King Kong (1976)

 

Time and History have certainly had an interesting impact on the 1976 remake of King Kong. Sandwiched in the middle between the original and the more recent Peter Jackson remake, this one is probably best remembered as the one with the World Trade Center. Still, there is a fair amount to enjoy with this reasonably faithful remake of the 1933 classic. 

Fred Wilson (played by Charles Grodin) is a executive with Petrox Oil Company who is mounting an expedition to a uncharted island recently discovered via NASA spy satellite photos that he believes house huge untapped oil reserves. Having heard about the expedition, primate paleontologist Jack Prescott (played by Jeff Bridges), sneaks aboard the vessel before it departs. Prescott tries to warn Wilson and the crew about going to the island, citing ominous reports of other explorers who had been there, including an ominous final message received that mentioned the "roar of a mighty beast." Initially detained because Wilson is convinced he's a spy from a rival company, once they confirm who he is, they allow Prescott to come onboard as the expedition's official photographer. The crew comes across a small, inflatable in the Ocean whose sole occupant is the beautiful Dwan (played by Jessica Lange), who they promptly take aboard. Since Prescott has some Medical training, he's assigned to look after her and the two quickly bond. Upon arriving at the island, they anchor offshore and take a boat launch to the coast, with Dwan coming along at her insistence. While exploring the island, the group comes across a huge wall a beyond it a secluded village who built and maintain the wall to protect themselves from their mighty god, Kong. The villagers are initially upset that they have interrupted their ceremony until they spot Dwan. Much like the original film, they offer a trade for Dwan but the offer is refused and the expedition returns to their ship. That night, the villagers sail out to the ship and kidnap Dwan and take her back to the island. In a rousing ceremony, Dwan is taken to a platform outside the large gate in the wall. Soon, the mighty Kong makes his grand entrance. Scooping up Dwan, Kong retreats back into the jungle. Prescott and several of the crew members, after discovering Dwan had been taken, follow in hot pursuit. Prescott is eventually able to rescue Dwan, who herself has tamed Kong, who himself is rather fascinated by her. Meanwhile, disappointed that the island does not have the oil reserves he was hoping for instead traps Kong to take back to New York with them with the intention of using Kong as the new Mascot for Petrox Oil. 

The film was directed by John Guillerman from a script by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. The resulting film is a fairly decent update of the 1933 original film to the then contemporary 1976. The script also feels heavily influenced by the energy crisis that was going on at the time, which explains the switch from a documentary film crew to an expedition crew to find an untapped oil reserve they can have sole control over. The film also streamlines some of the more fantastical elements of the Island, dropping the dinosaurs and just having Kong fight a giant snake. Instead, they focus on the bonding between Kong and Dwan, which adds some interesting new layers to the film that the original didn't have. I thought it was a cool touch that Kong's island is surrounded by a huge fog bank to obstruct it from being seen and only discovered by aerial photographs from a satellite that was knocked off course. It adds a certain mystery to the island that was really effective. With the improved special effects over the original film, this Kong is far more naturally emotive and sympathetic. Portrayed largely by special Makeup effects wizard Rick Baker in a not entirely convincing Ape suit and animatronic mask that he designed alongside Special Effects Wizard Carlo Rambaldi. They also crafted a 40ft tall animatronic Kong but it never looked convincing so it can only be glimpsed seconds at a time at the climax when Kong is unveiled in New York. The whole production is topped off with a fantastic score by John Barry that compliments the film wonderfully. 

The film does make some interesting changes from the characters in the original film. Jack this time around is much more of a conservationist in this film, trying to protect Kong and disgusted by how Fred Wilson wants to exploit him. Jeff Bridges does a great job with the character while also keeping the character's more heroic qualities from the original film as well. Instead of filmmaker Carl Denham in this film we have Fred Wilson, portrayed quite well by Charles Grodin. At the start of the film, he seems like a fairly reasonable guy trying to get ahead in his job and make a name for himself but as the film goes on, we see the deeper layers of Wilson and see he's a real slimeball, who just wants to exploit the island for it's resources and when that doesn't work out he has no problem doing the same to Kong. Grodin does a fantastic job in the role and handles both sides of it quite well. Jessica Lange has taken her share of criticism in the role of Dwan and while I don't mind it, it also doesn't match with an actress who would go on to win two Academy Awards either. Still, she does give a suitably warm performance as Dwan and does well playing against Kong too. She also has some decent chemistry with Jeff Bridges so their romance in this one feels a little more natural. Meanwhile, Rick Baker actually gives a good performance as Kong, acting through both the animatronic mask and a Ape suit he never was quite happy with. It still worked well for me, even if it never was completely convincing either. 

I've always had a certain affinity for this rendition of King Kong, perhaps due to it's not infrequent airings on cable T.V in my youth. It's by no means a perfect film, but it is an entertaining one that I've never felt has lived up to it's reputation of being a bad movie. It's not as good as the original film, but taken on it's own merits I think it's an entertaining film. It's also become something of a curio post 9/11 with the climactic showdown at the World Trade Center, including shots of Jack running through one of the towers trying to reach the roof to get to Dwan and Kong (who took the more scenic route to the roof, if you catch my drift). Still, it's not a perfect movie and certainly the lesser of the three King Kong films, but still one I enjoy nonetheless.