"The Mighty Peking Man" has it all. This was always an elusive flick for me, until I finally found a poor VHS copy of it under the title of "Goliathon." Quentin Tarantino had this released on DVD (my very first DVD ever purchased) and there it was, finally in all it's beautiful glory.This is exactly what these films are supposed to be - nothing but non-stop fun, and lunacy. The story is similar to "King Kong" but this flick stands on its own. It's a very bombastic movie - the music is loud and dramatic, and there are a LOT of explosions and fires, all done to the max in deep sound, a decent sound system will do this one justice.The inconsistencies are hilarious of course - everything seems to change size, from the monster to rocks to the buildings (depending on how big the monster is in any given scene). The gorgeous jungle girl wears makeup and is nice eye candy. And even though Peking Man is in the area, making a LOT of noise destroying buildings, stomping on cars, wrecking highways and causing explosions, people almost right next to him just go about their business casually, until they actually SEE the creature (maybe they need their ears checked).One big plus is that the model/miniature work is nothing short of spectacular - there are a lot of very impressive miniature sets and models built. One array of buildings and elevated highways is especially fantastic, as is the destruction.The film moves fast and is never dull. Even though Godzilla movies were no longer being made at this point, some interesting giant monster movies came around this time frame, a few good (like "Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century") and some bad (like "A.P.E." and "Queen Kong") but this is probably the best. "Peking Man" is an absolute must-see.

"Look out it's a cheesy King Kong rip-off!" That's correct everybody, this hilariously god-awful 70's monster flick from the legendary Shaw Brothers Studio brings a whole new meaning to the term "guilty pleasure".A guy in an ape suit, who constantly changes sizes, suddenly awakens from a long slumber and wreaks havoc in the jungles of India. Wait a damn minute; I thought this gorilla was raised in Peking, China. My mistake! Nevertheless, a sleaze ball showman captures the terrifying creature along with scantily-clad jungle woman Samantha (played by the lovely Evelyne Craft). Now it is up to everyman hero Johnnie (Danny Lee) to save the day and live happily ever actor.Now let's get some things straight, "The Mighty Peking Man" is perhaps the nuttiest film I've ever seen since "Super Fuzz". While watching the movie, I somehow felt the urge to mock the inconsistencies and bad special effects. But at the same time, it does show redeeming qualities such as Lee's earnest performance and some nice sex appeal from Craft's animal skin outfit. However, the one scene that managed to raise a cackle is where Samantha tries to ride with a couple on their way to the stadium where Peking Man is being held. In a stroke of luck, they let her come along. I suppose the couple wasn't appalled by her half-naked presence or maybe they were trying to be polite.Despite not making it to the line-up of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000," the film is instead brought to Quentin Tarantino's short-lived production company, Rolling Thunder Pictures. If it hadn't been for Tarantino's involvement, we would have never discussed "The Mighty Peking Man" on this site.And let's us not forget the sappy montage featuring even-sappier music to complete this ham and cheese omelet of a movie. Boy, am I hungry!

One of the "sweded" films in Be Kind Rewind, this starts out as a ripoff of King Kong, then switches to a Tarzan movie as Johnny (Danny Lee) discovers Samantha (Evelyne Kraft), an absolutely gorgeous babe that was raised by The Peking Man after her parents died in a plane crash.Just like Tarzan, she talks to the animals, all except for a snake that bit her on the thigh, necessitating Johnny sucking the venom out very close to the jungle treasure. Of course, Peking Man arrives with special leaves that Johnny crushes up and applies to the wound. Miraculous! We go back to King Kong and Tarzan in Hong Kong, as they transport the Peking Man to the city. You can imagine the carnage as The Peking Man becomes Godzilla-like after he sees Samantha being raped (not really, it's PG-13).Only Quentin Tarantino can bring us this much fun.

The lamentably lousy '76 "King Kong" remake fortunately inspired a handful of hilariously horrible low-budget cash-in copies which includes the incredibly awful Korean cheapie "A*P*E*," the groan-inducing idiotic spoof "King Kung Fu," and this simply stupendous Hong Kong howler. Produced by the Shaw Brothers, who usually cranked out extravagant chopsocky costumers by the dozens and shot on a conspicuously paltry budget of what appears to be several rolls worth of quarters, this utterly inept, yet always entertaining and frequently sidesplitting tale of gorgeous jungle honey Samantha (the beautiful, curvaceous, flaxen-tressed Euro minx Evelyn Kraft, giving the viewers am amazing eyeful in a scanty, revealing fur bikini outfit that leaves precious little to the imagination) and the fearsome, village-stomping behemoth ape who's her best friend is not to be missed. Blessed with all the correct so-totally-wrong-it's-paradoxically-right schlock movie stuff -- clueless ham-fisted direction by seasoned journeyman Ho Meng-Hua, a crummy, leave-no-cliché-unturned cookie cutter script, meager (far from) special effects, laughably poor dubbing, proto-MTV buzzsaw editing which accentuates a manic rapid-fire pace over rhythm and continuity, unspeakably terrible dialogue ("Hey look -- it's Peking Man!"), ramshackle production values, a sappy romance between Kraft and dorky Oriental adventurer Danny Lee (who also portrayed the titular bionic superhero in the equally astounding "Infra-Man" around the same time), a breathlessly frenetic pace, an absurdly melodramatic score, a fantastic mondo destructo monster on the rampage sequence (WARNING: Possible *SPOILER* ahead - in one alternate version Kraft croaks along with the ape at the film's riotously botched conclusion), a few groovy Erutrash disco tunes (one's even sung to a cloying lovey-dovey jungle montage!), and, most importantly, a certain cheerfully off-target, yet still unyielding and unbridled go-for-it hearty gusto which blithely permeates every last fabulously fumbled frame -- this choice chunk of delectably dreadful cinematic cheese rates as essential viewing for hardcore bad film buffs.