King Kong (1976)

King Kong is a 1976 American giant monster film co-produced by the Dino De Laurentiis Corporation and Paramount Pictures, and a remake of the 1933 film of the same name. It was released to American theaters on December 17, 1976.

Plot
Fred Wilson, an executive in the Petrox Oil Corporation, organizes an expedition to an uncharted island in the Indian Ocean covered in a huge fog blanket, which he believes hides a gigantic underground oil reservoir. Before the expedition's ship, the Petrox Explorer, leaves, primate paleontologist Jack Prescott bribes a guard and stows away on the ship. After the Explorer sets sail, Wilson informs the ship's crew about their destination. During this briefing, Prescott reveals himself and talks about various records of ships that traveled to the same island, speaking of a gigantic ape-like creature that lives on "the beach of the skull." Wilson asks Prescott who he is, and Prescott introduces himself as a primate paleontologist who wants to see the island for himself. Wilson believes Prescott is a spy from a rival oil company and orders him locked up. While Prescott is escorted to his cell, he sees a life raft floating in the open ocean. The raft is brought on board the Explorer, with only a single unconscious female occupant. The castaway is taken into a cabin, while Wilson performs a background check on Prescott and learns he is indeed who he says he is. Wilson allows Prescott to be freed, but appoints him as the expedition's official photographer. The castaway awakens and tells Wilson and Prescott and introduces herself as Dwan (spelled this way so it can "sound more notable") and says she was an aspiring actress on a director's yacht which suddenly exploded. Since the Explorer is already too far from port, it is decided for Dwan to stay on the expedition. Over the rest of the voyage, Dwan forms a close friendship with Prescott.

When the Explorer finally enters the fog blanket, it comes upon the fabled island. A landing party is organized, and Dwan convinces Wilson to bring her along. As the party explores the interior of the island, it comes upon a gigantic wall. Wilson states that the island is uninhabited and that the wall must be ancient, but Prescott says the wall looks well-maintained and that there is a tribe of natives living behind it, hiding from something. The party passes through the wall and comes upon a ceremony being performed by the natives. The witch doctor becomes enraged that the ceremony has been interrupted, but upon seeing Dwan offers to purchase her so she can be used as a sacrifice to their god, Kong. Wilson refuses and the party returns to the Explorer, scaring the natives off with their rifles. Determined to acquire the oil on the island, Wilson plans to return at a later time. That night, natives sneak onto the boat and kidnap and drug Dwan, then bring her back to the village. Dwan is decorated in ceremonial jewels and tied to a pedestal outside the wall, where Kong emerges from the jungle and grabs her, taking her off into the jungle. When Dwan's kidnapping is discovered, the crew comes back ashore and storms the village, only to see that something huge has carried off Dwan. Wilson sets up a base camp on the beach, while Prescott and a group of men follow Kong into the jungle. While on the beach, Wilson learns that the oil on the island is worthless and must wait thousands of years more before it is usable. Unwilling to return to his superiors empty-handed, Wilson concocts a scheme to capture Kong and bring him back to the United States as a marketing gimmick for Petrox.

Meanwhile, Kong sets Dwan down in a clearing and looks at her. Dwan believes Kong is going to kill her and begs for her life. To Dwan's surprise, Kong is amused and calmed by Dwan's sweet-talk, and she soon learns he means her no harm. Kong takes Dwan to a waterfall and holds her under it, cleaning the mud off of her. Prescott and the team begin to get closer to Kong, and come upon a fallen log spanning a deep chasm. As they try to cross, Kong emerges from the jungle and sees them. Kong grabs the log and tosses it into the pit, sending the entire team to their deaths except for Prescott and another man named Boan. Prescott tells Boan to go back to the village while he continues pursuing Kong. By nightfall, Kong brings Dwan to his mountain lair, where he prepares to undress his "bride." However, a giant snake appears and tries to devour Dwan. Kong attacks the snake, but it coils itself around him and attempts to crush Kong to death. Jack arrives at the lair and reunites with Dwan while Kong is occupied. Dwan and Prescott stop briefly to watch Kong's struggle, but upon seeing Prescott with her, Kong becomes enraged. Kong grabs the snake's jaws and snaps them apart, killing it while Jack and Dwan jump into the water below and swim back to the village, where Wilson and his team have set up a trap for Kong. Kong chases them to the village and smashes through the wall, only to fall into a pit filled with chloroform, knocking him unconscious. The natives surround their fallen god and bow, as Wilson prepares to transport Kong back to New York.

Kong is loaded in the Explorer 's cargo hold, where he is fed with tons of fruit. Both Dwan and Jack are upset at Kong's treatment, while Kong himself grows increasingly distressed throughout the voyage. One day, Dwan accidentally falls into the cargo hold, only for Kong to catch her. The captain orders the hold to be flooded after Dwan is rescued, but Kong becomes calm and allows Dwan to climb back out. The rest of the voyage goes relatively smoothly, and Kong is prepared to be put on display in New York. Wilson tries to convince Prescott and Dwan to be present at Kong's exhibition, but Prescott refuses and states he will start a fund to return Kong to his home. Kong, bound with chrome steel and with a giant crown placed on his head, is put on display in front of a huge crowd. When reporters try to take photographs of Dwan, Kong becomes agitated and breaks free of his binds, trampling the crowd, including Wilson. Dwan runs away and finds Prescott, and the two of them cross the Queensboro Bridge to escape from Kong. Kong simply walks across the water and approaches Manhattan, desperately searching for Dwan. Dwan and Jack hide in an abandoned bar, where Prescott sees the World Trade Center, realizing it bears a remarkable resemblance to Kong's lair on the island. Prescott calls the Mayor's office, telling them to allow Kong to climb to the top of the World Trade Center where he can be safely captured. While Prescott makes the call, Kong finds the bar and grabs Dwan, carrying her off to the World Trade Center.

With the National Guard pursuing him, Kong climbs the South Tower and reaches the top. There, he is attacked by soldiers wielding flamethrowers, much to Prescott's dismay. Kong managed to jump to the North Tower, where he throws a gasoline tank at the soldiers, killing them in a fiery explosion. Ignoring Prescott's request to capture Kong with nets, the military sends in helicopters with mounted machine guns to kill him. Realizing the incoming threat, Kong sets Dwan down and holds her back. Dwan begs for Kong to pick her back up, hoping the military will not fire if he is holding her. Kong smiles at Dwan and turns away, facing the helicopters head-on. The helicopters open fire, riddling Kong with machine gun fire. Despite his grievous injuries, Kong managed to destroy two choppers. Eventually, the machine gun fire is too much, and Kong falls over, bleeding profusely. Sobbing, Dwan approaches Kong. Breathing heavily, Kong rolls off the roof of the North Tower and plummets onto the plaza below. Minutes later, reporters and onlookers have surrounded Kong, while Dwan approaches him. Kong looks at his love one last time before his heart stops beating. Mobbed by reporters, Dwan bursts into tears and calls for Jack, who is trying to reach her through the crowds.

Cast

 * Jeff Bridges   as   Jack Prescott
 * Charles Grodin   as   Fred Wilson
 * Jessica Lange   as   Dwan
 * John Randolph   as   Captain Ross
 * René Auberjonois   as   Roy Bagley
 * Ed Lauter   as   First Mate Carnahan
 * Julius Harris   as   Boan
 * Jack O'Halloran   as   Joe Perko
 * Dennis Fimple   as   Sunfish
 * Jorge Moreno   as   Garcia
 * Mario Gallo   as   Timmons
 * John Lone   as   Chinese Cook
 * John Agar   as   City Official
 * Sid Conrad   as   Petrox Chairman
 * Keny Long   as   Ape Masked Man
 * Garry Walberg   as   Army General
 * George Whiteman   as   Army Helicopter Pilot
 * Wayne Heffley   as   Air Force Colonel
 * Rick Baker   as   King Kong

Monsters

 * King Kong
 * Giant Snake

Production
There are two different accounts for how the remake for King Kong came about. In December 1974, Michael Eisner, then an executive for ABC, watched the original film on television and struck on the idea for a remake. He pitched the idea to Barry Diller, the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, who then enlisted veteran producer Dino De Laurentiis to work on the project. However, De Laurentiis claimed the idea to remake King Kong was solely his own when he saw a Kong poster in his daughter's bedroom as he woke her up every morning. When Diller suggested doing a monster film with him, De Laurentiis proposed the idea to remake King Kong. Diller and De Laurentiis provisionally agreed that Paramount would pay half of the film's proposed $12 million budget in return for the distribution rights in the United States and Canada if the former could purchase the film rights of the original film.

De Laurentiis later contacted his friend Thomas F. O'Neil, president of General Tire and RKO-General, who informed him that the film rights were indeed available. Later, De Laurentiis and company executive Frederic Sidewater entered formal negotiations with Daniel O'Shea, a semi-retired attorney for RKO-General, who requested a percentage of the film's gross. On May 6, 1975, De Laurentiis paid RKO-General $200,000 plus a percentage of the film's gross. After finalizing the agreement with Paramount, De Laurentiis and Sidewater began meeting with foreign distributors and set the film's release for Christmas 1976.

Writing
We made a very deliberate attempt not to be anything like the original movie in tone or mood. Dino wanted it to be light and amusing, rather than portentous. I don't think the original was meant to be mythic ... The original King Kong is extremely crude. I don't mean it's not wonderful. It was remarkable for its time, but it was a very small back-lot picture. We thought times had changed so much that audiences were more sophisticated. Dino felt we could have more fun with it. We hoped to do sensational things with advanced special effects on a big screen.

After moving his production company to Beverly Hills, De Laurentiis first met with screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr., who at the time was writing Three Days of the Condor. Impressed with his work on the film, De Laurentiis contacted Semple about writing King Kong, in which Semple immediately signed on. During their collaboration on the project, De Laurentiis already had two ideas in mind—that the film would set in present day and the climax would set on top of the newly constructed World Trade Center.

Because of the risen sophistication in audiences' tastes since the original film, Semple sought to maintain a realistic tone, but infuse the script with a sly, ironic sense of humor that the audiences could laugh at. Having settled on the mood, Semple retained the basic plotline and set pieces from the original film, but updated and reworked other elements of the story. Inspired by the then-ongoing energy crisis and a suggestion from his friend Jerry Brick, Semple changed the expedition to being mounted by Petrox Corporation, a giant petroleum conglomerate whom suspected that Kong's island has unrefined oil reserves. In its original story outline, Petrox would discover Kong's island from a map hidden in the secret archives at the Vatican Library.

In a notable departure from the original film, Semple dropped the dinosaurs that are present with Kong on the island. The reasons for the dropped subplot was due to the increased attention on Kong and Dwan's love story and financial reasons as De Laurentiis did not want to use stop-motion animation in the film. Nevertheless, a giant snake was incorporated into the film.

A fast writer, Semple completed a forty-page outline within a few days and delivered it in August 1975. While De Laurentiis was pleased with Semple's outline, he expressed displeasure with the Vatican Library subplot, which was immediately dropped. It would later be replaced with Petrox discovering the island through obtained classified photos taken by a United States spy satellite. Within a month, the 140-page first draft incorporated the character of Dwan (who according to the script was originally named Dawn until she switched the two middle letters to make it more memorable), the updated rendition of Ann Darrow from the 1933 film. For its second draft, the script was reduced to 110 pages. The final draft was completed by December 1975.

Casting
Meryl Streep has said that she was considered for the role of Dwan, but was deemed too unattractive by producer Dino De Laurentiis. Dwan was also proposed to Barbra Streisand but she turned it down. The role eventually went to Jessica Lange, then a New York fashion model with no prior acting experience.

Filming
De Laurentiis first approached Roman Polanski to direct the picture, but he wasn't interested. De Laurentiis's next choice was director John Guillermin who had just finished directing The Towering Inferno. Guillermin, who was known to have had outbursts from time to time on the set, got into a public shouting match with executive producer Federico De Laurentiis (son of producer Dino De Laurentiis). After the incident, De Laurentiis was reported to have threatened to fire Guillermin if he did not start treating the cast and crew better.[20] Rick Baker, who designed and wore the ape suit in collaboration with Carlo Rambaldi, was extremely disappointed in the final suit, which he felt was not at all convincing. He gives all the credit for its passable appearance to cinematographer Richard H. Kline. The only time that the collaboration of Baker and Rambaldi went smoothly was during the design of the mechanical Kong mask. Baker's design and Rambaldi's cable work combined to give Kong's face a wide range of expression that was responsible for much of the film's emotional impact. Baker gave much of the credit for its effectiveness to Rambaldi and his mechanics.

To film the scene where the Petrox Explorer finds Dwan in the life raft, Jessica Lange spent hours in a rubber raft in the freezing cold, drenched and wearing only a slinky black dress. Although Lange was not aware of it, there were sharks circling the raft the entire time. Shooting of this scene took place in the channel between Los Angeles and Catalina Island during the last week in January 1976.

On one of the nights of filming Kong's death at the World Trade Center, over 30,000 people showed up at the site to be extras for the scene. Although the crowd was well behaved, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (owner of the World Trade Center complex) became concerned that the weight of so many people would cause the plaza to collapse, and ordered the producers to shut down the filming. However, the film makers had already got the shot they wanted of the large crowd rushing toward Kong's body. They returned to the site days later to finish filming the scene, with a much smaller crowd of paid extras.

According to Bahrenburg, five different masks were created by Carlo Rambaldi to convey various emotions. Separate masks were necessary as there were too many cables and mechanics required for all the expressions to fit in one single mask. To complete the look of a gorilla, Baker wore contact lenses so his eyes would resemble those of a gorilla.

Rambaldi's mechanical Kong was 40 ft (12.2 m) tall and weighed 61/2 tons. It cost £500,000 to create. Despite months of preparation, the final device proved to be impossible to operate convincingly, and is only seen in a series of brief shots totaling less than 15 seconds. The roar used for Kong was taken from the film The Lost World (1960).