I was totally in the mood for this. It's tongue in cheek but the core relationship is serious i.e. Kong's love for Jessica Lange. Lange's character is self centred and dumb but at least is consistent; Lange is gorgeous. Jeff Bridges is very 70s hunky with his pro ecology status and long hair - the film gives him plenty of things to do.
The most pointlessly dopey aspect of the film comes at the end when Lange and Bridges are hiding out in NYC and Kong finds Lange. There was no need for that - it's dumb, and Kong could have just kidnapped Lange at the beginning of his rampage.
The sense of adventure is high; Charles Grodin is fun as the oil exec (very cleanly motivated); John Barry's score is lush; the animal suit antics are fine; Ed Lauter popped up. It's moving at the end with Kong's heartbeat stopping. I missed dinosaur island but at least there is a killer boa.
I think people will remember this fondly a lot longer than Peter Jackson's version which seems to have vanished in collective memory (even though I enjoyed that when watching it).
1 comment:
I know the 1976 King Kong film doesn’t have a great reputation, but I enjoyed it, apart from the lack of dinosaurs. Jessica Lange’s presence seems to signal a return of old school Hollywood glamour to the screen.
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