Gorgo (1961)

I have seen clips of this movie when I was a kid. I've seen commercials and cartoons where there are clips of this movie. GORGO is one of those movies that is blatantly cashing in on the success of GODZILLA. This British film is interesting and wonderful. Twenty years ago I had to wake up as early as six in the morning to see it on American Movie Classics (or AMC for short). This is back when this channel really showed classics before it jumped the shark. with all these other shows that made you forget you are watching AMC. The plot is Kong-influenced and it is directed by Eugene Lourie. While his previous two dinosaur films, THE BEAST FROM 20'000 FATHOMS (1953) and THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (1959) had stop-motion animated dinosaurs, this one was a man in a suit as demonstrated in a non-dinosaur film a COLOSSUS IN NEW YORK (1954) which had a robot made by Charles Gemora. I saw the movie on TV at AMC and when the movie was over, my brother was woken up by the ending. This was Eugene Lourie's last monster movie. He went back to being an art director and in 1974, according to stop-motion animator Rob Maine who was fresh from FLESH GORDON was contacted by producer Phillip Yordan to do a remake of KING KONG with Rob on special effects and Eugene on the director's chair. Sadly studio executive said no to it because they decided to use a man in a suit for Kong so audiences can get empathy through the eye-holes. As a result, the project was scrapped. Tom Howard, who had his special effects team behind this movie was called by Hammer to do a remake of KING KONG with David Prowse in the title role. Unfortunately, they can't afford to buy the rights.so they ended up with ONE MILLION B.C. (1966). It is a pity that it never got a sequel or a remake. Great movie, great special effects, thrilling, chilling, downright wonderful. It even got the MST3K (short for MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000) treatment. Give it a watch (whether you enjoy DUCKTALES or not) and if you enjoyed that movie, then you will enjoy KONGA (read my review). Not rated, but a G will do. Not suitable for children under the age of seven.

Even though this is an obvious Godzilla rip-off,it's better and somehow worse at the same time. With Godzilla a lot of the dumbness is due to it being Japanese and dubbed,Gorgo uses all the typical American b-movie clichés but you see Gorgo a lot,Godzilla usually only shows up at the end.The best part is they advertise "Like nothing you've ever seen before!".I've seen lots of stuff like it. So some generic sailors break down in an Irish harbor.Of course there's a harbor master and wouldn't you know it,he has a little boy that isn't his son(this is getting weird).You know the harbor master is shady and that means he will clash with the sailors. Gorgo shows up and all of a sudden there are hundreds of people with an endless supply of torches to throw.Clearly torches are cheap and easy to make as they throw hundreds at a 60 foot tall monster who is standing in the ocean. The sailors easily capture Gorgo and what do you think they do?? You know what they do.....TO THE BIG CITY!!!!!! This time it's London and almost no one has a British accent. So they put him in a pit with an electric wire around it and charge people to see him,totally safe. It wouldn't be a movie if a scientist didn't instantly figure out that this isn't an adult,with absolutely no evidence or reason. You know where this is going. Not that bad.It's better than every Godzilla movie I've seen so far and that's quite a few.

When I was a kid, one of my few prized possessions was a copy of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND with a Basil Gogos painting of GORGO on the cover (I'd ordered the back issue from the publisher, many years after the fact, but one's love of all things Monster never diminishes: I still fondly remember that cover). For some reason, I'd never come across the movie itself before; then I happened to find it listed on Netflix. The DVD I rented boasts a treasure trove of Extras, including a page-by-page look at the Charlton Comics adaptation by SPIDER-MAN co-creator Steve Ditko, as well as an informative making-of feature. The movie itself did not disappoint: the special effects were surprisingly well done, and the performances all around solid. The "twist" was fantastic, and the closing moments of the movie are sweet enough to bring a tear to the eye.

It's hard to believe this film has so many good reviews, especially so many stating how advanced the effects were for their time. It is utter rubbish, and unfortunately not even bad enough to make it funny. The acting is lame throughout and the characters and dialogue unrealistic. The monster, which I presume is based on an anklosaurus, is so obviously a man in a suit, that it is in no way convincing. Most of the budget must have been spent on stock footage, which makes up about a third of the film. This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so badly cut and with ineffective dubbing over it. Unfortunately there are a lot of continuity errors and even more times when the same stock footage is used more than once. Even the tailor made special effects are recycled, with Gorgo knocking over the same wall three times in about two minutes. I'd like to know whether the people who thought these effects were realistic were only 6 years old when they saw it or if they were taking mind expanding drugs at the time because quite frankly The Muppets are more realistic than Gorgo. The film's one redeeming feature is the happy ending.