MIGHTY PEKING MAN ( GOLIATHON / APE )

The story starts as Lu Tien (played by actor Feng Wa), searches through the newspaper files in a local library and finds a front page article from the 1960's stating GIANT FOOT PRINT DISCOVERED IN HIMALAYAS. In a flashback they show a remote Indian village that had an earthquake, which unearths the giant ape which then attacks and destroys the village. Lu Tien decides to capture the Mighty Peking Man and bring him to civilization to make lots of money. He hires the aid of a hunter named Johnny Fang (Danny Lee), who is recommended because "He just lost his girl, and wants to get away." After they arrive in India they come upon a deserted village. They then hear the cry of the Mighty Peking Man which then causes a stampede of elephants and a native gets crushed by one. The next day, the party is attacked by a wild tiger. Johnny loses one of his pals from the attack. As he runs away from the tiger he falls straight into a quicksand pit. The Tiger tears off one of the legs of his assistant but the person lived! Johnny calls for the medicine chest, but Lu Tien simply shoots the wounded bearer, saying, "No sense in wasting medicine." Johnny, then smacks him upside the head for his thoughtlessness. Johnny continues on his quest, but it's the Mighty Peking Man that finds him and almost squishing him! Johnny is saved, however, by the arrival of a Jungle Girl played by Evelyne Kraft! She is makes "ook ook" sounds at the Mighty Peking Man, who tenderly picks up the unconscious Johnny and the Jungle Girl and deposits them in the blonde's cavern home. Later the Jungle Girl takes Johnny to a wrecked plane, overgrown with jungle vines, which also contains two skeletons. Johnny finds a diary and learns that the Jungle Girl's name is actually Samantha and then learns of how she, when she was just a little girl, her parents were flying the plane through a thunderstorm and how it crashed. She was found and raised by the giant ape which she calls Ootah. The Jungle Girl introduces Johnny to two other friends including the tiger that was seen earlier and a leopard. However she is then attacked by a cobra snake but the Tiger makes a meal of it. Johnny then attempts to suck out the poison. Later, Mighty Peking Man brings him medicinal leaves to make a healing remedy for her wound. When The Jungle Girl awakens , Johnny kisses her and the two make love in a giant fur bed which must be why this film is rated PG-13 . Not to mention the nipple appearances earlier in the film ,(she is a Jungle Girl)! But Mighty Peking Man happens to see what they are doing and throws a fit. The Jungle Girl manages to soothe him. She and Johnny then climb into Mighty Peking Man's hand, and he walks to the nearest city. Which causes a panic ,until The Jungle Girl gets him to lie down. Lu Tien drives up and meets then with Johnny. So Mighty Peking Man finds himself in chains on the deck of a freighter, headed for Hong Kong. This greatly upsets Mighty Peking Man and The jungle Girl , which causes her to reveal the other nipple! Johnny tries to calm her by giving her a dress to wear in Hong Kong. It itches, so she tears it off and pitches it out a porthole. Suddenly the captain reveals that they are heading for a great typhoon, so he wants to hit port in Shanghai untill it passes, but Lu Tien has booked a stadium in Hong Kong and sold tickets, and so demands the captain sail through the storm. The captain then agrees. So Mighty Peking Man and The Jungle Girl get a good soaking. The ship then runs aground on a big rock in the middle of the ocean. Johnny and The Jungle Girl then free one of Mighty Peking Man's hands so he can push them off the rock. When they arrive in Hong Kong , Johnny takes The Jungle Girl to his brother's TV studio. Johnny gets a note and leaves The Jungle Girl in the studio and goes to a dressing room, where he meets his former girlfriend, Lucy. So Johnny agrees to start all over again with his former girlfriend. The Jungle Girl however has come looking for Johnny and walks in as Johnny and Lucy are kissing. The Jungle Girl gets upset and runs out into the street and hides from Johnny. Wandering the streets she eventually sees Mighty Peking Man on TV at the stadium. The Jungle Girl later arrives to beg for Mighty Peking Man's release, but Lu Tien carries her away, and attempts to rape The Jungle Girl. Mighty Peking Man sees this and goes berserk! He rips apart his cage, and chases Lu Tien and The Jungle Girl all over the place, trashing any building or bridge that gets in his way. Lu Tien drags The Jungle Girl into a hotel and breaks into a room to hide from Mighty Peking Man. But the ape sees him and reaches in and drags Lu Tien out through the window and eventually throws him to the ground, where Mighty Peking Man smashes him. The army then attacks Mighty Peking Man and he eventually finally winds up atop a tall building with helicopters shooting at him, until The Jungle Girl goes up to calm him down and the Supreme Commander gives his word that the shooting will stop while at the same time he's also wiring the building to explode. Once The Jungle Girl gets Mighty Peking Man calmed down, the Supreme Commander decides this is their best chance, and orders the shooting to start again But The Jungle Girl is in the line of fire, and gets hit; Johnny tries to get her out before the explosion, but she chooses to stay with Mighty Peking Man and gets caught in the explosion! This feature was the Shaw Brothers Studio's attempt to cash in on Dino deLaurentiis' less-than-successful remake of King Kong. It has to be admitted that it makes a few attempts to be more original except for putting the Fay Wray/Jessica Lange character instead a leather bikini and letting her swing from a few vines. The Kaiju scenes are pretty good, and the miniature work is especially well done. The craftsmanship on the models cannot be doubted. It's interesting to see some city beside Tokyo get attacked for a change, and Hong Kong is different enough to add an exotic thrill to the usual smash-through-the-building hi-jinx. It's a shame The Shaw Brothers didn't make many more Kaiju or Sci Fi . The only other popular title that comes to mind would be INFRAMAN. All in all if you like King Kong or Mighty Joe Young , you should like this feature.