Kong.
It's no secret that King Kong is back on the silver screen after more than a decade. First off, I must admit that I haven't seen this newest re-boot, Kong: Skull Island, yet. In fact, I will likely wait for it on Netflix or something. But there is so much to say about its cinematic predecessors.
The original King Kong movie of 1933 was based on the novel by Edgar Wallace. I actually had that book in my hands for a few days several years ago, but decided that a huge Kong fan and collector friend of mine would enjoy it far more than me, so I gave it to him. So I never read it. But I have seen that '33 horror movie classic so many times I've lost track.
I first saw director Merian C. Cooper's film adaptation when I was a boy, maybe somewhere between age eight and twelve. TV Ontario, the Canadian public television station in my province, ran Kong at least once, maybe even twice, per year back in the 70's and 80's. The host of the Magic Shadows and Saturday Night at the Movies programs, film historian Elwy Yost, showed his favourite classics most often. Though Yost included gems from all genres in his programming, it was clear he loved the horror and sci-fi pictures as much as - or more than - the rest. It was through his shows that I saw The Thing From Another World, War of the Worlds, and The Day the Earth Stood Still, just to name a few, many times over.
I remember watching the original King Kong on TVO both on my own and with my family on various occasions. The groundbreaking stop-motion animation of Willis O'Brien stood the test of time, and the story and indelible characters imprinted Kong on my consciousness.
Whenever Kong made the rounds on TV, I'd tune in, as a kid, a teen, and as an adult. When I began building a collection of movies on home video, Kong just had to be there, first on VHS and later on DVD. Even as I write this, I feel the urge to re-watch Kong.
The ferocious, gigantic ape of 1933 does look dated and a bit corny compared to today's special effects technology, but there is still a charm in seeing a "real" physical Kong... even though he's actually a small posable puppet figure... in action, especially when matched up against dinosaurs and other monstrous beasts. The close-ups of Kong's face and hand are the most revealing of the old less sophisticated methods, but if you can get past that stuff, then you've got a quality story with impressive animated sequences and a blockbuster adventure feel to the movie.
The original Kong is considered one of the greatest films of all time. A more family-oriented Son of Kong sequel was released later in '33 to mixed reviews. Even I have rarely felt compelled to re-watch it, though stop-motion wizard Willis O'Brien works his magic yet again.
It's hard to improve upon such amazing visuals from 1933
It wasn't until 1976 that a true Kong remake hit cinemas across the world. Sure, Toho Studios brought Kong to life in 1962 for a battle with Japan's favourite monster, Godzilla, but that was a one-off... and that Kong was a disappointment. What did you expect with a guy in an ugly hairy costume scaled to be approximately the same size as his reptilian adversary, who ranged in height in his films (after a shorter version in the first Godzilla) from 300 to 400 feet tall. That disparity has always bothered me, though King Kong vs Godzilla is a goofy romp that one can easily enjoy if in the right frame of mind.
The '76 version of Kong was pretty convincing even though he was a guy in a suit, Toho style - mind you, here the big ape has been scaled back down to his original 50-ish feet tall. I've always enjoyed this take on the classic story even though it has its haters. Though I forgot to include this King Kong in my At The Movies series, I do remember now seeing the movie in the theater with my pals upon its release. The story has its similarities to the '33 Kong, though it is updated enough to keep us locked onto a modern story with modern people and modern tall buildings (the World Trade Center, RIP) to scale. Jessica Lange, Jeff Bridges and Charles Grodin head the cast, and though the script isn't the strongest, I can always disengage from reality to accept the movie on its own merits. Perhaps the best thing about this Kong film is its thrilling musical score, composed by the legendary John Barry of James Bond fame.
Now we must jump a few decades to the next Kong revival. This time, in 2005, we have lovely Naomi Watts as the female lead, opposite the rather curiously cast Adrien Brody. Jack Black doesn't fit in and sort of ruins key scenes for me. While I quite enjoyed the movie the first time around, on subsequent viewings I liked it less and less. This version of Kong is overly long, bogged down by unnecessary and kind of silly scenes... like the group travelling through the rocky pass where all the giant buggy critters clobbered and gobbled many of them up... and that bloody ice "skating" in Central Park bit. I blame director Peter Jackson for his penchant for bloated, ungainly films (Lord of the Rings excepted, for that really demanded a long running time and Jackson met the challenge).
The special effects in this King Kong are stunning. It's been quite some time since I've watched it, but I don't recall hating anything about the film's visuals. Jackson got that right. Kong and all of the other giant creatures were state-of-the-art CGI, and pretty much knocked the socks off audiences at the time. It's hard to say how this would compare with a modern Kong.... I guess I can assess that once I see Skull Island. Maybe I'll see that sooner than later.
Kong has become a pop culture icon, recognizable in his various forms by generations the world over. And if you think about it, King Kong and an earlier Willis O'Brien project, the silent film The Lost World, kicked off and inspired giant monster movies for decades, and even today, we still love to see massive fantastical beasts on the big screen. Kong begat the American giant bug movies of the 50's, then Japan's busy Godzilla franchise (more than two dozen films) that stretches until present day. I guess Kong, though he has the same longevity as Gojira, remained an almost untouchable classic that movie-makers (mostly) avoided tackling, for fear of bungling the job and tarnishing the image of the great ape and our appreciation of the 1933 classic. There are those who accuse the '76 remake as an example of that, but I don't go for that. Even Jackson's Kong retained just enough respect for the original that I can accept it.
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