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Gorgo
Sam Slade didn't believe in Gorgo until he saw the monster's hideous scaly face, its slimy green talons and the massive mouth that could swallow a killer whale. If this was not enough he was to have even bigger problems in his future. The story mixes familiarity with a couple of neat plot twists; the special effects are ambitious and oftentimes stunning; and the use of a man in a rubber dinosaur suit, a technique usually met with derision, is undoubtedly one of the best on record. But perhaps the reason that supersedes them all is that Gorgo is the rare city-stomping monster spectacle with heart. Released by MGM in 1961, Gorgo is that oft-told cinematic fable of the giant beast that threatens humanity This volume contains the shooting script and the original tie-in novel by Carson Bingham and a production background by Bill Cooke.
218 pages, Paperback
First published February 17, 2014
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About the author
Bill Cooke
25 books2 followersBill Cooke is Professor of Management and Society at Lancaster University Management School. Previously he worked at the Institute for Development Policy and Management, Manchester School of Management, and Manchester Business School, all within what is now the University of Manchester; and at Teesside University.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 11, 2024
The oft-told story among Monster Kids is that after Director Eugene Lourie took his young daughter to see his popular monster movie, "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," she became very upset with him because he killed the marauding creature at the end of the film. After all, the destruction and mayhem wasn't the creature's fault. He was released during a bomb test of the humans, and he only wanted to return to his home (which was now densely inhabited by people).
By way of making peace with his daughter, Lourie would develop the story and Direct "Gorgo'" in which a giant creature from the sea invades London in search of her son who has been captured and taken from her. The twist here is that both monsters make it through the movie's end alive.
Now, if the story is true, then I fully sympathize with Lourie's young daughter. Even going as far back as the giant ant movie, "Them!" I had felt bothered that our intrepid heroes wiped out the final nest of the queen, consigning the creatures to oblivion. In fact, I've always had an emotionally difficult time watching "King Kong" even though I love the movie. The "unjust" ending gets me every single time. I much preferred "Mighty Joe Young" ... especially the Disney remake.
So, "Gorgo" has always been a monster film near and dear to my heart. My parents wouldn't take me to the movie theater to see it as they thought I was a bit too young, but I watched it every time a local television station broadcast it on a Saturday afternoon. My heart beat a little faster when the "murky" prints were supplemented by a Blu-ray release, and I was on Cloud 9 a year ago when an exceptional 4K-UHD release was made available.
I know. I could have saved a lot of time and word space by simply stating that I'm a big fan of "Gorgo."
This book release of the screenplay isn't all that I would have liked it to be. It has less photographs than similar books, and the supporting documentation about the filmmaking process is much more sparse. Still, I definitely enjoyed it.
The book features a background of the production by Bill Cooke. While it lacks the on-set stories that I treasure, it does provide an excellent analysis of the impact of "Gorgo" on the world of monster cinema, especially from Japan. And it is not just the writer's opinion, either. Plenty of valid justifications are made for the claims.
As has become standard for these types of books, it does contain the screenplay (featuring some scenes that were deleted) and the Press Kit. Also, to make up for what would have undoubtedly been one of the shortest books in the "original screenplay" series from Philip J. Riley, it also features the entire "movie tie-in" novel written by Carson Bingham which has become a bit "infamous" among movie novelization collectors because of the spicy romance scenes that were added (with multiple references to nudity, breasts and nipples). "So what?" you say. Well, these paperbacks were often sold at theaters showing "Gorgo" ... and the movie was definitely slanted toward the kiddie market. Still, the novel had some good sub-plotting, especially relating to the parent-child relationship theme, and it also usually kept most story developments flowing more logically. (Unfortunately, it contains a lot of typos.)
GORGO is definitely a book for the movie's fans, rather than for someone interested in learning more about filmmaking of the time. On the plus side, it sent me scurrying down to my home theater to view the 4K-UHD treatment again!
By way of making peace with his daughter, Lourie would develop the story and Direct "Gorgo'" in which a giant creature from the sea invades London in search of her son who has been captured and taken from her. The twist here is that both monsters make it through the movie's end alive.
Now, if the story is true, then I fully sympathize with Lourie's young daughter. Even going as far back as the giant ant movie, "Them!" I had felt bothered that our intrepid heroes wiped out the final nest of the queen, consigning the creatures to oblivion. In fact, I've always had an emotionally difficult time watching "King Kong" even though I love the movie. The "unjust" ending gets me every single time. I much preferred "Mighty Joe Young" ... especially the Disney remake.
So, "Gorgo" has always been a monster film near and dear to my heart. My parents wouldn't take me to the movie theater to see it as they thought I was a bit too young, but I watched it every time a local television station broadcast it on a Saturday afternoon. My heart beat a little faster when the "murky" prints were supplemented by a Blu-ray release, and I was on Cloud 9 a year ago when an exceptional 4K-UHD release was made available.
I know. I could have saved a lot of time and word space by simply stating that I'm a big fan of "Gorgo."
This book release of the screenplay isn't all that I would have liked it to be. It has less photographs than similar books, and the supporting documentation about the filmmaking process is much more sparse. Still, I definitely enjoyed it.
The book features a background of the production by Bill Cooke. While it lacks the on-set stories that I treasure, it does provide an excellent analysis of the impact of "Gorgo" on the world of monster cinema, especially from Japan. And it is not just the writer's opinion, either. Plenty of valid justifications are made for the claims.
As has become standard for these types of books, it does contain the screenplay (featuring some scenes that were deleted) and the Press Kit. Also, to make up for what would have undoubtedly been one of the shortest books in the "original screenplay" series from Philip J. Riley, it also features the entire "movie tie-in" novel written by Carson Bingham which has become a bit "infamous" among movie novelization collectors because of the spicy romance scenes that were added (with multiple references to nudity, breasts and nipples). "So what?" you say. Well, these paperbacks were often sold at theaters showing "Gorgo" ... and the movie was definitely slanted toward the kiddie market. Still, the novel had some good sub-plotting, especially relating to the parent-child relationship theme, and it also usually kept most story developments flowing more logically. (Unfortunately, it contains a lot of typos.)
GORGO is definitely a book for the movie's fans, rather than for someone interested in learning more about filmmaking of the time. On the plus side, it sent me scurrying down to my home theater to view the 4K-UHD treatment again!
September 16, 2018
A Warning?
Ordered this book after discovering the movie recently while reading comments after watching "The Giant Behemoth". Fascinating to learn how "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" led to "Behemoth", "Godzilla", and the subject of this review-Gorgo.
The book obviously could not have been adapted to screen as written, due to the "50 Shades of Gorgo" type sexual passion described between Moira and Slade. This movie was for kids, I'm pretty certain that dad took us kids to see it while stationed at Ft Bragg back in 62. A theatre in town showed movies like this on Saturday mornings. "Gorgo", "Godzilla", "Varan", "The Blob", "Kronos", .... Ahhh, the child's life.
Ordered this book after discovering the movie recently while reading comments after watching "The Giant Behemoth". Fascinating to learn how "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" led to "Behemoth", "Godzilla", and the subject of this review-Gorgo.
The book obviously could not have been adapted to screen as written, due to the "50 Shades of Gorgo" type sexual passion described between Moira and Slade. This movie was for kids, I'm pretty certain that dad took us kids to see it while stationed at Ft Bragg back in 62. A theatre in town showed movies like this on Saturday mornings. "Gorgo", "Godzilla", "Varan", "The Blob", "Kronos", .... Ahhh, the child's life.
May 25, 2021
Where to start? If Goodreads/Amazon had 1/2 star ratings, this would be a 2.5. The book is divided into 3 sections:
The first is an essay, by Bill Cooke, on the Gorgo film. I'm not really an essay person but I found this one interesting. It talks a lot about the director's vision and the process of making the movie. One thing that I read in this essay was a warning, of sorts. The movie tie-in novel was published by Charlton Publishing via their Monarch Books division.: "Monarch, which specialized in cheap-thrill page turners like The Gang Girls and Payola Woman, churned out a number of movie tie-ins at the time; and the one thing they all had in common (besides being cheaply done) was their authors’ propensity to go off on enthusiastic and seamy departures from the original storylines." (Cooke, Bill. Gorgo (p. 44). BearManor Media & Magic Image. Kindle Edition.)
The books were also sold at the theatres where Gorgo was showing. Further from the essay "Most of the people who snatched up the monster-movie tie-ins were not of the intended “raincoat” crowd but were innocent children who got an unexpected peek into adult kinkiness if they ever decided to crack the spines." (Cooke, Bill. Gorgo (p. 45). BearManor Media & Magic Image. Kindle Edition.) Having read this book I can see why. This novel would be rated NC-17.
The second portion of the book is a reproduction of the movie script. I skipped around in this part as I'm not a fan of reading them. It was interesting to see how some of the scenes were to visualized & filmed.
Part the third. This is the actual "movie" novelization. This is what brings my rating so low. What the essayist noted is true with this turd. To avoid spoilers, I'll just say this: a love interest, sex, misogyny, and child abuse are not needed for a Kaiju story. The story seen in the film is here, just intercut with a lot of garbage.
Caveat emptor
ETA: the novel portion needs a good proofreader & editor. There are many typos throughout the book. Most of them are the type that may ir may not have been caught by a word processor ('has' when it should have been 'was', 'her' instead of 'here', etc.).
The first is an essay, by Bill Cooke, on the Gorgo film. I'm not really an essay person but I found this one interesting. It talks a lot about the director's vision and the process of making the movie. One thing that I read in this essay was a warning, of sorts. The movie tie-in novel was published by Charlton Publishing via their Monarch Books division.: "Monarch, which specialized in cheap-thrill page turners like The Gang Girls and Payola Woman, churned out a number of movie tie-ins at the time; and the one thing they all had in common (besides being cheaply done) was their authors’ propensity to go off on enthusiastic and seamy departures from the original storylines." (Cooke, Bill. Gorgo (p. 44). BearManor Media & Magic Image. Kindle Edition.)
The books were also sold at the theatres where Gorgo was showing. Further from the essay "Most of the people who snatched up the monster-movie tie-ins were not of the intended “raincoat” crowd but were innocent children who got an unexpected peek into adult kinkiness if they ever decided to crack the spines." (Cooke, Bill. Gorgo (p. 45). BearManor Media & Magic Image. Kindle Edition.) Having read this book I can see why. This novel would be rated NC-17.
The second portion of the book is a reproduction of the movie script. I skipped around in this part as I'm not a fan of reading them. It was interesting to see how some of the scenes were to visualized & filmed.
Part the third. This is the actual "movie" novelization. This is what brings my rating so low. What the essayist noted is true with this turd. To avoid spoilers, I'll just say this: a love interest, sex, misogyny, and child abuse are not needed for a Kaiju story. The story seen in the film is here, just intercut with a lot of garbage.
Caveat emptor
ETA: the novel portion needs a good proofreader & editor. There are many typos throughout the book. Most of them are the type that may ir may not have been caught by a word processor ('has' when it should have been 'was', 'her' instead of 'here', etc.).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews