Guilty Pleasure No. 20: King Kong vs. Godzilla (dir. by Ishirō Honda)


KingKongvGodzilla

With the release of the new American reboot/remake/sequel of the classic 1954 Godzilla by Ishirō Honda, I thought it was high time I shared one of my guiltiest of all film pleasures growing up.

Godzilla and everything kaiju I ate up as a wee lad growing up during the 80’s. There really wasn’t anything on Saturday morning and afternoon tv other than reruns of badly dubbed Japanese monsters flicks and anime. One such film was Ishirō Honda’s very own King Kong vs. Godzilla. Yes, you read that correctly. The King of All Monsters fought the Eight Wonder of the World to decide once and for all who was the greatest giant monster of all-time.

The film itself wasn’t that great when I look back on it. Hell, even I had a sort of understanding even as an 8-year old kid that King Kong vs. Godzilla was a pretty bad film, but I still had a blast watching it. The film lacked in coherent storyline and important themes of man vs. nature and the psychological impact of the two atomic bombings of the US on Japan to end World War II wasn’t at all evident in this monster mash-up.

What the film had was King Kong fighting Godzilla. It was like watching two of the greatest icons of youths of my generation duking it out for our pleasure. It didn’t need to have a story or worry about whether it’s depiction of the natives on King Kong’s island was even remotely racist (it was so racist). All it needed to do was show everyone the very fight they’ve been waiting for. Fans of both monster wouldn’t have to wait forever to see the fight happen. This wasn’t going to be a dream fight never to happen like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.

So, while King Kong vs. Godzilla was never one of the good entries in the Godzilla filmography (I think it was probably the worst) it more than made up for being one of the most campiest and entertaining entries in the Big Guy’s decades long history.

If there ever was a film from my youth that needs to be remade it would be King Kong vs. Godzilla and only Guillermo Del Toro should be chosen to direct it.

  1. Half-Baked
  2. Save The Last Dance
  3. Every Rose Has Its Thorns
  4. The Jeremy Kyle Show
  5. Invasion USA
  6. The Golden Child
  7. Final Destination 2
  8. Paparazzi
  9. The Principal
  10. The Substitute
  11. Terror In The Family
  12. Pandorum
  13. Lambada
  14. Fear
  15. Cocktail
  16. Keep Off The Grass
  17. Girls, Girls, Girls
  18. Class
  19. Tart

59 responses to “Guilty Pleasure No. 20: King Kong vs. Godzilla (dir. by Ishirō Honda)

  1. Pingback: Film Review: Godzilla Vs. Hedorah (dir Yoshimitsu Banno) | Through the Shattered Lens

  2. Pingback: Film Review: Godzilla vs. Gigan (dir by Jun Fukuda) | Through the Shattered Lens

  3. Pingback: Film Review: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (dir by Takao Okawara) | Through the Shattered Lens

  4. Pingback: Film Review: Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (dir by Jun Fukuda) | Through the Shattered Lens

  5. Pingback: Film Review: Godzilla vs. Mothra (dir by Takao Okawara) | Through the Shattered Lens

  6. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 21: Hawk the Slayer (dir. by Terry Marcel) | Through the Shattered Lens

  7. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 22: Battle Beyond the Stars (dir. by Jimmy T. Murakami) | Through the Shattered Lens

  8. Pingback: Guilty (Horror) Pleasure #23: Meridian (dir by Charles Band) | Through the Shattered Lens

  9. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 25: From Justin to Kelly (dir by Robert Iscove) | Through the Shattered Lens

  10. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 26: Project Greenlight | Through the Shattered Lens

  11. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 27: Sex Decoy: Love Stings | Through the Shattered Lens

  12. Pingback: Adventures in Cleaning Out The DVR: Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (dir by A.B. Stone) | Through the Shattered Lens

  13. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 28: Swimfan (dir by John Polson) | Through the Shattered Lens

  14. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 29: On The Line (dir by Eric Bross) | Through the Shattered Lens

  15. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 30: Wolfen (dir. by Michael Wadleigh) | Through the Shattered Lens

  16. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 31: Hail, Caesar! (dir by the Coen Brothers) | Through the Shattered Lens

  17. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 32: It’s So Cold In The D by T-Baby (a.k.a. My Excuse For Not Getting More Accomplished Today) | Through the Shattered Lens

  18. Pingback: Lisa Cleans Out Her DVR: Guilty Pleasure No. 33: In the Mix (dir by Ron Underwood) | Through the Shattered Lens

  19. Pingback: Lisa Cleans Out Her DVR: Guilty Pleasure No. 33: In the Mix (dir by Ron Underwood) | Through the Shattered Lens

  20. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 34: Healed by Grace (dir by David Weese) | Through the Shattered Lens

  21. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 35: Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann | Through the Shattered Lens

  22. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 36: The Legend of Billie Jean (dir by Matthew Robbins) | Through the Shattered Lens

  23. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 37: Death Wish (dir by Eli Roth) | Through the Shattered Lens

  24. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 38: Shipping Wars | Through the Shattered Lens

  25. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 39: Ghost Whisperer | Through the Shattered Lens

  26. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 40: Parking Wars | Through the Shattered Lens

  27. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 41: The Dead Are After Me (Raiders of the Living Dead), performed by George Edward Ott | Through the Shattered Lens

  28. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 42: Harper’s Island | Through the Shattered Lens

  29. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 43: The Resurrection of Gavin Stone (dir by Dallas Jenkins) | Through the Shattered Lens

  30. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 44: Paranormal State | Through the Shattered Lens

  31. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 45: Utopia | Through the Shattered Lens

  32. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 46: Bar Rescue | Through the Shattered Lens

  33. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 47: The Powers of Matthew Star | Through the Shattered Lens

  34. Pingback: Lisa’s Week In Review: 8/10/20 — 8/16/20 | Through the Shattered Lens

  35. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 46: Spiker (dir by Roger Tilton) | Through the Shattered Lens

  36. Pingback: (Canadian) Guilty Pleasure No. 47: Heavenly Bodies (dir by Lawrence Dane) | Through the Shattered Lens

  37. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 50: Maid in Manhattan (dir by Wayne Wang) | Through the Shattered Lens

  38. Pingback: Film Review: Godzilla vs. Kong (dir by Adam Wingard) | Through the Shattered Lens

  39. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 51: Rage and Honor (dir by Terence Winkless) | Through the Shattered Lens

  40. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 52: Saved By The Bell 3.21 “No Hope With Dope” (dir by Don Barnhart) | Through the Shattered Lens

  41. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 53: Happy Gilmore (dir by Dennis Dugan) | Through the Shattered Lens

  42. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 54: Solarbabies (dir by Alan Johnson) | Through the Shattered Lens

  43. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 55: The Dawn of Correction | Through the Shattered Lens

  44. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 56: Once You Understand By Think | Through the Shattered Lens

  45. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 57: The Voyeurs (dir by Michael Mohan) | Through the Shattered Lens

  46. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 58: Robot Jox (dir by Stuart Gordon) | Through the Shattered Lens

  47. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 59: Teen Wolf (dir by Rod Daniel) | Through the Shattered Lens

  48. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 60: The Running Man (dir by Paul Michael Glaser) | Through the Shattered Lens

  49. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 61: Double Dragon (dir by James Yukich) | Through the Shattered Lens

  50. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 62: Backtrack (dir by Dennis Hopper) | Through the Shattered Lens

  51. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 63: Julie and Jack (dir by James Nguyen) | Through the Shattered Lens

  52. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 64: Karate Warrior (dir by Fabrizio De Angelis) | Through the Shattered Lens

  53. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 65: Invaders From Mars (dir by Tobe Hooper) | Through the Shattered Lens

  54. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No.66: Cloverfield (dir Matt Reeves) | Through the Shattered Lens

  55. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 67: Aerobicide (dir by David A. Prior) | Through the Shattered Lens

  56. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure: Blood Harvest (dir by Bill Rebane) | Through the Shattered Lens

  57. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 69: Shocking Dark (dir by Bruno Mattei) | Through the Shattered Lens

  58. Pingback: Guilty Pleasure No. 70: Face The Truth | Through the Shattered Lens

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.