A Few Words About A few words about…™ King Kong (1976) – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[jayembee]

Reiko who?

Reiko Aylesworth | Actress, Director, Producer

Known for: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, 24, Mr. Brooks

www.imdb.com

Mostly a TV actor. I knew of her mostly as Michelle from 24.

 

[dpippel]

 

[John Sparks]

Watched the movie with the wife last night and really enjoyed it. Tried to pick myself out from the crowd scene, but no luck. I just realized that when I was a Fire Inspector on these movies, crowd scene people would wear something that would I.D. themselves from everyone else. So, when viewing the movie, they would be able to tell their friends...that's me!!!

Alas, I didn't do that, hence, I can't remember what I wore that night...45 years ago is a tad too long, unlike some people that can tell you what OAR the movie was they were viewing...yeah, right!

 

[Christian D66]

Heresy I know but it's my favorite of all the King Kong movies. Probably because unlike the 1933 film, it has some much needed humor.

I saw it during its original theatrical run with two friends. After it was over, I said something to the effect that Jessica Lange had that special something and she was going to be a star. My friends laughed and said, "She's just another blonde bimbo who'll be lucky to end up in television". In 1982, when she received a best actress nomination for Frances and won the supporting actress award for Tootsie, my validation was complete!

The original has quite a bit of humor. Denham whistling casually as they walk away from the natives is funnier than anything in the 1976 version not to mention "I read that it's a giant gorilla!" "Gee, ain't we got enough of those in New York?"

I picked up the blu and it looks pretty good to me even on the tv version and I like the film grain look. The bad matte and process work just as bad now as it did then opening day to my sophisticated 9 year old geek eyes although I still like some of the widescreen misty island atmosphere (but Toho did it better). That Barry score as usual brings life and drama to scenes of Guillerman non-direction. The 33 Kong was made by artists and craftspeople with a vision and the 76 was made by cynical businessmen.

When I saw Jessica Lange on Broadway in LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT I just kept thinking how cool to see Dwan live in New York...

 

[Christian D66]

After listening to Rick Baker's fantastic commentary, this makes the whole disc. Imagine this poor 25 year old whiz kid hired to build/play Kong in one of the biggest Hollywood films in history and encounter pure Delaurentis/Rambaldi/Hollywood incompetence and how all of this came back to lead Baker to retiring.

 

[TonyD]

I just got this from Amazon. Still includes the slip cover for those that care.

Going to try to watch the tv cut next week. Really haven’t seen much discussion about the tv cut in here.

Has anyone watched it? How does the quality, the look compare to the theatrical version?
Anything interesting or of note I should look for in the long cut?

 

[John Sparks]

I'll watch mine and we'll discuss it.

 

[Christian D66]

I just got this from Amazon. Still includes the slip cover for those that care.

Going to try to watch the tv cut next week. Really haven’t seen much discussion about the tv cut in here.

Has anyone watched it? How does the quality, the look compare to the theatrical version?
Anything interesting or of note I should look for in the long cut?

I thought it looked fine and could only tell it was a TV scene usually by the fact I hadn't seen it before. There's only two scenes that should have been included, with Bridges telling Dwan that if Kong dies they can't be together and the badly filmed death of Grodin. Even as a kid in the theater I couldn't believe there was no follow-up with him.

 

[Jack P]

The theatrical cut did a better edit job of trying to sell that Grodin gets stomped. The TV cut restored the original shot that shows his hat crushed which in the first preview cut was a sign that Grodin had narrowly escaped but he just slunk away knowing he was ruined and might as well be dead (the script was describing the crushed hat as a metaphor). The TV cut also restored the rather comical scene of the Petrox Chairman getting up in the middle of the chaos just to tell Wilson he was fired (the actor who played the chairman, Sid Conrad, was still credited in the final theatrical cut even though he lost his scene)

 

[Malcolm R]

Saw the DVD version of the film at Walmart tonight for $3.97 (not the Shout! release).

 

[TonyD]

I’ve watched up until they find Dawn in the ocean.

I believe and cannot be otherwise convinced that her name was a typo in the script that was never fixed and they just went with it.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I’ve watched up until they find Dawn in the ocean.

Maybe typos are contagious, or were you a victim of autocorrect.

 

[TonyD]

Mine was not a Typo.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Oh come on, don't be a Debbie Dwoner.

 

[Christian D66]

I’ve watched up until they find Dawn in the ocean.

I believe and cannot be otherwise convinced that her name was a typo in the script that was never fixed and they just went with it.

Except she has actual dialogue to explain why which I always forget why because Dwan is dumb no mater how you spell it...

 

[bujaki]

Except she has actual dialogue to explain why which I always forget why because Dwan is dumb no mater how you spell it...

It's the film makers' homage to the great director, Alan Dwan.