History Film / KingKong

* {{Badass}}: Are you kidding?

* StarringSpecialEffects

* BigApplesauce

* ChainedByFashion
* ClimbingClimax

* EastIndies

* HulksCooldownHugCorollary
* HumanSacrifice

[[quoteright:257:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/275px-Img_kingkong1.jpg]]

The original 1933 film has had two official remakes, along with numerous spin-offs, sequels, crossovers, and spoofs. Retellings in other media range from a DirectToVideo animated feature in TheNineties to an Australian stage musical in 2013 (a Broadway production of this version has been announced, though the opening date is currently in limbo). The plots of the three major film versions are as follows:

'''1933'''\\
Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), a filmmaker known for his exotic animal pictures shot in the wild, brings out-of-work actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) on a hurried expedition to find an uncharted island, where he hopes to work on his next film. Ann will provide the "love interest" angle, while an unknown entity called "Kong" will provide the excitement. The ship's crew finds the island inhabited, its natives in the midst of an elaborate ritual where a girl is being ceremoniously decorated. The natives note fair-haired Ann and wish to decorate her instead, and when the crew refuse the natives resort to sneaking aboard the ship and kidnapping her. Tying her to an altar, they resume their ritual, chanting "Kong! Kong! Kong!" until an enormous ''something'' comes crashing through the trees...

First mate Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot), who has developed feelings for Ann, leads the ship's crew on an expedition through the island's interior, where Kong has taken her. Along the way, nearly the entire crew is killed by the prehistoric creatures and other dangers. Meanwhile, Kong defends Ann from attack from a ''[[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]]'' and shakes the remainder of the crew off a log into a deep crevasse. Jack evades death and continues after Kong, finally reaching the beast's lair in the island's mountain peak. There, while Kong battles a huge pteranodon, Jack and Ann escape and return to the native village. Kong pursues them, intent on retrieving Ann. He crashes through the hundred-foot gate that protects the village, but Denham subdues the monster with gas bombs.

Bringing Kong back to the United States instead of a movie, Denham puts the amazing creature on display in Manhattan. However, misinterpreting the intentions of newsmen trying to photograph Ann, Kong breaks loose from his bonds and begins a rampage through the city seeking the "woman of gold". Finally retrieving her from a hotel, Kong proceeds to [[ClimbingClimax climb to the highest point in Manhattan]]--the Empire State Building. There he attempts to fight off a squadron of biplanes, and Ann makes her escape. While Kong knocks down several that circle too close, the modern war machines finally get the better of the monster, and he plummets to his death. Yet Denham asserts that it wasn't the bullets that truly killed Kong... it was Ann's rejection of him: "Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was ''beauty'' killed the beast."

Co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack. Followed later that year by ''Son of Kong''.

'''1976'''\\
The story remains pretty much the same, but the characters and situations are changed: instead of a filmmaker seeking an exciting movie locale, an [[CorruptCorporateExecutive amoral oil executive]] (Charles Grodin) is seeking an uncharted island (hidden by a perpetual fog bank) where he hopes to find an enormous untapped deposit of crude. The requisite blonde, Dwan (Creator/JessicaLange), is encountered at sea, adrift in a lifeboat, the sole survivor of a yacht explosion; and TheHero is a stowaway anthropologist ([[JeffBridges The Dude]]). The rest of the film plays out more or less as the previous version, albeit with a somewhat more realistic depiction of the natives and with fewer island hazards (the only oversized animals featured are Kong and a snake). The oil exec, upset to learn that the island's crude is unfit for refining, decides to "bring home the big one" in a very literal sense; when the hero brings Dwan back from Kong's clutches, Kong is again captured and brought to New York in a gaudy publicity stunt. Again, Kong misinterprets the intentions of pushy photographers, and the story goes on from there.

This film differs from the 1933 version in another, very important aspect: the relationship between Kong and "his" girl. Fay Wray's Ann was treated as nothing more than a [[DamselInDistress kidnapping victim]], a prize for Kong. Dwan, on the other hand, is given several extended scenes--on the island, on the ship back to the United States, and in New York--actually forming a bizarre sort of bond with the big guy. And when Kong climbs to the top of the (then newly constructed) World Trade Center towers and is attacked by the military, Dwan is right there, trying to be a human shield for him. But to no avail...

[[{{Sequelitis}} A sequel]], ''Film/KingKongLives'', followed... [[SequelGap ten years later]].

'''2005'''\\
Creator/PeterJackson's take on ''King Kong'' returns to the story as propounded in 1933: Depression-era filmmaker Carl Denham (Creator/JackBlack), dodging debt collectors, hires an out-of-work Ann Darrow (Creator/NaomiWatts) and quickly leaves on an expedition to find a certain uncharted island...

Jackson's film diverges from the original by providing more of Denham's and Ann's respective back stories. Further, "Jack Driscoll" is changed from the ship's first mate to a playwright, and a narcissistic Hollywood actor is added for comic relief. The natives are ''much'' more brutal than past portrayals. And, as with the 1976 film, a good deal of attention is paid to the unusual "romance" between the girl and the primate, which is strong enough that Ann would rather stay on the island with him than see him captured; and later she refuses to participate in his exhibition in the United States. She does, though, show up in time to halt his rampage through the city, and from there... well, [[ItWasHisSled you know how this one ends]].

Interestingly, the 2005 version of the film makes a show of Denham filming scenes and dialog lifted from the original 1933 movie.

!!The various permutations of ''King Kong'' provide examples of the following tropes:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:General]]

* AlwaysSaveTheGirl

[[/folder]]

[[folder:1933 Film]]
* AluminumChristmasTrees: Safari and wildlife travelogues were pretty popular at the time, and a filmmaker like Carl Denham would have been famous. In RealLife, ''King Kong'' directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack did in fact initially become famous by making the travelogue documentary features ''Film/{{Grass}}'' and ''Film/{{Chang}}''.
* CavemenVsAstronautsDebate: The original film is a quite literal depiction of the [[TropeNamers Trope-naming]] Series/{{a|ngel}}rgument. Merian Cooper was a man fascinated by both the past and the future. He traveled the world studying primitive societies that had not changed for hundreds of years. He was also a bold innovator who made important advances in aviation and motion pictures, and talked in his later life about his wish that he could live long enough to travel in space. In ''King Kong'' this duality becomes a violent conflict between the mighty but savage Kong and the technology of the modern world. Cooper recognized that the modern world would eventually win, but in many ways his sympathies lay with the primitive.
* DirtyCoward: Tim, the sailor who tries to run when the natives notice them, comes off as this. He's also TheLoad, since he always brings up the rear of the rescue party later and is constantly falling behind (especially when they're running from the brontosaurus). He does, however, save Jimmy from drowning by helping him take off his backpack after the raft overturns.
* EnemyRisingBehind: A brontosaurus emerges from the water in this manner to attack Denham's crew on their raft.
* ExpoSpeak: The opening lines are rather painful.
* {{Fanservice}}: Fay Wray wears a rather thin and clingy dress in the screen test scene.
* ForTheEvulz: Unlike the other creatures in the film, the brontosaurus really has no apparent reason to be attacking those sailors, especially since he actually bites down on them before either leaving them to die or tossing them aside.
** The [[SlasherSmile vicious grin]] he wears as he corners Tim in the tree makes it even clearer.
* GiantSpider: Hoo boy, the spider pit has got many of them. Too bad it got deleted.
* MoeGreeneSpecial: How they take out the stegosaurus.
* {{Novelization}}: Written by Delos W. Lovelace and including many of the deleted scenes such as the insect pit scene. It was popular enough to be one of the very few movie novelizations consistently reprinted, even to this day (its being in the public domain unlike the movie certainly helps). Despite this, it was subject to a rather pointless rewrite by Joe [=DeVito=] with art by Brad Strickland, which gave no credit whatsoever to Lovelace. About the only change [=DeVito=] made was having Jimmy (the sailor who carries Denham's gas bombs) survive. Strickland's artwork, though touted heavily, amounts to very little. Mostly just landscapes and one picture of Kong's battle with the tyrannosaurus.
* PluckyGirl: A screamer she may be, but one has to at least give Ann credit for repeatedly ''trying'' to escape Kong on her own, even if her attempts are met with failure.
* PunnyName: Ann's last name is a ShoutOut to famous lawyer Clarence Darrow, best known for his participation in the infamous [[InheritTheWind Scopes "Monkey Trial"]].
* {{Tagline}}: "The Eighth Wonder Of The World!" for the 1933 release. Jackson's remake quotes it in dialogue.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:1976 Film]]
* ChewingTheScenery: Charles Grodin ''shouts'' every other line.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Charles Grodin's "Fred Wilson".
* DadaAd: InUniverse example with Kong's New York premiere. Given that he entered the stadium disguised as a giant Petrox gas pump, one could presume that this whole thing was a stealth ad for Wilson's oil company. Exactly what oil has to do with a 50-foot ape[[note]]other than the fact that, a million years after he dies, Kong will become oil[[/note]] remains unclear.
-->'''Wilson:''' [[LargeHam ALL HAIL THE POWER]] OF ''KONG''! [sotto voce] ''And'' Petrox!
** The movie's actually pretty clear on why Kong is a perfect mascot. He's Petrox's way of answering to Exxon's "We'll put a tiger in your tank!" slogan. A giant gorilla is better than a normal-sized tiger any day.
* TheDitz: Dwan is a bit of one.
* {{Gorn}}: Kong's death, as well as the death of the giant snake. Kong ''tears its head off.''
** In the sequel, King Kong ''rips a guy in half.''
* MadeOfExplodium: Rampaging through the city, Kong picks up electrically powered subway cars and tosses them from the trestle, making them explode dramatically.
* MyNaymeIs ...Dwan.
* OffTheShelfFX: The subway cars that Kong picks up are miniature models. Also, when Kong picks up the first car of the train, the wire holding it up is visible.
* [[PeopleInRubberSuits People in Hairy Suits]]: The 1976 film and ''Film/KingKongLives'' are the only two American-made official Kong films to use men in ape suits. The closeups of Kong lifting Ann in one of his hands, however, were made with a full-sized King Kong robot.
* TimeSkip: Averted; unlike all the other versions, this one shows the actual process of getting Kong to New York (in an oil tanker).
* WaterfallShower: Kong gives one to Dwan. (It also appears in the animated musical adaptation ''TheMightyKong''.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:2005 Film]]
* AdaptationExpansion: Considerable: Peter Jackson's version was 87 minutes longer than the original, or a full 101 minutes longer in its extended cut – ''twice as long''.
* AllThereInTheManual: The "Natural History of Skull Island" documentary, explaining how various species of prehistoric animal evolved to better suit the Island's hostile climate and terrain, as well as history of the once grand human civilisation on the island.
* BigDamnHeroes: Bruce Baxter leads a moment that is amusingly right out of the movies he doesn't appear to live up to in real life.
* BloodlessCarnage: Almost everywhere, to keep the film at PG-13; natives and animals are shot at point blank range, people are speared, people are ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice on razor sharp teeth...all without a drop of blood spilled.
* ChangedMyMindKid: Snooty actor Bruce Baxter, faced with the perils of Skull Island, gives up on rescuing Ann, only to return later JustInTime for the aforementioned BigDamnHeroes moment.
* ClimbingClimax
* CoveredInScars: Kong has scars all over his body to show that he's been through some fights.
* CreepyCentipedes: Jackson's remake is infamous for various horrific giant centipedes (and other incredibly large arthropods). In the natural history book of Skull island there are shown to be quite a few species, with one group (the "neopedes") even being aquatic.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The Carnictus Worms in the swamp at the bottom of the Valley certainly have the shape of a certain [[UnusualEuphemism thing-a-ma-jig]], though they have the personality of [[VaginaDentata the receiving end of that thing-a-ma-jig]].
* EldritchLocation: Skull Island could very easily be one of these. It is implied that it may not exist the way usual locations do, as if it can hide. A creepy skull shape spontaneously appears on a map when they are near the island. And their attempts to turn their ship around seem doomed to fail, as though the island itself has a will to snare them. It's full of creatures that are larger than should exist in nature, they're all aggressive and dangerous, the somewhat magic seeming natives emerge like ghosts from the ruins, and the geography is frightening.
* {{Expy}}: Jack Black himself has noted similarities between Carl Denham and Creator/OrsonWelles. (Welles actually worked on a documentary about South America called ''It's All True'', which was cancelled when he was fired by RKO.)
* FallenOnHardTimesJob: Ann Darrow's one unlucky break away from going the burlesque chorus-girl route (a stripper, in other words).
* {{Flanderization}}: The 2005 film goes out of its way to remove every positive character trait Carl Denham had in 1933, and replace them with something negative.
* GoryDiscretionShot: It's very difficult to see during the 2005 film's fight with the final ''Vastatosaurus rex'', but Kong actually '''bites the rex's tongue off''', then spits it out and resumes fighting. The film covers it up by cutting from a close-up view to a mid-range shot from an obscured angle so fast it's nigh on impossible to spot. Look closely in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-f5iMDXvcA&feature=mh_lolz&list=HL1313702947 this clip]], though, about 48 seconds in.
** From the same clip: The scene also switches briefly to Anne's shocked face as Kong '''crushes the vastatosaur's head like a peanut'''.
* HollywoodEvolution: Evolutionary biology and ecosystems don't work that way. Creatures trapped on an island tend to select for smaller size, not larger – and yet if you read the natural history of Skull Island or watch the relevant documentary on the DVD, that's exactly the opposite of how the film makers designed the animals. Also, with that many apex predators in such a tiny area (the vastatosaurs, the raptors, plus the various giant arthropods), the island would've been devoid of life in no time as the ecosystem fell apart. It is implied in the film (and explicitly said in the "Natural History" tie-in book) that the island used to be much larger and was sinking into the sea/breaking apart. Still, for animals that large, the break-up would have to have been of a very large land mass and would have had to only been happening for a very short period of time, geologically speaking, which makes it something of a VoodooShark.
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_gigantism Island gigantism]] is a real concept, but it happens on very large islands as opposed to tiny ones, and its effects are greatly exaggerated in the film, probably because [[RuleOfCool huge dinosaurs and bugs and a gigantic ape are interesting to watch.]]
** Also, the mockumentary tie-in says that King Kong is a relative of ''Gigantopithecus'', a real ape (and a very large one, although nowhere near Kong-sized) believed to have died out about 100,000 years ago. But ''Gigantopithecus'' was a relative of modern orangutans, not gorillas. There is no way an unrelated ape could evolve to be 100% identical to an oversized gorilla.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: When Jack is swarmed by giant bugs, Jimmy fires a Thompson submachine gun ''full-auto'' at him from only a few feet away and manages to hit nothing but bugs.
* JerkassHasAPoint: In the 2005 version, Jack has absolutely no kind words for Bruce Baxter once the latter leaves the rescue party, citing how utterly pointless the whole thing is. However, being as said party had already been mostly destroyed, with dozens of men dying to try and save ''one'' woman, his point of view can come across as very understandable.
** Englehorn is a not particularly pleasant human being with an unusual number of automatic weapons hidden around his ship. He's absolutely right to use excessive force on all things Skull Island.
* LastOfHisKind: It is implied that Kong is the last giant ape on Skull Island: the most telling evidence is a shot of him entering his cave and walking past multiple skeletons of giant gorillas. This loneliness, along with the hostility of Skull Island's environment, accounts for both his ferocity and his need for company, which Ann Darrow supplies. Furthermore, as stated in the background materials, Skull Island's entire ecosystem is dying because the island is submerging due to geological activity. Those ''V. rex'' that Kong killed, for instance, may just have been the last three members of their entire species.
** Presumably not ''quite'' the last, as the tie-in book describes something of their life cycle and behavior, including juvenile behaviors, as observed by naturalists who investigated the island shortly after the "Kong" incident. They were probably the parents of the species' last generation, however.
** The Natives are actually TheRemnant of the former grand civilization that once occupied the center of the island. As the Island began sinking into the sea, the wall surrounding their city ended up being breached and they were forced to evacuate to the other side of the wall, making refuge in the barren landscape containing the catacombs outside their city. Ironically, the wall once meant to keep predators out now became the only thing that was keeping them ''in''.
* LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: Ann spends most of the movie without shoes due to losing them in the jungle.
* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: Not whole ''worlds'', but Carl Denham's tendency to unintentionally destroy the things he loves is {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d.
* MissingTrailerScene: In the trailer, Denham is heard saying, "Scream, Ann! Scream for your life!" as one homage to the 1933 original. That part never made it into the final cut.
* MisterSandmanSequence: The opening leaves absolutely no doubt that it's Depression-era NYC.
* MonsterShapedMountain: Numerous rock outcroppings surrounding Skull Island are carved to resemble snarling ape-faces.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: The scene where Skull Island is being typed.
* MythologyGag:
** A reference to an actress, "Fay", who is working on a film over at "RKO".
** Large chunks of the original dialogue are lifted verbatim from the 1933 film, sometimes as near-parody (the original's banter between Jack and Ann is used as Denham films his two actors)
** Kong's stage show in New York includes an elaborate (and inaccurate) depiction of the native sacrifice ritual, which is remarkably similar to the depiction of the ''actual'' ritual seen in the 1933 film. And the music for the entire sequence is a new performance of the original's score.
** Rewriting Jack into the role of the writer gets spun into a gag as Ann initially [[ActuallyThatsMyAssistant mistakes another character for him.]] Bonus points for having the scene turn immediately into a RightBehindMe moment.
** The fight between Kong and the last ''Vastatosaurus rex'' is practically move-for-move the same as the last half of the fight between Kong and the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' in the original, right down to Kong playing with the dinosaur's head after killing it and then roaring and beating his chest triumphantly.
* PacingProblems: A common criticism of the 2005 movie, which clocks in at 188 min (201 in the extended version). It takes over an hour before we see the titular ape.
* [[PapaWolf Papa Silverback]]: If you're a ''Vastatosaurus'', don't even '''think''' about sneaking a nibble from Kong's new surrogate child, Ann.
* RaptorAttack : A pack of "raptors" appear in the brontosaurus stampede, but more resembles a miniature ''Allosaurus'' than known raptors like ''Deinonychus'' and ''Velociraptor''.
** They're ''Venatosaurus'', a fictional genus (even so they do have a lot of anatomical errors).
* RealVehicleReveal: Ann gets out of her taxi and stares at an ocean liner, only for Denhan to direct her attention to the Venture, a smaller and much less impressive boat on the other side of the dock.
* RevealShot: The film opens with a closeup of monkeys frolicking amid thick foliage. A glimpse of Skull Island? Nope, the Central Park Zoo.
* SceneryPorn
* SerkisFolk: Creator/AndySerkis himself provides both vocalizations and MotionCapture for Kong. He also plays the ship's cook.
* ShoutOut: On the ship there is a box that reads ''Sumatran Rat Monkey -- Beware the bite!'', referencing one of Jackson's earliest films ''{{Film/Braindead}}''. The shout out goes both ways, in fact: In ''Braindead'', the rat monkey was explicitly stated as being from Skull Island.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: The unlockable bonus ending of the video game, in which Kong ''survives'' , due to Jack and Captain Englehardt swooping in to save him in a bi-plane.
* StockScream: One sailor does a Wilhelm scream during the brontosaur stampede as he is knocked off the cliff.
* SuperPersistentPredator: The vastatosaurs. One of them spots Ann and decides to give chase -- despite having just eaten a large reptilian Komodo-dragon thing. And then two more join in. Every time they're given a chance to go for Kong instead of Ann, they go for Ann anyway. And then the last one keeps going after Kong kills the other two...
** Possibly {{justified|Trope}}. Given the sheer amount of competition for food as a result of the...bizarre ecosystem discussed above, it's [[WildMassGuessing possible]] the eat-everything-in-sight instinct is high on the list of priorities. The tie-in book also suggests that the reptilian Komodo-dragon thing was actually a scavenging creature that only the most desperate of predators would feed on, because it tastes ''extremely'' foul and has a gut full of toxic bacteria.
** And the raptors in the apatosaur stampede scene keep trying to get a bit of human instead of, you know, ''getting away from the stampede'', or feasting on the tons of dead bronto-meat now before them.
*** The tie-in book also explains that the raptors actually specialize in hunting the enormous ''Brontosaurus''. Really. Apparently running them off cliffs in a panic is a normal hunting tactic for them.
** There's one aversion: in the same scene a raptor chases Jack. When Jack gets in between a Brontosaurus' legs, the Raptor goes for closer, less protected prey: Carl.
* SweetPollyOliver: When we first see Ann during the intro, she's performing on stage in male drag.
[[/folder]]

* EldritchLocation: Skull Island could very easily be one of these. It's full of creatures that are larger than should exist in nature, they're all aggressive and dangerous, the natives are so feral they can barely be considered human, and the geography is frightening.

With those words, RKO Pictures introduced one of the most well-known and enduring [[{{Kaiju}} movie monsters]] of all time. "Kong" is a giant gorilla living on a [[LostWorld hidden island]] in the South Pacific. When a charter ship travels to this island, the oversized primate becomes enraptured by the crew's sole blonde woman, whom the island natives offer up to it in sacrifice. The crew rescue the girl and even manage to capture Kong, bringing the creature back to Manhattan for a spectacle. However, Kong escapes and causes mayhem in the streets of New York before being shot off the top of a skyscraper.

Bringing Kong back to the United States instead of a movie, Denham puts the amazing creature on display in Manhattan. However, misinterpreting the intentions of newsmen trying to photograph Ann, Kong breaks loose from his bonds and begins a rampage through the city seeking the "woman of gold". Finally retrieving her from a hotel, Kong proceeds to [[ClimbingClimax climb to the highest point in Manhattan]]--the Empire State Building. There he attempts to fight off a squadron of biplanes, and Ann makes her escape. While Kong knocks down several that circle too close, the modern war machines finally get the better of the monster, and he plummets to his death. Yet Denham asserts that it wasn't the bullets that truly killed Kong... it was Ann's rejection of him: "Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was ''Beauty'' killed the Beast."

Bringing Kong back to the United States instead of a movie, Denham puts the amazing creature on display in Manhattan. However, misinterpreting the intentions of newsmen trying to photograph Ann, Kong breaks loose from his bonds and begins a rampage through the city seeking the "woman of gold". Finally retrieving her from a hotel, Kong proceeds to [[ClimbingClimax climb to the highest point in Manhattan]]--the Empire State Building. There he attempts to fight off a squadron of biplanes, and Ann makes her escape. While Kong knocks down several that circle too close, the modern war machines finally get the better of the monster, and he plummets to his death. Yet Denham asserts that it wasn't the bullets that truly killed Kong... it was Ann's rejection of him: "It wasn't the planes that killed the beast. It was beauty."

Bringing Kong back to the United States instead of a movie, Denham puts the amazing creature on display in Manhattan. However, misinterpreting the intentions of newsmen trying to photograph Ann, Kong breaks loose from his bonds and begins a rampage through the city seeking the "woman of gold". Finally retrieving her from a hotel, Kong proceeds to [[ClimbingClimax climb to the highest point in Manhattan]]--the Empire State Building. There he attempts to fight off a squadron of biplanes, and Ann makes her escape. While he knocks down several that circle too close, the modern war machines finally get the better of the monster, and he plummets to his death. Yet Denham asserts that it wasn't the bullets that truly killed Kong... it was Ann's rejection of him: "It wasn't the planes that killed the beast. It was beauty."

Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), a filmmaker specializing in exotic animal pictures shot in the wild, brings out-of-work actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) on a hurried expedition to find an uncharted island, where he hopes to work on his next film. Ann will provide the "love interest" angle, while an unknown entity called "Kong" will provide the excitement. The ship's crew finds the island inhabited, its natives in the midst of an elaborate ritual where a girl is being ceremoniously decorated. The natives note fair-haired Ann and wish to decorate her instead, and when the crew refuse the natives resort to sneaking aboard the ship and kidnapping her. Tying her to an altar, they resume their ritual, chanting "Kong! Kong! Kong!" until an enormous ''something'' comes crashing through the trees...

Filmmaker Carl Denham brings out-of-work actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) on a hurried expedition to find an uncharted island, where he hopes to work on his next film. Ann will provide the "love interest" angle, while an unknown entity called "Kong" will provide the excitement. The ship's crew finds the island inhabited, its natives in the midst of an elaborate ritual where a girl is being ceremoniously decorated. The natives note fair-haired Ann and wish to decorate her instead, and when the crew refuse the natives resort to sneaking aboard the ship and kidnapping her. Tying her to an altar, they resume their ritual, chanting "Kong! Kong! Kong!" until an enormous ''something'' comes crashing through the trees...

First mate Jack Driscoll, who has developed feelings for Ann, leads the ship's crew on an expedition through the island's interior, where Kong has taken her. Along the way, nearly the entire crew is killed by the prehistoric creatures and other dangers. Meanwhile, Kong defends Ann from attack from a ''[[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]]'' and shakes the remainder of the crew off a log into a deep crevasse. Jack evades death and continues after Kong, finally reaching the beast's lair in the island's mountain peak. There, while Kong battles a huge pteranodon, Jack and Ann escape and return to the native village. Kong pursues them, intent on retrieving Ann. He crashes through the hundred-foot gate that protects the village, but Denham subdues the monster with gas bombs.

* EnemyRisingBehind: A brontosaurus emerges from the water in this manner to attack Denham's crew in the original.

Creator/PeterJackson's take on ''King Kong'' returns to the story as propounded in 1933: Depression-era filmmaker Carl Denham (Creator/JackBlack), dodging debt collectors, hires an out-of-work Ann Darrow (NaomiWatts) and quickly leaves on an expedition to find a certain uncharted island...

Followed later that year by ''Son of Kong''.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Safari and wildlife travelogues were pretty popular at the time, and a filmmaker like Carl Denham would have been famous. In RealLife, ''King Kong'' directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack did in fact initially become famous by making the travelogue documentary features ''Film/{{Grass}}'' and ''Chang''.

* PrettyInMink: In the original film, Ann wears a chinchilla cape. In the 1976 film, Dwan wears a chinchilla jacket, possibly as a MythologyGag.

* MisterSandmanSequence

** Also, the mockumentary tie-in says that King Kong is a relative of ''Gigantopithecus'', a real ape (and a very large one, although nowhere near Kong-sized) believed to have died out about 100,000 years ago. But ''Gigantopithecus'' was a relative of modern orangutans, not gorillas. There is no way an unrelated ape could evolve to be 100% identical to an oversize gorilla.

** There's one aversion: in the same scene a raptor chases Jack. When Jack gets in between a Bronotsaurus' legs, the Raptor goes for closer, less protected prey: Carl.

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Lumpy]] has [[TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath barely sixty seconds to mourn]] the death of [[spoiler: his kitchen-hand Choy]] before he bites it, too.

* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: If you think about it, Kong is ''not'' the real monster here. Kidnapped, dragged away from home, put on display and gawked at... He's more a victim than Fay Wray was.

* ScreamingWoman