Customer Reviews

Mighty Peking Man

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mighty Peking Man is literally a Hong Kong rip off of Dino DeLaurentis' own 76' remake of King Kong, making it a rip off of a rip off! It actually steals entire scenes from the movie! But who cares! The Sheena-like jungle girl is Playboy material HOT! And she is in danger the entire movie of losing her skimpy top! The Peking Man costume is bad, but certainly no worse than the multimillion dollar 40 foot tall Kong used in the 76' remake for all of 4 seconds, and the Peking man costume was made at a fraction of the cost. The fake helicopters and tanks, buildings, ect are no worse than anything in a Toho Godzilla flick. And the movie has a cheesy/sleazy 70's groove to it if you can dig, man. Worth the price of the DVD is the scene where "Sheena" and Johnny are falling in love in slow motion to a horrible "Mellow Gold" love song. If you though "Plan 9 from Outer Space" was the worst film ever, or the best of the "So bad they're great" watch the Peking Man with a bunch of intoxicated friends, and you will not be disappointed!

I'll start by saying that I am generally fond of giant ape camp classics (like "A*P*E") but found "Mighty Peking Man" grating, long, boring, and unfunny. In short, it really tried my patience. I generously gave it two stars for the presence of Evelyne Kraft as the comical blonde jungle nymph who was raised by Mighty Peking Man, and especially the truly bizarre tiger and cheetah encounters (who knew a live cheetah makes such a great stole?)

Apparently Quentin Tarantino likes this movie, as it was released on DVD by Rolling Thunder Pictures under one of its many monikers, "Mighty Peking Man," though I think the original Shaw Brothers title "Xing Xing Wang" is much more entertaining. The film starts right off with an adventurer, Johnnie, discovering his girlfriend having an affair, so on a whim he takes an assignment to go to India to find a giant monkey, Mighty Peking Man. I have to tell you that this film had probably the worst process shots of animals I have ever seen. I especially loved the elephant stampede, though the big cats were great too. Mighty Peking Man himself is a guy is an absolutely terrible ape suit. In the first few minutes of the film the expedition to capture the monkey encounters an earthquake, a tiger attack (note: the way to escape a tiger attack is not to jump in quicksand as it turns out,) an elephant stampede, and a nasty fall from a scary cliff. Johnnie also finds Samantha, the blonde jungle queen, and it's love at first sight. Of course she was raised after surviving a plane crash as a girl by Mighty Peking Man, and they communicate on a deep level and he obeys her commands. Johnnie saves Samantha from a nasty cobra bite with the help of some medicinal leaves Mighty Peking Man brings, cementing their relationship. Please especially enjoy the "frolicking in the jungle" scene while some of the worst 1970's music in existence swells on the soundtrack. Both your eyes and ears will scream for mercy.

Of course Johnnie is still under contract to capture the ape, so even though he has reservations he persuades Samantha to accompany them to Hong Kong where he will be put on display. The lash him to the deck of a boat, sail through a typhoon (don't worry when the ship hits a rock in the middle of the ocean, that's just fine,) set up shop in a stadium, and proceed to mistreat the ape. I was amused that Johnnie bought Samantha a dress to replace her fur loincloth and bikini top. He chose an ultra-comfy form-fitting black latex outfit, which Samantha promptly threw out a porthole. Up to this point the movie was modestly entertaining from a camp perspective, but about halfway through it, I started to lose patience.

The big change involves the mistreatment of Mighty Peking Man, and the unbelievably overblown drama that went along with his escape and battle for existence. There's an unsavory assault complete with wine on bodice ("just like the jungle,") and lots of scenery chewing from both Samantha and the forces allied to kill the ape, though the justice was entertaining when the kidnapper got pulled from a building, flung to the ground and stomped with a very hilarious foot. There's lots of military hardware shooting at Mighty Peking Man, a double-crossing military officer, and of course the final stand atop Hong Kong's tallest building. (I wonder if the filmmakers had ever seen any earlier giant ape movies.... Sigh.) There is much drama (the plot to blow up the building with hardware apparently from a dime store is particularly painful) and much shooting, resulting ultimately in Mighty Peking Man toppling on fire to his death below, where a similar fate awaits Samantha. The film closes full of pathos with Johnnie holding Samantha in the burning building, much to the relief of the audience.

The DVD also features a preview of the film and a couple of other previews too, but no appreciable extras. The first half has the making of a camp classic, but the last half is so overwrought and heavy-handed that it fails as camp, making the film just an uncomfortable melange with occasionally amusing action. Do yourself a favor and just watch the trailer and feel free to discard the DVD. You aren't missing much, and it's 90 minutes of your life you can do something better with.

As a fan of schlocky, "so bad they're good" films, I have seen quite a few that simply amaze with their ineptness, from classics such as "Plan 9" and "Robot Monster" to more recent howlers such as "Lake Placid". However, nothing - and I mean nothing - could have prepared me fully for the experience of finally seeing "Mighty Peking Man". This film is an absolute camp-trash GOLDMINE; a cinematic abomination so astonishingly bad that it defies rational explanation. It literally must be seen to be believed! This is not a criticism, however; but rather an endorsement: "Mighty Peking Man" is punishingly hilarious; an unintentional laugh-riot of lame acting, atrocious dubbing, and inarguably the worst - the WORST - optical effects I have ever witnessed in a professional (and that's stretching the word to its outer limits) motion picture. The movie goes so far over the top that it borders on the psychedelic; indeed, copious amounts of mind-altering substances are probably required to get the full "Peking Man" experience. The film's grade-Z pleasures are too numerous to list, but would certainly start with Peking Man himself: a moth-eaten, googly-eyed, rubber-mouthed gorilla suit, from all appearances rented from a local costume shop and about as convincing. Then there's Evelyne Kraft, the "heroine", who, despite living in the wild jungle for 20 years, sports a perfect 1970's-era Farrah Fawcett layered hairdo, mascara, and a seemingly endless supply of lip gloss. Throw in a romance between Kraft and "Johnny", the hero (complete with a wretchedly awful - and brutally funny - slow motion "running through the fields" sequence as they "fall in love", while all the while the out-of-tune orchestra warbles on) and the oblogitory final battle between Peking Man and woefully obvious model helicopters (the strings supporting them fully visible) and you have the stuff of which cult midnight-movie dreams are made. Kudos to Quentin Tarantino for resurrecting this trashy gem, in widescreen no less! For those of you out there who relish so-unbelievably-bad-they're-cool films, put "Showgirls" on hold and give this one a go; you won't regret it. Now, Quentin, how about a reissue of "KISS meets the Phantom of the Park"?

This is the big one. It's fun, romance, and adventure. Plus a great monster-in-the-city fick! It's so cheezy, it'll warm your heart, or clog it up! Requires many viewings. Add this to your collection. It may only have the depth of a moonbeam; but this is what to watch when Bergman, Kubrick or even Polanski can't satisfy the evening.

Finally, a "Bad" movie that lives up to all it's hype! This is one absolutely hysterical trash epic that every cult movie fan needs to see. From the opening moments to the ridiculous finale, there are tons of laughs to be had in this Hong Kong "King Kong" rip-off --- the effects are atrocious, the melodrama is way over the top, the dialog is hilarious, the acting is terrible --- and it all comes together into one great package of stupidity! This is one truly godawful piece of junk that delivers the goods. Originally released in the 70's as "Goliathon", "Mighty Peking Man" is a true treasure trove of dumbness. Thank you Tarantino for resurrecting it! The DVD looks great --- the film is in panavison and includes the trailer (for the recent re-issue only). If you enjoy bad movies, this one is a hoot! Move over Godzilla!

This film is easily one of my favorite giant ape movies of all time because its camp but played serious. If you like early Godzilla movies, you will probably like this. Fantastic, scale-model city sets and a not-so-great looking ape costume are the main features. Mix in a scantily-clad, blonde, jungle-woman and some common 70's exploitation themes; how could you go wrong. There is much more destruction in this flick than any other giant ape movie ever made. Peking Man's rampage through city streets is on par with early TOHO movies, as he destroys buildings, army vehicles, cars and people, and eventually catches on fire (yes you read it right, catches on fire!). Campy, destructive, and entertaining, what more could you ask for? The melodramatic falling in love scenes between Samantha and Johnny have to make you laugh. When they get caught in bed together, in a cave, the giant Peking Man gets jealous! Priceless!!

I find the high-budget King Kong versions lack the "charm" or "love" of this D-grade counterpart, which is why I won't even own Peter Jackson's visual overkill (has no heart). To appreciate this one, you need to have a grasp of the heightened sense of drama, a caricature of its other lavish counterparts. Makes no sense that our hero Johnnie gets his heart broken when he catches his brother sleeping with his fiancee and then flies to India on a whim to find the Mighty Peking Man. Just like that. Like an extreme soap opera. But if you go with it, it makes a lot of sense. It's like the filmmakers are saying, "This is what comprises a hit movie." So with that formula, they also have the gorgeous Evelyn Kraft as Samantha the jungle girl. Apparently, in modern American pop culture, ANY blonde woman is considered beautiful, which is utter nonsense. Which is why it's rare to have this gorgeous blonde represent beauty. Major gripe for me though is that in the Hong Kong trailer (found on Youtube), there is nudity, but this Quentin Tarantino version is trimmed of it, down to a PG-13. Why didn't Quint just release it unrated, makes it more "underground"? Anyway, would have appreciated Evelyn Kraft's delights, but the movie's pretty fun either way.

this junk was sooooo poorly made that it's become one of the greatest comedies ever. scenes are reapeated, obvious minitures were used, scences were done in reverse. im tired of typing now.

If you are reviewing this film with a critical mind you are wasting your time and that of your reader. "The Mighty Peking Man" is pure Daikaiju (Giant Monster) fun from start to finish. If you see a "man in a suit" as many do, that's another obvious reason to avoid this film. Of course it's cheap and not as expensive as American films but it has some great moments worth mentioning. Many people tend to lump all Daikaiju films together because they don't get the concept so I can't read those reviews either. These are the same people that see Animae as being cartoons. Need I say more. Gamera & Godzilla are not in the same category as this film....next lesson.

You know the plot from ALL of the other reviews. Giant Ape and jungle girl meet with disaster in modern civilization. Twenty minutes into this film and you can see why The Shaw Brothers were brilliant Grindhouse film makers. It's no wonder Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures got it released. Many reviewers fail to see the connection between modern day cinematic homages to low budget films like this one. There was a style of producing/editing despite the obvious cheapness that makes this a pleasure to view.

Dramatic orchestra scores and funky soulful disco ballads collide with some nice sets and priceless dialog that you will not find in modern movies. I don't care what the Shaw Brothers intended, it's brilliant parody and fun to watch.

Don't be critical and miss the point. Compare this to APE being sold alongside this film. APE is SO BAD it's surrealistic. Who knows where the film producers were going with that movie. Call me crazy but this movie is a guilty pleasure and far more fun than most of modern Hollywood's CGI effect films. It's more fun than the seventies American remake of King Kong too.

Buy it, rent it, love it, it is what it is....entertaining and not to be reviewed as a landmark cinema classic, but rather a look back into the day when when we could go with our familys to drive-ins and not 20 unit stadium seating Cineplexes of doom! We watch these old movies because they remind of happy times...he said turning 40 in a month!

after dino de laurentiies scored reasonably well with his remake of king kong in 1976 (still overall box office returns of more than 50 mio. us dollar in north america only) it prompted the shaw brothers to produce a 'chinese' version of the story. what is interesting here is to compare the special effects and the way of acting with the japanese toho produced godzilla movies that we are much more used to. certainly the japanese producer tomuyiki tanaka had a lot more experience in making those films, so in comparison, the mighty peking man does not stand up well. on a passionate view, in the end neither the ape, nor the girl actually make it.
if you do travel to hong kong frequently, you will be amused to see how much this city has changed over the last 3 decades. overall an amusing time killer for 90 minutes.

As for the dvd itselve, sound and picture quality are average only. there are a few specials but nothing really exciting. recommended for collectors and real 'monster buffs'