Monkey movies were very big in the 70's, but in 1976 they became HUGE when producer Dino De Laurentiis brought his remake of King Kong to the big screen.

During rough seas, Petrox Explorer sets sail for a mysterious island that might be home to one of the largest oil fields in the South Pacific. On board are Charles Grodin as the smarmy oil-company exec and Jeff Bridges as the hippy amateur photographer and monkey expert. Along the way they encounter Dwan ("like Dawn except that I switched two letters"), a woman adrift in a life raft and a self described "…all-American girl saved from an exploding yacht by Deep Throat". She's played by Jessica Lange in her screen debut. After her ordeal Dwan would understandably be a little shook up, but Lange's breathy dumb blond performance seems more stoned than stunned. Regardless, she soon charms all the sailors. Cue the life on-board ship montage and cue John Barry's love theme. Despite the romantic mood, Lange is simply cordial to Bridges, her human love-interest in the movie.

They quickly forget about the oil when they discover that the island is inhabited by natives who worship a great big gorilla. "Kong, Kong, Kong" they chant. Apparently blondes make the best sacrifices. The natives kidnap Lange, dress her in a lovely wedding gown (with matching pooka shell headdress), and tie her to an alter where she awaits her over-sized simian husband-to-be.

The ceremony goes as well as you might expect. Terrified that her groom is going to eat her, Lange shouts, "You god damn chauvinist-pig ape! Choke on me!" Kong, as you might guess, is justifiably angry when he hears this so, Lange tries a different approach. "I'm a Libra, what sign are you?"

Soon Bridges is off searching the rugged island terrain. "If he's not gonna eat her," a fellow crewman asks, "why did he take her?"

To give her a bath of course. Kong takes Lange to a waterfall for a post-honeymoon rinse, all the while making goo-goo eyes at her. Cue that crazy Love theme again as Lange sits in Kong's big hairy hand and he blows her dry. It seems some hot monkey breath was all Lange needed. She writhes and moans, stopping short of screaming out Kong's name.

Later, in the romantic island moonlight, Kong slowly begins to undress Lange. It seems he has every intention of consummating their marriage. But it is not to be. Our lovely couple is attacked by possibly the largest rubber snake to ever appear in a Hollywood movie. While Kong defends his bride in a battle royale, Bridges rescues Lange from her paramour's gigantic affection. After dispatching with the snake, Kong returns to the native village, is captured and then shipped off to the states. In New York City, Petrox unveils its new spokes monkey in an outdoor extravaganza. Kong, whose cage is shrouded in a slipcover resembling a Petrox gas pump, is wheeled out and put on display.

A special note for pause button enthusiasts: When Kong is in close-up, the camera flashes from the reporters reveal the roof of the soundstage on which the scene was shot.

When the reporters get too close to his lady love, Kong breaks free. Lange and Bridges escape the pandemonium, but Kong ain't gonna give up that easy.

Kong swims the East river, makes his way into Manhattan, finds Lange and takes her to the one tourist destination that reminds him most of home, the World Trade Center.
It's not long before a squadron of helicopters is spraying him with bullets, sending Kong toppling from the twin towers to his doom. We assume he's dead, but producer De Laurentiis would return a decade later with King Kong Lives (1986).

Carlo Rambaldi, best known for designing and building E.T., is given the special effects credit for creating Kong. The giant hand that was built is seen in nearly every scene featuring Jessica Lange, but the life-size mechanical Kong looked so ridiculous that it is only seen for a few seconds in the location shots where Kong is unveiled in New York.

Rick Baker, credited with make-up effects, is the real wizard behind Kong.Most of the footage we see of Kong is Baker performing inside the make-up that he designed. Baker would go on to perfect his monkey mask techniques in movies like Greystoke (1984), Gorillas in the Mist (1998), and the remake of Planet of the Apes (2001).

At the time of the films release the "suit-mation" technique used in the production was generally regarded as low-tech. Seeing Kong tromp through miniature island sets brings to mind the campy exploits of his rubber-suited cousin from Japan, Godzilla. So why would the producers, who were seriously attempting to update a classic film, choose to go with a guy in a monkey suit?

Hollywood special effects simply hadn't changed much in the forty years that separated the original King Kong and this remake. The giant hand that holds Jessica Lange is remarkably similar to the one that held Fay Wray in 1933. Any true advances wouldn't come until 1977, a year after Kong's release, when George Lucas unleashed Star Wars upon the world.

They could have hired effects wizard Ray Harryhausen and used stop-motion animation like the original. Considered by many to be the world's expert on the technique, Harryhausen even worked with Willis O'Brien (the man who brought the original Kong to life) on another monkey movie classic Mighty Joe Young (1949). Unfortunately he was busy finishing Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). Also, stop-motion animation is a time consuming process, if they had decided to go that route it would have added considerable time and cost to post-production. It seems producer De Laurentiis made the best decision under the circumstances.

The DVD is slim on extra features, the original theatrical trailer is about it, but the widescreen transfer and sound are quite good. An extended version of the movie does exist. When King Kong made its network television premiere, forty-five minutes of extended and deleted scenes were added. How about it Paramount… a special edition DVD?

CCT also recommends:

A*P*E

King Kong Lives

The Mighty Peking Man

If renting movies is for you, try Netflix. They stock most of the movies CCT recommends.