Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

Original title: San Daikaijû Chikyû Saidai no Kessen

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

8.4K

YOUR RATING

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Play trailer1:41

1 Video

99+ Photos

Alien Invasion Dinosaur Adventure Kaiju Supernatural Fantasy Fantasy Sci-Fi Thriller

A detective protects a princess who prophecies Earth's destruction by a powerful space monster; the world's only hope being if Mothra can persuade Godzilla and Rodan to unite and save the pl... Read allA detective protects a princess who prophecies Earth's destruction by a powerful space monster; the world's only hope being if Mothra can persuade Godzilla and Rodan to unite and save the planet.A detective protects a princess who prophecies Earth's destruction by a powerful space monster; the world's only hope being if Mothra can persuade Godzilla and Rodan to unite and save the planet.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

8.4K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Trivia
The film is noted for beginning the gradual transition of Godzilla's character away from his villainous roots, an idea from producer Tomoyuki Tanaka. While screenwriter Shin'ichi Sekizawa and special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya aided this change by humanizing the monsters and adding more comedy to their antics, director Ishirô Honda opposed it. He was hesitant with the famous monster talk scene but was unable to dispute the studio mandates from Toho. Nevertheless, Honda was troubled by the direction Toho was forcing the series to take, mentioning, "I am concerned that we are drifting toward taking the easy route, believing a silly story line is OK, though it might be mocked by adults simply because the film is made for children. Kids will not tolerate nonsense." Tanaka would come to regret his decision, which he described as a mistake.

Goofs
When the assassins' 1960 Mercedes 220 S is crushed by the landslide, it changes to a 1963 Toyopet Tiara for the shot of Malmess extracting himself from the wreck.

Quotes
[as Mothra converses with Godzilla and Rodan]
Naoko Shindo: Mothra's talking to them. What do you think she's saying?
Detective Shindo: How would I know? I don't speak monster!
[Everyone turns to the fairies]
Professor Miura: What's she saying?
Shobijin, Shobijin: She's trying to persuade them, but they're not convinced. "Let's stop fighting each other. Let's join forces and protect the Earth from King Ghidorah."
Naoko Shindo: Do Godzilla and Rodan agree?
Shobijin, Shobijin: No, they say they don't care. They say it's none of their business.
Professor Miura: Damn them!
Detective Shindo: Those bastards!
Shobijin, Shobijin: Godzilla's saying, "We have no reason to help humans. Humans are always bullying us." Rodan says he agrees.

Alternate versions
In the Japanese version, Shindo fires back at Malmess and his thugs in Princess Salno's hotel room. However, the American version deletes Shindo's return of fire.

Connections
Edited into Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

User reviews90

Review

Featured review

Entertaining Godzilla movie

"Ghidora, the Three Headed Monster" is an entertaining and overall quite welcome addition to the Godzilla series (and of course the 'canon' of the other monsters appearing). The key to a good Godzilla flick is a solid plot (even if it's just interesting in a hokey B-movie sci-fi way) and interesting human characters, because let's face it, the monster action only actually makes up less than a third of the movie itself, so if the rest is torture to sit through there's almost no point to watching it (unless you're a completist, like myself).

"Ghidora, the Three Headed Monster" doesn't quite have the most interesting story of any of the Godzilla movies, but it's solid enough and we get a healthy dose of the lovable singing fairy girls. It's really the plot inconsistencies that let it down. I would forgive them, especially given that this is a Godzilla movie, but they are so glaring and obvious (why would the fairy girls, not wanting attention, appear on TV?) that they become annoying. The comedy in this film also really just doesn't work at all.

Ishiro Honda is once again the director, and as usual he proves that he is a more talented director than many would give him credit for. This most certainly wasn't the worst Godzilla movie he directed, but it's a shame the special effects couldn't be a little better and enhance the movie a bit. Although I quite like the monster suits themselves for both Godzilla and Ghidora the model work and the puppet work is especially bad and a surprising step down from the previous installment. Everything about "Ghidora, the Three Headed Monster" is a step down from the excellent "Mothra vs. Godzilla", but this is still an entertaining and welcome installment in the series, if deeply flawed.

6/10