Sunday, December 27, 2009

Monster of the Week- Gorosaurus

I think I was about 7 or 8 when I first met Gorosaurus.  it was a summer kiddie matinee show at the Trojan Theater in Longmont, CO, and I was there to watch King Kong Escapes.  had no idea this movie was based on the Rankin-Bass cartoon at the time, I just knew it would have King Kong in it.  this would be the second time I would get to see King Kong on the big screen, the first being King Kong vs Godzilla.


I didn't know that in the first few minutes Gorosaurus would make his appearance to menace blond Susan Watson.  what an exciting movie!

at the time I did not properly appreciate the fine detailing of the costume Yû Sekida was wearing.  I just knew it looked really cool (he was also in the Mechani-Kong suit as well, later in the movie).  the fight between Goro and Kong was exciting and a bit bloody.  this was Tsuburaya's homage to the fight in the original King Kong (1933).  since I hadn't seen the classic yet, I liked it a lot.  sure, it's not the same, but that's a good thing.  it's too bad kids these days will never get to see great monster movies on the big screen growing up.  there's just nothing like it.

Gorosaurus later on appears in 1968's Destroy All Monsters.  oddly enough, he shows up in Paris, burrowing up from the ground.  me, I think Baragon dug the passage but then was too tired to actually get above ground.   he also plays a pivotal role in the final battle with King Ghidorah at the end of the movie.  which is the most awesome monster battle filmed of all time.

and this makes my 100th post for this year!

2 comments:

Danny Coffin said...

Believe it or not,David,the first time I saw Gorosaurus was 1975 in a book about movies featuring apes(the stills from ''KING KONG ESCAPES'' only showed his head,&as I'd not seen any Godzilla flicks at the time I actually mistook him for Godzilla LOL)
Ol' Gorosaurus is among my all-time favorite kaiju,&seeing him,Godzilla&Angilas taking the fight to King Ghidorah in ''DESTROY ALL MONSTERS)was pretty darned sweet;that it was Gorosaurus' kangaroo kick that downed KG RULES...

X7 said...

I think I had the same book as well, Danny. did it have a picture of "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep" in it as well?