TALKBACK #11: Godzilla vs. Hedorah

[MekaGojira3k]

[eabaker]

[Jorzilla]

I love the soundtrack to this movie. While it makes Godzilla sound like he's drunk, I think the point is to show how weary he is from fighting a monster that is literally eating away at his skin.

I really want to like this movie, and at times I do, but I generally find it pretty boring. I think it's the type of movie you need to watch in a group setting/theater so the energy levels are up.

[MekaGojira3k]

I guess that won't hold up to scrutiny eabaker, but maybe something half-way does. The idea that Hedorah DOES exist and Godzilla DOES exist, but maybe Ken's heroic bent on everything is just his brain trying to make sense of the horrible things happening around him?

[eabaker]

Yeah, that makes sense. We're seeing real events, but we're seeing them in a way hugely informed by Ken's childish point of view.

[jellydonut25]

I like the part (from an ironic standpoint) where the party breaks out on top of Mt. Fuji, and everyone is going bananas and there's the uncle (as I have been corrected) just standing by himself, playing his guitar and who knows if it's part of the song the psychedelic band is playing? He's just standing there, strummin' along to some nonsense tune in his own head.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

The ending shot of Godzilla in this film is easily among my favorite's in the franchise. Godzilla going off into the distance/sunset/sunrise at the end of the film is a redone trope a whole lot. And I think most of these shots were done best in the Showa era (I did like that shot in Biollante though).

While in Terror of Mechagodzilla, there is a bit of melancholy because of the harsher tone of the movie (and for a 30 year old fan like me who knows this would be the last film in nearly 10 years).

In Godzilla vs Gigan, it feels like the heroes the won the tag team belts after being "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" up by Ghidorah and Gigan and interference from a heel manager in the form of the Nebula Hunter M Aliens.

In vs Hedorah? Godzilla just seems and looks tired after a exhausting long battle. And he really looks like he got "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" up too. Seeing him going off into the horizon lends that feel of sympathy and conclusion. I guess triumph too.

[Gojilove]

I re-watched this yesterday, what I can never understand about this film - it is made during the "kiddie" era, like a lot of this film seems like it may be intended for children, but its so freaking horrifying at other parts, so many shifts.

[eabaker]

[Garasharp K7]

Don't forget a lot of tokusatsu shows (and anime ones too) at that time had similarly grim and surreal imagery. Kamen Rider would have monsters melting people into puddles of soapy goo, the various Ultra shows would feature episodes where kids might lose their parents to a rampaging monster - I watched an episode of Taro recently where a screeching killer rose bush sucked the blood out of someone's ear - victims and villains alike would die in massive explosions in plenty of Gatchaman episodes and while off the top of my head I can't think of any messy deaths in Spectreman, the show did have some pretty surreal episodes - and most of the monsters were pollution-based too. Oh, yeah, can't forget Doragory butchering that other monster in that one Ultraman Ace episode either.
'Godzilla vs. Hedorah' does have some pretty disturbing scenes, but it doesn't seem so out of place when you compare it to kids' shows that aired around the same time, or a few years later.

[MekaGojira3k]

Yeah, but its not common place violence, it's the juxtaposition of some distinct imagery that's really going to have the most impact with older audiences and ridiculous silly things. It's also the precision with which the more "kiddy" elements are placed, they're usually referenced or witnessed by Ken. I mean, I know what you're saying, but I think, especially considering the message, this usage is far more meaningful than following a trend.

[GFan]

[davezilla]

Re-watched this movie tonight in glorious high definition and it remains one of my favorites. Sure I can see the complaints about it being slow moving including the fights but there is something magical about it. I love the otherworldy surreal cartoons, the nightclub scene, the songs, and depressing dark nature of it all.

Hedorah remains one of my favorite monsters. Anyone notice that the 70s was really an era that Godzilla films took a chance and gave us a bunch of glorious new monsters. Hedorah, Gigan, Megalon, MechaGodzilla, King Caesar, Titanosaurus....all of them pretty awesome in my book. I love the various stages of Hedorah and I still think a definitive set of the various stages with good detail is required.

I love some of the characters in this film. I like the kid in this film, I love him playing with Godzilla toys it's pretty cute. The professor father who gets injured early and is show walking around a little but is mostly confined to bed. I love how once he develops a way to destroy Hedorah he makes his wife make the phone calls AND even makes her pack up a bed in the back of their car just so he can stay in bed! LOL And the general up there has simply the most hilarious expression on his face the entire time. They finally get the wires back up and he's like "Idiot! It's too late now!" and it doesn't work and Godzilla seriously rolls his eyes. Hilarious stuff!

This is a great Saturday/Sunday afternoon popcorn flick and really is the start of the era I watched the G-man as a kid. I can't help but love it!

[angilas]

[Hybrid Gojira]

My Godzilla marathon continues. This film was my most recent watch.

I think this film has to be pretty divisive among the fandom. Some will love it, others will hate it. I'm somewhere in between. The score perfectly fits the weirdness of the movie and the guitar riff as the teens gather on Mt Fuji is actually kinda cool. The imagery in this film is just so different for a Godzilla film that it's at times off-putting. I like it for it is - a product of its time with a very specific point to make, but at the same point I'm not sure I like it all that much. There are some nice sequences and shots throughout the movie, but the monster fight is mostly boring.

Plus...Godzilla flies. That should have never happened.

The characters are bland and not much development is given to them other than trying to figure what Hedorah is. The movie seems to focus on the unique imagery placed sporadically throughout; to its credit, it works pretty well in that area.

Having just watched Megalon, I think this film is better made but it's about on the same level of "meh" for me.

[jellydonut25]

I don' like this movie.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

Vs Hedorah was a pretty ambitious film. As far as production values go, its leagues ahead of vs Gigan and vs Megalon. But Jun Fukuda is a better director, and in this regard his efforts in vs Mechagodzilla are better. I think its a better edited film than Terror of Mechagodzilla, and Hedorah is a powerful foe.

It's a love it or hate it movie; I love it.

If the movie had a bigger budget, it'd probably look like an even more psychotic Prophecies of Nostradamus, another movie Banno worked on.

[Gman2887]

[Goji 84]

[walshiam]

Hmmmmmm.

[Mac]

[MechaMinya]

An incredible, artful film. I am talking one of the top 4 Godzilla films.

[Goji 84]

I love how you went out of your way to disprove something that was clearly an exaggeration. Are you just completely devoid of common sense?

Why do we need to be reminded of this every other year? Much less in a post that would be considered spam if made by any other member? Or is there a new rule in place that states that moderators can do whatever the hell they want?

[jellydonut25]

[Rodanex]

Saw this on Yahoo news today:

http://www.ozy.com/performance/in-defen ... ster/60271