A couple but the issue was that none of the tone made it in. Playing it straight was a big mistake. My tone went for a touch of camp but a lot of satire. That completely disappeared. I did get paid for it (about $5000 at the time as I recall) but gave up any rights to story, etc. I could have gone to the Writer’s Guild for arbitration but the chances were pretty remote and, frank;y, I had given up all rights to,the material by signing my contract to be paid. Dino’s production company wasn’t always the most ethical company as well. I did register my script with the WGA in case mine was used but there are other complications around proving authorship and, frankly, in a way I’m glad it turned out the way it did. It’s the only script I wrote in 10 years that got to a production stage I was involved in (I did have a script that was optioned for the 80’s Twilight Zone but it was cancelled before it ever reached production stage and Imdid write a pilot for a Three’s Company styled comedy called “The Marina” (about the sexual escapades of residents in Marin Del Rey) that was written, pitched and optioned but, again, didn’t get to production. ‘Frankly, when I did finally the film, I was kind of glad that my name wasn’t anywhere in the credits. I found out later from a contact still there that the film went through about ten screenwriters before Dino’s production people were happy with the script. None of them got any credit despite the fact that actual dialog was in the finished version. To lobby for credit you have to be able to prove at least 50-60% of the material you wrote ended up in the finished versi0n at that time.
Camp and satire would have helped "King Kong Lives" a lot. There was a lot of wasted potential with what we ended up with. Oh well, what do I expect from people who removed the dinosaurs from the Kong story?
I agree. That’s why I went in that directi0n because it also helped cover up the deficits of Dino’s “K0ng”. Mine also had some dinosaurs in it which they were brought to America as part of the ‘show’ of a revived Kong (he got a heart surgery and transfusion from a female ape they discovered when they tried to find other creatures to exploit the island in my version). While he did ‘die’ they used experimental drug to preserve brain and tissue function as they tried to bring him back bexause he was a ‘corporate asset’. The dinosaurs were cut for two reasons 1) cost to create convincing creatures which was too expensive and 2) it detracted from what they felt was a Kong ‘love story’ of sorts.
I thought so and it was fun with that element of satire. Clearly they disagreed. I still have a copy of my version somewhere.
When you're 5 years old, these kind of movies are breathtakingly wonderful. I remember seeing commercials for Jack The Giant Killer in 1962, wanted to see it so bad. No adult would take me.
' Jack The Giant Killer ' was one of the first movies I saw on the big screen. I was so excited to see it and it didn't disappoint....except for the mushy icky kissing \ romance stuff. You know how that is when you're six years old.
I saw it as a kid in the theater and then later on a double with Psycho of all things. I got the DVD. A cheesy favorite.
Getting good reviews, apparently they threw out the dust filter and dark rainy night battles. Might go if I can ascertain a nearby theater has merv 13 filtration
I just realized it's been 9 years since I set foot in a movie theater. This one could conceivably break that streak but I've got HBOMAX so nope.
Love King Kong Vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes. People knock the suit of Kong 1962 but I always liked it. In Escapes Kong looks seriously stoned, I guess Rankin Bass was trying to get Kong in sync with the psychedlic 60's party scene. I always wanted Godzilla to rise up from that ocean at the end vs. Kong.
There's some theater screen shot clips that have been showing up on YouTube (it's screening in theaters now overseas) and the big battle at the end of the movie looks very cheap and video game-ish.
I actually saw the Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla in the early 60s when a local Japanese theater (Toho) in downtown Honolulu screened it. I was around 9 years old, couldn't understand a word but it didn't matter when KK & G were on screen in living color!
Looking forward to this tomorrow. Here's hoping there is minimal human involvement and maximum Kaiju mayhem in the film.
Which was ridiculous. Godzilla should have continuously blasted Kong with his fire breath, roasting the big ape alive. At minimum burnt off all his hair.
