King Kong prepares to hug—er, battle Godzilla in KING KONG vs. GODZILLA (1962)

PICTURE OF THE DAY: KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (1962)

Like most other horror/monster movie fans, I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the new GODZILLA reboot, scheduled to hit theaters on Friday, May 16. I can’t wait. So, in the meantime, I’ve got Godzilla on my mind.

As a kid, I loved the Toho Godzilla movies, and the first one, GODZILLA-KING OF THE MONSTERS! (1956) even gave me nightmares. Godzilla in that first flick was oh-so-scary! The thunderous sound of his footsteps alone terrified me.

But my favorite Godzilla movie from the 1960s was KING KONG vs. GODZILLA (1962) because it included my other favorite giant monster, King Kong.

KING KONG vs. GODZILLA is a silly movie, anyway you slice it. It features the worst looking King Kong in the history of the movies. Kong here is so bad that even the gorilla suit used in the old Three Stooges shorts looked better. The awful Kong looks like a ragged beat-up stuffed toy, something the family dog plays with. He looks like King Louie from Disney’s THE JUNGLE BOOK (1967) on steroids with a hangover.

The dialogue is goofy, and most of the Kong scenes are played for laughs until the end when he finally meets Godzilla. However, the Godzilla scenes in this one are actually pretty good, with memorable scenes of Godzilla battling the army, attacking a train, and just looking menacing and plenty scary. And of course, the best part of the movie is the climactic battle between King Kong and Godzilla, pictured here, a bout that does not disappoint. It’s among the best Toho monster battle scenes in the entire series. I love it.

In fact, I love the whole movie, in spite of how silly it is, for a number of reasons. Number one is the pure nostalgia of the film, as it brings back memories from my childhood, but also this movie and Godzilla films in general are simply fun to watch, in a mindless sort of way. It’s just a hoot to watch an hour of bad dialogue followed by colorful scenes of Godzilla beating up on the military and then on other giant monsters. In this case, he meets his match with King Kong, which shouldn’t be the case since Godzilla is 400 feet tall and the original Kong was around 40 feet tall. Did I mention this movie was silly?

That being said, I have to admit that I’ve only seen the American version, and to my knowledge, for some bizarre reason, the Japanese version still has not been released here in the United States. Let’s get with the program, people! Release the damn movie, already!

And you can’t talk about KING KONG VS. GODZILLA without mentioning the urban legend which has been around for as long as the movie, that the film was shot with two different endings, with Kong winning in the American version, and Godzilla winning in the Japanese version. Supposedly, this just isn’t true, as Kong wins in both versions, or so they tell me, since I still haven’t seen the Japanese version which still hasn’t been released here in the States!

In today’s picture of the day, we see King Kong about to do battle with Godzilla as helicopters fly about in the background, and Kong even clutches one in his hand. I believe this is a publicity shot because I don’t remember this scene actually appearing in the movie. Sure, they do battle, but I don’t remember Kong smashing a helicopter.

Kong actually looks like he’s about to hug his old friend, Godzilla. Godzilla, dude, long time no see!

Gotta love that Kong suit!

So, there you have it, today’s picture of the day, a publicity shot from my favorite Godzilla movie from the 1960s, KING KONG VS. GODZILLA.

Of course, there are other Godzilla movies that I like better than this one, from other decades, but that’s a story for another day.

Until then, enjoy the picture, and let’s all hope than on May 16 we’re treated to a worthy reboot which would make Godzilla proud, and Kong too, for that matter, when GODZILLA (2014) hits theaters.

Here’s hoping Godzilla stomps his way back to the top!

Thanks for reading!

—Michael