King Kong Escapes (1967 film)

King Kong Escapes, released in Japan as King Kong no Gyakushū (キングコングの逆襲 ,Kingu Kongu no Gyakushū, literally "King Kong's Counterattack"), is a Japanese/American tokusatsu film. A co-production from Toho and Rankin/Bass, it was released in Japan in 1967, and in the United States by Universal Studios the following year.

The film was an adaptation of episodes of Rankin/Bass and Toei Animation's The King Kong Show cartoon series. As with King Kong vs. Godzilla, Eiji Tsuburaya served as director of special effects.

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Plot
An evil genius named Dr. Who has created a robotic version of King Kong named Mechani-Kong in order to dig for a highly radioactive element called "Element X", but the power of it shuts the robot down. Meanwhile, the crew of a submarine investigate the legend of King Kong on Mondo Island and Susan Wattson is attacked by Gorosaurus. However Kong comes to her rescue and kills it by breaking their jaws, before also saving the crew from a giant sea snake. Later, Dr. Who kidnaps the real Kong along with the submarine crew and hypnotize him to dig for Element X. He soon snaps out of it, escapes and swims off to Tokyo. The submarine crew also escape and Kong picks up Wattson, who he carries to the top of the Tokyo Tower where he fights Mechani-Kong. He wins and destroys the rorbot before killing Dr. Who and swimming back to Mondo Island. This was the first film to feature Gorosaurus, who would reappear in Destroy All Monsters.

English Version
The film opened in the United States in June 1968 on a double-bill with the Don Knotts comedy, The Shakiest Gun in the West Contemporary American reviews were mixed. New York Times film critic, Vincent Canby gave it a particularly insulting review, calling Toho's Kong an "Uncle Tom," and commenting, "The Japanese... are all thumbs when it comes to making monster movies like 'King Kong Escapes.' The Toho moviemakers are quite good in building miniature sets, but much of the process photography—matching the miniatures with the full-scale shots—is just bad... the plotting is hopelessly primitive..."

The July 15, 1968 Film Bulletin, however, gave it a more positive review, saying "Grown-ups who like their entertainments on a comic-strip level will find this good fun and the Universal release (made in Japan) has plenty of ballyhoo angles to draw the school-free youngsters in large numbers..."

Credits
Eiji Tsuburaya - Special effects director

Sadamasa Arikawa - Secondary special effects director

Teruyoshi Nakano - Assistant special effects director

Takeo Kita - Art direction

Fumio Nakadai - Wireworks director

Yasuyuki Inoue - Special effects sets

Cast
Cast Rhodes Reason - Commander Carl Nelson　(voice actor: Kei　Taguchi)

Akira Takarada - Lt. Commander Jiro Nomura

Linda Miller - Lt. Susan Watson　(voice actor: Akiko Santou)

Eisei Amamoto - Dr. Who

Mie Hama - Madame Piranha

Ikio Sawamura - Old Man of Mond Island

Yosihumi Tajima - Chief

Nadao Kirino - Dr. Who’s assistant

Sachio Sakai - Dr. Who’s assistant

Naoya Kusakawa - Dr. Who’s assistant

Susumu Kurobe - Dr. Who’s subordinate

Tooru Ibuki - Dr. Who’s subordinate

Kazuo Suzuki - Dr. Who’s subordinate

Shigemi Sagawa - Dr. Who’s subordinate

Yoshio Katsube - Dr. Who’s subordinate

Haruo Suzuki - Dr. Who’s subordinate

Jun Kuroki - Jet helicopter crewman

Takuya Yuki - Jet helicopter crewman

Masaki Shinohara - Carrier sailor

Andrew Hughes - United Nations journalist

Al Kramer - United Nations journalist

Ryuuji Kita - Police inspector

Syouichi Hirose - Submarine Explore crewman

Rinsaku Ogata - Submarine Explore crewman

Ousmane Yusef - Submarine Explore crewman

Yutaka Oka - Submarine Explore crewman

Yū Sekida - Headquarters guard

Kazuo Hinata - Headquarters guard

Akio Kusama - Headquarters guard

Masaaki Tachibana - Self-Defense Force soldier

Tadashi Okabe - Self-Defense Force soldier

Hideo Shibuya - Self-Defense Force soldier

Haruya Sakamoto - Self-Defense Force soldier

Keiichirou Katsumoto - Curious spectator

Haruo Nakajima - King Kong, Curious spectator

Yū Sekida - Mechani-Kong, Gorosaurus

Trivia
Akira Ifukube would reuse and rewrite Mechani-Kong's theme for his score to Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.