MIGHTY PEKING MAN A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
So what does it take to make a movie so bad that it's good? How far over the top does a picture have to go to become hilariously horrible? What does a B movie have to do to make sure that audiences realize that the filmmaker is winking at them from behind the camera?
Meng-Hwa Ho's unabashedly hokey MIGHTY PEKING MAN knows all of these answers. The 1977 film is about to be re-released by Quentin Tarantino's ROLLING THUNDER PICTURES in "hopes of jump-starting the recently dormant but still vital Midnight Movie tradition." Not only is it a perfect midnight movie, it's also one of the few foreign films that work well dubbed. Dubbing usually makes actors look silly, but here it just makes already outlandish performances seem even more so.
The story, a Chinese parody of KING KONG, has a not-so-fearless group of explorers going into the jungle to find the ape that is rumored to be "over 10 feet tall." At various times, he appears to be anywhere from 30 to 300 feet tall. Among the picture's delights are its crude special effects. The man in the ape suit gets to crush small villages that are made of such simple materials that you can create the same effects in the comfort of your own home.
The joys of the movie, however, come more from the actors than the gorilla. Johnny Feng (Danny Lee) leads the expedition. He's distraught because his girl is sleeping her way to the top by dating his successful brother, a television director.
The safari travels in covered wagons pulled by water buffalo. One of their first encounters with danger is a herd of marauding elephants who crush an entire native village -- buildings, livestock and humans. Does this make any sense and does it have anything to do with the story? No and no, but it's stupidly funny.
Even better is the tiger attack. One of the frightened men jumps straight into quicksand and disappears with only his hat left on top. A less fortunate one has his leg bitten off by the tiger after an unsuccessful wrestling match. Johnny goes for medicine, but the person bankrolling the mission shoots the wounded worker first. No sense wasting valuable medicine, he reasons.
The funniest character is played by Baywatch babe lookalike Evelyne Kraft as Samantha, the ape's companion. Dressed in cheesy, skimpy animal skins, she looks terrific. Her bikini outfit has only one shoulder strap, which makes her running scenes sensually humorous since her top is unable to fully serve its intended purpose. She speaks little intelligible language since she and her parents crashed there when she was a little girl. Taking Johnny to the wreckage, she says "mama" and "papa" as she points to the two skulls in the cockpit.
The jungle turns out not to be as harsh an environment as one might suspect. One look at Samantha, and you realize that there must be a nearby makeup counter and a hair salon.
And did I mention the python that bites Samantha's thigh just south of her private parts? Well, Johnny gets to come to the rescue and happily treat her wound in the traditional manner. But it is the ape's ingenuity that saves her. Turns out that the Mighty Peking Man knows herbal medicine.
The ending scene which is, of course, set on the top of a tall building has the military pounding away mercilessly at our lovable beast. This long sequence is choreographed to the dramatic ending of Shostakovich's fifth symphony, a piece of classical music as over-the-top as the story itself. As the French horns blare, the cymbals crash and the violins make loud discordant sounds, the ape fights his last battle. You should count yourself lucky if your life ends with such a climactic flourish.
MIGHTY PEKING MAN runs a bit long, even at just 1:30. It was rated PG when released in 1977 before the introduction of the PG-13 rating, which it would undoubtedly get today. The film contains sexuality, brief nudity and comic violence and would be fine for kids 11 or 12 and up.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
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