YMMV / King Kong (1976)

• Actor Shipping: The tabloids speculated at the time that Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange had an on-set affair. This was later revealed to be false — she was in a relationship with Russian ballet dancer Michael Baryshnikov, and he was engaged, and married in 1977. They have remained friends since making this film.
• Awesome Music: John Barry in prime form, especially "Blackout in New York."
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The sudden giant snake. If dinosaurs/other giant animals showed up earlier, it wouldn't be so odd.
  • Islands in the South Seas are known to harbor some pythons, so at least it's somewhat factual.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Aside from the practical effects and the legal battles surrounding film, the film is best known for Jessica Lange in a skimpy native outfit laying on the palm of King Kong, especially in the Waterfall Shower scene.
• Common Knowledge: A lot of people believe that Peter Cullen performed the vocalizations for Kong in this movie. Cullen once explained at a convention that he had to create the iconic clicking noises for the the Predator because he had a "blood-throat" from performing a bunch of roars for Kong. He didn't specify what movie he performed Kong in, but while the roars in this movie don't sound much like Cullen, the roars in King Kong Lives (which he is never credited for) are unmistakably him. This is supported by the fact that Lives and Predator were released a year apart.
• Designated Hero: Jack stows away on a ship after drugging one of the crew and stealing his uniform, makes up some vague reason why the natives should be sad that they no longer have to live in fear of a giant murder-ape who normally has to be appeased with human sacrifice, flagrantly breaks his contract, and cheers as soldiers fighting Kong (who's been killing numerous civilians during his New York City rampage) are blown to pieces! And the movie expects us to sympathize with him.
  • The reason why Jack broke his contract was because he knew that Kong was only going to be exploited by the company for a cheap buck and only to promote the company and poorly treated if the promotion in New York was any indicator. He probably also knew that Kong's living quarters while not being used as a promotion, would most likely be similar to his living condition on the boat; cold, uncomfortable, chained up and treated like crap.
  • Keep in mind also that this was The '70s: post-Vietnam, post-Watergate, post-Kent State, etc. and the environmentalist movement was really kicking off. Jack Prescott's views were hardly unheard of in Hollywood at the time and even Flyover Country was rather disillusioned by authority. Thus, it's not surprising that the film is obviously slanted in his favor.
• Designated Villain: The authorities of New York City are vilified in the film for using lethal force against Kong despite promising Jack that they would try to take him alive. Never mind that taking something alive who has secured the highest vantage point in the city would be nearly impossible — the fact remains that Kong is a very large and dangerous animal who has already caused extensive property damage and killed numerous individuals in his rampage.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The entire battle at the World Trade Center in the 1976 film is much creepier in the aftermath of 9/11/2001, featuring as it does the protagonist cheering as Kong blows up US soldiers on the roof and a helicopter crashing into the side of the north tower.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: A 1972 New Yorker cartoon featured King Kong climbing up the World Trade Center, 4 years before he did so in this film.
• Once Original, Now Common: With the 1980s run of reimagining other horror and/or monster movies, it took a lot of shine off of this film's attempts to update Kong and make him a sympathetic character.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The film is more well known for its complicated legal battle between Paramount and Universal Pictures, and the eventual cryptic copyright issues regarding the King Kong character then of the actual film itself.
• Presumed Flop: It has arguably the worst reception of all the remakes and today, is mainly discussed with regards to its massive budget and uncanny practical effects. It comes as a surprise to many then, that it made triple its budget and was one of the highest grossing films of the year.
• Replacement Scrappy: Carl Denham's replacement by Corrupt Corporate Executive Fred Wilson in this movie isn't particularly well-received. While Denham's motivation to use Kong for profit didn't involve plundering Skull Island, Wilson was willing to plunder the island in order to find the rumored oil reserves, and all that was before his greediness was taken up to eleven when he saw Kong.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • This film was Jessica Lange's first-ever film role.
  • The Chinese cook is played by John Lone, who's best known for playing Puyi in The Last Emperor.
  • The subway driver is played by an uncredited Walt Gorney, who would later go on to play Crazy Ralph in Friday the 13th a few years later.
• So Okay, It's Average: General consensus is that it’s a competent remake with outstanding effects and music, but doesn’t live up to the spectacle of the 1933 original, and is often sandwiched between it and the 2005 remake.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • The snake looks very stiff, robotic, and lifeless compared to the fairly realistic animatronic face and hands built into the Kong suit.
  • There was the very literal failure though the highly publicized full-scale mechanical Kong armature, designed by Carlo Rambaldi. Leading to makeup legend Rick Baker designing and donning the ape suit used for 95% of the movie. The mechanical Kong was only in one scene -his New York unveiling- and boy, can you tell. Supposedly the robot's time and budget consuming failure is the reason the film has no other giant animals or dinosaurs other than Kong and the aforementioned rubber snake.
  • Kong is clearly superimposed over the crowds of people he proceeds to trample on after escaping, as can clearly be seen when some do not react to him having stepped on them. There are also a few glaring instances where footage of Rick Baker as Kong has been clumsily matted in over the mechanical Kong.
• Tear Jerker: Kong's death is still a sad moment.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Thanks to the '70s disaster movie-style large cast, the hairdos, the version of Carl Denham's character (renamed to Fred Wilson and changed from a movie director, to an Corrupt Corporate Executive) being far more of a villain rather than a well-intentioned Anti-Hero, and the updates to the original story, such as the reason for searching for Skull Island being about finding petroleum (this film was made right after the 1970s Oil Crisis), and changing the building Kong climbs up at the end to the former twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.
• Values Dissonance: Jack is seen as a considerably less heroic character by modern standards than those of the 1970's when the bitter aftertaste of several political scandals had nurtured a considerable anti-right/anti-establishment mentality in American popular culture.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Kong is basically a man in suit effect, but the animatronic face is very expressive and effective, and some of the miniature sets are quite well done.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: The hero is a long-haired environmentalist and the villains are a greedy oil executive along with a bunch of lying politicians and trigger-happy National Guardsmen.

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