It's Cinemassacre's Kongathon.
today lets talk about the duology of Kong films.
both directed by John Guillermin the first was
produced by Dino De Laurentiis and the
second was under his film company first
up the 1976 remake of King Kong ever
since i was a kid i always disregarded
this one the original was so perfect I
thought it was sacrilegious to remake it
whenever I look in the TV Guide and see
King Kong is playing tonight I'd get
excited and turn on the TV only to find
out it was the remake i would get pissed
off the original film had a fast-pace
surreal fantasy quality with stop motion
dinosaurs and this one had no dinosaurs
it was grounded more in reality it was
slower paced and boring it was in color
but it was darker and more dreary it
didn't have that beautiful black and
white glow with matte painted scenery
I didn't like it but as the years went
on I realized it may not have been as
bad as I thought I just gave it another
watch it's now once again fresh in my
mind and I think it's pretty good in its
own way if it is a lousy remake
its lousy only in comparison the plot
is a modification of the original it
follows the basic jist a group of
characters journey to a mysterious
island encounter kong and bring him back
to civilization
it plays up the same idea that the greed
of humanity brings about destruction but
many things were changed instead of the
show man Carl Denham we have an
executive from an oil corporation who
travels to the island in search of oil
luckily they have another ship which
happens to have a cargo area big enough
to fit a giant gorilla because that's
what they get instead oil or giant ape
whatever right a paleontologist who
specializes in primate sneaks on board
the ship because he's interested in the
islands for his own reasons he wants to
see kong which only he knows exists
he's played by jeff bridges and I
suppose he's the equivalent of the
Jack (*John) Driscoll character from the original
sharing the first name only like the
original he becomes the love interest of
the Ann Darrow character
who this time is named Dwan and is an
aspiring actress whereas in the original
Carl Denham finds her on the street and
asks her to become an actress as much as
I prefer Fay Wray from the original
Jessica Lange is a worthy update instead
of screaming the whole time she actually
talks back to Kong even punching him in
the face dude she punches Kong in the
face as mentioned there's no dinosaurs
and I think having dinosaurs would have
been important because without
Kong defending her from the t-rex it
gives Dwan less reason to accept that
Kong doesn't want to hurt her he does fight
a giant snake and you don't go into this
film expecting a gorefest but
when all of a sudden he rips that
fucking snake apart
holy god Dan that is disgusting it
shocks me every time after Kong is
captured he's used as a promotion for the
gas company which I find to be the most
ridiculous laugh-out-loud part of the
film they reveal him by placing him
inside a giant gas pump
meanwhile they make Dwan reenact her
captured by the natives on Kong's island
she just recently lived through a
horrible experience now she has to
pretend to live it again there's a few
shots in the scene where kong is
actually a full-scale 40-foot tall
animatronic ape I don't think that's
ever been done or ever will be done
again
originally they wanted to use this thing
in the majority of the film but it
didn't work out very well in these shots
you can tell Kong's movement is very
limited but the rest of the time when
he's a person in a suit he looks amazing
it's like they took the same idea Toho had
but perfected it
let's talk about the effects the suit
was worn and designed by Rick Baker he's
known for American Werewolf in London
amongst many other things
speaking of primates he also worked on
Harry and the Hendersons I know it's a
comedy but they took the effects
seriously the range of expressions on
Harry is unbelievable
if you want to see really good effects
watch this
anyway with Kong they also repeated
the old tricks from the original like
the giant hands and feet proving that
the old effects were so groundbreaking
that over 40 years later
we're still being used there's also a
lot of miniatures for kong to destroy
beginning with the wall on Skull island
when he smashes that thing you can
tell it's really getting smashed there's
so much detail on everything even when
he's trying to break out of his cargo
chamber on the boat you can see the
waste pipes breaking and shit water
coming out really what other film would
they show you that shit water coming out
of the waste pipes
maybe that's not actually what it's
supposed to be maybe its water for um..
its pipes that; Its shit water when he gets
loose in New York City this is like
seeing another big-budget Godzilla film
except with Kong the best part is when
he attacks the train
this is your quintessential monster
rampage seen at its finest
this moment is so iconic it was made
into a theme park ride at Universal even
though this was a paramount film
universal got the merchandising rights
oddly the ride was made around the same
time as the sequel King Kong lives
here's footage i got when i was at
universal hollywood in 95
it was part of the main train ride that
takes you on the backlot tour i also
went to the other one at universal
orlando florida in 99 which was its own
separate ride called confrontation was
basically the same thing these rides
were awesome
you got to see an animatronic monster
right in front of your face it was as
close as you can get to meeting the real
Kong you can even smell his breath which
was banana scented unfortunately neither
one of these rides exist anymore
the Hollywood version was lost in a fire
and the Orlando version was closed since
then there's been a new version based on
the peter jackson remake no animatronics
it's all on a 360 wraparound screen in
3d
I've never seen it i'm sure it's really
awesome too but without the animatronic
Kong it can't be the same back to the
film the final thing to mention is the
climax instead of the Empire State
Building Kong climbs the World Trade
Center which at the time was the tallest
building in New York City it also made
sense that Kong associated with the
highest mountains
on Skull Island where he would
proudly perch upon to boast his King
status this time they have to spell it
out for you with a cross dissolve as
Jack notices the two towers match two
mountains from skull island
yeah didn't really need that anyway it
ends basically the same way as the
original but this time he shot down by
men in helicopters they play up the
emotional angle by making Dwan cry
because she cares for the giant ape and
a amp up the gore by making kong spray
blood everywhere which was unnecessary
the bullet wounds didn't have to be so
exaggerated he's almost completely
covered in red as a kid I couldnt even
watch this part because i was so
disturbed by it anyway it's a competent
remake but the main reason why it's
worthwhile is the award-winning effects
Kong himself is excellent but the rest
is pretty bland it was successful at the
box office but pales in comparison to
the original and the major blockbuster
of its time Jaws which was released the
year before the ape followed in the Sharks
wake trying to do something as big and
ambitious both films featured
animatronic animals that would
malfunction on set both featured a
character who is an animal expert both
came from the same genre pool of
seventies blockbusters but Kong doesn't
hold the same kind of rewatch value
today it doesn't beg to be seen
it's well-made but not a significant
it's interesting to note that there
almost existed 2 remakes at the same
time the DiLaurentis one was distributed
by Paramount and the other one by
Universal which never got made it was
going to be called The Legend of King
Kong paramount and universal both
approached RKO at the same time to buy a
license to remake Kong
I have no idea whether there was some
resurgence of Kong interest all of a
sudden or it was just a coincidence but anyway
when universal found out paramount was
also making a Kong movie they got pissed
and it started a big legal battle
amongst all these different parties RKO
universal paramount and even Richard
Cooper the son of the original director
jumped in it was a Royal Rumble it's
extremely confusing i spent
days researching this more time that I
did working on the main review i
actually got on the phone with my
attorney for an hour to figure out who
now owns King Kong we dug up all kinds
of documents and basically it's a
clusterfuck paramount and universal were
allowed to both do their own remakes
paramount made Kong 76 while universal
postpone their own film which didn't
really happen at least not until 29
years later with the 2005 Peter Jackson
version universal had their own history
with Kong they distributed the american
version of Kong vs Godzilla and even
then there was legal issues and after
the 76 legal issues they got the rights
to the theme park attractions
merchandise and presumably the name and
character this occurred when they
purchased the rights from Cooper son for
around two hundred thousand dollars
after a judge ruled that the Cooper
estate did in fact own the rights to the
name and character in 1982 universal
filed a lawsuit against nintendo because
of Donkey Kong now obviously donkey kong
a giant ape who captures a girl and
climbs on top of a building is a blatant
reference to King Kong whether you call it
a ripoff or a parody or tribute or what
it didn't really matter because the
court ruled in favor of nintendo the
common story that goes around is that
Universal didn't actually owned King
Kong but that's not entirely true
this is where it gets really confusing
it seems universal does own Kong
they just didn't have a trademark on the
name but in all other ways you look at
it they own the rights to making
Kong films but in this particular
situation they didn't have any case a
video game reference like donkey kong
wasn't causing any confusion or taking
money away from universal universal was
acting on it just to gain additional
profits they were abusing their power
and wound up having to pay Nintendo's
legal bills in the seventies when
universal was trying to sue RKO and
paramount they argue that the Kong name
and character was in the public domain
but it actually turned out it was owned
by Cooper so Universal bought it off from
Cooper and to this day as far as i know
Universal still holds the exclusive
rights to making Kong films
plus the theme parks and
merchandise the deal paramount got out
of it was just to do the 76 remake and
that was it
there's a novelization of the original
Kong that came out alongside the original
movie and that elapsed into public
domain by the time the remake was made
which I assume means just the text of
that book is in the public domain but to
this day the Cooper estate owns the
rights to publishing all other novels
and comic books as far as the individual
films go
they're all owned by different companies
the first two films were owned by RKO
after RKO went defunct head-turner
bought them and the Turner collection is
now distributed by Warner Brothers
Kong vs Godzilla and Kong escapes
are owned by Toho in japan by
Universal in America Kong 76 is owned by
Paramount King Kong lives nobody gives a
shit cock 2005 is universal and
Skull island is warner brothers who are given
permission by Universal phew
anyway if i'm going to finish these videos
in time for Skull islands i gotta hurry
up and talk about King Kong lives
DiLaurentis was executive producer on
this one and it has the same director
John Guillermin it functions as a
straight-up sequel but it was released
in 86 10 years later so i guess that's
the reason it begins with a recap of
the ending of the last film to refresh
your memory
yeah it does it the Rocky way after
being shot to a bloody mess and falling
from one of the tallest buildings in the
world he's still barely alive he's been in
a coma for the past 10 years being
watched over in some kind of institute
by a doctor played by linda hamilton
from the Terminator in order to keep
Kong alive any longer they have to do
two things
give him an artificial heart and give
him a blood transfusion from another
giant ape well luckily another giant
ape just happens to be captured but its
female which might get Kong too
excited or would cause problems or
whatever so there's a big debate about
that but they go ahead with the blood
transfusion they transplant the heart
which is a huge process they have to
chainsaw into his chest
they lift out his heart on a crane they
place the robot heart in and can we stop
for a second
why are they trying to keep King Kong
alive there's no
clear reason for anything but anyway
Kong wakes up and just like his normal self
breaks loose
what do you expect that stupid cage from
the first movie couldn't contain him
now all he has is some handcuffs he
escapes easily and goes after the lady
Kong and you know what this is one of
two things that makes this movie
worthwhile seeing Kong get together with
a lady ape is nice
I mean he finally found the woman his
own size
that's what he deserved all along
there's long peaceful scenes where they
communicate without any dialogue
obviously and that's where films are at
their best with visual storytelling it's
like finding a fresh strawberry inside
of a turd the other good part is the end
when Kong faces the military for his
final time this time it's a full-on
battle against tanks the human villains in
this film are so cruel you just want to
see Kong smash them to bits you cheer
for him the whole way I love it when he
picks up the tanks and throws into the
ground that's great
even though he keeps getting shot and
his fur is soaked in blood
he keeps on going he just doesn't give a
fuck this time he actually wins this is
satisfying
isn't that what you wanted to see all
along Kong actually win for once then
guess what he dies again the movies
called King Kong lives
why he die it's like a tease but he
gets a nice prize at the end right
before he dies he gets to see his kid
our baby Kong isn't that nice
when did that happen you might ask I
mean did you really want them to show
that part no overall it's a bad movie
but there's enough highlights to make it
worthwhile if you just want to see Kong
but without holding any high standard it
can be enjoyed and it's the last time we
will ever see practical Kong effects
done with suits and animatronics we can
at least appreciate what we had
now that it's gone after this it seemed
there would never be another con movie
again but thanks to Lord of the Rings and
peter jackson they found a way
stay tuned