King Kong filmography

[Jozanny]

I guess I am becoming a sentimental old fool, because ABC is running the 2005 color remake of King Kong, and I shut it off right before the capture occurs. Maybe one day when I am less moody and it runs again, or I open a Netflix account, I'll try again.

The silverback is too realistic, and I just cannot stand thinking about these basically gentle primates getting butchered down and destroyed in Africa, so I don't want to watch anymore.

That conceded, it is a decent upgrade of the 30's black and white, which some critics say still tops them all due to its lewd undercurrent, but I have not seen the original in a very long time.

The other remakes with Jeff Bridges should have been played as spoofs, because they were a bit too jokey and too pc. Anyone else have a favorite, like Mighty Joe Young? I like the b & w of Joe better than the modern upgrade as well.

[Maximilianus]

I haven't seen the 1933 movie in ages (I think that was the year of its release), but I still recall a bit of it. I didn't really enjoy the 1976 remake starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange, as I didn't enjoy the 1986 sequel "King Kong Lives", the latter being nominated for the Razzies in the Worst Special Effects category (just as a side comment).

Of the ones I have seen, Peter Jackson's remains my favorite. I believe it gives an undeniably clear view of what a ruthless assassin of the animal kingdom man can be for the mere sake of money, and also, how some people can still split apart from the ruthless nature of our species. I stick to this 2005 remake for now.

[mtpspur]

Well personally I lean towards Gorgo--then Godzilla for sentimental reasons. I had a few Gorgo comics when I was kid and adored the little fellow--took over 30 years to track down all the issues. (My grand-son is expecting them as an inheritance any time now--lol.) My favorite Kong has to be the 1933 which I actually saw for the first time back in the late 60s on a rerelease and unedited (I thought the 'scenes' were more suggestive then lewd.) and it was wonderful. To complete your Kong listings there were two Toho features King Kong vs Godzilla and King Kong Escapes and the unrelated Konga about the less said the better.

[Jozanny]

Well personally I lean towards Gorgo--then Godzilla for sentimental reasons. I had a few Gorgo comics when I was kid and adored the little fellow--took over 30 yeasr to track down all the issues. (My grand-son is expecting them as an inheritance any time now--lol.) My favorite Kong has to be the 1933 which I actually saw for the first time back in the late 60s on a rerelease and unedited (I thought the 'scenes' were more suggestive then lewd.) and it was wonderful. To complete your Kong listings there were two Toho features King Kong vs Godzilla and King Kong Escapes and the unrelated Konga about the less said the better.

You write a cute post:p, so hopefully one day I will Google Gorgo, since I am young enough yet not to remember him. I am pretty sure I saw Godzilla and Kong when I was a kid, and I love the Japanese originals because they allow distance. The American remake pales, despite the computer graphics, or whatever. The man in the rubber suit left more to my imagination.

I opened a Netflix account last night, and did not want to start a new thread to mention it, fell in love and hope I get over it fast, for the sake of my freelancing, but I can do some monkey movie research.

Now that I can get back to freelancing, I will always be on the hunt for ideas, and I hope that won't bother too many folks in the forum (I do get the pesky reporter brush off when I am on deadline) and want to something on apes because WaPo had a fantastic feature article on a legendary Hollywood chimp last year. Blew me away. I cannot fly willy nilly around the country or do that kind of research, or chat with Jane Goodall, but I do keep a religious idea file. I learned that as a kid.