Ape
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Movie Reviews of Ape
Movie Review: A*P*E is the Worst (and Best) Giant Monkey Movie Ever
Summary: 5 Stars
I had seen 'A*P*E' on VHS years ago, and loved it immediately. Fortunately, it is now available on DVD, and it is still as rancid as ever. Filled with atrocious acting, horrible dialogue, the, without question, lamest ape costume ever, and bizarre time consuming subplots, what more could a lover of Grade Z cinema want? 'A*P*E' (I don't know what the asterisks are for) starts on a boat on which the 36 foot tall monkey is being taken to Disneyland. Contrary to the box art, this boat is not the 'Titanic'. He escapes, and immediately springs into action battling a big rubber shark. During the course of the movie he also does battle with the following: a snake; a student hang glider; a guinea pig (possibly hamster or gerbil) dressed up as a cow; the South Korean army; and some kung fu fighters armed with garden shears. Of course he falls for the only blonde in Korea; a visiting American movie star named 'Marilyn' (Hmmmmmm...), gives her some lustful eye rolls, and pursues her into Seoul. Along the way she talks to him with such amazingly bad lines as "Be gentle, big fella", which makes him positively swoon.
In the opening the producers thank the US Army, but I am thinking that after watching the pathetic "Colonel Davis" attempt to match wits with the monkey, the Army might want to reconsider future support of giant ape films. We do get to see (seemingly) hours of the same stock footage of helicopters, tanks, and soldiers advancing, which yielded an observation about the helicopters. Interspersed with stock footage of real Huey and Cobra helicopters were, of course, the plastic miniatures that A*P*E swatted at. This is probably the worst example of model use ever seen on screen, and I am including Ed Wood's flying saucers from 'Plan 9' here. The strings are clearly visible, and the helicopters apparently do not require their rotors to spin to provide lift during the battle scenes. All of which brings me to my very favorite moment of the film: after downing a helicopter, A*P*E flips the unlucky chopper crew the bird. That is the scene that will stay with me forever from this film, and just by itself makes watching 'A*P*E' worthwhile.
The movie also has lots of other bonuses scattered throughout: nightmare inducing scary Asian puppetry; repetitive Russian dance music playing loudly enough to drown out dialogue during all of Marilyn's acting scenes; revolting make-out scenes between Marilyn and 'Tom Rose' an annoying reporter who is on the spot to cover the A*P*E; and wonderful reaction shots when people stumble into the path of the 36 foot tall monkey without noticing him until they are in his paw (Marilyn specializes in this.) One further cinematic device that the director, Paul Leder, skillfully uses is having the A*P*E dance a free-form, seemingly drug induced dance throughout the entire film, including during the fight scenes. Genius, pure genius.
In summation, this movie is not to be missed by anyone who adores the absolute bottom of the barrel dregs of filmmaking. An anti-masterwork if ever there was one. It would be perfectly suitable for everyone, except for swearing, which earned it a 'PG' rating. And oh, by the way, it is totally unlike that other, better known giant ape movie. That movie was in black and white, this one is in color!
At the conclusion of the film, Tom Rose sums it up (in a very Ed Wood sounding way) thusly: "He was just too big for a small world like ours." Oh, the humanity!
Movie Review: One of the best bad movies ever.
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, OK, maybe it's not quite in the same league as such films as ROBOT MONSTER or the works of Ed Wood. But this film is still plenty awful.
The story: Explorers go to an exotic island where the find and capture a 36-foot-tall ape, which they bring on board their ship and put in the cargo hold with plans to bring him to Disneyland. (By the way we never actually see the men come to the island and capture the gorilla, it starts off with them sailing at night with the beast inside the ship and past events explained with two shipmates expositing, so the film has this strange starting-off-in-the-middle feeling.) Anyway, the gas the use on the monster unfortunately wears off too soon and the creature wakes up and smashes his way out of the ship, completely destroying it in the process. He then travels to South Korea and begins wrecking havoc. Later he captures an American actress who's come to Korea with her news journalist boy friend to make a film. (Apparently it's a universal rule that all giant monkies must fall in love with a white woman.)
This film is chock full of ludicrous moments, but the single most absurd thing by far is when after the ape destroys a helicopter he gives it the finger. How, where and when the ape learned about that particular gesture the film never even bothers trying to explain to us. Geez, was this film EVER meant to be taken seriously?!
Originally shown in theaters in 3-D. I'm very sad that I'll never be able to see it that way.
Movie Review: A feast for any bad movie buff!
Summary: 5 Stars
"A*P*E" is one of the all-time great Bad Movies. I first read about it in some long-forgotten fantasy film magazine from the 1970's, but didn't actually see the film until it was released on VHS in the mid-90's. I proceeded to watch it twice within the next 24 hours and have since forced most of my friends to watch it at least once. "A*P*E" is an astounding example of inept filmmaking transcending its limitations to achieve a form of greatness undreamt-of by its director. The film begins with the Ape of the title escaping from the ship which is transporting it from its island home. (Sound familiar? It isn't the last "King Kong" reference you'll hear, as the movie clearly tries to capitalize on the then-upcoming remake of "Kong.") The Ape then encounters a great white shark and the viewer is treated to slow-motion footage of a man in a shoddy ape suit thrashing about in a tank of water with a very dead shark. These sequences are howlers; deliriously bad. But the beauty of "A*P*E" is that the film gets geometrically worse, climaxing in a mind-numbingly horrible confrontation between the Ape and the South Korean army. If you like Ed Wood movies; if you covet your DVD of "Attack of the Giant Leeches"; if Doris Wishman is your idol; then you will adore "A*P*E"!Movie Review: A*P*E is Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is so pathetic, it's a marvel that the crew remembered to take the cap off the camera lens. I can't help, but laugh at the Ape vs. Shark moment. This is what Ed Wood Jr. would have done if he'd had a chance to rip off King Kong. I can almost hear Johnny Depp as Ed directing the guy in the monkey suit to shake the giant rubber shark - make it look fierce! The fake cow moment is also a classic in Wood-ism. It's a shame they didn't hire the same guy who drew the poster to design the effects. The poster is boss.
Well no matter how bad the effects in Dino's Kong got, he could always watch Ape and know he didn't go that cheap.
This is the movie Peter Jackson should have remade.
Plus a very young Joanna Kerns almost gets me to believe that bad furry hand belongs to the ape and not a mardi gras float.
Movie Review: The Truth About Ape
Summary: 5 Stars
For starters You would have to see this film in its true format.I saw this movie in N.Y. At the forum on 47th street and broadway in feb or march of 1977 The film was shown in 3-D and Stereophonic sound, aka dolby stereo D before pro logic/remember 1976s Logans Run and 1975s Tommy.It had some remarkable shots done in 3-D. So unless you have seen this film in its original release form you should have no commit.This may be a low budget cheapie bad effects but.Allso take no advise from those listed who hang around drive inns I mean when have you ever seen or heard a movie in 70mm or 35mm in dolby stereo playing at a drive inn.