Podcasts TV Catching Up On Cinema Episode 123 - King Kong (1976)

Episode 123 - King Kong (1976)

Published: March 23, 2021, 2 p.m.

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Catching Up On Cinema\'s March of the Monsters event month continues with a review of John Guillermin\'s King Kong (1976)!

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The brainchild of prolific Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis, the film is a tepid remake of the 1933 original, swapping stop-motion for suitmation, and the premise of a film project gone wrong to an oil expedition gone bad.

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Starring Jessica Lange in her cinematic debut, as well as a young Jeff Bridges and a scenery chewing Charles Grodin, the film is well acted and grand in scope, but largely tedious and devoid of genuine thrills.

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While Rick Baker and Carlo Rombaldi\'s animatronic and suitmation effects are impressively expressive for their day, the film\'s decision to cast the titular ape as a sympathetic/romantic figure results in a confusing and uneven affair that feels handicapped by it\'s own ambition.

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