Stubs - King Kong (1976)

King Kong (1976) Starring: Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, Jessica Lange. Directed by John Guillermin. Screenplay by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. Based on the film King Kong written by James Creelman and Ruth Rose (RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 1933) from an idea conceived by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis. Run time: 135 minutes. USA Color Horror, Adventure, Monster.

As we’ve discussed before, Hollywood can’t stop itself from doing remakes. One might think that the classics would be off-limits, but even those occasionally get the remake treatment. RKO’s 1933 King Kong would seem to be untouchable but, alas, Hollywood has not only remade the film once, but they’re on their third revision of the legend, with Kong: Skull Island (2017) and its soon to be released sequel, Godzilla vs. Kong.

It has also been noted that Hollywood seems to go through cycles, in which the same types of films come out at the same time. This goes back to the Pre-Code days but still seems to continue to this day. King Kong is also a case in point in that trend. Back in 1975, two separate production companies had the idea to remake the 1933 classic; producer Dino De Laurentiis and Universal Pictures both approached RKO General, the successor to RKO Radio Pictures about the rights to the picture. And for a time, both thought they had exclusive rights to make their film. I won’t go into the grisly details of the dispute but safe to say that De Laurentiis would win the first round. Universal’s remake would have to wait until 2005 when director Peter Jackson, fresh from his success with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, would do his own take.

The film went into production on January 5, 1976, and didn’t wrap for eight months on August 31 with filming in Los Angeles, New York and Hawaii’s Kauai island.

The story opens on a vague Pacific Island. Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin) is hoping to climb up the corporate ladder at Petrox Petroleum by providing the company with first access to what he thinks is the world’s largest untapped oil deposit that he believes exists on a mysterious island.

Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges), a Princeton University primate paleontologist, shared Fred’s interest in the island but he is fascinated not by oil but by stories of an apelike creature reported to live there. When he learns the Captain (John Randolph) has purchased charts for the island, he stowaways on the outbound ship.

He avoids detection until he makes an appearance at Fred’s briefing of the crew on his discovery, aided by company scientist Bagley (René Auberjonois). When Jack interrupts Fred’s demonstration with stories from supposed past sightings going back hundreds of years, Fred has him detained as an industrial spy and orders him imprisoned.

As Jack is being taken below, he spies a semiconscious woman floating on a life raft on the ocean and she is fished out of the sea by the crew. Once on board, the woman, an aspiring actress named Dwan (Jessica Lange), informs Fred and Jack that she was on a yacht with a Hollywood film producer on their way to Hong Kong, where she was supposed to star in a movie. When the producer started to show a film she didn’t want to see (Deep Throat), she went out on the deck and was there when the boat blew up. She is apparently the sole survivor.

Newly rescued Dwan (Jessica Lange) with Jack (Jeff Bridges), Sam (Charles Grodin),
and the Captain of the ship (John Randolph)

After confirming that Jack is who he says he is, Fred has made him the expedition’s photographer to earn his passage. As such, he spends a lot of time with Dwan, who is very grateful to him for her rescue. She is also ogled by all the other men aboard the ship.

Dwan is allowed to go with the landing party. To her right is Bagley (René Auberjonois).

When they reach the fog-shrouded island, Dwan talks Fred into letting her join the landing party, which seems like a dumb idea right off the bat. However, she is allowed to go.

They find a wall built across the island.

Once on shore, they discover a tropical paradise and stumble across a giant wooden wall that appears to stretch across the island. They are convinced it is inhabited when they observe a large group of natives performing a ceremony. A shaman, wearing a gorilla costume, dances before a young woman dressed in seashells. They also observe a bubbling pool of oil, which the natives use to grease the dowel keeping the gate locked.

The Shaman (Keny Long) sees they are being watched.

However, the observers become observed when the shaman notices them and, more importantly, notices Dwan. With warriors at his side, the Shaman (Keny Long) offers six of his women for Dwan, an offer which is refused. When the warriors raise their spears, the crew shoots off their rifles and scares the natives away.

Later that night, Jack is planning to steal a boat and go back to the island. Dwan is on the landing and is obviously attracted to Jack. He offers to delay his departure and before going to steal more provisions, tells her that he hopes she’ll go wait in her cabin for him. But as soon as he’s gone, the natives sneak out and grab Dwan.

Kidnapped, Dwan is taken to meet Kong.

She is drugged and dressed in seashells, then carried through the giant gate, and tied to a stone altar. After closing the gate, the natives climb to the top of the wall and chant “Kong.”

Kong (performed by Rick Baker, voiced by Peter Cullen) finally appears.

Soon Kong, a sixty-foot gorilla, appears. He then rips her off the altar and carries her away. Soon after, Jack arrives with a rescue party, scares off the natives, and discovers Dwan is gone.

Fred orders Jack and Boan (Julius Harris), a muscular sailor, to lead a rescue party into the interior and test for oil along the way. Jack protests that there is no time for oil exploration, but Fred is adamant.

The next morning, Dwan wakes up to find she is Kong’s pet. She tries to escape, but the gorilla playfully nudges her back. Later, Kong carries Dwan to a waterfall, bathes her in a pool, and blows her dry.

Meanwhile, in his base on the beach, Fred is informed by Bagley that, after tests, the island’s oil is commercially worthless.

Looking to keep his career going, Fred decides the best way to do that is to capture Kong and bring him back as Petrox Petroleum’s new mascot. He orders his men to dig a huge pit in front of the gate.

Meanwhile, Kong appears with Dwan as Jack and his men traverse a deep gorge on a large fallen tree. Jack is the only one to have made it across before Kong appears. The men open fire on Kong but their bullets only enrage the giant gorilla. He knocks most of the men off the tree before hurling it into the river below. Only Boan manages to save himself. Jack tells him to send help while he keeps trailing Kong.

A giant snake sees the scantily-dressed Dwan as a meal.

That night, a giant serpent appears and tries to swallow Dwan, but Kong fights it to the death. While the battle rages, Jack rescues Dwan. They are chased by Kong back the way they came. When they get to the cliff, they leap into the river below. Kong does not follow them.

They run back to the great wall and get through the gate, seconds before Kong appears. He is apparently smelling Dwan and smashes through the gate in order to get to her. However, on the other side, he loses his balance and falls into the giant pit, and is knocked unconscious by chloroform gas. When he wakes up, Kong is inside the hull of a Petrox supertanker on his way to New York City.

Fred envisions a beauty and the beast sort of show to introduce the company’s new mascot with Dwan as the beauty. Both Dwan and Jack have misgivings, but put their careers before their ethics and agree to the plan.

That night, as Jack and Dwan kiss, her scarf flies off and lands in the ship’s hold. Kong smells Dwan’s scent and beats the bulkheads until they buckle. The captain orders the hold flooded, but Dwan runs to a grate to calm Kong. The gorilla slams the hull and she falls in. Kong catches Dwan, but then allows her to climb a ladder to safety. Kong slumps in despair.

There is quite the celebration to welcome the expedition back to the city, with a marching band and fireworks. A televised event is organized to present Kong to the world with lucky Petrox customers given prime seating.

King Kong in his "escape-proof cage".

Before the show, Jack rethinks his involvement and asks Dwan to leave with him, but she refuses, as this is her big break. Even though he’s quit, Jack still attends the show, which opens with a reenactment of  Dwan’s introduction to Kong. In a gown, she is tied to a replica of the island’s altar, and a seventy-foot Petrox gas pump is wheeled onstage. The pump is lifted off to reveal Kong wearing a crown and trapped in what Fred assures the audience is an “escape-proof cage.”

When photographers swarm the stage, they frighten Dwan, who is almost pushed off the altar. Jack shouts, in vain, that Kong will think they are attacking Dwan. His warning comes too late and Kong shatters the cage. The crowd panics as Kong smashes the bleachers and crushes Fred, who gets in his way, under his foot.

Kong derails a train, looking for Dwan.

Jack fights his way to Dwan’s side and they run to an elevated station to catch a train. But Kong catches up to the train and stops it. Jack and Dwan manage to escape the car before Kong tears the roof off it. He finds a blonde woman, but when he sees it is not Dwan, Kong he throws her away to her certain death.

Stealing an abandoned motorcycle, Jack and Dwan speed across a bridge into Manhattan. The army closes off all routes to the city. Jack explains that gorillas cannot swim, and feels they are now safe.

Even though they are running for their lives, Dwan wants to stop and have a drink.

Inexplicably, as they are running to safety, Dwan wants Jack to get her a drink, so they stop off in an abandoned bar. As they go in, Jack notices the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers silhouetted by a full moon and realizes that they resemble twin peaks on the island.

Meanwhile, Dwan tells Jack she loves him, but he rejects her, feeling only a rich man could satisfy her material needs. Jack telephones the mayor and, after extracting a promise not to kill the animal, he explains he thinks Kong is headed to the towers and that they can drop a net on Kong there.

Kong climbs up one of the Twin Towers with Dwan in his hand.

Kong, meanwhile, has waded across the East River and knocks down a power station, plunging the city into darkness. Following Dwan’s scent, Kong reaches into the bar and grabs her. He, of course, heads to the twin towers and with Dwan in one hand, climbs to the top. Jack follows and takes an elevator up the observation deck and watches.

Kong fights back and kills the soldiers with flamethrowers.

Soldiers with flamethrowers arrive and attack Kong. Badly burnt, Kong grabs Dwan and jumps to the other tower. He fights back by throwing pieces of machinery from one tower at the soldiers with the flamethrowers, causing an explosion and killing them.

Jack yells in triumph, but four attack helicopters soon arrive and open fire on Kong. The gorilla uses his body to shield Dwan but the bullets do have an effect on him. Kong fights back, knocking two helicopters out of the sky.

Wounded, Kong falls down on the roof. Kong stares into Dwan’s eyes before falling over the side, plunging to the ground below. He makes an impression in the plaza below and dies.

Dwan is there when Kong dies from the fall.

Dwan gets down first, with Jack close behind. They watch as Kong takes his last breath. As photographers swarm Dwan, she calls out for Jack but he doesn’t come to her aid.

There were things I enjoyed about the film, but it robs us of what should have been a romantic ending. Jack may have decided that he and Dwan didn’t have a future together but leaving her to fend for herself to the horde of photographers and after the harrowing experience she’d just had makes him come off as an ass. You expect him to step forward and at least for the moment protect her. Instead, as the final shot pans out, he does not.

The film was released on December 17, 1976 and grossed about $90 million, making back more than three times Paramount Pictures’ approximately $24 million budget. Reviews were somewhat mixed but the film did make Jessica Lange a star almost overnight.

A model, who once shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Grace Jones, Lange was discovered by De Laurentiis. For her role, she won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. It would be one of many awards Lange would go on to win for her acting. She was nominated in 1993 as both Best Actress in Frances and Best Supporting Actress in Tootsie, winning for the latter. She would be nominated three more times for Best Actress in 1985 for Country, 1986 for Sweet Dreams, and 1990 for Music Box before winning the award for Blue Sky in 1995. She would also win a Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Play for her Broadway performance in Long Day's Journey into Night in 2016.

In King Kong, she seems to have been chosen for her beauty more so than her acting. She’s not bad but it is revealing outfits that seem to get the most attention in the film. This isn’t the kind of film to really show off one's acting chops as the real star is a fake sixty-foot ape.

The son of Sea Hunt star, Lloyd Bridges, Jeff had become a major star in his own right. He had already earned Academy Award nominations for his roles in The Last Picture Show (1971) and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) before making King Kong. He would be nominated again for Starman (1984), The Contender (2000), True Grit (2010), and Hell or High Water (2016) winning it for Crazy Heart (2009). Again, not the film to be nominated for, Bridges is good in the film. He’s at the stage in his career when they seemed to look for opportunities to shoot him shirtless, perhaps trying to even out the eye candy Lange was providing.

Charles Grodin seems miscast as Fred Wilson.

Charles Grodin almost seems miscast as the evil corporate executive. His style of acting seems better suited for comedies like Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and Mike Nichols' Catch-22 (1970) and Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait (1978).

Kong trying to disrobe Dwan.

Including that, the film has a lot of issues, the least of which are the special effects that have not aged well. There are the really obvious greenscreen shots of men and Kong falling to their deaths. The monster himself doesn’t always seem believable. When Rick Baker is in the suit, Kong sometimes walks too much like a man in a monkey suit rather than as a gorilla. Peter Cullen, who does the voice, does a very good job as he always seems to. Neither man was credited for their parts. And the facial expressions go from the downright scary to the downright pervy as Kong tries to disrobe Dwan on more than one occasion.

And there are story issues. While I don’t mind how they introduced Dwan to the story, the fact that they would take a barely dressed girl on the first reconnaissance mission to the island is beyond the realm of believability. They had no idea what they were going to face so to bring her along seems entirely stupid. I have nothing against women in heroic roles but Dwan wasn’t being heroic here. She was bored and wanted to get off the ship, hardly qualifications for a spot on the landing party.

And there is the legend of Kong. I don’t know if being bigger means you live longer but Jack’s stories of his appearances go back hundreds of years. Are we to believe it is the same ape? And, if as Jack suggests, apes don’t eat meat, what happened to the other girls who were sacrificed to appease Kong? One would think he would have a “harem” of sorts. Oh, maybe some would have met their fate in time but still, you’d think he would have protected them in the same way he did Dwan. Does he only prefer blondes?

While I don’t pretend to understand shipping, I really don’t think you can get a supertanker to move as fast as they would have needed to secure Kong before he woke up from the chloroform. And I don’t think I would put a giant monkey in the hull of a ship and not keep it sedated at all times. The one scene we see when Kong smells Dwan on board would have been repeated over and over throughout the trip. Again, supertankers only travel about 19 miles per hour, so they’d be in for several days, if not weeks, at sea. If his one outburst could do that much damage I don’t think the ship would have completed its voyage.

I know what you’re thinking, you don’t like the remake because you liked the original film and that is partly true. I don’t see why Hollywood didn’t take Gene Siskel’s advice to only remake films that didn’t work. The original Kong, which has its own shortcomings, still seems more of a story than this remake. There is a real sense in the original that they are heading out looking for adventure rather than something as mundane as oil. At least in the original Kong, he does eat the occasional person so there is more of a sense of danger when Faye Wray is captured. And maybe it’s the black and white but the special effects seem to have aged somewhat better than the 1976 remake's have.

And there is something really tragic about seeing the Twin Towers in a film. The 1976 Kong tried to modernize it whenever it could from the original film. Back in 1933, The Empire State Building was the tallest building in the World and the Towers had taken away that crown. But the memory of how they came down and the age their destruction introduced is hard to forget. It is not the film’s fault for that image, but it still impacts the viewing in 2021.

All said, if I had one King Kong to choose, I would take the original over this remake. If you insist on having a big apes movie marathon, then throw this one into the mix. Otherwise, I’ll take the black and white Kong over this one every day of the week.