Ape (1976 film)

Plot

A 36-foot-gorilla escapes from an oil tanker off the coast of Korea. After battling with a giant great white shark, the ape reaches land and destroys several buildings and attacking a giant python (the snake's origins are never revealed) before finding and kidnapping an American actress named Marilyn (Joanna Kerns). The military eventually corners and kills the ape, prompting one observer to comment, "He was just too big for a small world like ours!"

Cast

Production

The movie was a quickie production meant to capitalize on the upcoming release of Dino DeLaurentis' King Kong. Several plot elements, such as a giant gorilla's relationship with an American actress, are essentially lifted from the King Kong story. In fact when the film was going into production in February 1976, it was announced as The New King Kong as it was advertised by a teaser poster in Boxoffice magazine. When RKO got wind of this, they filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against the company. Because of the lawsuit the title was changed originally to Super Ape in June 1976, then to A*P*E in October 1976, and the tagline "Not to be confused with King Kong" was added to the theatrical posters and movie trailer. However the company was able to get away with using King Kong's name not only in its native South Korea but also in some international markets where it was known as Super King Kong and King Kong Returns respectively.

The film's special effect budget for the miniature buildings was only $1,200. The entire budget for A*P*E was $23,000. The film was shot in just 14 days.

The film's title A*P*E stood for (Attacking Primate MonstEr), with the deliberate intention to spoof the acronym title of M*A*S*M*A*S*H, a popular 1970 film and subsequent TV series of the same name that was based in Korea where this film was produced.

The movie pitted the titular giant ape against a huge great white shark, meant to take a shot at Jaws, a movie made a year earlier about a giant shark. A famous cover of Famous Monsters of Filmland even addressed this scene.

The film hit North American screens in October 1976, merely two months before the release of King Kong.

Reception

A*P*E has been widely panned by critics, even appearing on the cover of The Official Razzie Movie Guide. Much of the commentary on A*P*E focuses on the film's low-quality special effects. For example, John Wilson claims that the ape suit used in the film "looks more like your grandmother's lamb's wool coat collar than an actual simian." He also remarks that "a five-year old could spot the [model buildings and vehicles] as phony." Other critics have noted that the size of the ape appears to change throughout the film, and that the ape actor's T-shirt is visible through holes in his costume.

The film suffers from other problems besides poor special effects, however. The Korean extras, who are supposed to be fleeing in terror, can sometimes be seen with smiles on their faces, and the film's dialogue is occasionally chopped off by poor editing. Wilson even describes the film's music as "one of the worst movie soundtracks of all time."

In a scathing review, monster movie critic Mike Bogue states that "A*P*E may not be the worst giant monster movie ever made, but it would have to chart high on any Top Ten Worst list." Citing such things as the ape vomiting and the ape dancing to the film score, Bogue states that "as the genre magazine Castle of Frankenstein used to say in its movie reviews, this one is so bad it has to be seen to be disbelieved."

In reviewing A*P*E, along with other King Kong parodies, Roy Morton states that the film "is extremely cheesy" and that while it "begins with a reasonably serious tone," it "quickly degenerates into a dreadfully campy spoof." He speculates that on realizing the low quality of their production, the producers deliberately tried to make an already bad film worse in the hope that moviegoers would laugh with them, instead of at them. To that end, Morton states that while cinematically inferior to The Mighty Peking Man, A*P*E does have an "it's so bad it's good" cult film appeal the aforementioned film lacks. Nevertheless, he closes his review stating that a scene where the titular ape turns around after a victory to give the audience "the finger" sums up the entire film.