instead of admitting that we should have let nature alone.