King Kong

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King Kong

PG

1976

2h 14m

Adventure

Fantasy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

55%

Tomatometer

51 Reviews

32%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

When a research ship is sent to explore an island thought to be rich in oil, paleontologist Jack Prescott sneaks aboard, having heard strange rumors about the island. En route, the crew rescues Dwan, the sole survivor of a shipwreck. When they arrive, they find native people living in fear of a monster called Kong. The natives kidnap Dwan and sacrifice her to what turns out to be an enormous ape. Dwan is eventually rescued, and the ape captured for a gala exhibit.

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Critics Consensus

King Kong represents a significant visual upgrade over the original, but falls short of its classic predecessor in virtually every other respect.

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Rocco T. Thompson

Slant Magazine

07/17/2024

4/5

The Dino De Laurentiis-produced remake of King Kong is a beautifully aged 1970s gem, uniting old-fashioned spectacle and contemporary concerns.

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Pauline Kael

The New Yorker

01/22/2024

It's a romantic adventure fantasy -- colossal, silly, touching, a marvelous classics-comics movie.

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Anton Bitel

Little White Lies

12/13/2022

Kong is attacked with flame throwers and military helicopters, evoking Vietnam War imagery that had been playing out on America’s small screens till its end in 1975 – and that had divided audiences in their sympathies for ‘our side’ and ‘the Other’.

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Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

05/09/2023

The funny thing is, the love story works! What isn't funny is that all the horror has gone out of it; to make Kong lovable, they've made him too human, the most three-dimensional character in the story.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

07/24/2022

2/4

...an excessively erratic blockbuster...

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David Reddish

Queerty

03/13/2022

1/4

Lange shouting Good monkey and Chauvinist ape will have viewers in stitches.

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Forat A

@DKCountryYT67 Dec 28

Boring, monki is gud thi

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Ilyas Z

@Zellai Dec 13

It's A Pretty Fun Adaptation Of The Original One From 1933, But There Are A Few Problems With The Story, But Still, It's Not Bad But Not My Favorite.

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Shawn O.

@keefur57 Dec 10

8 year old me loved this movie when it came out 1976. Not gonna lie. I still love it!

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Kevin D

@Kevinizon Dec 5

I remember seeing it as a little kid, and feeling "eh'. I recently rewatched and was struck but how amazing the compositions, the lighting, the camera work. Fantastic! But the story... the length... all of that? Pretty weak. Drags on and on. Not as horrible as the Peter Jackson mess, but unfortunately a lost opportunity.

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Matt L.

@mattl Nov 28

This is one of the first movies I ever saw. I was 4 years old and my parents told me something prior to going to the theater which imprinted a direction of the rest of my life. Fearing that the giant ape attacks and other dramatic moments might scare my young self, my parents told me, the movie we were going to see was simply grown ups playing make believe. I understood playing with toys and I understood what imagination was. As the movie played I was amazed and thrilled that as a grown person you could have a career in make believe. As soon as I got home I set up my matchbox cars in rows and began smashing them beneath the heal of a stuffed Curious George. I wasn’t playing make believe King Kong as much as I was pretending to make a movie. This movie sparked in me a life long love of movies especially and self expression in general. The movie was a big budget studio piece that wasn’t exactly high art. But all art has the potential to inspire and expand the awareness of the viewer. This film did that for me.

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Oaklee D

@ODie63 Oct 13

While the obvious hasn't aged well, this film has far exceeded my expectations. The final 20 minutes were more intense than I had expected.

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John Guillermin

Director

Jeff Bridges

Jack Prescott

Jessica Lange

Dwan

Charles Grodin

Fred Wilson

John Randolph

Captain Ross

Rene Auberjonois

Bagley

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Synopsis

When a research ship is sent to explore an island thought to be rich in oil, paleontologist Jack Prescott sneaks aboard, having heard strange rumors about the island. En route, the crew rescues Dwan, the sole survivor of a shipwreck. When they arrive, they find native people living in fear of a monster called Kong. The natives kidnap Dwan and sacrifice her to what turns out to be an enormous ape. Dwan is eventually rescued, and the ape captured for a gala exhibit.

Director: John Guillermin
Producer: Dino De Laurentiis
Screenwriter: Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures, De Laurentiis
Rating: PG
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 17, 1976, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 20, 2007
Runtime: 2h 14m

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