King Kong Vs. Godzilla

 
This movie just HAD to have been made with young children in mind. In the plot, the United Nations sends a submarine into the Bering Sea to investigate the unusual temperature levels that have been causing large icebergs to melt. The sub meets its demise when it rams into an iceberg with an extremely large occupant inside! The rescue helicopter spots Godzilla as he tries to break free of the massive iceberg holding him prisoner. 

Godzilla comes to Japan and begins to tear it to shreds. They put the whole thing on TV. A bigwig corporate executive named Mr. Tako is watching. In disgust, he turns off the set and announces that he is sick and tired of Godzilla and he wants his own monster yesterday. So two of his employees, Sakurai and Buru, set sail for Faero Island. They are accosted by the hostile, suspicious natives and brought to the chief, who tells them to get the H-E double hockey sticks off of the island. Sakurai uses Kono, a native who came with them, to communicate. He bribes the chief with a transistor radio and cigarettes.

This smoking party is interrupted by a loud clap of thunder and a bright flash of lightning. The natives scatter to their places and begin worshiping. Sakurai and Buru are clueless as to what's going on until they hear a loud roar. 

Back in Japan, Sakurai's sister, Fumiko, receives word that the same plane that her fiance Fujita was supposed to be on crashed in Hokkaido. She takes a train to Hokkaido immediately, unaware that Fujita missed the ill fated flight and also that Godzilla is headed for Hokkaido. Fujita goes to find her after hearing that Godzilla is in Hokkaido. He finds her just as she's about to get stepped on. He rescues her just in time. 

Back on the island, a giant octopus has raided the berry juice store and angered King Kong who comes and beats the tar out of the hapless creature. Kong then proceeds to get high on the berry juice and passes out on the beach. Sakurai and Buru somehow manage to tie the huge ape to a raft to be towed to Tokyo according to their boss's wish. Tako boards the ship by way of helicopter and exults in his new find. 
Unfortunately, his exultation is cut short as the Japanese Navy refuses to let Kong enter Japan. Kong wakes up and begins to beat the hell out of the raft and the ship. Sakurai and Buru try to kill Kong with TNT over Tako's vehement protests and only end up setting Kong free. Kong swims to Japan to intercept Godzilla. The two face off with only a deep chasm separating them. 
 

Unfortunately, Godzilla has an advantage with his radioactive plasma ray...leaving a bewildered Kong to wander off and contemplate his scorched fur as Godzilla goes his way to destroy more Japanese cities. The Japanese Defense Force tries everything to stop Godzilla, from pits with poison gas, to stringing high tension wires around Tokyo (A strategy that didn't work the last time!) Godzilla gets a taste of voltage and amperage and quickly decides he wants no more. He wanders around looking at the electrical barrier...and leaves, heading toward Mt. Fuji.

King Kong comes running to Tokyo and absorbs the electricity meant to repel Godzilla. He spots a train and out of all the passengers on it he manages to snag Fumiko. Fumiko, like Fay Wray in the 1933 American classic King Kong, promptly begins screaming her fool head off. Kong finds this to be interesting and begins trotting around Tokyo with Fumiko still shrieking her lungs out. The Japanese military, on Sakurai's advice, put Kong to sleep with berry juice fumes. They capture the giant simian and take him to Mt. Fuji where Godzilla is lurking. 

The two take an instant dislike to one another as they had before, only Kong has lost his fear of Godzilla's heat ray. They beat each other up for a few minutes, and Godzilla has just about put Kong out of the kaiju business when a freak thunderstorm blows up. Lightning bolts rejuvenate Kong, who promptly puts an electrified stranglehold on his reptilian enemy. The two fall into the ocean and cause a massive earthquake that can be felt for miles as well as a tidal wave that washes up the shoreline.

There is some dispute among Godzilla fans about who won...there is even dispute about the existence of two endings. In the American version, Kong won the big fight. But in Japan, it was everybody's favorite lizard who was the champion. Godzilla!

Back to the Movies List