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Mighty Joe Young (1949)
In director Ernest B. Schoedsack's spectacular fantasy-adventure
drama, involving the exploitation of a giant African gorilla in Hollywood,
with Oscar-winning stop-motion special effects of the expressive
'Mr. Joseph Young' by King Kong's Willis O'Brien assisted
by Ray Harryhausen (and remade by Disney as Mighty Joe Young (1998) starring
Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron):
- the opening Africa sequence in which precocious
Jill Young (Lora Lee Michel) trade-exchanged her widowed father
John Young's (Regis Toomey) giant flashlight to two natives for
a cute orphaned baby gorilla in a basket
- the transition of the gorilla to full size (an 800
lb., 10 foot tall animal) - and its entrance from the jungle to taunt
a captured lion in a wagon cage - but completely obedient to teenaged
Jill (Terry Moore, the long-time mistress of billionaire Howard Hughes)
- the reprised role of Robert Armstrong (from King
Kong (1933) as an entrepreneurial film-maker) as ambitious
New York showbiz impresario Max O'Hara, who was assisted by Oklahoma
rodeo cowboy roper Gregg Johnson (Ben Johnson in his first major
role) in an exciting sequence attempting to wrangle and lasso Joe
- the luring and tempting (with promises of fame and
glamour) of ingenue Jill to sign a contract, to allow Joe to be the
star of Max O'Hara's new Hollywood nightclub show titled Golden Safari
- the sequences of Joe's starring (but degrading and
exploitative) floorshow act for dinner patrons, with fancy-dressed
Jill (as The Jungle Queen) playing Joe's favorite song "Beautiful
Dreamer" on the piano, and Joe's raising up the circular stage
platform on which she played, his tug-of-war with a group of champion
strong-men wrestlers (including Tor Johnson, Man Mountain Dean, Phil
Olafsson, and Primo Carnera) who were all dumped into a pool of water
Joe's Floor-Show Act with Jill Playing the Piano
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"Beautiful Dreamer"
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Tug of War
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Coins Aimed at Joe's Cap
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- also the sequence of Jill playing a hurdy-gurdy
(organ-grinder) while Joe begged for money with his cap (while
audience members, who were given large frisbee-sized coins by waiters
("Big money for the big monkey!")), as coins were aimed
at the cap in order to win free champagne - and one thoughtless
and drunk audience member pelted a liquor bottle at the ape's head;
Jill yelled "Stop!" at the audience and Gregg ordered
the curtain lowered
- Jill's concerns that Joe was becoming despondent in
a cramped basement cell-cage after 17 weeks of performances, and
homesick for the wide open African jungles
- the scene of three obnoxious, antagonistic and cruel
drunks teasing and supplying Joe with liquor from bottles offered
through his caged bars, causing him to become enraged, inebriated
and beserk-acting when one of the abusive men burned Joe with a cigarette
lighter, and the ape battered his way out of his cage
- the fantastic scene of Joe's rampaging destruction
of the African-styled nightclub sets, including fighting off exotic
lions who broke out of their glass-enclosed exhibits, and the collapse
of huge backdrops, thatched huts and props
- the lengthy, thrilling and exciting jail-break escape
sequence to release Joe before police arrived with a court order
to shoot him; and the complex chase sequence to take Joe to a chartered
boat to return to Africa, involving Joe's transport in the back of
two different trucks; and the subtle comical elements of Joe on the
tailgate of one truck spitting and making faces at the pursuers
- the bravura sequence of Joe's
heroic assistance to rescue Jill and orphaned children trapped in
the upper floors of a crumbling and burning building (tinted orangish-red
and available in some versions) - one of the greatest stop-motion
sequences in cinematic history - after Joe saved the final endangered
child, Max assured Jill: "It's alright, kid. There's nobody
in the world gonna shoot Joe now"
- the very happy conclusion two months later - a filmed
message to Max from Jill, Gregg, and Joe contentedly back in Africa
- waving - and the last on-screen title: "Goodbye from Joe Young"
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Jill With Father
Baby Gorilla Traded For Flashlight
Mighty Joe Young's Full-Sized Entrance
Joe's Obedience to Jill
Drunks Supplying Joe With Liquor
Breaking Out of Cage Before Rampage
Joe's Saving of Jill and Orphaned Children
Ending: Filmed Message From Africa
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