Jump to content

King Kong (1976 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 98.150.200.73 (talk) at 08:48, 16 February 2013 (→Reception). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

King Kong
Theatrical release poster by John Berkey
Directed byJohn Guillermin
Screenplay byLorenzo Semple Jr.
Produced byDino De Laurentiis
StarringJeff Bridges
Charles Grodin
Jessica Lange
CinematographyRichard H. Kline
Edited byRalph E. Winters
Music byJohn Barry
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • December 17, 1976 (1976-12-17)
Running time
134 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$24 million[1]
Box office$90,614,445[2]

King Kong is a 1976 American monster thriller film 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. 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.

The remake's screenplay was written by Lorenzo Semple Jr., based on the 1933 screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose, from the original idea by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace.

The film was the fifth highest grossing film of 1977 according to box office statistics compiled during its release by Variety,[3] although decades later Box Office Mojo published a list indicating it was the 7th highest grossing film of 1977.

Plot

Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin), 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 who wants to see the island for himself, sneaks onto the expedition's vessel and attempts to warn the crew against traveling to the island because of an unknown beast. Wilson orders Prescott locked up, claiming that he is really a spy from a rival oil company. The ship happens upon a life raft which carries the beautiful and unconscious Dwan (Jessica Lange). Wilson conducts a thorough background check on Prescott and realizes he is telling the truth. He appoints Prescott the expedition's "official photographer" and requests that he be present when Dwan revives because of his medical background. Upon waking, Dwan says she is an aspiring actress who was aboard a director's yacht which suddenly exploded.

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. Later that night, the natives kidnap Dwan, drug her, and offer 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 monologue calms and fascinates the monstrous beast. Kong takes Dwan back to a waterfall. He washes her, and uses great gusts 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 most of 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 overcome with chloroform.

When Wilson learns the oil cannot be refined, he decides to transport Kong to America as a promotional gimmick for Petrox. When they 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, roaring roars at the crowd as panic ensues. People are trampled as Kong walks through the crowd, including Wilson, who is completely flattened by the ape's foot.

Prescott and Dwan flee across the Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan while Kong pursues them. They take refuge in an abandoned Manhattan bar. Prescott notices a similarity between the Manhattan skyline (notably the World Trade Center Twin Towers) and the mountainous terrain of Kong's island. He runs downstairs to call the mayor's office and tells them to let Kong climb to the top of the World Trade Center where he can be safely captured. Meanwhile, Kong discovers Dwan through the window of the bar and grabs her. He then begins to make his way to the World Trade Center, with Jack and the National Guard in pursuit.

In the climax, Kong climbs the South Tower of the World Trade Center.[4] After being attacked by men with flamethrowers while standing on the roof, Kong flees by leaping across to the North Tower. He rips pieces of equipment from the roof and throws them at the men. One of the objects, a tank filled with flammable material, explodes, killing the men. Later, Kong is shot repeatedly by military helicopters while Dwan pleads for them to stop. The fatally injured Kong falls from the roof to the World Trade Center plaza, where he dies from his injuries. An enormous crowd gathers around the ape while Dwan is bombarded by a sea of photographers. Jack fights his way through the crowd to get to Dwan but stops short as she is taken by reporters and journalists while Kong lies dead in a pool of blood and broken concrete.

Cast

Production

Filming

Producer Dino De Laurentiis first approached Roman Polanski to direct the picture.[5]

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. 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 H. Kline. 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. 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 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.)

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, 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.[6]

According to the Internet Movie Database, 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.[7] It cost $1.7 million, and is the largest mechanical creature ever built.[citation needed] 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. King Kong was voiced by an uncredited Peter Cullen. Cullen injured his throat and coughed blood after a recording session that took five to six hours.[8]

The movie poster showing Kong and the New York City skyline painted on the side of a Times Square building existed for about twenty years after the movie's release. Some posters advertised it as "The most exciting original motion picture event of all time," although it was a remake. The poster's main image is also wrong, in that Kong is seen battling jet planes and not helicopters, as in the movie. This scene also takes place at night and not in daylight as depicted 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.

Music

The film score, composed and conducted by John Barry, was released on CD by both Mask and FSM in 2005. It is noticeably incomplete (due to copyright issues), 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. On October 2, 2012, Film Score Monthly released the complete score on a two disc set; the first disc features the remastered complete score, and the second discs contains the original album soundtrack with alternate takes of various cues.[9]

2012 Film Score Monthly Album
Disc 1 – The Film Score
No.TitleLength
1."Main Title"2:19
2."Ship at Sea / Strange Tale / Hey Look"3:11
3."Montage"1:58
4."Fog Bank"1:34
5."The Island"2:46
6."Day Wall"3:35
7."Dwan Alone / Jack & Dwan"3:20
8."Night Wall Part 1"4:47
9."Night Wall Part 2"2:07
10."Celebration"0:46
11."Jungle / The Hole / Camp Site / Dwan Scared"2:50
12."Prisoner"2:06
13."Waterfall"2:20
14."Ravine"2:23
15."Acknowledge / Crater / Snake Fight"4:57
16."Chase / Trap"4:16
17."Capture"1:01
18."Super Tanker"1:29
19."Dwan Falls"2:56
20."Petrox Marching Band"1:37
21."Presentation"2:35
22."Kong Escapes"2:02
23."Into a Bar"1:29
24."Get Smashed / Alone in a Bar"2:18
25."Kong's Hand"0:37
26."Church Organ"0:41
27."World Trade Center"2:30
28."Jack in Pursuit"1:46
29."Kong's Heart Beat / End Title"4:28
Disc 2 – The 1976 Soundtrack Album
No.TitleLength
1."The Opening"2:18
2."Maybe My Luck Has Changed"1:52
3."Arrival on the Island"2:49
4."Sacrifice—Hail to the King"7:10
5."Arthusa"2:20
6."Full Moon Domain—Beauty Is a Beast"4:24
7."Breakout to Captivity"4:08
8."Incomprehensible Captivity"2:58
9."Kong Hits the Big Apple"2:36
10."Blackout in New York—How About Buying Me a Drink"3:24
11."Climb to Skull Island"2:31
12."The End Is at Hand"1:45
13."The End"4:27
Bonus Tracks
No.TitleLength
14."Main Title (alternate)"2:21
15."Fog Bank (alternate)"1:35
16."Day Wall (alternate)"3:17
17."Night Wall Part 1 (alternate)"5:08
18."Night Wall Part 2 (alternate)"2:07
19."Trap (alternate)"3:09
20."Presentation (alternate #1)"2:37
21."Presentation (alternate #2)"3:17
22."End Title (alternate)"3:31

Distribution

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.[citation needed] 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.

Home media

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 Zavvi. 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 can work in any Blu-ray machine.[10]

Reception

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.[3] (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.[11]

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,[12] Charles Champlin in the Los Angeles Times, Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times, and 'Murf' in Variety,[13] 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."[14] 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.[citation needed]

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."<"King Kong (1976)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-05-24.</ref>

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".[15] 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.[16]

The film received an Academy Award for Best Special Effects, an award it shared with Logan's Run (1976).[17] 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).[18]

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.

King Kong's reputation has improved during the last few years, mainly because of the now-destroyed World Trade Center Twin Towers,[citation needed] which are prominently featured during the film's climax.

References

Notes
  1. ^ "King Kong (1976) > Summary > Production Budget". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
  2. ^ "King Kong, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Gebert, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Movie Awards (includes listing of 'Box Office (Domestic Rentals)' for 1977 taken from Variety magazine), St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1996. ISBN 0-668-05308-9
  4. ^ Kong climbed the Empire State Building in the 1933 film. The World Trade Center, completed in 1972, had replaced the Empire State Building as New York's tallest building.
  5. ^ Bahrenburg (1976): p.19
  6. ^ Bahrenburg (1976): pp.218-228
  7. ^ Bahrenburg (1976): p.204
  8. ^ Peter Cullen, Transformers Interview
  9. ^ "King Kong: The Deluxe Edition (2-CD)". Film Score Monthly. Retrieved October 20, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ "Business Data for King Kong". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  12. ^ Schickel, Richard (1976-12-27). "The Greening of Old King". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  13. ^ "Murf" (1976-01-01). "King Kong". Variety. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  14. ^ Kael, Pauline. "King Kong Reviews". Pulp and Dagger. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  15. ^ Fine, Marshall. "Editorial Reviews". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  16. ^ "Jessica Lange". Jessica Lange Fansite. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  17. ^ "The 49th Academy Awards (1977)". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
  18. ^ "The 49th Academy Awards (1977) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
Bibliography
  • Bahrenburg, Bruce (1976). The Making of Dino De Laurentiis' King Kong. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 067180796X.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=King_Kong_(1976_film)&oldid=538532413"