Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #46: KING KONG

Jessica Lange is in good hands in this rare behind-the-scenes shot of the full-scale animatronic gorilla arms built for Dino de Laurentiis' production of King Kong, on the blue-screen stage in 1975-76. Carlo Rambaldi's much-hyped, life-size robot Kong turned out to be an unconvincing dud, but these robot appendages were actually pretty remarkable feats of 70s engineering...

8 comments:

  1. I don't remember ever seeing a picture of the full size robot.

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    1. It can be seen in the film - briefly. During the "unveiling" of Kong in New York. It's the extremely unconvincing creature in the cage.

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  2. I remember it and it's very awkward when they switch back and forth between the robot and the man-in-suit (Rick Baker).

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  3. Welcome back, you were greatly missed. I love the pic. Regardless of the movies lack of box office success, I have always enjoyed it. Great actors and especially wonderful art work. Again, thanks for your efforts.

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  4. I have always love the 1976 Kong. I saw it in the theater originally. It's much better than Peter Jackson's drawn out snooze fest.

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  5. When I was a child my parents brought me to Great Adventure (1983-ish) and there was a full size Kong hand that you could sit in and have your picture taken. I wonder if it was one of these hands?

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  6. Judith Crist described this movie as "the story of a dumb blonde who falls for a huge plastic finger" and there is that finger. I think the trouble was everyone involved wanted to be taken as seriously as the classic original, except the scriptwriter who seemed to want to make a spoof. But it's not quite as funny as A*P*E - now there was a huge finger.

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  7. This is my favourite King Kong movie.

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