Last week’s episode on King Kong Lives was certainly an interesting one. It was both informative and entertaining. Nathan “survived” in true Mystery Science Theatre 3000 fashion while John LeMay made a valiant defense of the movie. I did not pipe in as much because, as listeners will remember, John and I had a spat when I refused to show him my garage. I did not get a chance to explain it was because I needed to make sure it was clean and safe for visitors. That was all.
Anyway, here are my notes on the episode:
- I did not want to disappoint you on the air, John, but I am actually a natural brunette. I dye my hair red. In other words, I still have a soul. Or did I lose it when I dyed my hair?
- Here’s the Siskel and Ebert review of King Kong Lives.
- About those so-called “magic artificial hearts”: The Island’s Board of Directors acquired Dr. Amy Franklin’s design and attempted to improve upon it. I can neither confirm nor deny that experiments may have been conducted on kaiju that aren’t as big a draw for Tourists….
- Here are two articles with great info on artificial hearts: “7 Things You Should Know about Artificial Hearts” and the Wikipedia entry on them.
- Baby Kong was played by seven-year-old Benjamin Kechley. And yes, I think he should have bragging rights for life.
- Surprisingly, Nathan was wrong about the Superman film John was talking about. (He is as obsessed with superheroes as he is kaiju. God help me when he takes a deep dive into Ultraman…). It was Superman II from 1980 that had the Eiffel Tower scene, which did involve terrorists with hostages and a bomb. You can watch it here and here.
- I have a plenty of material to do a War in Space panel at G-Fest, John. I mean, I lived it. And miraculously survived it. But like Nathan said, someone has to take care of the studio while he is gone, and we are more or less a two-man operation. Maybe I will get some time off when the film’s 45th anniversary rolls around….
- Here’s a link to the Godziban playlist on the official Toho Godzilla YouTube channel. It is the show Nathan and John mention briefly where Godzilla Junior and Minya get along. I cannot vouch for its accuracy.
- John is both right and wrong about the dinosaur fights in the Lovelace novelization. Kong does fight a triceratops—several, in fact—but he later he also fights a “meat-eater” dinosaur, which may or may not have been a T-Rex. There is some debate over it.
- It’s “Monsterverse” not “Godzilla universe,” John. 😛
- Here’s the Subway commercial that was mentioned by John.
- The confusing things about Kong: King of Skull Island is there appears to be two of them. Maybe? Here is this on Amazon (and Wikizilla), but there’s also a Kickstarter for an illustrated version in 2018. I am guessing the latter is what sparked the lawsuit they mention.
- The person John could not remember who pitched Skull Island: Blood of the Kong with Neil Marshall was Simon Uttley.
- The Kong Netflix series is Kong: King of the Apes. It is a children’s series and currently has two seasons. Here is a link to its official page.
Here are the many notes Nathan did not get to during the episode. Admittedly, some of them are riffs that require context not given in the note. Basically, watch the film chronologically (if you dare!) and you may be able to find what he is talking about. So, buckle up because there is a lot.
- They edited in different roars for the flashback. Not as good.
- I wonder how much Bridges and Lange were paid for that stock footage?
- Music courtesy of John Williams’ leftovers.
- How is Kong not a furry mound of jelly?
- Admittedly, this continuous opening shot for the credits isn’t bad.
- We see Lady Kong in less than 8 minutes. (Kong meets a female of his species and suddenly forgets about blondes?) (Mrs. Kong theory from episode 4).
- “Can you hear me now?” Verizon, anyone?
- “I’m in love with a gorilla!”
- Disneyland? Why not Universal Studios?
- “The only living ape.” Because all the normal-sized ones have died out in ten years?
- “I left a trail of bananas.” Don’t make fun of yourself, movie. That’s my job!
- As usual, Kong breaks his chains of captivity.
- Did those apes just have a love at first sight moment?
- Yeah, the dozers will stop him.
- “They’ll need a doctor after they get a whiff of this gas.” I never should’ve eaten that breakfast burrito!
- The action hero trope: the big bad male hero can take a beating and not flinch, but he winces when a woman tends his wounds. Nice job, Kong.
- Are those natives on Kong’s Island burnt out drunks like Jack said? Would they let outsiders build a reserve then?
- Welcome to Movie Land, where people fall in love and make out at the drop of a hat. Justification: This is what primates do.
- Oh no! The flamethrowers return! How is Kong not PTSD-ing right now?
- There’s a torrential downpour, but the sun is out.
- There are a lot of pop culture references in this. Indiana Jones. Deliverance. Juicy Fruit.
- You’re telling me none of the doctors the military brought in figured out Lady Kong was pregnant?
- There are points this feels more like a post-1976 King Kong knockoff than an actual Kong film.
- Don’t you guys know that Kong hates flashbulbs?
- “Well, Kong, you’ve killed now. Nothing will stop them from killing you now.” Did you miss the first movie?
- Kong is a tactician. He throws pocket sand at the military before attacking. 😛 (“Pocket sand!” -Dale from King of the Hill).
These are Nathan’s leftover notes from King Kong: History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson by Ray Morton:
- De Laurentiis wanted to do a sequel from get-go. At one point even discussed a Frankenstein-like idea with Semple.
- Sequel never manifested because De Laurentiis was either disappointed it didn’t out-gross Jaws or because he didn’t want to have to deal with Universal.
- In the ensuing years, he bought Embassy Pictures and made it into his own studio, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG).
- John Guillermin returned as director. Both he and De Laurentiis had lost sons in the intervening years, so their relationship had mellowed.
- Carlo Rambaldi was brought back on for the special effects. He’d won several Oscars for his work since 1976.
- Despite not liking the script, Brian Kerwin took the role because he was offered lots and money and he was the lead. He said later that monkey was the lead and he was set dressing. He also wanted to be picked up by Kong.
- New suit actors were brought in, both male. Kong’s hair was Icelandic yak fur.
- They tried to make Kong ’86 look like Kong ’76, but it didn’t quite work. The former is brown and the latter black. Face was different with more expressive mask.
- Kong’s biological heart is a replica of a real gorilla heart. The artificial heart is a fantasy creation. Kerwin considered making it into a coffee table.
- Ran into budget problems because DEG was hit hard by new tax laws. Some sequences were trimmed or eliminated. It wasn’t filmed in Brazil and Jamaica and instead was filmed in Tennessee and Wilmington.
- All the fake blood in the Kong transplant scene made an extra pass out.
- Kerwin read all 22 Travis McGee novels in his downtime. One actor directed community theatre!
- Kerwin said de Laurentiis was “braggadocious and stingy.”
- Guillermin was mellower but often still intense.
- Hamilton was in a bad mood all the time according to Kerwin.
- Baker refused to come back due to unreasonable conditions and the Oscars dustup, so it went to Peter Elliott, an acrobat and veteran costume performer. He did ape choreography in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan. His friend George Yiasomi played Lady Kong, but a “Greek guy” was brought in to do the close-ups of her eyes.
- The actors played the apes like animals around each other and more human-like around humans. Elliot based his performance on James Dean! (Indiana connection!)
- The courtship scene was over-the-top but Elliott based their actions on real apes but performed it in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
- No Oscars noms, but Rambaldi was nominated for a Razzie for worst visual effects.
- De Laurentiis thought the film was a mistake.
Here are the livetweets from Nathan’s author Twitter that he did not mention:
- “You’ve got Indiana Jones.” Now there’s a crossover I’d love to see! Now there is a crossover I’d watch in a heartbeat! Pun intended. #KingKong #KingKongLives
- “Lady Kong”? Is it because “Queen Kong” was taken in a slightly better movie?
- These doctors are performing surgery with giant egg beaters? #KingKong #KingKongLives
- Let’s spend millions of dollars to resurrect the rampaging monster who killed dozens of people and cost millions and property damage. This can only ending [in] good. #KingKong #KingKongLives
- That’s not an artificial hard—it’s a submarine! Makes me wish this was a crossover between #KingKong and Fantastic Voyage. #KingKongLives
- “#KingKong, you just came back from the dead! What are you going to do next?“ “Get laid.” That must’ve been one heck of a wet dream he was having for 10 years.
- You know your sequel is in trouble when the flashback to the mediocre remake has the best special-effects.#KingKong #KingKongLives
- “The other monkeys going ape $&@#!” [L]eave the bad puns to me, movie.#KingKong #KingKongLives
- #KingKong and Lady Kong: Still a better love story than #Twilight. #KingKongLives
- Lady Kong is scared of (normal-sized) snakes. Of course. #KingKong #KingKongLives
- If all it took to get a girlfriend was dying and being resurrected, I have tried it a long time ago. #KingKong #KingKongLives
- “Bring in the Big Bird!” Hey, it’s not yellow and teaching me to count! #KingKong #KingKongLives
- It was a lack of protein killed the beast. And no wonder: he keeps eating rubber gators.
- When you howl at the moon, sometimes the moon howls back.#KingKong #KingKongLives
- Please, sir, I want some more stomach blows. #KingKong #KingKongLives
- #KingKong almost became a slasher movie villain by killing some horny teenagers. All he was missing was a knife and a huge hockey mask. Yet another amusing crossover: King Kong and Friday the 13th. #KingKongLives
- #KingKong: Defeated by rednecks. I was an icon once. #KingKongLives
- “My dad’s gonna kill me! We didn’t switch to Geico and add giant monkey insurance!“ #KingKong #KingKongLives
- Lt. Cola? Is that soda for soldiers? I guess if #Godzilla endorses Dr. Pepper, Kong should get something. #KingKong #KingKongLives (Lt. Col. A. Nevitt). Haha!
- Kong: I ate red(neck) meat! I’m not afraid to eat white (guy) meat! #KingKong #KingKongLives
- #KingKong just crashed a hoedown. Now I’ve seen everything. #KingKongLives
- Is this general play[ed] by our young Don Frye? Is he Captain Gordon’s grandpa? #KingKong #KingKongLives
- So what if #KingKong is dead. Just cure him with another artificial heart. #KingKongLives
- From the World Trade Center to a barn in redneck country. Talk about coming down in life. #KingKong #KingKongLives
Finally, here are some unused notes about the convoluted King Kong copyright:
- Supposedly Eisner also discussed the idea with Sidney Sheinberg, chief operating officer of MCA (Universal), which was hot off the positive early reviews for Jaws and wanted another marauding animal film. Negotiations started around the same time as De Laurentis. Agreed to pay same amount up front but balked at sharing the gross. Lots of studio politics involved. Word has it that the Universal offer was preferred. Attorney Arnold Shane thought Universal won the rights, and Stromberg hired Oscar-winning screenwriter Bo Goldman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Melviun and Howard) to write a script. Meanwhile, De Laurentis’ offer was accepted. Universal protested saying that despite not signing a written contract, they took Daniel O’Shea’s supposed comment as a binding verbal agreement. Universal sued for $25 million in damages in June 1975 accusing RKO-General of “breach of contract” and “fraud” and De Laurentis of international interference with advantageous business relations” and “unfair competition.” De Laurentis was surprised by Universal’s claim but thought it was invalid because he had a signed contract, so he pressed on confidently.
- Sept. 1975: Superior Court of LA dismissed Universal’s claim, saying the verbal agreement was “tissue-paper thin.” Universal then filed a second claim having learned the novelization of Kong, which had some different material, had fallen into the public domain in 1960 thanks to the Copyright Law of 1909 that set the copyright to 28 years. The studio claimed they weren’t infringing on RKO’s films—the “new” material—while the “old material” was in public domain. They announced their new film would be based on the novel, and told Bo Goldman to revise his script to conform to the novel. Joseph Sargent (Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Taking Pelham 123) was hired to direct. De Laurentis said he would start casting in December for his film. Unsure if the name King Kong was owned by RKO, they changed their film’s title to The Legend of King Kong to be safe. De Laurentis responded by changing his to King Kong: The Legend Reborn.
- RKO filed a countersuit November 20 against Universal in Federal District Court for $5 million for copyright infringement and asked for an injunction for the studio to stop promoting the film. De Laurentis filed his own suit December 4 for $90 million in damages caused by “copyright infringement and unfair competition.” He also filed an injunction against Universal. Universal forced the issue by saying they’d start filming Jan. 5, which was a bluff. The market would only support one remake, and whoever started shooting first would likely win. De Laurentis moved production up, hastily starting Jan. 15 and having the crew work 16-hour days. This required money he didn’t have, but he was determined.
- Universal allegedly approached De Laurentis about settling after he announced when they’d begin filming. They discussed a joint production, but De Laurentis didn’t like Universal’s demands. They wanted their script to be used and merchandising and sequel rights. Barry Diller and Paramount threatened to pull out if he didn’t settle, so he started talking with Universal.
- De Laurentis and Ubniversial announced Jan. 28, 1976, that they’d reached agreement. Universal got 8% or 11% percent of De Laurentis’ profits, certain merchandising rights and profits, and veto power on sequels by agreeing to cancel their film. They could also start their own film so long as it was 18 months after the release of De Laurentis’ film. If it was hit, there would be no need, and if it was a flop, there would no interest in one. Silly move. Universal didn’t get to make their own until 2005 with Peter Jackson. The lawsuit was settled in September.
Oh man. This might be my longest Jimmy’s Notes yet. This is what happens when you are a producer on a podcast with a host who over-prepares. My contractual obligation to post all of these in my blog does not help. You win that front, Marchand!
Anyway, join us next week when Daniel DiManna of the Godzilla Novelization Project joins us to discuss Peter Jackson’s epic 2005 remake of King Kong.
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