Bullet Points: The Mighty Peking Man

The 1933 film King Kong is one of the classic movies that is constantly getting sequels, remakes and down right copies. The 1952 re-release of King Kong inspired the legendary Japanese studio Toho to create a little monster flick known as Godzilla. 1976 saw Dino De Laurentiis attempt a remake with the aptly titled King Kong (1976) and while it was not as well received as the original, it did spawn its own set of sequels and copies. In fact, another Asian studio decided it was their turn to take from the great ape as the legendary Hong Kong studio Shaw Brothers produced a familiar monster movie. In 1977 The Mighty Peking Man made his debut and while the story is not unique, there are aspects I have never seen in any other King Kong or ape movies and for that matter in any other Shaw Brothers movies. I just so happen to have some Bullet Points from my recent viewing of one of the better non-King Kong ape movies so join me on a journey to The Mighty Peking Man.

• Big Time Miniatures – The Mighty Peking Man opens with an earthquake in the Himalayas which opens up a fissure in the mountains and awakens a frozen giant ape, or yeti, or Peking Man, or I guess they refer to him as bigfoot, but that could just be a translation issue. Who are they? The intellectuals at Hong Kong University who want to capture the Peking Man. The earthquake does some serious damage to a village and the Peking Man must not be a morning person, because after he awakens he destroys the village even worse than the earthquake. The devastation is mostly done with very detailed miniatures and a man in a convincing ape suit. The use of miniatures throughout the film is a highlight.

• Welcome to the Jungle – Lu Tien (Feng Ku) is the one organizing an expedition to the Himalayas to bring the Peking Man back to Hong Kong with dreams of making a fortune. Lu Tien needs someone to lead his expedition and hires Johnnie Fang (Danny Lee.) How did he pick Johnnie? Johnnie is a down on his luck hunter with nothing to lose after recently dumping his girlfriend after he caught her in bed with his brother. The expedition makes it to the jungles and things are not going to be easy as they thought. A herd of elephants attacks the party and many men are killed. The next day brings a tiger attack and quicksand deaths. When more men die in a rock climbing accident, Lu Tien and the rest of the men sneak out in the middle of the night leaving Johnnie all by himself.

• Par For the Course – Disappointment is nothing new for Johnnie. We see an extended flashback of his courtship with Lin Chang. We get to see the lovers frolicking on the beach, romantically riding in a boat, dining and dancing, and of course Johnnie walking in on his fiance and brother in bed. Being stranded in the jungle by himself is just another bump in the road for Johnnie. Or is he by himself? Johnnie has a run in with the Peking Man who looks like he has found a nice snack only for Johnnie to be saved from the Peking Man by a blonde tarzan-esque woman.

• Should Have Stayed Skybound – It turns out the woman is named Samantha and she was stranded in the jungle as a little girl when the plane she was in crashed and killed her parents. The Peking Man rescued Smantha and raised her and the two have quite the friendship with the Peking Man being named Utam and a crude from of communication exists between the pair. Samantha is also friends with leopards and elephants even manhandling a leopard with a fireman’s carry. One animal that Samantha doesn’t like is snakes, especially after one bites her on her upper inner thigh. The leopard friend did not take too kindly to the snake biting Smantha in a delicate area and ends up wrestling the snake. Yes, if you ever wanted to see a leopard wrestle a snake than The Mighty Peking Man is for you. Samantha’s malady also allows Johnnie to nurse her back to health and the two quickly become fast friends.

• The Mighty Peeking Man – Johnnie and Samantha get very close as Johnnie has forgotten all about his ex and starts to romantically run around with Samantha as the two engage in frolicking, leopard pressing and leopard twirling. One amorous night in Samantha’s cave Utam gets quite an eyeful of the two lovers and you can sense a tinge of jealousy, but even a giant ape must know that biologically and anatomically it could never have worked. Johnnie wants to go back to home and decides to take Utam and Samantha with him back to Hong Kong. The scene where Samantha says goodbye to her leopard friend is truly the most heart wrenching scene in the film.

• Hong Kong King Kong – Utam is not a fan of being chained up, although he manages to save the ship back to Hong Kong during a typhoon. Utam doesn’t like to be the star of a show where he is forced to perform like a circus monkey. Utam especially doesn’t like to see Liu Tien attempting to rape Samantha as Utam is peeking through the windows (his voyeuristic habit was a good thing this time). The attempted rape is the final straw and Utam breaks free going on a super fun rampage in Hong Kong going complete King Kong by climbing the tallest building.

You can probably guess how The Mighty Peking Man ends, except you might have to say it wasn’t the helicopters (not airplanes), it was beauty that killed the beast. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch. Anyone that enjoys King Kong or monster movies, especially kaiju movies will enjoy The Mighty Peking Man. There is a ton of action with most of the carnage featuring top notch miniatures, but there is a surprising amount of heart with the relationships between Johnnie, Samantha and Utam. There is a reason the King Kong story keeps getting retold because it stands the test of time and The Mighty Peking Man puts its own unique spin on the story. This Bullet Points has the unique ending of having some Bonus Bullet Points.

• Also Known As – You might find The Mighty Peking Man as Colossus of Congo or Goliathon.
• The Mighty Peking Cry – Utam may look like an ape, but he has a wail that sounds more like Godzilla and that, not the fake ape suit, is what I found the most unrealistic.
• Best On the Nose Insult – An old man says he doesn’t need to go to see the giant ape show because his wife is a gorilla.
• If You Ever… – wanted to see a man wrestling a live tiger, which is something that would never be done in today’s film making, than The Mighty Peking Man is for you. I do think the tiger cheated when he bit off the man’s leg.