King Kong (1976)

Fred Wilson: [as the "Petrox Explorer" comes in sight of Skull Island] ... Did you ever wonder how Hernando Cortez felt when he discovered the Lost Treasure of the Incas?
Jack Prescott: That wasn't Cortez; it was Pizarro. And he died flat broke.

Well, we are back this time to look at the main King Kong franchise (the movies with “King Kong” only as its title) and this time it’s the 1976 version where Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin), who is the head honcho of a petroleum company called Petrox, is given a map of an undiscovered island that may contain a huge amount of oil to make him and his company even richer.  So he charters a ship to find and explore this island to see if his hunch is right about the vast oil supply.  Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges), a palaeontologist, gets inside information that Fred is going to search for the island so he sneaks aboard the ship in a hope to see this island first hand and to see if the rumors he has heard about the inhabitants are true.  Then there is Dwan (Jessica Lange) who, as you have guessed, is and will be the damsel in distress.  When they get to the island they end up find more than what they expected.

It’s quite interesting that the main reason to go to the island (in this film) was about oil.  Anyone would think that there was an oil crisis at the time and in fact there was, in 1973 and 1979 and this movie fits right in the middle.  It’s quite interesting how the film makers adopted the fears of the time in an attempt to engage with the audience.  Anyway, back to the movie.  Whilst it’s an engaging movie and the special effects are better than the 1933 version, it does not translate into a better movie.  It does however make you feel more for Kong than the 1933.  The acting is quite good but the movie as a whole feels lacking especially when compared to the 1933 or 2005 version.  I’m certainly not saying it’s a terrible movie but it’s just not as good, I feel, as the 1933 or 2005 versions.  

As can be seen from the dvd cover, the finale does not occour on the Empire State Building, but the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York so it’s a little different but to add to that difference it also shows the brutality of what man can do for power.  Jeff Bridges does a good job portraying his character and Jessica Lange also does well, though a bit “ditsy” as the object of Kong’s affection as well.  I do have to say though that I feel they did take things too far between Kong and Dwan.  There are two scenes of partial nudity and some parts which are very suggestive both of which are not necessary at all and in fact it just makes those scenes feel stupid, cheap and dirty.  As previously stated, the special effects are well done and in one scene they used a real 40-foot mechanical replica of Kong which is certainly a great feat, though it was just for one main scene and he did act a bit like a robot.

The disc reviewed was a DVD from the Australian Distributor Umbrella Entertainment who have a DVD and Bluray available (the Bluray was out of stock at the time) for very reasonable prices.  The quality of the image on the DVD is quite good, though I’m sure the Bluray would be better.  The DVD had a trailer and deleted scenes as extras so it adds a bit more to the viewing pleasure.  

So, is it worth seeing?  Sure. It is a good movie with a story that has a different slant to it.  The special effects were ground breaking for the time and they hold up quite well which adds to the movie’s believability and you do end up feeling a bit more for Kong in the end.  It’s worth watching but don’t automatically discard the original 1933 version with its better story and acting, not to mention that funky stop animation.

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