lew (10/25/82)
I watched King Kong on the Late Show last night for the nth time, but I had forgotten how good the movie is. The local (Chicago Tribune) TV guide gave it four stars, commenting that it was the unlikeliest film classic of all time, what with its wooden acting and stilted dialogue. This stimulated me to think about why it IS so good while I was watching. My reasons: 1) King Kong's brutish innocence. This is really the whole thing, it is epitomized by his uncomprehending reaction to his airplane inflicted wounds. 2) Technical excellence. The best scene is his fight with the T. Rex; totally convincing. Generally realistic ape behavior. 3)Consistency of scale. Epitomized by his climbing the Empire State building. Also, the island topography was laid out clearly and adhered to. 4)Unflinching depiction of violence. The log scene is riveting, and how about the guy getting plucked out of the tree? I could go on. All in all, King Kong is MUCH better than Star Wars! Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew
mcdaniel (10/26/82)
#R:ihuxr:-15800:uiucdcs:10700019:000:269 uiucdcs!mcdaniel Oct 25 22:55:00 1982 "Generally realistic ape behavior"????? No, generally realistic HUMAN behavior. A gorilla, for example, is rather timid in the wild, and certainly wouldn't go rampaging around (unless its relative(s)/mate(s) are being threatened, or if some other special cases occur).