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Konga
[MGM]
1961; color
Directed by John Lemont
Starring: Michael Gough, Margo Johns, Jess Conrad, Claire Gordon, Austin Trevor, Jack Watson & George Pastell
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As we have covered many times over here at the buffet - if Hollywood has taught us anything, it's that original ideas are hard to come by. Which explains how we've ended up reviewing at least four films centering around giant monkeys in the site's two and a half year existence. Since there's no point in trying to debate why it is so difficult for major motion picture companies to come up with an original idea, I'll move right along and tell you that this film is by far my favorite of the bunch. (Ahem.) Although I do like The Mighty Peking Man, Konga just has a bit more… mmmm, je ne sais quoi. From the Command Records style opening credits to the hail of sparkling lights that ultimately bring our hairy hero to his knees, this is clearly not your grandparents' Kong. It's sure as hell not DeLaurentis' Kong either, and I mean that as a compliment. Because that movie basically sucks; and Jessica Lange was in it, who I don't like. This movie didn't feature anyone I didn't like. Nor did it contain anyone I was familiar with at all. (Although the Kommandant accurately pegged the turban wearing fella who becomes Konga's second victim as the same guy who plays the turban wearing fella who resurrects The Mummy in the Hammer film of the same name. He dies in that movie too, actually. Poor guy. There just aren't a lot of good roles for fellas wearing turbans.) But this movie does contain a lot of bad acting, special effects that are anything but special or effective - including a series of deaths where grievous bodily harm is inflicted on not one but two slightly larger than Barbie sized dolls - and a ton of crazy blown out colors that I found very inspiring. (In fact, not too long ago I wore a purple top with green shoes, and I wasn't 100% sure whether or not the color combination worked; this movie helped me decide that it did.) The plotline is fairly expected: a doctor who winds up stranded in the jungle after his plane goes down discovers, through a somewhat drawn out series of events, that he can not only make a small monkey turn into a giant ape, he can make said giant ape do his bidding by controlling his impulses with a pen-like flashlight. Of course, as remote control bidding always does, this involves the dispatching of anyone who has crossed the man on the other side of the flashlight and, just as naturally, eventually the force of nature versus nurture comes into play once the now super human animal realizes he can pretty much do whatever the fuck he wants, seeing as how he's a giant ape and all, and has to make the ultimate decision whether or not to bite the hand that began feeding it with whatever made it giant in the first place. I won't spoil the ending for you by saying what happens but, rest assured, the climax is as cheesy and awesome as everything that preceded it.
—Bunny
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