King Kong
Released December 1976
Starring Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, Jessica Lange (as Dwan), John Randolph, Rene Auberjonois, Julius Harris
Directed by John Guillermmin
134 min.Box Office Gross - 52.6 million
See complete credits at Internet Movie Database
After 25 years, King Kong is finally getting some of the respect that is never received upon its release in late 1976. The critical lambasting should have been expected. Anytime a Hollywood classic is remade, the inevitable question of WHY? reverberates throughout the country. In this case, producer Dino De Laurentis's announcement that he would spend 24 million remaking the ape epic was sneered at from the beginning. Inevitably, most critics blasted the film upon it's release and many were especially harsh toward Jessica Lange. It never seemed to occur to them that she was acting - she WAS that dizzy blonde in real life! It was take five years for her to overcome the image.
Today, critics are kinder, and King Kong can be enjoyed for what it is - an entertaining romantic adventure story. Unlike the original 1933 film, which set out to impress with state of the art miniature special effects, this version focuses mainly on the love story between the beauty and the beast, ridiculous as it may be. The first half of the film, set on the mythical Skull Island, effectively sets the tone with its' moody cinematography by Richard H. Kline and a stirring score by John Barry. The latter half of the film, in which Kong is captured and transported to a dark and foreboding New York City, relies more on special effects and manages to provide excitement and spectacle, well before the days of computer generated monsters and dinosaurs.
Jessica Lange endured a lengthy publicity tour for King Kong which, for the most part, was humiliating and the critical snubs were painful. Eventually, Lange would stop talking about King Kong altogether. However, she would have the last laugh.
Critical Sampling:
"The movie is sparked...by Jessica Lange's fast yet dreamy comic style. Her Dwan has the high, wide forehead and clear eyed transparency of Carole Lombard in "My Man Godfrey"... She has one liners so dumb that the audience laughs and moans at the same time, yet they're in character, and when Lange says them she holds the eye and you like her, the way people liked Lombard." - Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
"Speaking in a baby doll voice that turns every syllable into a come hither, Lange does a very smart caricature of cuddly seductiveness, a knowing take on Marilyn Monroe's embarrassing irresistibility - and a little less innocent." - Charles Taylor, Salon
