King Kong vs. Godzilla

1963
Approved
1h 31m

IMDb RATING

5.7/10

12K

YOUR RATING

Home Video Trailer from Toho Film Company

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3 Videos

99+ Photos

Dinosaur Adventure Disaster Kaiju Quirky Comedy Satire Supernatural Fantasy Urban Adventure Action Adventure Comedy

A UN reporter covers the appearance of a prehistoric monster that emerges from hibernation, while a pharmaceutical company seeks publicity with a monster of their own.A UN reporter covers the appearance of a prehistoric monster that emerges from hibernation, while a pharmaceutical company seeks publicity with a monster of their own.A UN reporter covers the appearance of a prehistoric monster that emerges from hibernation, while a pharmaceutical company seeks publicity with a monster of their own.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.7/10

12K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
The unedited original Japanese version of the film remains the highest attended Godzilla film in Japan. It is also one of the most attended films of all time at the Japanese box office as well as the most successful live-action science fantasy film with admission numbers surpassing Hollywood blockbusters such as Star Wars and Avatar. To this day it remains as the 13th most attended film of all time in Japan. The heavily re-edited US version that inserted new actors and deleted several scenes from the original was just as much of a success at the US box-office as well.

Goofs
When being hauled around by the balloons, Kong's right leg is twisted around painfully and sticks out of him at an odd angle. When it cuts to the suit with an actor inside it, the leg is back to its normal shape.

Quotes
Mr. Tako: King Kong can't make a monkey out of us.

Crazy credits
In the credits for the U.S. version, actor Kenji Sahara is listed as "Keji Sahaka."

Alternate versions
This USA version is re-edited from the Japanese original, King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), and is vastly different. New scenes featuring Eric Carter as a United Nations reporter were inserted for the USA version, replacing some footage from the Japanese release. Most of the comedy bits featuring Shôichi Hirose and Ichirô Arishima are deleted in favor of bland action, screeching to a halt U.N. news reports which are completely dissociated from the story. In the USA version, Harry Holcombe recites a ludicrous idea that Godzilla is a cross of a tyrannosaurus (while pointing to an allosaurus in a children's book) and a stegosaurus. Most of Ifukube's magisterial score is deleted and replaced with themes from the score of Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).

Connections
Edited from The Mysterians (1957)

User reviews158

Review

Featured review

Cult classic

This movie is not the movie to see for an epic fight between the two legendary monsters. It's a movie to see for all the fans of badly executed special effects in the true spirit of 50's scifi b-movies. In that respect, it's a true classic. If you enjoyed the Beasty Boys' video for "Intergalactic Planetary", you'd love this movie as a Japanese feature length counterpart. They've got the same quality feel to them, and the same incredible special effects - and here, "incredible" is meant literally.

Some of the highlights of this movie for me: the toy plane a little boy sees hanging in a toystore and makes him stop because he badly wants it, is the same plane that flew in formation attacking Godzilla. And by that I don't mean the same type of plane, but it's the exact same plastic model! Also, true to the original story, King Kong comes from a tropical island. As we all know, the cliché has it such an island is inhabited by black people wearing banana-leaf skirts and toting spears. This being a Japanese production, the natives are played by Japanese, painted black and given curly wigs...

So if you enjoy laughing at the ridiculous details in movies, love to see fights between people wearing halloween suits trying to make it look like the real thing, with some mediocre fireworks in between, you have to see this movie. If you're looking for a credible classic, such as the original King Kong movie, or high-tech special effects and stunning visuals, this is not the one for you ;)