Talkback: King Kong Escapes (1967)

[Captain Aktion]

Well, with Escapes it IS supposed to look like a cartoon gorilla...

[Tamura]

All the Toho ape suits suck!

You haven't seen HALF HUMAN, have you?

[JVM]

All the Toho ape suits suck!

You haven't seen HALF HUMAN, have you?

Most people haven't. Shame, the suit for the Snowman looks REALLY impressive. Shame Snowman never crossed into Toho's core series.

[Goji]

I don't see how that would have worked. How does a human sized, Sasquatch-eqse ape fit in with giant monsters? He's no different from Toho's other critters (The H-Man, the Human Vapor, Matango), that never crossed over into the Godzilla universe.

Kong's "battle" with Mechani-Kong will probably be disappointing to someone who was expecting some kind of sprawling, animalistic battle like the one seen between Gaira and Sanda, but I personally like the way it pans out. Considering the light-hearted tone of the film (and goofy Kong suit), watching the two of them "duke it" out for 10 minutes aka WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS wouldn't have really worked, IMO.

For the sake of variety, I'm glad the climax takes places atop Tokyo Tower. Since both monsters were smaller than most Toho daikaiju (save for Sanda and Gaira), it allowed for them to be "small" enough to even climb Tokyo Tower in the first place.

[Killswitch]

All the Toho ape suits suck!

You haven't seen HALF HUMAN, have you?

I've never seen the movie, but I have seen pictures. I have to admit, the non-ape suit in Half Human looks more like an ape than the Kong suits-lol
Still, the suit(from the pictures I have seen), isn't anything to brag about, although they are a notch or two better than Toho Kong.

[FlamingZilla23]

it's a good movie.

[o.supreme]

I just got a hold of the Japanese version of KKE and watched most of it yesterday. It is supposed to be 8 minuets longer than the U.S. version but I really didn't notice anything different at least from the portion I saw-up to the point where Kong broke the mind control while digging for element X. If it is mostly human dialogue, I probably wouldn't notice. Maybe I'll just have to take my laptop and play the US version side-by -side with the Japanese verison sometime. The only difference I might have noticed is one scene where Carl Nelson has drawings of Mechanikong next to his own drawings of Kong (not to be confused with the schematics Dr. Huu has, these were different Mechanikong drawings).

[Goji]

I've sometimes wondered whether there were actually TWO bad Kong suits used in this film... including one for one of the water scenes. When Kong is in the lagoon fighting that rubber sea snake, he doesn't just look like bad gorilla suit v.1 after it got wet, he looks... words fail me. It's like something thrown together for a third graders' stage play. Or a gorilla suit modeled on my bad-tempered Aunt Ellie, doused in hair grower. One of the most channel changer-worthy embarrassments in any Toho film of that decade.

The water suit was the '62 suit with a (horrible) "new" alternate head used for water scenes. I have to say that's it's even more hideous than the publicity suit used for Fake Godzilla in '74. It's just incredibly jarring to look at, because not only is the head WAY too big for the suit, but the eyes are horrible looking.

[menschenjaeger]

I watched this last night, I really like the dark political noire theme...

What's dark about anything in this movie?

Slutty ambassador, nuclear weapons....

What? Slutty ambassadors are GREAT!

This movie is a hoot. It was my go-to "fun" movie until I got my Latitude Zero disc. The miniatures are BEAUTIFUL in this film - the shot of Mechani-Kong rising up out of the hangar is almost breathtaking. The shot of MK standing at the edge of the ice as Kong swims away, while a helicopter approaches on his right, is. (that shot always makes me think of a Mechani-Kong voice over: "Come back...he'll never know how I really felt about him" which makes me laugh popcorn out my nose).

Other highlights:

*The tops of Linda Miller's stockings! AAAGGHH
*Mechani-Kong HEADBUTTS KK. Wonderful. Far too short a monster rumble, but one of the all-time best moves.
*The logic behind the building of Mechani-Kong.
*The idea that if some guy draws a picture of a giant gorilla, and then you turn that drawing into a FUNCTIONING STEEL ROBOTIC COLOSSUS, that that is somehow stealing.
*Everything about Dr. Who.
*A supervillain junk drawer? With a corncob pipe?! This is the scene that blows my mind the most. Does Dr. Who smoke a corncob pipe? Then who does? Madam Piranha?

In a way, KKE makes me a bit sad. We have in KKE an example of What Could Be: a showa-era kaiju eiga with (comparatively, at least) superb production values, an international cast, an engaging script, yet without any pretensions. In some* ways, it's the equal of Mothra vs. Godzilla, IMO. I'm ignorant as to the actual production schedule, but am I right in assuming they had longer to work on this one? It just feels as though they took their time with it. It makes LZ's squandered potential more poignant.


*SOME

[The Midnight Man]

The first exposure I had to this was around 12 years ago when I caught the tail end of it on the Space channel. Had no idea what it was, but the sight of King Kong and his mechanical double trading blows delighted me to no end. Was only until last year I was actually able to watch the entire thing, and I gotta say, it's alot of fun.

I have nothing to say about the Kong suit that hasn't already been gone over, so I'll refrain from beating that dead horse. But there's still alot to like. It's well paced, Dr. Who is a fun villain, and it has two great monster co-stars in the form of Gorosaurus and Mechani-Kong. Actually, the only real complaint I have is that I wish the ending battle was something a little more thrilling than Kong getting punched in the face over and over while holding onto Tokyo Tower. But that's not a huge deal.

[Destroyer]

I just saw this film for the first time two days ago. A load of fun, I had a blast watching it. Gorosaurus was cool. (So his double kick was used there also, I didn't know that.) The final battle was EXCELLENT. Mechani-Kong was a great bot, and the battle really felt climatic.

[kkawachi]

I really want to get the japanese version just to see the final battle uncut. Just the jumps in the music in the Universal version drive me crazy.

[menschenjaeger]

I just saw this film for the first time two days ago. A load of fun, I had a blast watching it. Gorosaurus was cool. (So his double kick was used there also, I didn't know that.) The final battle was EXCELLENT. Mechani-Kong was a great bot, and the battle really felt climatic.

I think Gorosaurus exists solely as a vehicle for that kick. I doubt he would have made it to DAM without the kick back in KKE.

I was a little underwhelmed by the final battle. Especially when MK falls apart before hitting the ground. I just try to put it all down to Madame Piranha messing up the controls...maybe some explosive bolts went off or something.

[The One and Only]

Probably the most watched personally of my Kong Collection. I first saw the flick way back in the summer of 1982 when it aired on one of those sweepstakes call in shows that ran movies on the afternoon, after soaps, and before the news. Channel 21's Dialing For Dollars$$$[/] Broadcast out of Youngstown, Ohio, it was the only local affilate that I got on my little TV that broadcast any monster flicks. Other than the bleeping Planet of the Apes or Star Trek sci-fi, creature features barley reared their ugly heads in Youngstown. So it was a real treat to see it. Loved it to no end. Although the International Judas' gruesome, and much deserved death at the end was a little too gruesome for my nine year old self. Although back in the day I figured either kids were built of sterner stuff, or show business is now run by overly sensitive pansies. Although, watching the original Kong, with the bleeding dinos, along with Kong in the '76 remake bleeding like a seive in living color. And his doing in the super snake in the valley by breaking its jaws. I was a bit used to this nasty monster fighting by then.

Mechanikong/Robot-Kong was the bee's knees in this flick. From the robot's theme, and beeping whenever it made an appearance. But the standout has to be the villinous Dr. Who. A mastermind not afraid to do the dirty deeds himself. Just watching this flick tonight, I thought it was humorous that when Who gunned down the Mondo Island native who protested the International Judas' taking Kong. The good Doctor's henchman just looked shocked that his boss just so ruthlessly killed the old man. Although despite the man's obvious genius, he still kept coming up short. From Mechanikong's mechanical difficulties when handling Element-X. To his inability to keep the great ape under his control when trying to mine the uber valuble mineral. Also, his worst problem, thintellegent henchmen. While they could operate his sophisticated gear, and carry out his instructions. The ebony clad blokes didn't have the common sense to realize to pull anchor once Mechanikong was destroyed, and haul requesent ass. As Dr. Who realized much to his horror the morning after his robot's defeat when his goons were milling around waiting for Kong.

Despite these noticible flaws. The flick is probably one of the best of the Golden Age of Kaiju Films. Too bad Toho and Rasnkin-Bass didn't get together ,and make another Kong flick.

[king_ghidorah]

Might just be my favorite Toho movie ever. I love this film and it's prequel, King Kong vs. Godzilla which is probably my favorite G film.

[Goji]

It's not actually a prequel, but I know what you mean =P. I love this film too. It's just so much fun. I finally acquired the Japanese version a couple of years ago, but I have a hard time choosing it over the Universal version. I just love the dubbing way too much.

[king_ghidorah]

That's why you should have BOTH versions my friend!!! I have both versions of King Kong vs. Godzilla but not KKE. I need to fix that.

[CatfaceFourtoes]

I liked the Kong suit in this movie better than the one in King Kong VS Godzilla. The body looked more ape like with the broad shouldered torso making the legs look small. The head resembles the 1933 Kong's head in publicity stills, at least more than the suit in KKvsG. The water scene was a total eyesore, and the otherwise great battle with Gorosaurus was marred by a metal section of the suit behind the head becoming visible during a roll over. Mechanikong was sweet, as were the blue screen effects that put actors and over-sized objects in Kong's and Mechanikong's hands, like the section of the tower that nearly drops on the hero and heroine in the Tokyo tower battle.

[menschenjaeger]

I liked "crazy eyes" that the Kong suit used for the water scenes was sporting. I think they used him for the helicopter attack, too - that suit had shorter arms with working hands.

[Lain Of The Wired]

Kong was a sexy beast

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/7931/kkeum6.jpg