Saw Godzilla Vs. Hedorah last Night...

[Master Fwiffo]

[dbzgundam]

[Kaijufan]

It was on to late for me. How was the print?

[mechagod31]

I've always found G vs. Hedorah to just be a fun movie with a cool original monster. Some of the scenes were a little uhh......out there....but I don't mind. The best part of the movie is when all the people instantly dissolve into skeletons.

[Master Fwiffo]

[Legion]

[dbzgundam]

[Gojira69]

[Master Fwiffo]

[Jet Jaguar]

[Gojira69]

[musukogoji]

[Gojira69]

[Master Fwiffo]

[dbzgundam]

[Gojira69]

[Dagarah72]

[PlayAtari2600]

[Jet Jaguar]

[MightyGhidorah]

[CyHunter]

I definitely want to see this movie again when I get my hand on the new DVDs. My complaint with it has been the darkness (hopefully the DVDs don't use the SciFi print? :dunno: ) and I always enjoy these movies more when I get to see them subtitled.

[Green Dragon]

I got my Sony DVD for this Saturday morning at Best Buy, what a neat experience. I beat the weekend crowds, the place was empty, and an employee came up to me and saw my copy of this movie in my hand, and I made a new Kaiju fan friend. He says he and his kids love watching them, and we were talking about everything, he mentioned GFW and saw the film clip online of GINO being bitch-slapped by Goji. He also told me about a monthly Sunday morning sci-fi marketplace in LA, where proces are very competitive and therefore, bargains can be found. I'll have to find more about this.

Anyways, back on topic...I found out about this movie when I was 10, when on a road trip with my family, at a convenience store in a little dusty town in the middle of Texas, of all places...I picked up my first copy ever of Famous Monsters of Filmland (issue #91, with Basil Gogos' oil rendition of the poster art from the movie FROGS on it...)





I was still very new to Godzilla, and had only seen a few movies on tv, and the DAM trailer at our drive-in theater (but Dad refused to take us to see it, he hated my watching these movies )

It wasn't until a few years later that I finally had a chance to see Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster, after school on tv (2:30 afternoon movie), and I was already more than a little baffled at what I saw. By this time, the style and feel of the classic mid-60's Showa had become burned into my noggin, having seen several more movies, including non-Godzilla ones....the style of Ishiro Honda, the actors of that period, the effects of Eiji Tsuburaya, and the music of Akira Ifukube had already made its impression.

Then I saw this.

W...T....F?????!

Nothing seemed familiar or "right"....it definitely looked different, cheaper. The hippie-ness of it, the rock club, the fashions, the animations, the bizarre little things, like the tv-screens with arguing people turning into a psychedelic matrix...and the MUSIC.

This new Godzilla theme was SO off-putting.

This was my first experience with 70's Showa, knowing there were a few others I had not seen yet, and knowing from things I read that their budgets were getting really cheaper, and that Tsuburaya had passed away.

As the movie wore on, I just became more and more weirded out by it, and the bit with Godzilla flying, I think, for me, was the cherry on the cake of wackiness.

I did like some of the effects, but did notice that Godzilla was looking a little on the cheezier side. Now, about the general "grossness" of the movie....

Yuck!

I don't think that would have bothered me if the rest of the movie wasn't so bizarro....just wasn't what I was used to, I guess.

Over the next few years seeing the rest of the 70's Showa pretty much did that period in for me, too. When Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster was made available on VHS, I got it, gave it another chance, but it just wasn;t one that I would be watching too much. This new Godzilla theme (someone here refers to it as "Drunk Godzilla" ) was like nails on a chalkboard.

Now, 30 years later, I really want to give these ones another shot (well, except for Megalon )...so it's cool to have these films on DVD in Widescreen, and in Japanese.

So watching it the other night, was something of a revelation, but still not much. Now, in spite of it all, I have always loved the kaiju Hedorah. And "Save the Earth" is a song that won't get outa my head, as much as I want it to. I enjoy it now.

I think I like the Japanese version of the song better, too (even though I have an MP3 of the AIP American dub version)....but seeing the opening credit sequence, it just seemed so...007 to me this time around. Cute.

For the most part, I was able to enjoy the movie, but the crisper sound made the music, that MUSIC, stand out even more. But at this point, I just accept it as part of it...with one exception. The guitars and organ music, I can handle...what I still cannot stand is that hideous "Drunk Godzilla" theme. ANd the grossness...? Well, after reading here that it's Hedorah's EYES that Godzilla pulls out (move over, Beatrix Kiddo!), and the flesh on his right hand is burnt to the bone (never did see that before), it's still flat-out gross. And God Bless it for that.

I'll watch it from time to time, because Hedorah is just one great kaiju. Would love to see more of him/it/her/them, and hoping that its appearance in GFW will do the whole concept of such a skanky creature justice.

Bottom line, this is one wacked out movie.

[Dr Kain]

[August]

There are no "hippies" in HEDORAH... They are a spin-off of Mods -- because of the King's Road get-ups; very hip, very Swinging '60s (a look that held fast in Japan and Europe until the mid-1970s). The Hippie look was very American, and was not reflected in Japanese pop culture, music or films until after HEDORAH (all of the men in the cast have hair above their shoulders in the film, and just over their ears). On the other hand, the tubby long-hair in GODZILLA VS. GIGAN, is indeed a tie-dyed and true Hippie. ;P

I hate dirty, filthy, pinko-commie hippies!

[Green Dragon]