King Kong (1976)
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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.
It starred Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and Jessica Lange, in her first movie role, playing the analogous role made famous in the original by Fay Wray. In addition to being in color, the movie differs from original in several major story details. In this version, King Kong is discovered in the South Pacific during a petroleum expedition lead by a greedy executive played by Grodin. Bridges plays a hippie photographer who is also an expert on apes. 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, the fatally injured Kong falls from the roof to the World Trade Centre forecourt where he dies of his injuries. The posters of the movie notoriously showed a savage ape with one foot on each of the two Twin Towers, swatting at fighter jets[1] (http://www.fullyarticulated.com/KongPosters.html). In the actual movie, the ape was much smaller and could not have stood on both towers at once.
The movie story was written by Merian C. Cooper, Edgar Wallace, Lorenzo Semple Jr. as an adaptation of the 1933 screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose.
Although the movie helped launch the careers of Jessica Lange and Jeff Bridges, it was considered a commercial and critical flop. The film has several subplots, including ones that focus on Prescott's hippie ways against the Establishment. It is overal; critical of big business and the U.S. military.
King Kong 1976 found new life on television. NBC bought the rights to air the movie and it was a rating success. When NBC reshowed the movie, it drew high ratings and reached out to children. The TV success led Universal Studios to make a sequel called King Kong Lives with Linda Hamilton. The sequel was a bigger bomb than the first, but found cult-like success on video. Occasionally shown on cable TV, the 1976 Kong draws good ratings. While never reaching the status of its predecessor, the movie found its niche on television.
Other actors who received career boosts from the movie are Rene Auberjonois (Benson, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law), and Jack O'Halloran (Superman, Superman II, Dragnet (1987)).
External links
- IMDb entry for King Kong (1976) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074751/)
- Cool Cinema Trash: King Kong 1976) (http://www.coolcinematrash.com/movies/kingKong.htm)
- Story of the Classic 1976 Promotional posters) (http://www.fullyarticulated.com/KongPosters.html)