With the new King Kong vs Godzilla movie coming out in a few months, I thought I would put together a list of King Kong movies to re-watch in preparation. I’ve left off the cartoon and other TV appearances. Let me know if I’ve missed any theatrical outings.
King Kong (1933)
The original. This was the first Kong movie, and probably the first kaiju movie, I ever saw. I loved it for the battles with dinosaurs. When I eventually saw the 1976 remake, I didn’t like it for the lack of dinosaur battles. The story of this movie is very interesting. The writer and director, Merian C. Cooper, had made a career out of traveling the world with his camera and no script. He would film whatever he saw and cobble together a narrative. He would later go on to produce epics like The Searchers that still echo in the visual style of films today. In the 1930s he captured a few Komodo dragons and brought them back to New York to put on display. The lizards all died. His experience became the screenplay for King Kong.
Son of Kong (1933)
The original King Kong was such a success that the studio ordered a sequel in the same year. While still in the theaters, the second movie was released before Christmas, less than 8 months later. Most of the cast came back but they had no budget. They used stock footage from other movies and the sets available. Fay Wray made 11 other movies that year and decided to sit this one out. Ruth Rose returned as the writer. She knew she could not make it epic so she made it funny. Kong’s son was the same puppet with white fur this time. The plot for this movie is right out of Indiana Jone’s playbook.
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
Post war Japan had their own giant monster movies in Godzilla and Gamera. Eight years later Toho got the rights to bring Kong into their universe. Directed by Ishirō Honda and with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, this movie was a phenomenal box office success. A heavily edited version would make it to the United States a year later. Despite popular belief, King Kong wins the battle in both versions. What is true is that the Japanese version, Godzilla roars at the end while in the US version, King Kong gets the last word.
In this movie and its sequel we are told the approximate location of Kong’s island. In this movie the island is called “Faro” and is 62 miles south of one of the Solomon Islands. The other movies place Skull Island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The plot involves going to the island to collect some special berries for a pharmaceutical company. The island inhabitants are ambiguously dark skinned.
King Kong Escapes (1967)
After you defeat Godzilla, what is left to do? How about fighting Mecha-Kong? Toho had a machine for cranking out daikaiju films. While many of the films featured Godzilla, the pantheon was expanded to include Mothra, Rodan, and King Kong in their own stand alone movies. Once you get past the man-in-an-ape-suit filming style and childish plot, this movie is fun. Perhaps it triggered the return of Kong to US cinemas a few years later.
King Kong (1976)
This remake starred Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and Jessica Lange. The plot was changed very little. Instead of a film maker, we are looking for oil. Stop motion is replaced with suit-actor and legendary make-up artist, Rick Baker. Bi-planes are replaced with Vietnam-era Huey attack choppers. And the then-new Empire State Building is replaced with the then-new World Trade Center “Twin Towers”. Several key shots were duplicated but most of the stuff on the island was cut.
On my May 2001 trip to New York City, this movie was on my mind as I rode the elevators to the observation deck at the top. This movie would go on to inspire the Kong movie ride at Universal Studios in LA.
King Kong Lives (1986)
This movie came out in December 1986 while I was living in Europe. I was mercifully unaware of its existence until I stumbled upon it decades later. Linda Hamilton helps save/revive Kong in a sequel to the 1976 film with a mechanical heart. Spoiler in the title. We also get to meet Lady Kong. I guess that explains how there was a Son of Kong.
I’ve only seen this movie once. I guess I’ll watch it again as part of this retrospective. This will be the last time we will have a suit actor playing Kong.
King Kong (2005)
Peter Jackson decided to take the pocket change he had left over from the making of Lord of the Rings to work with Any Serkis again. He is joined by Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Andrien Brody, and Colin Hanks in a love letter to Merian C Cooper. Clocking in at over 3 hours this movie is beautiful and long. It honors the 1933 film in its recreation of the monster fights. It even restores a creepy spider scene that was cut from the original film for budget reasons. This movie also shows a beautiful New York City coming out of the depression. A new scene of Kong on ice is a lovely quiet character moment.
This movie’s ending returns us to a shining Empire State Building for its tragic finale.
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
When Warner Brothers got the rights from Toho to try to make another Godzilla film, this time without Matthew Broderick, they created a mythology that referenced the 1954 Godzilla and a teaser about Skull Island, the home of King Kong. Three years later we get a Kong film that takes place in the 1970s. We get to see Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly, and John Goodman in a world were Monarch has kept the existence of Godzilla a secret for twenty years. Monarch’s name can also be seen as a premonition about the 2018 sequel with the butterfly-inspired Mothra.
While Kong height has changed over the years, he has some growing to do before he’ll be ready to get off the island and do battle with a super-sized Godzilla next year.
King Kong Alive on Broadway
What an amazing production. You don’t have to be a fan of kaiju to appreciate the stage show that takes on a ship in rough seas and running through the jungle with a 30-foot tall ape. I had the opportunity to see this show in April and was blown away. I’m hoping it will get to tour once it closes in New York.
The puppeteers were right on stage with him and only added to the performance. At one point during the show, Kong walks to the front of the stage, looms menacingly at the front row, and roars.
Godzilla vs. Kong (2020)
With less than a year to go until this movie comes out next Thanksgiving, there will be a lot of set leaks and speculation. My plan is to avoid it as much as I can and enjoy the library of movies we already have.
Nice summary of Kong’s height over the century.
https://www.inverse.com/article/17301-new-king-kong-will-be-100-feet-tall-as-monsters-including-godzilla-keep-growing