King Kong (1976 film)

King Kong (also known as King Kong: The Legend Reborn) is a 1976 American motion picture produced by Dino de Laurentiis and directed by John Guillermin. It is a remake of the 1933 classic King Kong, about how a giant ape is captured and imported to New York City for exhibition.

The remake's screenplay was by Lorenzo Semple Jr., based very loosely on the original movie 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 starred Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and Jessica Lange, in her first movie role, playing a part similar to the one made famous in the original by Fay Wray.

Plot summary

The remake differs from the original in several major story details. Instead of a film production crew, King Kong's world is invaded by a petroleum corporation’s exploratory team. Fred Wilson (Grodin), an executive of the Petrox Oil Company, forms the expedition based on infrared imagery which reveals a previously undiscovered South Pacific island hidden by a permanent cloud bank; Wilson believes the island has a huge depository of oil, and has promised his bosses he will come back with “the big one.” Jack Prescott (Bridges), a primate paleontologist, sneaks onto the expedition’s enormous vessel en route and attempts to warn the team against completing its mission, 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. However, while being led below deck, Prescott spots a small life raft in the ocean and convinces members of the crew to search the raft. On board is the beautiful Dwan (Lange). Prescott’s medical experience enables him to perform a cursory exam of Dwan, who, after awakening, tells Prescott that she is an actress who was aboard a rich man’s yacht which suddenly exploded, apparently killing everybody except for her. During the ship’s ongoing voyage, Prescott and Dwan become attracted to each other.

Once arriving at the island, the team quickly finds that there is no oil and discovers instead 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 natives kidnap Dwan and attempt to use her as a sacrifice to Kong, tying her to an altar outside of their walled village and chanting ominously the word “Kong” over and over again. The captive woman begins to scream in horror as something gigantic slowly approaches, crashing loudly through the jungle trees until it reveals itself as a monumental ape, King Kong (Baker), standing triumphantly over her. Kong grabs Dwan and departs back into the jungle. Although an awesome and terrifying sight, the soft hearted Kong quickly becomes tamed by Dwan, whose babbling sweet talk calms and fascinates the monstrous beast. Dwan becomes very fond of Kong.

Kong takes Dwan back to a waterfall. He washes her, and then uses a great gust of his warm breath for a blow-dry. Just as he slowly begins to undress his 'wife', however, a giant snake appears and attacks the pair. Prescott finds Dwan, and as a battle of the beasts ensues, they escape. Kong then chases the pair back to the native village, only to be bombed senseless with chloroform.

Sans any of the promised new oil, Wilson decides to transport Kong to America as a promotional gimmick for his company. Brought back aboard an oil tanker, Kong is starved and kept in the dark, tormented. When they finally reach New York, Kong is put on display in a beauty and the beast farce, bound in chains and exhibited to the masses. Finally being mobbed by reporters, the extremely unhappy ape, pining for the innocent, carefree days back on his island, goes berserk, breaking his chains and terrorizing the city in an orgy of destruction. Wilson is killed during the rampage and a subway car is destroyed. Prescott and Dwan flee to Manhattan, since apes can't swim they think that they are safe. However, because of his great size Kong is large enough to simply walk across. Eventually Dwan let's Kong take her and begins to make his way to the World Trade Center, with Jack and the military in hot pursuit…

In the climax, instead of climbing the Empire State Building, King Kong climbs one of the towers of the World Trade Center. After being attacked by men with flame throwers whilst standing on the roof of the South Tower, Kong flees by leaping across to the North Tower. Later, after he is attacked by helicopters and Dwan is trying to stop them. The fatally injured Kong falls from the roof to the World Trade Center forecourt where he dies from his injuries and Dwan cries. (The posters of the movie notoriously showed a savage ape with one foot on each of the two Twin Towers, swatting at fighter jets ^*. In the actual movie, the ape was much smaller than this, and could not have stood on both towers at once. Of course, the 1933 version also had similar "misleading" publicity stills suggesting the ape's size as being much larger than it really was in that film.)

The film has several subplots, including ones that focus on Prescott's naturalist, borderline-hippie ways. The film is also extremely critical of big business and the U.S. military.

Response

Although the film is often described as being a financial flop, King Kong was in fact 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 $80 million worldwide on a $24 million budget.

While the film received mostly mixed responses from critics, especially from fans of the original King Kong, it did receive extremely positive reviews from several prominent mainstream 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 most ardent detractors noted that Richard H. Kline's Academy Award-nominated cinematography and John Barry's thunderous musical score were first class.

The movie's success and notoriety helped launch the careers of Jessica Lange and Jeff Bridges. Other notable actors in the cast, some in early roles, include Rene Auberjonois (Benson, Deep Space Nine), Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law), and Jack O'Halloran (Superman, Superman II, Dragnet (1987)).

The film received an Academy Award for Best Special Effects, an award it shared with Logan's Run (1976).

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 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, but found cult success on video.

Trivia

According to King Kong: The History of the 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 didn't start treating the cast and crew better.
On one of the nights of filming Kong's death at the World Trade Center, over 30,000 people showed up at the site to be extras 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. They then 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 only paid extras.
According to King Kong: The History of the Movie Icon, Rick Baker, who designed the ape suit along with Carlo Rambaldi, 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 Kline.
According to King Kong: The History of the 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 execution are terrific, Rambaldi's cable work is tremendously effective, and the collaboration of the two give's Kong's face an astonishing range of expression that is directly responsible for much of the film's emotional impact. Baker did concede and gave credit to Rambaldi and that his mechanics were effective and achieved remarkable results.
According to IMDB.com - 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 comprised 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 place over 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 that of a gorilla's.
Carlo Rambaldi's 40 foot tall mechanical Kong is the largest mechanical creature ever built. It cost $1.7 million to construct.
The Wall, which was constructed on MGM's Lot 2, was originally designed to be a stone structure, similar to the 1933 verision. Director John Guillermin changed it to a wooden structure because it looked more primitive. It was 47 feet tall and 170 yards long. The total cost of the wall was $800,000.
Producer Dino De Laurentiis first approached Roman Polański to direct the picture.
According to King Kong: The History of the 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 to the bone and wearing only a slinky black dress. Although Lange wasn't aware of it, there were sharks 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.)
"Kongfrontation", a theme park ride based on the 1976 King Kong, opened in 1990 at Universal Studios Florida. It remained the park's biggest attraction until it was removed in 2002.

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. The newly added sequences included:

A lengthy scene in a Surubaya bar showing Prescott drugging a Petrox crewman.
A scene of Joe and Boan playing cards and being interrupted by a Captain Ross on the loudspeaker calling all hands to assemble in the mess room. Boan wisecracking about Petrox bought by Howard Hughes and working for the CIA.
A scene of a Mexican crew member named Garcia spying on Dwan while she's showering, ends with Jack tossing Garcia overboard with a life preserver.
A scene showing the crew watching an old movie on TV. Roy Bagley observing the oil-like substance under a microscope, he swigs some wine and calls for a boat to take him ashore.
A longer battle between Kong and the gigantic snake, ends with an alternate take of Kong killing the snake and pounding his chest.
Extended footage of Kong breaking through the gate.
Before Jack enters Dwan's dressing room he is confronted by a security guard.
Additional dialogue between Dwan and Wilson.
During Kong's rampage a Petrox head executive tells Wilson he's fired.
After Kong steps on Wilson, the camera pulls back to reveal that all that's left in Kong's footprint is Wilson's hat.
A scene of Dwan and Jack talking and running down a street trying to hot-wire a car.
A scene of a car running in front of Kong, Kong picks it up and throws it against a building, where it explodes.
A longer scene of Kong attacking the elevated train.
A longer scene of Kong hiding from search helicopters at the East River waterfront.
Additional dialogue between Jack and Dwan in the bar.
Two brief, additional clips of the military guarding the Queensboro Bridge.
An alternate, extended scene of Kong destroying the power station.
A longer scene of the City Official concurring with military advisors at City Hall, including a general telling the official they don't have time to get Prescott's head examined, and another advisor telling the official that standing around won't get him votes.
Extended scene of Kong peering in the window at Dwan in the bar.
A short scene of a military official ordering jet fighters to be aborted and choppers sent in instead.
A scene of Jack stealing a discarded ten-speed bike and racing after Kong down a New York street.
Three short clips of Kong lumbering down Wall Street with Dwan in hand.
A brief clip of the helicopter gunships taking off.
An extended scene of Kong climbing the World Trade Center and pausing to rest a moment about halfway up.

Soundtrack

The film score, 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:

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

Cast

Jeff Bridges .... Jack Prescott
Charles Grodin .... Fred S. Wilson
Jessica Lange .... Dwan
John Randolph .... Captain Ross
Rene Auberjonois .... Roy Bagley
Julius Harris .... Boan
Jack O'Halloran .... Joe Perko
Dennis Fimple .... Sunfish
Ed Lauter .... Carnahan
Jorge Moreno .... Garcia
Mario Gallo .... Timmons
John Lone .... Chinese Cook
Garry Walberg .... Army General
John Agar .... City Official
Keny Long .... Ape Masked Man
Sid Conrad .... Petrox Chairman
George Whiteman .... Army Helicopter Pilot
Wayne Heffley .... Air Force General
Rick Baker .... King Kong (uncredited)
Walt Gorney .... Train Driver (uncredited)
Ira S. Rosenstein .... Logan (uncredited)

External links