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| Godzilla Vs Hedorah(1971); Discuss the film here. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 20 2006, 08:13 PM (12,294 Views) | |
| G2Kmaster | Apr 26 2009, 07:59 PM Post #91 |
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Head Onmyoji of Monsterland Forums
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Funny you should say that. I just finished the final draft... |
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| G2Kmaster | Apr 26 2009, 08:10 PM Post #92 |
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Head Onmyoji of Monsterland Forums
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Since we have started a new page, might as well do a re-post of the final draft: Godzilla vs. Hedorah is quite the oddity of our time. Most probably the one good Godzilla film which gets ridiculed the most due to the number of poetic liberties Yoshimitsu Banno took with this production, the film still holds up to this day as one of the strongest anti-pollution films which actually at face value is a loose remake of the original Gojira itself. Sadly, the making of the film has not been well documented, but we were graced to have a 5mm home movie of the production included on the R2 DVD and an abundance of photos, but little to no coverage in interviews. So I shall, with the best of my ability cover the abstract work of art that is Godzilla vs. Hedorah. There were in Japan two sides to the 70's: the hippie movement which came from America and the new awareness of pollution. Pollution in the 70's came to bring on many things: Charles Manson rambles on about it as part of his defense which no one seems to understand, the discoveries of holes in the ozone layer started here, and asthma started taking a hold on Japan in the form of a sickness nicknamed "Yokaichi (pronounced Yoka-ichi) Asthma". The development of this was not all that surprising since it is a natural thing to happen when an area goes industrial. At one time, there was even an order carried out to have oxygen tanks deployed onto street corners for people not to pass out. This caught Director Yoshimitsu Banno's eye. So much that he had in 1970 created an audio-visual exhibit of showing people volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. All of this was part of a pollution exhibit at the Mitsubishi Pavilion Expo, since earthquakes and volcanoes are among some of the biggest pollution sources from nature. Toho Studios was involved in way that they accepted a commission to participate in the expo. In an interview Banno stated that, "At the time, the rapid elevation of the nation's economic strength (something which would be more refined on in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah) created a huge pollution problem. So I asked Tanaka, 'What about a pollution monster?' and he agreed". However, joining up with Toho, Banno undoubtedly noticed that it was a dark time. Eiji Tsuburaya had died the year before, effecting the first kaiju film Toho worked on without the reknowned master, Space Amoeba. Also, Godzilla himself was turning kid-friendly. While this is a bad thing, it did conceal Godzilla's place in pop culture. Last and not least, Tanaka was growing increasingly sick, therefore he was not at Toho to supervise the production. Taking his chances, Banno joined forces with an unstable Toho Studios to produce Godzilla vs. Hedorah. The script, co-written by Banno, really copies the original film in many ways - just replace the first generation Godzilla with Hedorah and an eye-patched Serizawa with a head bandaged Dr. Yano. Like in the original, the new threat is felt first by fishermen: a scene similar to the showing of the Oxygen Destroyer to Emiko occurs when Hedorah flies by and the family fish tank goes cloudy, killing the fish and a lot more. This film is also the only film to show the deaths of humans since Gojira, especially comparing the shot of the crying women in Gojira to the rapidly decomposing body of a man in the film. These are just some of the underlying similarities to the original which makes this film really good in an aspect. The theme of the film is also executed just like "Gojira", just replace the topic with pollution. Other than that, this film does not point figures at any specific human and in the end takes a force stronger than a nuclear weapon to dispose of the newest foe, which was created through a by product of man. But changes also occur, some for the better. Along with Banno, the script is written by Takeshi Kimura. In many ways, he (Kimura) reverses what Shinichi Sekizawa did since 1963. The kaiju in Godzilla vs. Hedorah are not characterized as a weapon or a diety, nor do the battles the monsters fight grow out of human conflicts. Instead, Godzilla is acting for himself in this film. While Godzilla does feel the same way as in the original, he wants the executioner to be him so he will live. This is what author David Kalat calls "Godzilla acts as a free agent." The influence of Sekizawa's scripts were defiantly wearing off. Just in this film, it is for the better. All of this paragraph alone sums up the critical view of the characters - human and kaiju. The parts of the script which did not resemble the original are also interesting. In an interview, Teruyoshi Nakano claimed that the sequence where Godzilla is flying was not in the script, and needed what he said, "Something extraordinary". Nakano was also unconfortable with the images of death in the film, including the scene where Godzilla's eye is burned. So that is why many scenes of comedy relief are added, from the flying scene to Godzilla doing the Ultraman stance. The non-Gojira parts of the script are obvious, but saddening. Authority figures come off as incompetent. They do not listen to the ideas of the people who were attacked by Gamera and are constantly "schooled", beginning with the assumption that Hedorah is just a water creature. They fail in offensive procedure too. When fixing the electric towers for the giant electrodes, they complete the task at a poor rate which in a regular film from both sides of the Pacific the task would be done on time. But this is intentional as it adds to the gloom of the film. For they do not fail that their weapons are useless, but rather they act like they do not care. Female character development is stuck in this part of the film also. The main female character, the wife of Dr. Yanno is, with all respect to the female of my species, a pain in the ***. She is only thinking of herself. When reporters come to the house to do a report on Hedorah and get data on the human damage the monster has done through taking photo of Dr. Yanno and Ken's injuries from earlier on in the film, the wife says no for SHE would be ashamed. This plays into the natural state of women who always want a "handsome" male companion and not someone who would be more or less ugly. Though with maturity this attitude would subside, Mrs. Yanno has obviously not mentally matured. Another point is that while she is hearing about high death tolls, the killing of her fish, and Ken's near death experience, she only responds to the problem of her gymnastics pupils having a hard time breathing. Sad indeed. The teens, male and female, are just stupid. They have no logic or common sense. That is all that can be said on that. The funky things in the film seem to overshadow the good things in some people views sadly (not mine). One thing which shocked everyone who watches the film is the bar scene. One of the criticisms with the scene is the blob in the background. The blob on the wall is really salad oil applied on a small plate. The oils were accompanied with red and yellow coloring and then projected by a strong light. "That image was projected onto a back screen behind her (mentioning the dancing girl) with the plate being twisted according to the music's rhythm. It was the same technique for how we used to create a moving background in car driving scenes." Banno once said. The whole idea came from a gay bar in Chicago at the time. What inspiration! The dancing girl in the film though was inspired by a bar in Tokyo's Akasaka region called "Juliana's". At that bar/club, girls would just get up on boxes and start shaking their hips. Though Banno has denied in interviews that the scene was inspired by drug usage. "I had a lot of interest in new expression. I liked the movie 'Woodstock'. It was a very emotional movie for me." Banno said. This "new expression" came with a score by Ifukube student Riichiro Manabe with a rather unique score and a song by Banno, which is sung by one of the main characters titled "Give Back the Sun". However, animated sequences were also added. This came by when Banno noticed at the Mitsubishi Expo that a girl asked to borrow a companion magazine at the expo which had manga in it. Banno thought that the young people liked manga, so all animated scenes in the film can be called the first Godzilla "anime". Sadly, that was wrongly ridiculed and the score for this film not used again except for in the worst Godzilla film of them all, Godzilla vs. Megalon. Both aspects though bring out a uniqueness which has brought on a cult status to this film, with the manga edge coming over even to the film Godzilla vs. Gigan. However, this film is monumental for it's special effects changes. Teruyoshi Nakano, joining the staff some seven years beforehand, now took role of director of Special effects with the assistant director being future Director of Special Effects Koichi Kawakita. Still there was the legendary Haruo Nakajima, but one person came in who would change the history of Godzilla forever: the coming of Kengo Nakayama, better known by his stage name of "Kenpachiro Satsuma". It all started with Banno recommending Satsuma for the part. Kenpachiro raced to the studios as fast as he could, since he was fresh and wanted a role badly. He was interviewed by Teruyoshi Nakano, who explained the plot of the film to Satsuma. Ken asked, "Sp, what type of role should I take in this film, sir?" Nakano replied, "Oh yes, it is a very powerful role, Mr. Nakayama. There's a meteorite which falls into Tagonoura Bay (around Osaka) in Shizuoka Prefecture and it grows into a huge, 50 meter monster named "Hedorah" (Hedorah comes from the word Hedoro, the Japanese word for sludge). ? And I want you to do the monster Hedorah." Satsuma had a moment of silence at the shock of what role he was getting. He wanted to do something which had his whole body act and now he was playing a kaiju. But in a documentary from 2008, Satsuma said, "I am an actor damn it!" Satsuma played crawling and walking Hedorahs. Knowing already Nakajima, he wasn't as intimidated as one might have thought. The 330 pound sponge rubber Hedorah siut was hard to move in. So Satsuma decided to, "Just swing my arms quickly when Godzilla came to me, or walk slow like crawling." Satsuma also tried to limit body movement to only one limb at one time. He would get advice from Nakajima, on and off film (during and not during filming). However, Satsuma claimed that they were always adding pieces to the suit over time of filming. In an interview, Teruyoshi Nakano said that he remembered that there were two adult Hedorah suits made, one light and one heavy. This may have given Satsuma the impression that they were adding on parts to the suit. The heavier costume was used though in the scenes with Hedorah showing "rickety" movements. Eventually, Nakano and Satsuma became friends and would work on kaiju films together till 1984. An interesting scene cut out is when the second Hedorah, who traps the two main teenage characters in their car, is seen with matted in fleeing humans. The scene is actually a re-used shot from the finished film. Just with cropped in humans for the theatrical trailer. Haruo Nakajima fares less well, in fact worse. Again, the Soshingeki suit was used again. Only, this time the fans called it the Hedoro-Goji siut due to it's new darker coloring. The suit, being used for a third time in a four year period was deteriorating badly. Accidents on set included the hand of the suit coming apart. Intentional damage to the suit was the appliance of acid and sludge substances to the suit to give off the effects of Hedorah's attacks. Further aging of the materials in the head region forced the head to be not replaced but "buffered" for the next film called Godzilla vs. Gigan. However, precautions were taken, even for the bare minimum. The five year old Daisenso-Goji siut was used again for the sludge pit sequence when Hedorah excrements on Godzilla, with the excrement mainly being made out of natural mud. It was also used when Godzilla burned with his heat ray a bunch of floating pollution in a dream of Ken's and when Godzilla jumps into Tokyo Bay chasing Hedorah. But Godzilla is not always played by Haruo Nakajima. Regular Marmit vinyl come in as a sort of product placement - continued from Godzilla's Revenge. One of the more noticeable figures is the Bullmark 1970 King Ghidorah, Bullmark 1970 Godzilla, and the Popy 18" Jumbosaurus Godzilla. All of these figures are worth more than $350 on the market today and are excruciatingly rare. On a strange note, Banno in an interview explained why he had Godzilla fly he said, "...he had to do something else to catch Hedorah." I personally like the scene. All of this was film with a crew of 50 over 35 days on a budget of $252,000. Tanaka ended up seeing the finished film in the hospital. Banno has said that, "...he didn't have a good feeling. He said it was troublesome to change the character. He WAS NOT ANGRY but certainly was not content." Godzilla vs. Hedorah was released during the period of time referred to as the Godzilla Champion Festival, in which all Godzilla films from 1971 to 1973 were accompanied by a re-edited version of a 60's kaiju film with the editing done by a not-so content Ishiro Honda. The film opened on July 24th with Hedorah to gain only 1.7 million admissions (to be technical, 1,740,000 admissions). It was one of the better turnouts of the 70's era films. The film would be shown only one more time in theaters on October 20, 2008 at the Tokyo International Film Festival. The American version is a unique story. It was the last time that America International Pictures (AIP) handled the release of a Godzilla film in America. Ending a tradition which started seven years beforehand, Samuel Z. Arkoff produced this version of the film. And like many other AIP distributed films, the dub over rules the Hong Kong dub by Toho. Like other AIP films, the film was renamed for American audiences. The film was released in February, 1972. The film's AIP dub, though, became officially lost. Bootlegs carry the dub, but the Orion VHS release and a questionable Simitar pre-1998 release are the only legal releases of the highly sought after dub. Something interesting to note is that for the AIP dub, it was Yoshimutsu Banno who wrote the English Lyrics for the song, "Save the Earth". The song would be recorded in Los Angeles, California with supervision from Guy Hemric. An AIP secretary, Adryan Russ, would be the one who would sing the song. In a 1998 interview, Russ would explaun, "For a long time, I never told anyone that I did the Godzilla movie because I was embarrased about it. Later on I learned that the movie has a kind of cult fallowing. Now I think it is cool and I'm glad to be associated with it." AIP's marketing strategies were even stranger than the film itself in some ways. Many companies selling natural gas were asked to advertise the film, boy/girl scouts as well as health clubs were asked to make Godzilla into the Japanese version of "Smokey the Bear" and make him a prominent symbol of anti-pollution, and even use the film in school (remember my Operation Gojira?) The craziness would continue with AIP asking for people to cut out Godzilla and hedorah out of the poster, mount them onto cardboard, and on the base mount all sourts of pollution products (empty cans, plastic bottles, unrecycled paper, ect.) and the selling of a "GodzillaCocktain" (all one word) with a tagline, "it clears the five o'clock smog from your brain" Something not really covered is the Godzilla film's distribution in Europe, specificaly Germany. Germany has a reputation to change the story line on a major scale when they dub their films. The main change is that Dr. Frankenstein usualy has something to do with the kaiju. Thankfully, all plot points were kept with this specific film, from Hedorah's origin being from space to they're being for a short time two Hedorahs. However, what Hedorah was as an alien was changed. Hedorah is normaly excepted as a form of space tadpole. He is, in the German dub, a giant jelly fish. This is absurd, but interesting as it is simular to one of the film's sequel ideas before Banno was booted from making another Godzilla film. In advertisements, the multiple Hedorahs angle was over exaggerated and in one photobistura from Italy, the inclusion of Korean kaiju extordinare Yongary. Also added were Gappa and Gamera, leading to die hard fans that the film could be one of the best battle Royales to grace the screen - but European fans would be disapointed. However, some of the posters and lobby cards would offer color varriants of Hedorah so obscure that they would become the basis of some Marmit/Marusan/M1 figures. Hedorah, the character itself, has become very popular. Concerning Marusan and M1, Hedorah is one of the most produced kaiju in figure form and is the most expensive. That is just one part of the testimony that this film is a very cult-status film. It's many negatives are, unlike films like Godzilla vs. Megalon, debatable and more opinionated than the other considerable "bad" Godzilla films. But I love the film and it's making can finally be read and seen. Don't forget to see the video link on top! |
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| packmule | Apr 27 2009, 05:33 AM Post #93 |
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Long in the tooth
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Uh, if that's true then how do you explain the various women who have, throughout my life, expressed interest in "mating" related activities with me? Last I checked I ain't handsome. Probably true. But did you see the Godzilla(and other ) kaiju toys the one kid was playing with near the beginning of the movie? I'd sure have loved to have had those as a kid. |
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| G2Kmaster | Apr 27 2009, 05:44 PM Post #94 |
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Head Onmyoji of Monsterland Forums
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Dr. Yanno' sun does not count as a teen, you are good looking since you got a tough look on your face, and yep. |
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| packmule | Apr 28 2009, 05:18 AM Post #95 |
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Long in the tooth
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Dr. Yanno owned a star in this film? Was it a red giant or a white dwarf? Well said.
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| G2Kmaster | Apr 28 2009, 06:01 PM Post #96 |
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Head Onmyoji of Monsterland Forums
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Sorry, that is me typing after practice and not drinking tea... |
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| packmule | Apr 28 2009, 10:31 PM Post #97 |
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Long in the tooth
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Here's a review of Godzilla Vs The Smog Monster at BadMovies.org, including some screen caps and audio "wav" files of various sound effects from the film: http://www.badmovies.org/movies/gvssmog/ |
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| G2Kmaster | Apr 29 2009, 07:41 PM Post #98 |
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Head Onmyoji of Monsterland Forums
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I love this film no matter what anyone says. Godzilla flying is not neccesarily a bad thing and is IMHO something which people blow out of proportion... Nice link though. |
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| packmule | Apr 30 2009, 05:27 AM Post #99 |
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Long in the tooth
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Nice play on words. ![]() I have always been somewhat perplexed by the amount of apparent disdain for this film. I admit that the monster "Hedorah" is more unusual than the other enemy monsters of Godzilla but the score for Godzilla Vs Hedorah and other elements of the film were in tune with the time of the movie's release(1971). |
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| Rodan70 | May 1 2009, 06:24 PM Post #100 |
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Some days you just can get rid of a bomb.
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The worst thing about this film was the music. The "Drunken Godzilla" Theme. |
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| Bradman | Jan 7 2010, 02:13 PM Post #101 |
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Community Hall Of Famer
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And they say "Godzilla's Revenge" sucked! There was almost no plot, the acting mediocre, and Hedorah was absolutly pathetic. The first time he attacks Japan, he looks like one of those muppets from Seaseme Street! Although i did like the scene where Godzilla fly's. 2/10 Edited by Bradman, Jan 7 2010, 02:14 PM.
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I love the B-Movies from the 50's, 60's and 70's.
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| G2Kmaster | Jan 7 2010, 02:17 PM Post #102 |
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Head Onmyoji of Monsterland Forums
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^No plot? Please explain! |
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| Bradman | Jan 7 2010, 02:25 PM Post #103 |
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Hedorah basiclly spends most of the movie skirmishing with Godzilla and killing a few people along the way. That is, until the climax. |
I love the B-Movies from the 50's, 60's and 70's.
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| Guardian7 | Jan 7 2010, 03:39 PM Post #104 |
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Godzilla and Hedorah skirmish too long during that film... it just dragged on with a lot more posturing and less fighting. The lack of the military through most of the film bothers me... certainly a central control center deal where the ONLY scientist in the movie can work with the JDF. The battles in the city were very cool... after that... they just DRAGGED on! The Japanese version is better (American version fills in the sound effects gaps). Hedorah is a gorgeous foe (Most original since Ghidorah). All his forms were very cool and I loved it when he was getting his (food) essence from all the various pollution sources. It would have been cool to see this creature roam worldwide and have Godzilla chase him. Instead we had to have that extended open plains/Mt Fuji battle (and deal with that hippy field party and those strange Strange men who were creepily watching - what was that all about?) This movie starts out rocking! but mid-way it just hangs for me. Along with KKvG... this is one of the hardest films for me to make it through (followed closely by GvMeg). Again... I do think this is a great film. It has an incredible message (which if people had possibly listened to back then... we might not be having this Global warming thing we do now). The best thing about Godzilla Movie messages... people really should listen to them! Done... LOL G7 |
Manda morphed onto actually Ogasawara Island photo
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| G2Kmaster | Jan 7 2010, 08:12 PM Post #105 |
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Head Onmyoji of Monsterland Forums
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I thought that the bad guy was supposed to be Hedorah, not Godzilla. And Hedorah killed! |
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| UltramanSmythe | Aug 18 2010, 12:44 AM Post #106 |
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This is one of my favorite G films of all. It's just so bizarre and dark, yet playful at the same time. I really enjoy the kaiju fights. |
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| G2Kmaster | Oct 11 2010, 05:02 PM Post #107 |
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Head Onmyoji of Monsterland Forums
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I am happy to say that after a good bunch of years (5 or so) that I have finaly gotten to see this awesome film again. One of the things which struck me is the direction of the SFX scene. Especialy with the shots of Hedorah comming to the mainland for the first time. That oblique shot of him swimming at night with the city lights in the very back is just... woo... atmospheric to say the least. |
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| packmule | Oct 11 2010, 07:08 PM Post #108 |
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Long in the tooth
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How exactly?
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| G2Kmaster | Oct 12 2010, 05:19 PM Post #109 |
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Head Onmyoji of Monsterland Forums
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Borrowed a DVD from the Godzilla fan which I am currently taking under my wing. |
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| packmule | Jun 30 2011, 10:16 PM Post #110 |
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Long in the tooth
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Armand Vaquer has posted a nice "revisit" to suit actors Ken Satsuma and Haruo Nakajima, who suited Hedorah and Godzilla, respectively forty years go in Godzilla Vs Hedorah(1971): http://robojapan.blogspot.com/2011/06/40-years-of-godzilla-vs-hedorah-men-who.html
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| packmule | Jul 26 2011, 02:34 PM Post #111 |
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Long in the tooth
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Ken Hulsey of "Monster Island News" has posted a marvelous article about 40th anniversary posters of Godzilla Vs Hedorah(1971). To see this article, which includes images of the various theatrical posters of this Toho film, click the link: http://robojapan.blogspot.com/2011/07/godzilla-vs-hedorah-40th-anniversary.html |
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| NWV | Jul 26 2011, 10:58 PM Post #112 |
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Community Hall Of Famer
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Maybe it's just me, but I found this movie to be extremely dull. It was probably the music, maybe it was the overwhelming polluted-grey of the movie, but I stared at the screen, taking it all in, and simply not feeling it. The music tracks for the better part of the film were either non-existent or extremely downplayed. We didn't have any of the cornball over-the-top stuff the showa series was known for. Instead, we had somebody striking a sequence of three low chords, steadily getting higher as Hedorah crept around. That was probably one of the bigger reasons I didn't enjoy this movie as much as I thought I would. Edited by NWV, Jan 8 2013, 01:44 PM.
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| packmule | Jan 30 2012, 07:53 PM Post #113 |
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Long in the tooth
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Kudos to Matthew Cookson for posting this clip at Facebook.
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| UltramanSmythe | Jul 21 2012, 06:54 AM Post #114 |
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For Godzilla's first entry into the 1970s, amateur director Yoshimitsu Banno was chosen to direct. Banno was a rather different breed of director, inspired by films such as Africa Addio and other exploitation and art-house cinema. Helping him create the story was veteran Godzilla screenwriter Takeshi Kimura, who read Rachel Carson's call to arms for the environmentalist movement Silent Spring as inspiration for his story treatment. Banno created an extremely unorthodox film, combining split-screens to show people's reactions to Hedorah's rampage with odd anime sequences to show random parts of Hedorah's attacks, as well as poetry in one scene. What is unique about Godzilla vs. Hedorah's story treatment is how the film parallels to the original 1954 opus. The scientist Dr. Yano (played by television star Akira Yamaguchi) is an eye-patched scientist, and the devastation wrought by Hedorah has elements unseen since the original namely on screen human deaths, depicted in rather graphic fashion by effects master Teruyoshi Nakano, who specialized in showing hideous injuries to both monsters and humans as well as pyrotechnics. Godzilla is portrayed as a hero for the first time in the series, an image which both benefits and harms the character. Providing the music for the series was Riichiro Manabe, a composer known for being Nagisa Oshima's composer of choice. His Godzilla theme, derived from a cue culled from the 1970 war film A TURNING POINT IN SHOWA HISTORY: THE MILITARISTS, is unorthodox, utilizing trumpets, light synthesizer work, and pipe organ. The films theme song, Taiyou Kaese, is sung beautifully by famed nude model and singer Keiko Mari(with backing from the male choral group Honey Knights, who also do renditions of the song in various points of the film), who also acts in the film. His score is very fitting for such an unorthodox film. The acting is well directed, with Hiroyuki Kawase being not that annoying as young Ken Yano. Also in a lead role is teen idol Toshio Shiba, who seems rather happy and carefree as Ken's uncle. Teruyoshi Nakano's effects are well done considering the restraints put on him time-wise. He filmed much of the scenes with director Banno, giving them a much larger scope. I recommend this film, it's bizarre and very avant-garde but very fun. |
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| packmule | Jul 22 2012, 07:35 AM Post #115 |
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Long in the tooth
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^Good review Alex! Thanks for sharing this here.
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| Godzillaheisei546 | Nov 1 2012, 11:18 AM Post #116 |
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A Sophisticated Goofball
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I recently placed this particular Godzilla film among the Best I have seen. Simply put after some thought, I believe it too be the Most bizarre Godzilla Film ever crafted. Due to the new Director, and the little input from Producer Tanaka(if he really hated it that bad, he must have had little control) When Observing the Showa Series as a Whole, I have noticed that the Godzilla films in Quality and Suits used, simply Devolve down to Terror of MechaGodzilla(1975). With a few instances of greatness hear and there. The Thing so spectacular about Godzilla vs Hedorah(1971) is that it breaks alot of the rules set. Not the Continuity Rules, But after Godzilla's Revenge you would assume it to only get worse. Instead it takes the weird rout. If the 70's Hippie Culture and Godzilla met, This is the outcome. Nothing as strange has happened to this franchise like it did here(my Opinion.) Another Standout and Rule breaker would have been the score. Here we have Riichiro manabe replacing regulars like Akira Ifukube or Masaru Sato. It really shows, because this score can be described as Mixed at best.(I Still Dig it). It helps the Overall weirdness. Godzilla himself is shown in the same light as Say Destroy all Monsters or Godzilla's Revenge, He is played as the hero plain and simple. But the movie he is in, is very different. When you look at Godzilla's Revenge, Godzilla Raids Again, Godzilla X Megaguirus, Godzilla vs Biollante and Godzilla vs Megalon. They stray from the Godzilla film we know, they are oddballs. This film topples them all on the charts of different. The Atmosphere present in this film is unlike any film I have ever seen. Oh sure I get the Dark Environmental undertones, The 70's era, it's unmistakable. But presented in a Monster Movie. There is simply something about this film I love so much for being so Confusing. I do believe this is the first and last Godzilla Art House film. The Original Godzilla has it's Message about the Atomic Bombs, by summing it up as a metaphor for a Giant Radioactive Beast. Sure Godzilla vs Biollante has an Original Script, and can be taken as a decent effort by Toho. But when it comes to Defending the Godzilla Genre, this one is dismissed far too often. I get why it's not as loved, and I technically can't defend it on the merits of Good Film making. Since it's simply put, Artsy Trash. I Love and cherish this Film, and may put it on my Top 10 Favorite Films one day.(A Difficult list to make in my opinion)Because there is honestly nothing like this film. Godzilla meets a culture he has nothing to do with. I often consider how a series based on a metaphor can last. Now I understand it is the way the series experiments with different forms of film-making and alternate paths to the characters. That alows it too keep experimenting. Lets hope Yoshimitsu Banno as a Producer of the New Godzilla film by Legendary Pictures Brings some style to this film, And not just another disaster epic. Here are some scenes I found just plain odd, weird, creepy, bizarre from the film. As this film has a lot of that. (this picture kinda reminds me of Frogs) 1 The Opening: There is simply no Opening in a Godzilla film like this. This Opening sums the whole movie up, and tells you what your about to see may not make sense. Plus it gave me nightmares as a kid. 2 The Music: This films score enhances the strange overtone. Consider the Themes given to Godzilla and Hedorah Respectably, very different, very odd. Kinda eerie with Horror Elements. 3 Cartoons: I'm not sure why this movie takes a break to show us cartoons of Hedorah eating sludge, But I love it when they do. I would say this movie doesn't take it's movie or theme seriously, but this only reinforces the Blunt propaganda of Being Green. 4 The Guy getting drunk at the bar at the party: Not that weird, but I consider it show stopping and having no purpose in this movie, yet I think it's fun to watch peoples reaction to this scene when viewing with newcomers. 5 The Space Lecture: Like the cartoons, the film simply stops for a minute to tell us about atoms and the universe using pictures. Don't worry, I was scratching my head too. 6 This one doesn't even have a title, because I can't describe what was meant by it. In the third act when the main characters are too have a party in a grassland type area. Am I the only one who thought this was the weirdest part of the film. It becomes so dull, they play the guitar, It's almost as if the film went to black and white. While Homeless people observe there wild and even weirder dancing. It's moments like those that make me think I am watching an Exploitation films instead of a Giant Monster movie. 7 Going from cute and innocent to Horror filling and Graphic: This movie gave me Nightmares as a kid. Don't worry I still liked the movie then but how the people dissolve, and the colors of the film just go all over the place, How does that not scare you, especially with the overacting Imaginations of children 8 Godzilla Can Fly! Self Explanatory, next one. 9 The psychedelic TV Broadcast, with a baby in sludge, People screaming, a Lights show overarching the whole thing, with enough weirdness to send you into multiple seizures! 10 A Cat Covered in Sludge: That ain't right... There is so much more to discuss about things that made no sense in this film, From the White Orbs in Hedorah. The Save the Earth Number at the End. The Opening before the opening, How it ends. The Military's view on Godzilla is almost non existent. It's like arguing over why Godzilla is Effected by Electricity in King Kong Vs Godzilla. To end this overlong post, I will conclude with saying that Godzilla vs Hedorah should be looked at more by non Godzilla fans, as it doesn't really grab as many G fans as it should, maybe it is to be appreciated by other fandoms of Movie Buffs. No matter, I still think it's one of the best. |
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| TheDreadedGodOfKaiju | Dec 28 2012, 07:14 AM Post #117 |
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Community Hall Of Famer
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I'm back with another comedy picture. ![]() I hope you guys like it.
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| The Real McCoy | Dec 31 2012, 12:22 PM Post #118 |
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Guardian of the Galaxy
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That's absolutely hilarious. Awesome job. |
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| NWV | Jan 1 2013, 01:51 AM Post #119 |
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Community Hall Of Famer
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I love the expression on Godzilla's face with that caption, too. |
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| TheDreadedGodOfKaiju | Jan 2 2013, 08:00 AM Post #120 |
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Community Hall Of Famer
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Thank you.
The expression is the reason why I choose the picture.
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