20 Movies: King Kong (1976)

When a ship is sent to explore a mysterious island thought to be rich in oil, paleontologist Jack Prescott sneaks aboard, having heard strange rumors about the place. En route, the crew rescues Dwan (Yes, it’s spelled Dwan), the beautiful sole survivor of a sunken yacht. Arriving on the island, they find a giant ape called Kong. The beast takes Dwan, falling in love with her before Prescott and the others can rescue her, capturing Kong in the process. Kong is brought to New York City in chains, leading to an epic clash of Man vs Nature atop the Twin Towers.

I'm posting about 20 specific movies because of a social media trend-game. The idea was that you choose 20 movies that greatly influenced you, and then you post the poster of each one, one per day, for 20 days. No reviews, no explanations, just the posters. So, I’m doing that.

But I also wanted to talk about them a little bit, so...

The first time I saw this movie, I couldn’t have been more than five years old. I’m pretty sure I didn’t see it in the theatre, but who knows how accurate my memories are. To paraphrase the Chief of the Great Northern Tribes: “My life fades. My memories dim.” Whatever the truth, the first time I recall seeing this film, it was in the house I lived in as a kid, when my parents were still together. I assume on a Sunday evening, when it aired on NBC in September of 1978. I remember watching it while on the couch with my Dad.

Then, probably that same year, and probably for my birthday or for Christmas, I got a small plastic model of King Kong clinging to the Empire State Building while fighting biplanes. It clicked together easily, but you were supposed to paint it, and I never did, so it stayed a uniform flat orange. I still loved it though. Also, around that same time, my favorite cartoon, Thundarr the Barbarian, fought a giant mechanical ape leftover from the times before the Fall of Man.

Obviously, it was ridiculously awesome.

So, with the popularity of the Planet of the Apes franchise having temporarily abated for a few years, 1976 and 1977 was once again the Time of the Ape, and I loved it. I’ve been a fan ever since. I’m not alone either, there’s been a tons of King Kong stories, in books, comics, on tv, and of course, at the movies. For nearly 100 years, starting in 1933, all the way up to the modern day in 2023, the big ape has been a pop culture icon.

As a result, we all know the story, right?

King Kong is a tragic love story of beauty and the beast, a tale about the clash of nature vs man, not to mention the inexorable roll of progress. It‘s also a touching fable in which the monster is not a vehicle of destruction, but a creature that only wants to do the right thing, at least, in the ways that it knows. Kong is sensitive, and clearly cares for his captive human female. He protects her, and only attacks when provoked. In fact, it’s pretty obvious that Kong would rather be left alone, to live a quiet peaceful life with his lady love on his little island kingdom, and it was only due to the evil greed of humanity that he unleashed his rage.

Definitely relatable, right?

But it would also be remiss of us to not point out the symbolic significance of a giant monkey monster climbing the biggest and most phallic of skyscrapers, all for the whitest and loveliest of blonde ladies. It would also behoove us to acknowledge that the nicest thing that one can really say about the racial politics of King Kong is that they are very, very… very racist, as well as very, very sexist, and 100% rooted in the very typical, very toxic, and very presumptuous imperialistic and colonialist attitudes that are all too common in “The West.”

In the King Kong stories, Skull Island is usually located in the Indian Ocean, despite the fact that the island’s inhabitants are more often than not Africa-coded. Regardless, it is consistently envisioned as an imperialist fever dream. King Kong as a character is the dark and mysterious “East” personified, a brutal and vicious beast that must be conquered and tamed. This is the key justification of the entire idea of colonialism and imperialism, that due to the inherent savagery of the native people and the animals of these places, not to mention the very land itself, it is the “white man’s burden” to civilize them, and thus, Kong must be chained.

But even more than the "white man’s burden,” the fact that Kong is a giant beast who is uncontrollably horny for a white lady is a pretty clear metaphor.

That’s the main threat Kong represents, that whole racist idea that the dark and dangerous native people of “uncivilized“ areas want nothing more than to abduct white women and violate them. These "sub-humans" are helpless to do otherwise, because white women are simply so much more inherently desirable than native women, and as a result, native men just can not ignore the fire white women ignite in their loins. This uncontrollable desire drives them to attempt to possess white women relentlessly, often using violence in order to do so. This meant that White Men needed to stay ever-vigilant and always ready to use violence as well, lest they risk permanent damage coming to their “property.”

Protecting the much vaunted purity of white woman is a very real threat that still haunts our society today. In this country alone, the mere suggestion that a white woman had so much as been whistled at, has been more than enough to get Black men killed. This fear, that a white woman would be violated by an aggressive and “subhuman” beast driven into a frenzy with desire for her, an idea made all the worse by the not so subtle implication that she may welcome that attention, is the very heart of the King Kong story. It’s not just about sex, it’s also about the threat of the brutish male sexuality of “lesser” races.

Save the helpless little White Lady from the rampaging big Black Ape!

This is the heart of why the 1933 version is still called "one of the greatest horror movies ever made."

Of course, at the same time, you could also say that this story could be seen as an anti-colonialist allegory, one where a proud indigenous warrior-king is captured, kidnapped, and taken in shackles across the ocean by avatars of the voraciousness and greed of the Ugly Americans, and then forced to perform for the amusement of indolent and demanding white people. And given the litany of horrors that were so blithely inflicted on him, what other option does he have but to break his chains, to lash out at his evil captors? On what other path would he still have dignity? And if that is his only option, what other ending could possibly lay in store for the mighty king than to eventually be brought down by the cruel technological might of the Western world, to finally fall before the relentless hate of progress. And yet in the end, this also means that he is free forever from their vile clutches. Of course, that it could be seen a commentary on the selfish indifference of the Western World, as they eagerly destroy everything different and interesting and beautiful in the name of their seemingly endless need to commodify and consume, is cold comfort.

Either way, this is all an unavoidable part of King Kong.

These ideas are baked into the very DNA of the story, you can’t do a King Kong story without at least some, if not all, of these problematic elements. This version in particular wears its casually sexist and racist roots so openly on its sleeve, it’s actually kind of amazing to see. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, of course. After all, this film was made in time when this country was only just beginning to attempt to make actual change away from the harmful beliefs it had been built on, and really, was still struggling with that new reality meant, struggling and arguably, failing to launch, honestly. At the same time, it was also shaped by hands and minds that had been born and raised within the very time period, as well as with the very attitudes, that needed to be left behind.

It is what it is, is what I’m saying, and it can’t be anything else, so you have to accept that or not. Either way, it’s important to recognize and understand what this film is exactly, and where it comes from.

So, anyway, with all that shit having been said, for me, it's the whole idea of Skull Island. I love it. That strange and distant land of mist-shrouded mystery, danger, and ancient secrets? A place that is rife with the promise of romantic adventure?

I love it.

Skull Island is the name that is most often used to describe this fictional island, but it just as often seems to go by other names, or remains nameless. And it’s not just confined to King Kong stories either. As a concept in fiction, who knows how long it’s been around, probably forever. I mean, it’s like a half different settings in the Odyssey alone, but in modern times, the idea of the “mysterious island” could probably be said to have first appeared in 1875, in the aptly titled The Mysterious Island (or L'Île mystérieuse), a novel by Jules Verne. It is maybe the most famous example of the Monster Island trope, a deserted island that is not as deserted as it first seems, usually with the telltale signs of giant footprints along the beach, or the rumbling thunder of something massive crashing through the deep jungle beyond the sand’s edge, and of course, a sudden horrifying roar that means somewhere on the island is a horrific giant beast, and at its call, our protagonists must confront the realization that they are very, very small, and all alone…

As a concept, the idea of the mysterious island has been used in a wide-range of pop culture. From tv shows like Lost, to cartoons like Tailspin, to comic books like Jupiter’s Legacy, video games like the 2013 Tomb Raider, and even novels like the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. It’s where masked heroes like Green Arrow first picked up a bow, where both Gilligan and Mr Rourke lived, where Dr. Moreau created, and where Jason fought a giant bronze statue. It‘s also where the lamentably never-happened sequel to the fantastic monster movie Deep Rising would’ve taken place, but alas… we’ll never get to see it.

Skull Island itself first appeared in 1933 in King Kong, even though the name was never actually used in that film. After that, it’s shown up in basically every sequel, remake, and reboot, and most of the spin-offs too. Originally located somewhere off the coast of Indonesia, it’s pretty much always appeared in the Indian Ocean in the various versions since then. Often tropical, and just as often shrouded in mists, and usually with some kind of distinctive rocky outcropping shaped like a human skull—hence the name—it is Kong’s home. As the biggest and strongest, the god-like being of the island, he rules over the other usually massive creatures that live there, sometimes including dinosaurs, but at the very least the kinds of things that probably never existed, or should have been extinct for millions of years. There's usually a primitive society of humans who live there too, often times huddled behind a giant wall that separates them from the rest of the island.

Skull Island's origins are unknown. According to the original film, the captain of a Norwegian sailing ship came across a canoe carrying a native man who is at death's door. In a very Treasure Island kind of moment, before the man dies, the captain is able to get the location of the man’s island home, as well as the vague promise of a treasure, along with scraps of a story about how the native’s people had once been a high civilization, refugees from a long lost world, who had built a huge wall there to protect some ancient secret on the island. The question of what that wall is there for is part of the story, as the roles of both Kong and the Skull Island natives—the Skull Islanders—are interchangeable. Sometimes they’re Kong's guardians, other times they’re ancient servants of Kong, and sometimes they’re his jailers.

Much in the same way the “Mysterious Orient” appears in the stories of myriad pulp era heroes, Skull Island is the fabled end point, a lost place, off the edge of the map, a land before time. It is a place that Western Man can only reach after a long and arduous journey, often by accident, either shipwreck or plane crash, but once they do, they will be rewarded with great treasures, and answers to ancient riddles, or they are devoured, or simply vanish, and the best they can hope for is that their bones may one day be stepped over by some other intrepid explorer. Terrifying and otherworldly, it is a place where horrible death, untold power, and great riches may await, it's where all the superstitions are real, and so are the monsters.

In this film, Skull Island is called "the beach of the skull,” and it is located somewhere in Indian Ocean south of Java, shrouded in a permanent cloud bank. Many are said to have visited the island through the centuries, but if any of them ever actually returned, none have done so with proof. By the 1970s, it is an urban legend, a hint of a shadow in secret government files at best. But satellite imagery suggests that it is also rich with oil, so a greedy oil company executive puts together an exhibition to go in search of it.

But whatever this island is, whatever it's called, and however it's found, it’s always the same… surrounded by a thick curtain of white fog, and wrapped in mystery, it is the farthest possible place from home, where men in khakis go exploring.

I love it.

In a nutshell, all of that rambling and meandering is me saying that it makes sense that this particular version of King Kong would occupy the ninth spot on my list of twenty most influential films.

So…

Fred Wilson is an executive with the Petrox Oil Company, and he has a dream of finding a long lost island rich in oil that he can suck out of the ground, basically for free, and then get rich. Believing that he has found an uncharted island rich in oil, he forms an expedition, gets a ship--the Petrox Explorer--and sets off from Surabaya, Indonesia, heading west into the Indian Ocean.

Unbeknownst to Wilson, a scruffy-looking primate paleontologist named Jack Prescott has snuck aboard the ship. Prescott is also hunting the island, but for different reasons. He is driven by snatches of myths and legends, and the cryptic writings from doomed explorers recounting "the roar of a great beast.”

Unfortunately, Wilson is a square, and Prescott is a hippy, so the pair mixes like oil and water. Wilson has Prescott locked up in the brig as a stowaway, suspecting him of being a corporate espionage agent. But it’s while he’s being dragged to the brig that Prescott’s very impressive eyesight happens to spot a life raft adrift along the horizon. The raft carries the beautiful and unconscious Dwan.

Yes, it’s really Dwan. It’s not Dawn. She later explains that her parents named her Dwan to be unique, as most girls that are named after the sunrise are often simply named Dawn.

It’s so dumb. I can’t imagine why the filmmakers did this.

Anyway, an aspiring actress, Dwan was invited onto the yacht of a Hollywood director who had been sailing the Indian Ocean in search of filming locations. At one point this “director” had a “party” onboard that featured a showing of the film Deep Throat. Dwan was not happy about this at all, and went up on the deck in a huff to “get some air.” Then, for unexplained reasons, the yacht somehow exploded and sank, killing everyone on board, except for Dwan, who somehow managed to get to a life raft.

Now, to be clear, the film never says, it never hints, it never even implies, that it was actually Dwan who sank the yacht. That said, neither does it specifically deny this particular possibility either. It’s a fair question, right?

Did Dwan blow up the yacht? While she was angry at her boyfriend, as well as herself, and probably the whole world too, over the very sudden realization that she presumably had just had, upon finding herself suddenly surrounded by leering faces all lit by the opening credits of Deep Throat, that her big time Hollywood director boyfriend—a man she had believed was going to provide her with the fame and fortune that she had so long desired—had lied to her, maybe about everything, and just so that he could lure her out to sea for either an orgy or a gangbang… in that moment, did Dwan decide to say fuck it and light a match? Did Dwan send her bad boyfriend and his horny buddies on a one way trip to a deep, dark watery grave because they were all creepy assholes?

Like I said, it’s never even implied, but given the way the film depicts her, especially in the way that we’re later shown how much vanity and greed motivates her… I’m willing to accept this bit of headcanon as actual canon.

However it went, Dwan somehow ended up on that life raft, the only survivor of a shipwreck, and that’s where she stayed until the Petrox Explorer happened across her, and brought her aboard.

Fearing how she might react upon waking up and discovering that she is the lone woman on a ship of leering and drooling sailors, and needing someone more able to talk with her on her level or something, Wilson lets the handsome long-hair Prescott out of the brig, and also makes him the exhibition’s photographer.

During the rest of the ship's voyage, Prescott and Dwan become attracted to each other, which makes sense as they are clearly the two most attractive people in the immediate area. But despite Prescott clearly declaring dibs, every other man on the ship is drooling all over Dwan, which we see in an extended montage. This makes sense because Dwan is sex incarnate. She’s just too pretty, dear readers, and also, she is pretty much always naked, or at least… dressed in a way to heavily imply it.

Upon reaching the island, the men all go ashore, and they take Dwan with them because again… she is just too pretty to be denied anything.

On the island, the team discovers a primitive tribe of indigenous people who live within the confines of a gigantic wall, and Prescott uses his Primate Paleontologist powers to determine that the wall was built to protect these native people from a mysterious god known as Kong. The natives offer six women in trade for Dwan, which I think we can all agree is a huge insult, as she is clearly worth a dozen at least, easy, opening offer.

The team also finds that while there is a large deposit of oil on the island, it is of such low quality that it is unusable. This is super upsetting to Wilson, who already told the Home Office that everything was great and perfect and that all the other Executives should start buying beach condos and Lamborghini Countaches, and now he needs to find a new way to deliver some big money, or he'll be fired…

Later, back on the ship, the natives sneak on and kidnap Dwan. They take her back to the island where they drug her, dress her in a ”ceremonial“ native bikini, and set her outside the wall as an offering to Kong. It’s unclear whether she is meant to be Kong‘s bride, or his dinner. Maybe both. Or maybe she’s meant to be like a cat toy for Kong, something he can chase around and play with until she dies, like my cats do with mice. Or maybe Kong is planning on just squatting down and putting his butt on her while making a weird face, like my cats do with their catnip toys. Maybe he'll do all four, who knows.

He is the King, after all.

And so, 52 minutes into a 2 hour and 14 minute movie, King Kong finally shows up. He grabs Dwan from the altar, throws a quick nod of approval to the watching natives, and then takes her back into the jungle. It‘s clear that he’s definitely going to play with her to death, but in a surprise twist, the awesome and terrifying king of Skull Island is revealed to be a big ol’ softy, and he is quickly tamed by Dwan’s long tan legs and astrology-loving blonde-ness.

But then, she falls in the mud and gets dirty.

She’s a dirty girl and she needs to take a bath, so Kong takes her to the waterfalls that he probably poops and pees in regularly, and lets her splash around! She’s all wet! She’s swimming and her clothes are wet, so so wet! Practically see-through! And all the while, she’s frolicking, and sexily shaking the water from her hair!

Kong is just loving it.

Then he blow-dries her with his breath, which apparently does not smell like old food and tooth rot at all, because Dwan just luxuriates in the warmth of that hot blast of monkey breath. Kong appreciates this a whole bunch. He’s smiling and feeling good, and then he’s like… y'know what? Let me see them titties, girl. 

Bad touch, Kong!

Still… that’s the moment where they fall in love…

Meanwhile, Prescott and a few of the redshirts from the crew head deep into the jungle of Skull Island on a rescue mission to save Dwan, while Wilson works on a plan to trap the big ape. Wilson hopes to salvage his failed expedition by capturing Kong, and taking him back to America. There, he will make Kong the new mascot of Petrox Oil, and take him on a cross-country tour.

Prescott and the rescue mission Redshirts come to an impossibly deep ravine—a ravine that is so deep, I believe it’s called Wiley Coyote Deep—and it is bridged by a fallen tree. Unfortunately, they run into Kong while still mid-log. This situation is a classic Redshirt killer, and Kong dutifully does his part, rolling the huge log back and forth, and causing the Redshirts to all fall to their deaths.

Prescott, and in a nice change of pace for a genre film, the one Black guy crew member, are the only ones to survive. Kong gives them the finger and takes Dwan to his lair, only to find a giant snake waiting. The snake is like Mmmm, dinner, and tries to eat Dwan, so Kong kills it. Prescott takes this opportunity to escapes with Dwan. Kong chases them back to the native village, only to fall into a huge pit trap that Wilson had dug and filled with chloroform.

It’s bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

With Kong chained in the hold of an oil tanker, they all return to New York City. There, caged and with a large crown on his head, Kong is put on display in a gaudy Beauty and the Beast type farce. The mighty ape seems resigned and defeated up on the stage, but when he sees a group of reporters crowding around Dwan, hoping for interviews, he thinks they’re attacking her.

Kong breaks free, and goes on a rampage throughout the city, stepping on people, kicking through rush hour traffic, knocking over buildings, and destroying an L Train, all in an attempt to find Dwan and keep her safe. In the commotion, Dwan and Prescott flee across the Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan, and hide in an bar. Wilson is killed when Kong steps on him, and he clearly deserves it, not just for the way he caged Kong, but also for the way he just flinches and screams as Kong’s foot slowly descends, instead of just... doing a slow somersault to one side maybe.

Also, keeping up with their tradition of being absolutely useless, the gigantic gorilla somehow manages to trample his way across Queens, jump in the river and swim across to Manhattan, and the cops completely miss this. Can't find him. No idea where he went. A giant gorilla. Just some incredible police work.

And so, Kong finds Dwan, and he takes her from within the bar by slowly reaching his giant gorilla hand through an open door, his huge fingers sneaking up on her while she stares at the wall, totally oblivious, and Prescott is maybe on the phone or peeing or something, I can’t remember, but somehow both of these two dipshits are completely caught by surprise. That sneaky monkey!

In the climax, Kong takes Dwan and climbs to the top of the South Tower of the World Trade Center, instead of the classic Empire State Building, because the WTC reminds him of two rock pillars back home on Skull Island.

The military attacks, while Kong roars his defiance, but he is helpless before 6000 rounds a minute of sustained fire from the Gatling-style M-134 Miniguns mounted on a trio of Bell “Huey” Helicopters.

This whole sequence is a bit weird to watch now, all these years later.

Fatally injured, Kong falls from the North Tower to the concrete of World Trade Center plaza, and there he dies from his injuries, all while Dwan looks on, blinded by flashbulbs and bombarded by questions from reporters. The crowd is so big and so densely packed Dwan is separated from Prescott, and somehow it’s impossible for him to squeeze through and reach her. Honestly, after the way he had told her, once they all reached NYC, that he wasn't really looking for a relationship, it kind of seems like he's not that interested in reaching her. Like, "Oh, shoot... can't reach you. Oh well, have a nice life!" I don't think this is what the film is trying to say, but it's the only explanation that makes sense as to why he can't shove his way through a handful of guys to get to her, especially once you see that she's only like... five feet away and there's only maybe a dozen people between them?

Anyway, Kong dies for her, and the white guy abandons her, and Dwan is left in the center of it all with the heavy implication in the last shot that, ultimately this is all her fault somehow. The way it ends, with the way it’s framed, and the way she's there, all alone, it feels like the film is saying that this all happened because Dwan led Kong on or something, that he’s dead because he loved her too much, and it's her fault, because she shouldn’t have allowed that, or something. But for the evil ways of women would the great Kong not be dead... I don’t know. Again, I don't think the film is saying this intentially, but it sure as hell comes across that way.

Either way, the ending felt a lot more fucked up than usual during this watch.

Produced by Dino de Laurentiis, an Italian film producer and businessman, someone who, even if you only casually watch movies, their name should ring a vague bell for you because of how often you've seen it on the movie screen over the years, the 1976 version of King Kong was generally well-received upon release. Critics and audiences alike praising its sense of fun and adventure, as well as its silly but touching love story, and most of all, its special effects. At the time, it was called one of the best remakes ever, faithful not only to the letter but the spirit, and it went on to gross almost $15o million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film released that year.

Adding to that pile, NBC bought the rights to air the movie for $19.5 million, which was the highest amount any network had ever paid for a film at that time. In order to recoup that cost, when the film made its television debut in September 1978, it was an event that was spread over two nights. To pull this off, there was almost 60 minutes of extra footage added in. This longer version is considered much worse, as not only is most of the additional footage bad, its inclusion actually harms the film’s pacing, and often kills a lot of the tension. Also, in order to obtain a more family-friendly TV rating, not only was the swearing cut, but most of the violence or sexual scenes were either cut as well, or in some cases, they were replaced with less explicit takes. It sounds like an absolute trash watch, the usual result from the same narrow-minded little weasels that gave us the Satanic Panic, artless and boring, akin to the kind of awful shit those weird Mormon CleanFlicks video stores would do to movies until they were thankfully sued out of existence.

Plus, while she went on to a long and illustrious career, one filled with well-deserved awards and nominations, this was Jessica Lange‘s debut film, and she was mostly just a super hot and half-naked scream queen here. So at this point, I can't imagine how butchered this film must have been on TV. I mean, the majority of her scenes alone had to have been cut or altered...

King Kong won two Academy Awards that year, one for Cinematography and the other for Sound Mixing. It also won one Special Achievement Award for its visual effects, which it shared with the film Logan’s Run. This makes sense, as the Special Effects really were the main selling point of the film. This was a Special Effects event film before that was even a regular thing for general audiences.

For this film, Italian special effect artist Carlo Rambaldi designed and built a 40 foot tall and 6 and a half ton mechanical Kong out of aluminum, latex, horse tails and hydraulics that cost half a million dollars. Ultimately, it didn’t work at all, and is barely in the film, especially after its hydraulics basically blew up in one part. BUT... silverlining... if I remember right, it’s mere existence is the main catalyst for that episode of Thundarr the Barbarian I mentioned.

So while there was the giant robot ape, and also some separate mechanical hands with working fingers they used to scoop up Jessica Lange in several close-ups, for most of the movie, they went with the classic “man in suit” option. It looks silly, of course, the Man in suit monster always looks silly, but it's also charming, and that's the real key here, the film is charming.

This is true down the line too. All in all, even if they once wowed the crowds, the special effects really don’t translate very well for today's eyes, but that’s just how these thing work, right? Not every part of a piece of art ages at the same rate, and not every part of it resonates the same as other parts do over the years. This whole version of King Kong is like that. It's a definite product of its time, and it doesn’t all work, or age well, and some of it has gone bad, but all in all, it's harmless and silly fun, a perfect thing to watch on the couch one Sunday evening with your dad.

It’s still a good time.