King Kong (1976 film)
Encyclopedia
King Kong is a 1976 American monster movie
produced by Dino De Laurentiis
and directed by John Guillermin. It is a remake
of the 1933 classic film of the same name
, about a giant ape that is captured and imported to New York City for exhibition.
The remake's screenplay
was written by Lorenzo Semple Jr.
, based on the original story written by Merian C. Cooper
and Edgar Wallace
, which had been adapted into the 1933 screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman
and Ruth Rose. It stars Jeff Bridges
, Charles Grodin
, and Jessica Lange
in her first film role, playing the part made famous in the original by Fay Wray
.
), an executive of the Petrox Oil Company, forms an expedition based on infrared imagery which reveals a previously undiscovered Indian Ocean
island hidden by a permanent cloud bank. Wilson believes the island has a huge deposit of oil. Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges
), a primate paleontologist
, sneaks onto the expedition's vessel and attempts to warn the team against traveling to the island, citing an ominous final message about "the roar of the greatest beast" from previous doomed explorers. Wilson orders Prescott locked up, claiming that he is really a spy from a rival corporation. The ship happens upon a life raft which carries the beautiful and unconscious Dwan (Jessica Lange
). Upon waking, Dwan tells Prescott that she is an aspiring actress who was aboard a director's yacht which suddenly exploded. During the ship's ongoing voyage, Prescott and Dwan become attracted to each other.
Upon arriving at the island, the team discovers a primitive tribe of natives
who live within the confines of a gigantic wall, built to protect them from a mysterious god known as Kong. The team finds that while there is a large deposit of oil, it is of such low quality that it is unusable. The natives kidnap Dwan, drug her, and use her as a sacrifice
to Kong. A monumental ape grabs Dwan from the altar and departs back into the jungle.
Although an awesome and terrifying sight, the soft hearted Kong quickly becomes tamed by Dwan, whose rambling monologues calms and fascinates the monstrous beast. Kong takes Dwan back to a waterfall. He washes her, and uses a great gust of his warm breath to dry her.
In the meantime, Prescott, and First Mate Carnahan (Ed Lauter
) lead a rescue mission to save Dwan. The rescue party encounters Kong while crossing a log bridge, and Kong rolls the huge log, sending Carnahan and the rest of the sailors falling to their deaths. Prescott and Boan are the only ones to survive. Kong takes Dwan to his lair. A giant snake appears and attacks the pair, and while Kong dispatches the snake, Prescott escapes with Dwan. Kong chases the pair back to the native village, only to fall into a pit trap
and be smothered with chloroform
.
Without any of the promised new oil, Wilson decides to transport Kong to America as a promotional gimmick for his company. When they finally reach New York City, Kong is put on display in a beauty and the beast
farce, bound in chains with a large crown on his head. When Kong sees a group of reporters pushing and shoving Dwan for interviews, the ape breaks free of his bonds and goes on a rampage throughout the city. Wilson trips while running away and Kong steps on him, killing him instantly. The ape also destroys an elevated train in his search for Dwan. Prescott and Dwan flee across the Queensboro Bridge
to Manhattan while Kong pursues them. At an abandoned Manhattan bar, Prescott calls the military and tells them to let Kong climb to the top of the Trade Center. Kong locates Dwan and she allows him to take her; he begins to make his way to the World Trade Center, with Jack and the military in hot pursuit.
In the climax, Kong climbs the South Tower of the World Trade Center. After being attacked by men with flamethrower
s while standing on the roof, Kong flees by leaping across to the North Tower. Later, he is attacked by military helicopters while Dwan is trying to stop them. The fatally injured Kong falls from the roof to the World Trade Center plaza, where he dies from his injuries. Dwan is bombarded by a sea of photographers. The crowd is so big though that Dwan can't even get close to Jack. She stands still and is photographed relentlessly by reporters while Kong lies dead in a pool of blood and broken concrete.
, King Kong was commercially successful, earning Paramount Pictures
back over triple its budget. The film ended up at #5 on Variety
's chart of the top domestic (U.S.) moneymakers of 1977. (The film was released in December 1976 and therefore earned the majority of its money during the early part of 1977.) The film made approximately $80 million worldwide on a $24 million budget.
Despite this, Paramount-Gulf Western's CEO stated that he was disappointed the film did not out gross 1975's Jaws (film)
. After months of much anticipation for the film's release the film received mostly mixed responses from critics at the time of its initial release, especially from fans of the original King Kong. It did however, obtain positive reviews from several prominent critics. Pauline Kael
in The New Yorker
, Richard Schickel
in Time
, Charles Champlin in the Los Angeles Times
, Roger Ebert
in the Chicago Sun-Times
, and 'Murf' in Variety, among others, responded favorably to the film's pathos and (often campy) sense of humor. Kael, in particular, truly loved the film, noting "I don't think I've ever before seen a movie that was a comic-strip great romance in the way this one is — it's a joke that can make you cry." The performances by Bridges and Grodin were generally well regarded, and even the film's detractors found Richard H. Kline's Academy Award
-nominated cinematography
and John Barry
's musical score noteworthy.
Currently, critical response to King Kong continues to be mixed. Of the 25 reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes
regarding the title, 52% reflect negative reactions. According to Entertainment Tonight
's Leonard Maltin
, the film "...has great potential; yet it dispels all the mythic, larger-than-life qualities of the original with idiotic characters and campy approach."
The movie's success and notoriety helped launch the career of Jessica Lange, although she reportedly received some negative publicity regarding her debut performance that, according to film reviewer Marshall Fine
, "almost destroyed her career".
Although Lange won the Golden Globe for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture - Female for Kong, she did not appear in another film for three years and spent that time training intensively in acting.
The film received an Academy Award
for Best Special Effects, an award it shared with Logan's Run
(1976). It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography
(Richard H. Kline) and Best Sound (Harry W. Tetrick
, William McCaughey
, Aaron Rochin
and Jack Solomon
).
King Kong found new and sustained life on television. NBC bought the rights to air the movie and it was a rating success. NBC paid De Laurentiis $19.5 million for the rights to two showings over five years; the highest amount any network had ever paid for a film at that time. This led De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (with Canadian distribution by Paramount) to make a sequel called King Kong Lives
(1986), starring Linda Hamilton
. Unlike the 1976 remake, the sequel was a commercial failure.
. Optimum Releasing has confirmed a new re-release of this film on Region 2 with deleted scenes and the theatrical trailer from the previous issue. There are only 2 deleted scenes on the DVD. This is the extended scene of the brawl between Kong and the Snake. The other scene is the demise of Wilson at the New York unveiling of Kong. The film has been released on Blu-Ray in Region B territories, however this disc is region free and will work in any Blu-Ray machine.
, composed and conducted by John Barry
, was released on CD
by both Mask and FSM in 2005. It is noticeably incomplete, however, missing at least two major cues from the film, notably the log rolling sequence, several extensions of cues already present on the soundtrack, and small restatements of the main theme. Otherwise, the track listing is as follows on both CDs:
Monster movie
Monster movie is a name commonly given to movies, which centre on the struggle between human beings and one or more monsters...
produced by Dino De Laurentiis
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...
and directed by John Guillermin. It is a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the 1933 classic film of the same name
King Kong (1933 film)
King Kong is a Pre-Code 1933 fantasy monster adventure film co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, and written by Ruth Rose and James Ashmore Creelman after a story by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film tells of a gigantic island-dwelling apeman creature called Kong who dies in...
, about a giant ape that is captured and imported to New York City for exhibition.
The remake's screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
was written by Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Lorenzo Semple Jr. is an American screenwriter and sometime playwright, best known for his work on the campy television series Batman and the political/paranoia movie thrillers The Parallax View and Three Days of the Condor .-Early work:Semple's writing career started in 1951, as a short story...
, based on the original story written by Merian C. Cooper
Merian C. Cooper
Merian Caldwell Cooper was an American aviator, United States Air Force and Polish Air Force officer, adventurer, screenwriter, and film director and producer. His most famous film was the 1933 movie King Kong.-Early life:...
and Edgar Wallace
Edgar Wallace
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was an English crime writer, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and numerous articles in newspapers and journals....
, which had been adapted into the 1933 screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman
James Ashmore Creelman
James Ashmore Creelman was an early Hollywood film writer.Born in the hometown of his mother, Creelman lived in New York City and Washington, D.C...
and Ruth Rose. It stars Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
, Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968...
, and Jessica Lange
Jessica Lange
Jessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...
in her first film role, playing the part made famous in the original by Fay Wray
Fay Wray
Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
.
Plot
Set in the 1970s, Fred Wilson (Charles GrodinCharles Grodin
Charles Grodin is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968...
), an executive of the Petrox Oil Company, forms an expedition based on infrared imagery which reveals a previously undiscovered Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
island hidden by a permanent cloud bank. Wilson believes the island has a huge deposit of oil. Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
), a primate paleontologist
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
, sneaks onto the expedition's vessel and attempts to warn the team against traveling to the island, citing an ominous final message about "the roar of the greatest beast" from previous doomed explorers. Wilson orders Prescott locked up, claiming that he is really a spy from a rival corporation. The ship happens upon a life raft which carries the beautiful and unconscious Dwan (Jessica Lange
Jessica Lange
Jessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...
). Upon waking, Dwan tells Prescott that she is an aspiring actress who was aboard a director's yacht which suddenly exploded. During the ship's ongoing voyage, Prescott and Dwan become attracted to each other.
Upon arriving at the island, the team discovers a primitive tribe of natives
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
who live within the confines of a gigantic wall, built to protect them from a mysterious god known as Kong. The team finds that while there is a large deposit of oil, it is of such low quality that it is unusable. The natives kidnap Dwan, drug her, and use her as a sacrifice
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or people to God or the gods as an act of propitiation or worship.While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering can be used for bloodless sacrifices of cereal food or artifacts...
to Kong. A monumental ape grabs Dwan from the altar and departs back into the jungle.
Although an awesome and terrifying sight, the soft hearted Kong quickly becomes tamed by Dwan, whose rambling monologues calms and fascinates the monstrous beast. Kong takes Dwan back to a waterfall. He washes her, and uses a great gust of his warm breath to dry her.
In the meantime, Prescott, and First Mate Carnahan (Ed Lauter
Ed Lauter
Edward Lauter is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous movies and was a stand up comic before getting into acting.Lauter was born in Long Beach, Long Island, New York...
) lead a rescue mission to save Dwan. The rescue party encounters Kong while crossing a log bridge, and Kong rolls the huge log, sending Carnahan and the rest of the sailors falling to their deaths. Prescott and Boan are the only ones to survive. Kong takes Dwan to his lair. A giant snake appears and attacks the pair, and while Kong dispatches the snake, Prescott escapes with Dwan. Kong chases the pair back to the native village, only to fall into a pit trap
Trapping pit
Trapping pits are deep pits dug into the ground, or built from stone, in order to trap animals.European rock drawings and cave paintings reveal that the elk and moose have been hunted since the stone age using trapping pits. In Northern Scandinavia one can still find remains of trapping pits used...
and be smothered with chloroform
Chloroform
Chloroform is an organic compound with formula CHCl3. It is one of the four chloromethanes. The colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid is a trihalomethane, and is considered somewhat hazardous...
.
Without any of the promised new oil, Wilson decides to transport Kong to America as a promotional gimmick for his company. When they finally reach New York City, Kong is put on display in a beauty and the beast
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...
farce, bound in chains with a large crown on his head. When Kong sees a group of reporters pushing and shoving Dwan for interviews, the ape breaks free of his bonds and goes on a rampage throughout the city. Wilson trips while running away and Kong steps on him, killing him instantly. The ape also destroys an elevated train in his search for Dwan. Prescott and Dwan flee across the Queensboro Bridge
Queensboro Bridge
The Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge – because its Manhattan end is located between 59th and 60th Streets – or simply the Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City that was completed in 1909...
to Manhattan while Kong pursues them. At an abandoned Manhattan bar, Prescott calls the military and tells them to let Kong climb to the top of the Trade Center. Kong locates Dwan and she allows him to take her; he begins to make his way to the World Trade Center, with Jack and the military in hot pursuit.
In the climax, Kong climbs the South Tower of the World Trade Center. After being attacked by men with flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
s while standing on the roof, Kong flees by leaping across to the North Tower. Later, he is attacked by military helicopters while Dwan is trying to stop them. The fatally injured Kong falls from the roof to the World Trade Center plaza, where he dies from his injuries. Dwan is bombarded by a sea of photographers. The crowd is so big though that Dwan can't even get close to Jack. She stands still and is photographed relentlessly by reporters while Kong lies dead in a pool of blood and broken concrete.
Cast
- Jeff BridgesJeff BridgesJeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
as Jack Prescott - Charles GrodinCharles GrodinCharles Grodin is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968...
as Fred S. Wilson - Jessica LangeJessica LangeJessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...
as Dwan - John RandolphJohn Randolph (actor)John Randolph was an American film, television and stage actor.-Early life:Randolph was born Emanuel Hirsch Cohen in New York City, the son of Jewish immigrants Dorothy , an insurance agent, and Louis Cohen, a hat manufacturer...
as Captain Ross - Rene AuberjonoisRene AuberjonoisRené Murat Auberjonois is an American actor, known for portraying Father Mulcahy in the movie version of M*A*S*H and for creating a number of characters in long-running television series, including Clayton Endicott III on Benson , Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Chef Louis in The Little...
as Roy Bagley - Ed LauterEd LauterEdward Lauter is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous movies and was a stand up comic before getting into acting.Lauter was born in Long Beach, Long Island, New York...
as Carnahan - Julius HarrisJulius HarrisJulius W. Harris was an American actor who appeared in more than 70 movies and numerous television series in a career that spanned four decades.-Early life and career:...
as Boan - Jack O'HalloranJack O'HalloranJack O'Halloran is an American ex-boxer and actor.-Boxing:O'Halloran was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fighting as "Irish" Jack O'Halloran out of Boston, Massachusetts, he was a heavyweight boxing contender active from 1966 to 1974...
as Joe Perko - Dennis FimpleDennis FimpleDennis Clarke Fimple was an American character actor. Throughout his career, he made guest appearances in a variety of TV shows, including Here Come the Brides, Petticoat Junction, M*A*S*H, Simon & Simon, Sledge Hammer!, Knight Rider, Quantum Leap and ER...
as Sunfish - Jorge Moreno as Garcia
- Mario Gallo as Timmons
- John LoneJohn LoneJohn "Johnny" Lone is a Hong Kong born American actor of Chinese and English descent. Lone has played roles as diverse as a caveman in Iceman , the last Emperor of China in The Last Emperor , and an apparently female opera performer in M. Butterfly .-Personal life:Lone was born as Ng Kwok-leung...
as Chinese Cook - John AgarJohn AgarJohn George Agar was an American actor. He starred alongside John Wayne in the films Sands of Iwo Jima, Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, but was later relegated to B movies, such as Tarantula, The Mole People, The Brain from Planet Arous, Flesh and the Spur, and Hand of Death...
as City Official - Sid ConradSid ConradSid Levington Conrad was an American television character actor with credits from 1969 to 2009, including occasional feature film roles.-External links:...
as Petrox Chairman - Keny Long as Ape Masked Man
- Rick BakerRichard A. BakerRichard A. "Rick" Baker is an American special makeup effects artist known for his realistic creature effects.- Personal life :...
(uncredited) as King Kong - Peter CullenPeter CullenPeter Claver Cullen is a Canadian voice actor, known as the voice of Eeyore in the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise, Optimus Prime and Ironhide in the original Transformers series, and the narrator in both of the original American Voltron series...
(uncredited) as Voice of King Kong - Eve McVeaghEve McVeaghEve McVeagh, born Eva Elizabeth McVeagh, was an American actress of film, television, stage, and radio. Born in Ohio, McVeagh moved to Los Angeles in 1923, where she started acting in theater in her teens. Her career spanned 52 years from her first stage role through her last stage appearance...
(uncredited) as Reporter - Corbin BernsenCorbin BernsenCorbin Dean Bernsen is an American actor and director, known for his work on television. He is best known for his roles as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series L.A. Law, and as retired police detective Henry Spencer on the USA Network comedy-drama series Psych...
(uncredited) as Reporter - Joe PiscopoJoe PiscopoJoseph Charles John "Joe" Piscopo is an American comedian and actor best known for his work on Saturday Night Live.-Early life:...
as Bit Part - Donald F. GlutDonald F. GlutDonald F. Glut is an American writer, motion picture director, screenwriter, amateur paleontologist, musician and actor....
(uncredited) as Guy in amphitheatre bleachers where Kong escapes
Response
Although the film is often described as being a financial flopFlop
- Terms :*Flop, a box office bomb in the entertainment world*Flop, as verb or noun, referring to flophouse, cheap rooms in a transients' hotel*Flop , a poker term describing the first three cards dealt to the board...
, King Kong was commercially successful, earning Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
back over triple its budget. The film ended up at #5 on Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
's chart of the top domestic (U.S.) moneymakers of 1977. (The film was released in December 1976 and therefore earned the majority of its money during the early part of 1977.) The film made approximately $80 million worldwide on a $24 million budget.
Despite this, Paramount-Gulf Western's CEO stated that he was disappointed the film did not out gross 1975's Jaws (film)
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
. After months of much anticipation for the film's release the film received mostly mixed responses from critics at the time of its initial release, especially from fans of the original King Kong. It did however, obtain positive reviews from several prominent critics. Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
Richard Warren Schickel is an American author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He is a film critic for Time magazine, having also written for Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times Book Review....
in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Charles Champlin in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
in the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, and 'Murf' in Variety, among others, responded favorably to the film's pathos and (often campy) sense of humor. Kael, in particular, truly loved the film, noting "I don't think I've ever before seen a movie that was a comic-strip great romance in the way this one is — it's a joke that can make you cry." The performances by Bridges and Grodin were generally well regarded, and even the film's detractors found Richard H. Kline's Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-nominated cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
and John Barry
John Barry (composer)
John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...
's musical score noteworthy.
Currently, critical response to King Kong continues to be mixed. Of the 25 reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
regarding the title, 52% reflect negative reactions. According to Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
's Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
, the film "...has great potential; yet it dispels all the mythic, larger-than-life qualities of the original with idiotic characters and campy approach."
The movie's success and notoriety helped launch the career of Jessica Lange, although she reportedly received some negative publicity regarding her debut performance that, according to film reviewer Marshall Fine
Marshall Fine
Marshall Fine Author, Journalist, and movie critic. Marshall Fine is a film critic and author who has worked at newspapers in Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi, South Dakota, California and New York. Fine spent 25 years covering film for Gannett Newspapers. More recently, he has served as film/TV...
, "almost destroyed her career".
Although Lange won the Golden Globe for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture - Female for Kong, she did not appear in another film for three years and spent that time training intensively in acting.
The film received an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Special Effects, an award it shared with Logan's Run
Logan's Run (1976 film)
Logan's Run is a 1976 science fiction film based on the novel of the same name by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. It depicts a dystopian future society in which population and the consumption of resources are managed and maintained in equilibrium by the simple expediency of killing...
(1976). It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
(Richard H. Kline) and Best Sound (Harry W. Tetrick
Harry W. Tetrick
Harry W. Tetrick was an American sound engineer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Sound.-Selected filmography:* The Wind and the Lion * Rocky * King Kong...
, William McCaughey
William McCaughey
William McCaughey was an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and was nominated for four more in the same category.-Selected filmography:...
, Aaron Rochin
Aaron Rochin
Aaron Rochin is an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and was nominated for eight more in the same category.-Selected filmography:Rochin won an Academy Award and was nominated for eight more:Won* The Deer Hunter...
and Jack Solomon
Jack Solomon (sound engineer)
Jack Solomon was an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Sound Recording and was nominated for five more in the same category...
).
King Kong found new and sustained life on television. NBC bought the rights to air the movie and it was a rating success. NBC paid De Laurentiis $19.5 million for the rights to two showings over five years; the highest amount any network had ever paid for a film at that time. This led De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (with Canadian distribution by Paramount) to make a sequel called King Kong Lives
King Kong Lives
King Kong Lives is a 1986 American monster movie produced by DEG Studios. Directed by John Guillermin and featuring special effects by Carlo Rambaldi, the film starred Linda Hamilton and Brian Kerwin. The film was a belated sequel to King Kong...
(1986), starring Linda Hamilton
Linda Hamilton
Linda Carroll Hamilton is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Sarah Connor in The Terminator and its sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Catherine Chandler in the television series Beauty and the Beast, for which she was nominated for two Golden Globes and an Emmy...
. Unlike the 1976 remake, the sequel was a commercial failure.
DVD release
Momentum Pictures released this film on DVD in 2001 on the Region 2 label with a photo gallery and a theatrical trailer. This has now been deleted according to the online retailer site ZavviZavvi
Zavvi was an entertainment retail chain in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, originally Virgin Megastores. Zavvi was formed in September 2007 when a management buy-out team purchased the company from Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group....
. Optimum Releasing has confirmed a new re-release of this film on Region 2 with deleted scenes and the theatrical trailer from the previous issue. There are only 2 deleted scenes on the DVD. This is the extended scene of the brawl between Kong and the Snake. The other scene is the demise of Wilson at the New York unveiling of Kong. The film has been released on Blu-Ray in Region B territories, however this disc is region free and will work in any Blu-Ray machine.
Extended television version
When King Kong made its network TV debut on NBC in 1978, a number of scenes deleted from the theatrical version were reinstated to make the film longer. Most fans of the remake agree that the extended version of the film works much better than the original truncated release. This version also features several changes to the John Barry score, including entirely alternate cues in places that no music existed in the theatrical version, as well as several different edits of cues. This may actually indicate that the version was an early workprint of the film, before it went through its final editing stages. While this is the first of the Kong films to have an extended cut, the second one is the 2005 remake of King Kong. The deleted/extended scenes are not yet released on DVD but 5, 9 and 10 have been included as extras in the deleted scene section on the current Region 2 DVD release.Soundtrack
The film scoreFilm score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
, composed and conducted by John Barry
John Barry (composer)
John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...
, was released on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
by both Mask and FSM in 2005. It is noticeably incomplete, however, missing at least two major cues from the film, notably the log rolling sequence, several extensions of cues already present on the soundtrack, and small restatements of the main theme. Otherwise, the track listing is as follows on both CDs:
- "The Opening"
- "Maybe My Luck Has Changed"
- "Arrival on the Island"
- "Sacrifice" / "Hail to the King"
- "Arthusa"
- "Full Moon Domain / Beauty Is a Beast"
- "Breakout to Captivity"
- "Incomprehensible Captivity"
- "Kong Hits the Big Apple"
- "Blackout in New York" / "How About Buying Me a Drink"
- "Climb to Skull Island"
- "The End Is at Hand"
- "The End"
Filming
- According to King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon, director John Guillermin, known to have had outbursts from time to time on the set, got into a public shouting match with executive producer Federico De Laurentiis (son of producer Dino De Laurentiis). After the incident, Dino De Laurentiis was reported to have threatened to fire Guillermin if he did not start treating the cast and crew better.
- On one of the nights of filming Kong's death at the World Trade CenterWorld Trade CenterThe original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
, over 30,000 people showed up at the site to be extraExtra (actor)A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
s for the scene. Although the crowd was well behaved, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (owner of the World Trade Center complex) became concerned that the weight of so many people would cause the plaza to collapse, and ordered the producers to shut down the filming. However, the film makers had already got the shot they wanted of the large crowd rushing toward Kong's body. They returned to the site days later to finish filming the scene, with a much smaller crowd of paid extras. - According to King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon, Rick BakerRichard A. BakerRichard A. "Rick" Baker is an American special makeup effects artist known for his realistic creature effects.- Personal life :...
, who designed the ape suit along with Carlo RambaldiCarlo RambaldiCarlo Rambaldi is an Italian special effects artist who is most famous for designing the title character of the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the mechanical head-effects for the creature in Alien...
, was extremely disappointed in the final suit, which he felt wasn't at all convincing. He gives all the credit for its passable appearance to cinematographer Richard H. KlineRichard H. KlineRichard Howard Kline, A.S.C. is an American cinematographer. The son of cinematographer Benjamin H. Kline, he joined Columbia Pictures at the age of 16 in 1943.-Credits:...
. - According to King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon, the only time that the collaboration of Rick Baker and Carlo Rambaldi went smoothly was during the design of the mechanical Kong mask. Baker's design and Rambaldi's cable work combined to give Kong's face a wide range of expression that was responsible for much of the film's emotional impact. Baker gave much of the credit for its effectiveness to Rambaldi and his mechanics.
- According to the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
, seven different masks were created by Carlo Rambaldi, and molded by Rick Baker to convey various emotions. Separate masks were necessary as there were too many cables and mechanics required for all the expressions to fit in one single mask. The masks were composed of a plastic skull over which were placed artificial muscle groups activated by cables which entered the costume through Kong's feet, with the outer latex skins molded by Baker placed over the top. The masks used hydraulics to provide movement, so much like the mechanical Kong and hands, the facial expressions were controlled by the team of operators working off-set with the control boards. To complete the look of a gorilla, Baker wore contact lenses so his eyes would resemble those of a gorilla. - Carlo Rambaldi's mechanical Kong was 40 ft (12 m) tall and weighed 6½ tons. It cost $1.7 million, and is the largest mechanical creature ever built. Despite months of preparation, the final device proved to be impossible to operate convincingly, and is only seen in a series of brief shots totalling less than 15 seconds.
- The Wall, which was constructed on MGM's Lot 2, was originally designed to be a stone structure, similar to the 1933 version. Director John Guillermin changed it to a wooden structure because it looked more primitive. It was 47 ft (14 m) tall and 500 ft (108 m) long; the total cost was $800,000.
- Producer Dino De Laurentiis first approached Roman PolanskiRoman PolanskiRoman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
to direct the picture. - According to King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon, to film the scene where the Petrox Explorer finds Dwan in the life raft, Jessica Lange spent hours in a rubber raft in the freezing cold, drenched and wearing only a slinky black dress. Although Lange wasn't aware of it, there were sharkSharkSharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s circling the raft the entire time. (Shooting of this scene took place in the channel between Los Angeles and Catalina Island during the last week in January 1976.) - Some posters advertised it as "The most exciting original motion picture event of all time," although it was a remake. The posters main image is also wrong in that Kong is seen battling jet planes and not helicopters as in the movie. This scene is also depicted at night and not in daylight as in the poster. King Kong is also shown straddling the two towers with one foot on each though in the movie he was not that large and had to leap to reach the other tower.
- King Kong was voiced by an uncredited Peter CullenPeter CullenPeter Claver Cullen is a Canadian voice actor, known as the voice of Eeyore in the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise, Optimus Prime and Ironhide in the original Transformers series, and the narrator in both of the original American Voltron series...
. Cullen injured his throat and coughed blood after a recording session that took five to six hours.