King Kong (1976)
In December of 1974, ABC’s Michael Eisner saw 1933’s King Kong on TV with his family and remarked what a great movie it had been for its time. In early-mid April of 1975, Eisner saw a preview of “Clams on the Half-Shell Revue” with Bette Midler in which she appears atop the Empire State Building in the palm of King Kong and grew convinced that a remake was overdue. He brought the idea up to his old boss at ABC, Paramount Pictures chairman Barry Diller, who, as is his custom, displayed no response.
A day later, Eisner brought up the idea while having dinner with Sid Sheinberg from MCA, the parent company of Universal Pictures, who enthusiastically agreed. After the success of 1974’s Earthquake, Universal eagerly looked for additional films to market its vibration-producing Sensurround sound system in theaters and Sheinberg suggested to a producer at Universal that King Kong would be a natural fit. They sought out RKO General to acquire the rights to remake the 1933 classic. On April 15, 1975, they felt they had scored a binding oral contract with a negotiating attorney working for RKO General for exclusive rights to remake King Kong and to produce one sequel.
During this period, Paramount’s Diller suggested to independent Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis, who recently moved operations to the United States, that he began to talk about a monster movie on the level of Jaws that he could make for Paramount. Dino had already been on the same page, having the notion of remaking King Kong seeing it day after day from a poster on his daughter Francesca’s wall prior to moving to Beverly Hills from New York. If De Laurentiis could get it made, Paramount agreed to fund half the $12 million budget for distribution rights. On May 6, 1975, De Laurentiis signed a King Kong deal with his friend Tom O’Neil, who headed RKO General, offering $200,000 and a percentage of the gross.
After De Laurentiis put out giant trade ads announcing the deal, Universal filed a $25 million lawsuit against him and RKO for breach of contract, fraud, and international interference with advantageous business relations. Unable to gain traction without a signed contract, they stumbled upon a new tactic to gain the right to make their movie. Prior to RKO’s film, Kong was made into a novelization by Delos W. Lovelace, also serialized without special copyright in “Mystery Magazine,” based on the Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper draft script to King Kong and not the final one for release for cinemas. The Copyright Act of 1909 stipulated that rights holders had to re-register every 28 years. The copyright to the book and “Mystery” magazine ceased in 1960 because no one renewed the rights. Therefore, Universal stipulated that the “King Kong” concept was in the public domain, so they did not need permission to proceed.
To try to beat De Laurentiis to the punch, Universal announced a start date of January 5, 1976. Universal put in Hunt Stromberg Jr. to produce and hired Joseph Sargent to direct. To get around copyright issues, Universal commissioned the Bo Goldman adaptation of the Lovelace novelization. They titled their proposed feature The Legend of King Kong. Unlike the modern updating by De Laurentiis, Universal planned to set their picture in the 1930s, when the original film was set, with the Empire State Building climax and similar stop-motion photography, courtesy of Jim Danforth to bring the older styles up to date. Susan Blakely and Peter Falk had the inside track as the stars.
De Laurentis, rushed the production date up from April to January 15, hoping they could get their King Kong into theaters before Universal, or stop them altogether. De Laurentiis filed a $90 million countersuit for infringement, while RKO sued for $5 million in damages, and for Universal to cease production. In response to Universal’s title, De Laurentiis added the subtitle, The Legend Reborn.
Towering Inferno poster artist John Berkey composed several mockups. Dino liked the one with Kong atop the World Trade Center so much it clinched this setting for the climax. De Laurentiis secured the services of Lorenzo Semple Jr., screenwriter for Dino’s Three Days of the Condor. De Laurentiis stressed the need to differentiate it from the original film to avoid criticism of making an expensive rehash. Ironically, Critics instead complained that it wasn’t enough like the original film. De Laurentiis wanted a modern take, a “Beauty and the Beast” love story, even if the formula remains fundamentally the same. Semple envisioned a modern and relevant King Kong, with an environmental message against corporate exploitation.
In Semple’s plot, Petrox, a gasoline corporation, sends an expedition to an uncharted island near Micronesia obscured by perpetual fog to find out if there’s oil there. Stowing away is Jack Prescott, a paleontologist from Princeton University curious if the reports of a giant primate residing on there are true. they pick up another unexpected passenger in Dwan, an aspiring American actress adrift in a lifeboat.
What they find instead of useable oil is a gorilla six times the size of a normal ape, who is the god to which the native villagers sacrifice women, of which Dwan becomes the next in line. Kong takes a liking to Dwan but gets captured by the Petrox people who take him back to the United States to gain publicity (plot hole: how massive Kong is transported to the ship’s hold). Problems arise when the ape escapes and begins destroying the city searching for Dwan.
Dino determined it would be even bigger than Jaws because of the appeal of its monster; no one shed a tear for the shark’s death in Jaws but after his King Kong everyone would walk out of the theater crying. His Kong would not be a scary monster movie but a tragedy. Initially, Dino conceived of Kong differently, more like an ape-man – the missing link between man and ape, but giant-sized – because it would make the love story plausible. Audiences would fall in love with the ape-man just as much as his leading lady. It was not only a retelling of the 1933 film but also “Beauty and the Beast”. The greed of humankind is the monster; Kong is the misunderstood victim.
For the director, Dino wanted Steven Spielberg, who didn’t want to do another monster film. He then asked Roman Polanski, but he didn’t want to do a movie starring a “giant monkey.” Milos Forman, Sydney Pollack, Michael Winner, and Sam Peckinpah also passed. John Guillermin, who was already working for De Laurentiis on The Hurricane, a film that would later have Polanski attached, said yes. Guillermin seemed a natural fit, handling large-scale effects-laden movies like The Towering Inferno.
De Laurentiis served as the line producer to ensure the film would be done his way. The shoot would occupy seven soundstages on the MGM lot. The 50-foot-high wall where the villagers reside that make their sacrifices to Kong required eight weeks to build at the cost of $1 million.
Stop-motion photography wouldn’t impress modern audiences, so the effects would need to be upgraded. Initially, De Laurentiis thought they could make Kong as a puppet, moving through miniature sets or in front of blue screens. However, as Jaws had a mechanical shark that audiences bought at real, they felt that a robotic Kong would be a more state-of-the-art way to go. They planned a $2 million, 45-foot high, 6.5-ton electronically-controlled model of the ape that can walk in strides of 15 feet. Various parts of Kong, especially its arms and hands, would also be built separately for different angles and close-ups, designed by Italian craftsman Carlo Rambaldi.
Designer Glen Robinson approached an aircraft carrier company to construct pieces for the mechanical Kong. They told him it would take three years. De Laurentiis wanted the film completed in eight months. Robinson had to come up with something on his own with a nearby construction shop on the MGM lot, consulting technicians who worked in the amusement park industry on how they mechanized large characters to perform movements.
Although they initially had some delays because they accidentally made two right hands, the Argentinean horsetail hair-covered arms worked out much better, especially in cradling Dwan with the help of a crane. There were a couple of times when the hands didn’t act as they should, such as squeezing Lange a little too hard or nearly knocking her in the head from swinging into her. Despite so much time and money expended on mechanical Kong, it never did work quite right, not only mechanically, but also in terms of the emotional payoff intended. It would only appear in six shots comprising less than thirty seconds worth of the completed film. Rambaldi, Robinson, and Frank van der Veer, would win an Academy Award for Special Achievement in Visual Effects even though the mechanical Kong never worked and was barely in the film.
De Laurentiis received negative publicity for Hollywood trade ads seeking “a tall, well-built black man” to play the ape-man, because he felt that was the closest you could get to a gorilla but still be a human. These buff black men mimicked gorilla-like movements for the audition. After civil rights groups protested, Dino issued a denial, stating that ethnicity didn’t matter because you would only see the actor’s eyes. De Laurentiis withdrew the ads, nonetheless.
Tired of delays, De Laurentiis opted for an ape suit. When stop-motion animators asked De Laurentiis for work, he said Kong would be a giant mechanical ape and a man in an ape suit. They recommended to De Laurentiis a man who specialized in such suits, make-up specialist Rick Baker. Baker’s first role as an actor was as King Kong in a short film from 1972 called Volkswagen 411, found out from John Landis they were remaking King Kong and would not be using stop-motion techniques. Baker’s replied that it will be a travesty, likely made sticking some schmuck in an ape suit. Baker would find out first-hand; he was hired not only to create the suit but his performance caused Guillermin to cast him in the role. Baker’s impressive suit caused them to abandon the missing-link idea and portray Kong as a gorilla. Then twenty-six-year-old Baker had been fascinated with apes since he was a kid and had fashioned several ape suits over the years. Baker couldn’t last three hours in the poorly ventilated, bearskin-covered suit, so another actor his size, Bill Shephard, took over when Baker needed a breather. Guillermin said their acting was noticeably different, so Shephard became a stunt double, performing the more dangerous scenes in the Kong suit.
Dino wanted an expressive Kong who could smile and charm through a love story. Five distinct masks were made depending on Kong’s mood in any given situation. A first-of-its-kind hydraulic valve system was placed in the masks to change the expression of Kong to smile, frown, look confused, or get angry. Unfortunately, these artificial-looking expressions provide unintentionally funny moments for many moviegoers. Baker impressed De Laurentiis so much with his ape performance that Dino bragged that he would get a Best Actor Oscar nomination. As either an homage or insult, Baker played a character in an ape suit for 1977’s Kentucky Fried Movie called Dino. An uncredited Peter Cullen provided the roars for Kong, though it played havoc on his vocal cords.
For the female lead, De Laurentiis drew interest from Barbra Streisand but she wasn’t available until May. Valerie Perrine was under contract with Universal, Bette Midler, despite inspiring the film idea, wasn’t interested, and Cher was visibly pregnant. Comedic actresses Elaine Joyce and Goldie Hawn were considered, as was Margaux Hemingway, who was busy with another of Dino’s films, Lipstick. Many actresses auditioned for the role, including Bo Derek and Melanie Griffith. Meryl Streep had an abbreviated audition when Dino, in Italian, asked his son, Federico, who had seen her in a play and felt she might work, why he brought her in, she’s ugly. Streep, who studied a year of Italian at Vassar College, answered, “Sorry to disappoint you,” and walked out.
They contemplated offering actress Deborah Raffin the part when Gulf+Western head Charles Bluhdorn suggested a model in New York that might work. They flew out Jessica Lange for her screen test. Lange wasn’t made up, looked wiry thin, and had braces, but auditioned well. She auditioned with higher brass each time until she auditioned for Guillermin. After performing a screen test to see what she’d look like on film, Guillermin exuberantly shouted, “I found my Fay Wray!” After De Laurentiis saw for himself, Lange was offered the part and a seven-year contract if they could give her a makeover so she didn’t look, in Dino’s eye, like a scarecrow. Guillermin instructed Lange, now made up fabulously, to play the role of Dwan with echoes of Marilyn Monroe. She received a Golden Globe for Best New Actress.
Pressed for time, Chris Sarandon, who De Laurentiis had in Lipstick, had been approached to play the male lead but turned it down. Jeff Bridges, being an avid fan of the original, signed on happily for the remake. Tony-winning actor Charles Grodin cast against type for the greedy corporate suit, Fred Wilson. Grodin sought the part of Jack Prescott by Dino preferred him as Wilson.
Paramount was in an uncomfortable position and didn’t want to be involved in the feud between De Laurentiis and Universal, a studio with whom they had partnerships. Soon after production was underway, MCA president Sid Sheinberg and managing partner Lew Wasserman met with Charles Bluhdorn and Barry Diller to strike a deal. De Laurentiis and Universal withdrew their legal actions, except for those involving RKO. De Laurentiis proceeded with his picture, dropping The Legend Reborn from the title, and Universal would wait at least eighteen months before releasing theirs. In exchange, Universal received 11% percentage of the profits.
Kauai served as Kong’s island while additional shoots took place in New York, Los Angeles, and in-studio at MGM. The budget escalated to $17 million after De Laurentiis grew unhappy with the gorilla suits and wanted more expression and emotion to be evident to make it work as a love story. Miniature sets were created in meticulous detail for Kong to walk through and destroy, including a small-scale subway train.
Unfortunately, the full-scale Kong model was a bust, unable to move realistically no matter how much effort they put into it. Production was shut down in March for three weeks to work out the kinks. After another $3 million spent with nothing to show, they decided to move on. Until completed, Guillermin shot scenes that didn’t require a full-size Kong. They ran behind schedule and costs escalated to $24 million, making it the second-most expensive Hollywood production to that date, behind Cleopatra.
The film’s ending caused a heated debate. The original screenplay’s ending included Fred Wilson realizing he may have wrecked the world. Wilson surviving didn’t score well with test audiences, so a moment in which Kong steps over Wilson is changed to him crushing him into the ground. They also cut the new ending, intending for Jack to walk away from Dwan and disappear into the crowd, knowing they wouldn’t work without Kong. Audiences found that ending dissatisfying so they cut out his walking away.
To get the ending where a crowd gathers around the fallen Kong, De Laurentiis sent out a press release claiming that the Port Authority denied clearance for their mechanical Kong to straddle the Twin Towers. This publicity stunt is absurd; a 45-foot-tall ape couldn’t possibly span the 200 feet between the towers. They put a styrofoam giant ape at ground level to attract 30,000 spectators without needing to pay extras $50 a pop.
Critics were shocked that anyone would try to remake such a classic film. Blockbusters were still a new phenomenon. Big-budget films were considered lesser in quality, as the country endured a recession, looking down upon lavish productions. King Kong made about $90 million worldwide, making it profitable but far short of the $470 million that Jaws took.
1976’s King Kong is a bubble-headed but entertaining remake of the 1933 classic. It is highly uneven, ranging from exceptionally good to downright awful, with special effects both impressive and laughable. A fine ensemble of actors does what it can, although the dialogue is often painful, opting for forced laughs far too frequently for a film that doubles as a tragedy. Worse, Kong looks like what he is — a guy in a gorilla suit.
Pacing is an issue, languishing during scenes that run long. Due to the expense of the feature, De Laurentiis wanted as many of the props, sets, and costumes he paid big money for represented on the screen, whether they add to the story or not. It’s hard to make out what the intent of this unfocused version of King Kong is – is it a remake? A spoof? An homage? An effects movie? An earnest love story? A camp comedy? A tragedy? A commentary on environmental exploitation? The answer is “all of the above” but not quite enough to make it a good example of any of them. It maintains a watchability throughout, even though this giant ape still seems content to reach only for low-hanging fruit.
There are enough effective scenes to think that a good film might be made with editing. There is at least a half-hour of padded scenes to show off special effects rather than push the story. The filmmakers are successful in evoking sympathy for the beast, enough to make the ending resonate, but the film aims so broadly that it fails to surpass the original, despite a game cast, impressive technical specs, and a great John Barry score. However, its most enduring gift to cinema is that it made a star out of Jessica Lange.
- The two-night TV premiere added 45 minutes of deleted scenes.
Qwipster’s rating: C
MPAA Rated: PG for violence and language
Running time: 134 min.
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Jessica Lange, Charles Grodin, John Randolph, Rene Auberjonois
Director: John Guillermin
Screenplay: Lorenzo Semple Jr.