ROLLING THUNDER PICTURES & COWBOY BOOKING INTERNATIONAL PRESENTS A SHAW BROTHERS PRODUCTION A HO MENG-HUA FILM "MIGHTY PEKING MAN" EVELYNE KRAFT DANNY LEE EDITED BY CHIANG SING-LUNG ORIGINAL MUSIC BY CHEN YUNG-YU & DeWOLFE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CHENG PANG DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY TSAO HUI-CHI, WU CHO-HUA DIRECTOR OF VISUAL EFFECTS TEISHO ARIKAWA PRODUCED BY CHUA LAM, RUNME SHAW, VEE KING SHAW SCREENPLAY BY I. KUENG DIRECTED BY HO MENG-HUA
The ground rumbles and quakes. But only in the background, as the natives of an Indian jungle scatter before the set in front of the front projection screen starts to puff forth clouds of smoke and dust and break apart. Suddenly, the camera starts to shake violently.
Welcome to the wonderfully trite world of "THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN" being re-released by Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures outfit onto the midnight circuit. Originally released by a small New York outfit, World Northal Films in 1978 as "Goliathon" was anything but a hit both here and in it's native Hong Kong back in 1977. So why bring the film back? Well, for the obvious reason being that any film this adorably bad has to be seen.
Our story opens with the earthquake releasing a 100-foot tall missing link. He terrorizes the natives and becomes a local myth. In 1977, a local promoter, Lu Tiem (Ku Feng ) decides to investigate the legend, in an attempt to capture the big beast and put him on display. He is told that the best explorer for the job is Johnny Feng (Danny Lee, best known for his role in John Woo's 'The Killer'). Danny is drunk and despondent, having discovered his wife having an affair with his brother, so Danny has no qualms about packing up for the jungles of India.
Once in the jungle, the team is besieged by an assortment of dangers. A stampede of elephants, an attack of a very drugged tiger, and assorted other misfortunes. Finally, Lu Tiem turns his back on Johnny, leaving him for dead. Johnny is rescued by Samantha (Evelyne Kraft), a vivacious female Tarzan. Samantha has survived in the jungle after the crash of her parent's plane when she was a child. Now fully-grown and wearing a leather bikini (which threatens to fall off throughout the film), Samantha nurses Johnny back to good health, with the help of her protector, The Mighty Peking.
Johnny and Samantha soon start to become attracted to one another, and their life in the jungle is idyllic. Samantha has not only grown into a beautiful woman, but has developed a nurturing relationship with the animals of the jungle. She wrestles with snakes, plays with large beaked birds, and carries a leopard on her shoulders.
But Johnny grows tired of paradise and convinces Samantha to come with him back to Hong Kong. She agrees, and the two of them set off for the big city. Unfortunately, Peking Man follows. When the three of them arrive in Hong Kong, Mighty Peking Man is captured and put on display, showing off his strength to the amusement of the local populace.
Back in Hong Kong, Johnny is confronted by his estranged wife. She confesses her indiscretion, pleading with him to take her back. As Johnny makes love to his wife, Samantha bursts into the room. Heartbroken, Samantha runs to the stadium where the promoters are tormenting The Peking Man. Pleadings with the promoters to release the giant, Lu Tiem hits her. Peking Man summarily breaks out of his cage and goes on a rampage throughout Tokyo (?) , sorry Hong Kong until he is killed by the military. Johnny returns to Samantha's side proclaiming his love for her and asking for her forgiveness. The two lovers return to the jungle to live happily ever after.
There I've spoiled the whole thing for you. Don't believe that for a minute. The plot of "Mighty Peking Man" is only one of its cheesy pleasures. It's not that this film is unremittingly bad, it's just that the earnestness involved does not always translate to the screen. But the effort is so profoundly goofy that one can't help but be drawn into the film. This is the perfect group night out feature. A movie that cries out to be talked back to and laughed with.
There are some scenes that caused me some reservation, even despair. The noticeably drugged leopard and tiger in the film are painfully used as props. No concern for their well being is evidenced, as the animals visibly labor to breathe. But, when one has to carry a 200 pound leopard on one's shoulder's and spin it around like your little brother, I guess narcotics would be a necessity. Still, those scenes brought the film to a dead stop for me.
Some of the scenes with Evelyne Kraft as Samantha are just hilarious to watch. Not because of her performance, but due to the attention she and her bikini cause. During the sequence where She and Johnny leave the jungle for the city, the terrified villagers are to busy staring at Evelyne to react properly to the attack of Mighty Peking Man on their village. The sight of grown men in black face (yes, this film is dreadfully not politically correct), screaming in fear at a giant ape man while their eyes are fixed on Samantha's posterior, is riotously amusing.
Director HO MENG-HUA has had a long career in Hong Kong films but nothing could top this triumph of silliness and ineptitude. The performances are nothing to write home about. But Evelyne Kraft exudes a charm and innocents that is keeping with tone of the film. It's her presents that makes the film work. And that bikini isn't a bad attraction either. The special effects by TEISHO ARIKAWA are on a level with the Godzilla films of the early 1970's and have a charm that is hard to resist. While Peking Man is nothing more than a stuntman in a hirsute with a mask on, there is something refreshing about the presentation. A hand made quality, lacking from today's CGI heavy films. No, there's not a once of believability here. But charm, it has. The charms of a cheap plastic toy that we remember from our childhood, but charm just the same.
On a scale of 1 to 5, "MIGHTY PEKING MAN" rates a 3. This is an audience participation film, along the lines of 'Rocky Horror" (which I dislike), or any other midnight movie. A party movie, but not one to watch on your own. That, I cannot recommend.
Copyright 1999 R. L Strong All rights reserved Nothing in this article may be quoted or re-printed without the express written permission of the author.
-- To Reply.. Remove the "who" from the e-mail address. Visit the Dungeon: The Dungeonmaster's Cornucopia of Film
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews