Mighty Joe Young (1949)

Overrated and overhyped

hyped garbage

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

While Comparisons to the Original King Kong (1933) are Inevitable, because of the Main Giant Ape Character and the Production Team, this Film can Stand Proudly on its own as a Fantastic Family Fantasy Film, one of the Best of All Time. It is Ray Harryhausen's Debut Stop Motion Work (reports are that Willis O'Brien, the genius behind Kong, mostly supervised), and Won the Oscar for SFX.It is a Simple Story that Consistently Tugs at the Heartstrings and is a Rousing Romp that is Fast Paced and Genuinely Engrossing. There are Many Highlights with One just Topping the Other as the Movie Moves Along with a Stupendous Eye-Popping Climax where Joe Saves the Day. There is a Sweet Childlike Quality that Works on Many Levels of Emotion and the Film is as Exciting as it is Heartbreaking and then Reassuringly Heartwarming. An Unforgettable Entertainment Experience and can Charm the Coldest of Cynics. Must See Movie Making at its Most Manipulative and took a Cue from Disney and in Following, Filmmakers Like Spielberg took a Cue from this Wonderful Crowd Pleaser.

Terry Moore stars as Jill Young, a young woman who has raised a gorilla named Joseph Young, who has grown quite large in her care. When nightclub owner Max O'Hara(played by Robert Armstrong) and his cowboy employee Gregg(played by Ben Johnson) find Joe, they persuade Jill to sign a contract and head for Hollywood, where Joe becomes the star attraction. Sadly, he isn't happy in captivity(can't blame him!) and after three drunken idiots humiliate Joe, he escapes and becomes the dogged pursuit of a manhunt, but Joe will come to the rescue when an orphanage is on fire...Good-natured film is hurt by extreme familiarity, since this had been done before and better in "King Kong". Not bad, but mediocre film is mostly good for kids.

This film was released in 1949, one year prior to the beginning of the scifi/monster boom of the 1950's. In terms of genre descriptions, it is hard to pigeonhole MJY...like Disney's 'Dumbo' (1941) it is a bittersweet story of a persecuted and exploited performing animal...and like Disney's 'Song of the South' (1946) it successfully integrates animated images with footage of living performers. But I also think that the classic 1946 Cocteau version of 'Beauty and the Beast' is also an antecedent.There is a tendency among modern viewers to judge special effects from the basis of how closely they approximate the way actual film of impossible happenings would appear. Yet we do not commonly judge paintings and sculpture by a standard of photorealism. With BATB and MJY, the special effects should instead be judged by how they convey mood, personality, theme, and how they tell the story.Not only are the stop-motion-animation techniques in MJY a quantum leap from the 1933 classic King Kong, they exceed most of what Harryhausen would achieve in later projects. I make this extraordinary statement because although the Harryhausen's Technicolor mythological films are indeed spectacular, none of his later beasts conveys a personality as believable and sympathetic as that of Mighty Joe Young.In 'Citizen Kane,' RKO deconstructed the agonized materialistic persona of pre-war America. In 'Mighty Joe Young,' RKO breathed heart and soul into a puppet, reconstructing the shattered fragments of the post-war America into a form of innocence and empathy.Besides being an effective fairy tale, MJY is an incisive social satire, with the nightclub scenes being effectively a tableau of the seven deadly sins of man, with an emphasis on greed.Robert Armstrong has a couple goofy moments where comedy relief is attempted, and the sequence with him riding the mule keeps me from giving this film a '10,' but this is a small flaw, and 1949 audiences probably thought it was funny.Terri Moore has a strange face, but she is compelling and believable, and her earnestness makes us believe in Joe even more. I don't want to spoil the ending, but after seeing this film, I felt as though I, and every other viewer, had been given a very special Valentine.

Same people as my favorite movie, "King Kong" which I've probably seen about 25 times, both the edited and, later, the unedited version. Same people and a lot of the same situations, but with different - er - feelings.Kong was bigger and meaner. MJY is smaller and, for the most part, much friendlier. Both had their crushes, Kong carting a screaming Fay Wray about, and Joe carting a happy Terry Moore.Quick note - let's dismiss "Son of Kong" which was a Kong bomb.Both apes were better off where they were before folks carted them to what we laughingly refer to as civilization. Joe's encounter with a red-tinged burning orphanage was excellent, and I like the fact that Joe had a sense of humor. Dig those expressions from the back of the truck when the meanie cops were chasing him.Speaking of mean, the three drunks who got Joe drunk were well-known, and very convincing character actors from that era. And, that entire nightclub scene was well done.All in all, "Mighty Joe Young" is exciting and fun family entertainment. By the way, he was nowhere near as mean-looking as the picture on the box but, then again, such things are always exaggerated.Kong will remain my fave, though. Technically, it was excellent when you consider the year it was made and the painstaking one-step-at-a time method.And, trivia buffs, "King Kong" opened at New York City's two biggest theaters at the same time, Radio City Music Hall and the Roxy. I forgot which theater I saw it at, but I will never forget the thrills it bought.As for Joe, see and really enjoy. And, checking out Terry Moore is rather painless.