the king of kong : a fistful of quarters is a 2007 american documentary film .

highlighting the popular 1981 arcade game donkey kong , it follows steve wiebe in his attempts to take the world high score for the arcade game from billy mitchell , whom the film presents as reigning champion .

the film premiered january 22 , 2007 , at the 2007 slamdance film festival and has been shown at the newport beach film festival , the seattle international film festival , the sxsw film festival , the tribeca film festival , the true/false film festival , the aspen comedy festival , and the fantasia festival .

the film opened in limited release in the united states on august 17 , 2007 in five theaters , and by september 9 , 2007 , the film had expanded to 39 theaters in the u.s. the film 's original title was simply the king of kong but later received the subtitle a fistful of quarters .

a scripted film adaptation is also in the works .

director seth gordon has said that the movie might be a sequel instead of a remake , telling the story of how the documentary changed both men 's lives , as well as their continuing rivalry .

the film 's dvd release was on january 29 , 2008 .

ed cunningham and seth gordon shot more than 300 hours of film to make the documentary .

the film was dedicated to the memory of doris self , who appeared in the film but died before its release .

the king of kong

king kong deserves the title of
the eighth wonder of the world .
kong count # 9 – king kong ( 1932 ) the delos w . lovelace novelization
king kong was one of the first giant monsters to grace the silver screen , with his 1933 dă©but ,
king kong .
the most recent book on the making of the 1933 king kong , which includes the production , exhibition , and distribution of its sequels including the son of kong , king kong versus godzilla , the john guillermin remake of king kong ( 1976 ) , his king kong escapes ( 1986 ) , and peter jackson’s remake of 2005 .
additionally , epoch co . released two more lcd games featured king kong in 1982 , one titled
king kong : new york
and another called
king kong : jungle .
but i’m here to do just that . see i actually like king kong lives . unashamedly and unironically . after the 1933 original and 1962’s king kong vs godzilla , king kong lives is easily my next favorite kong film . [ 1 ]
king kong was also featured in a number of pinball and pachinko games , including
king kong - the eighth wonder of the world
released by data east in 1990 , a tie - in game to the 2005
king kong
called
kong : the 8th wonder of the world
for the game boy advance and a king kong pachinko game released in 2007 by taiyo elec co .
this would eventually lead to the 1986 sequel ,
king kong lives .
the simpsons also paid homage to king kong in 1992 ' s “treehouse of horror iii” special .
' they paint me as a son of a gun , ' billy mitchell says of ' king of kong . '
on top of all this , the future of king kong on both television and film looks bright as well .
through the myriad of imitators , rip - offs and wannabes , rko studios released
son of kong
nine months after the first release of
king kong .
first , that king kong was a part of the public domain , and then second , that king kong was not part of the public domain , and that universal possessed exclusive trademark rights in it .
most king kong stories tell of a group of unwitting colonialists who take kong away from skull island . boom studios’ current comic kong of skull island is different : it tells the story of a group of unwitting colonialists who brought kong to skull island in the first place !
but there is another lost japanese king kong film , 1938 ' s
edo ni arawareta kingu kongu ,
translated as
king kong appears in edo .
according to twin galaxies , wiebe set the top donkey kong score record in spring 2007 . his efforts were documented in the film the king of kong .
the donkey kong high score record has been shattered three times this year with steve wiebe recapturing the title from his king of kong rival billy mitchell .
mario of the deep : the titular episode sees king koopa forcing king neptune and the underwater mermushrooms to loot a sunken ship of its horde of gold coins .
combining super tough materials with leather accents , the king kong tote is perfect for women on the go .
in 1966 , rankin / bass productions and toho started talking about continuing the king kong film franchise , which would get audiences interested in seeing
the king kong show .
toho was eager to work with the character again , especially since king kong vs . godzilla ( 1962 ) was such a huge success . the resulting concept was operation robinson crusoe : king kong vs . ebirah , pitting king kong against a new monster called ebirah . for marquee value , mothra was also attached to the project .
after that , king kong went quiet for a while in the united states , but other parts of the world were still crazy about the eighth wonder of the world , in particular the country that is responsible for king kong ' s rebirth - japan .
king kong fly egg 130 - wipping around , bad reception , many wifi spots . . .
king kong backpacks are in a class of their own . built on a reputation of uncompromising quality backed by a generation guarantee .
the king kong show
was an animated adaptation of kong ' s adventures , as he encounters and befriends the bond family , who eventually take kong around the world and have kong fight many threatening foes , including monsters , aliens and robots . the design of king kong was drawn by jack davis , who would eventually go on to create artwork for
mad
magazine .
beneath the surface of the release of the two toho king kong films continued the constant battle being fought over the legal rights of king kong and who had control over the character - creator merian c . cooper or the studio that produced the first film , rko studios . according to james van hise ' s
hot blooded dinosaur movies
( 1993 ) , when cooper found out that rko studios had licensed king kong to toho for king kong vs . godzilla ( 1962 ) , cooper immediately opposed the project and felt his rights to kong were unassailable . in 1963 , cooper filed a lawsuit against john beck and universal studios to prevent the distribution of king kong vs . godzilla ( 1962 ) in the united states . during this time , cooper became aware that rko studios had profited off of king kong for years without notifying cooper ' s estate , mostly through aurora toy sets of king kong .
in this scholarly and thoughtful article , cashill theorizes about the peter jackson remake and argues that the realism of the cgi dissipates the mythic image of king kong .
in 1986 , konami published two kong games based on
king kong lives .
one was called
king kong 2 : ikari no megaton punch
and was released only for the famicom , a system only released in japan . the other game was
king kong 2 : yomigaeru densetsu ,
for the msx computer , also only released in japan .
after all the legal trouble involving the name and brand of king kong , it had left companies uninterested in making another kong film , fearing another court case they misused the character .
king kong lives
would mark the end of kong in cinema for some time . film studios were afraid of another box office bomb and that audiences had moved on from the character .
the other film that rankin / bass and toho agreed on did remain a king kong film and saw the return of the filmmakers that gave us king kong vs . godzilla ( 1962 ) , including ishiro honda , tomoyuki tanaka , eiji tsuburaya and akira ifukube . this lead to the 1967 film , king kong escapes . this plan would include incorporating stories and characters from the television show into the new film , in particular kong ' s most popular villain from the show , mechani - kong , a giant robot built in the shape of king kong . this also meant bringing in mechani - kong ' s inventor , dr . who .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing the king of kong : a fistful of quarters near you .
in the summer of 1968 , universal pictures released the american version of king kong escapes ( 1967 ) on a double bill with a don knotts comedy
the shakiest gun in the west
and opened to mixed reviews , most saying that the special effects were noticeably bad . outside of japan and the united states , king kong escapes ( 1967 ) got a decent worldwide release , but under different names in most countries . its original japanese name was
kingu kongu no gyakushu
or
king kong ' s counterattack .
other foreign names , according to j . d . lees ' godzilla abroad ( 1996 ) included
the revenge of king kong ,
the return of king kong
and
king kong on terror island .
the most interesting name came from germany though , which was translated as
king kong : frankenstein ' s son .
unfortunately ,
king kong encounter
was destroyed in a massive fire in the universal back lot in 2008 and was unsalvageable . but the ride was later replaced by
king kong : 360 3 - d
in july of 2010 .
their plan is to release a remake of
king kong vs . godzilla
in 2020 , with the working title of
godzilla vs . kong .
they wish to
bring together godzilla and legendary ' s king kong in an ecosystem of other giant super - species , both classic and new .
this would finally clear the way for the 1976 film
king kong
, now just around the corner from its release .
king kong escapes ( 1967 ) takes elements from particular stories of
the king kong show ,
as this new cast interacts with kong similar to the bond family did in the television show . in this case , carl nelson and susan watson befriend kong and get him to fight evil forces , in particular mechani - kong . king kong escapes ( 1967 ) also takes several elements from the 1933 film , such as kong fighting a t - rex on the island and performing a similar killing blow . the final battle also takes place at the japanese equivalent of the empire state building , the tokyo tower .
king kong fly egg 130 - wipping around , bad reception , many wifi spots . . . - youtube
king kong
was released in american theaters on december 17 , 1976 by paramount pictures . it was highly anticipated throughout the year , as advertisements built up the film and the now - iconic poster of king kong at the top of the world trade centers was released to public .
john beck approached toho with the idea of
king kong vs . prometheus .
toho was immediately invested in the project , as the studio had been interested in making a king kong film for some time . but toho wanted to draw more people in the theaters than having kong fight a frankenstein monster , and thus decided that it would be far more profitable if the eight wonder of the world fought the king of the monsters .
and with that , we have reached the end of king kong ' s current history with film and television . but while there are no other kong films , the future is bright for the eighth wonder of the world .
in 2016 netflix released a new original animated series about king kong , entitled
kong - king of the apes ,
produced by 41 entertainment and avi arad , the ceo and founder of marvel film studios . in these 13 half - hour long episode series , the year is 2050 and king kong is on the run after destroying most of the alcatraz natural history and marine preserve . it is later learned that kong was framed by an evil genius , who intends to use his army of robotic dinosaurs to take over the world , but the only one who can stop him now is king kong .
when it came to the visual effects for
king kong ,
the style of filmmaking had changed drastically since
king kong lives .
now , an entire visual effects team could produce a living breathing king kong through the use of computer generated imagery , or cgi . this method of special effects work allowed for better looking results than using a man in a suit or animatronics , since now king kong could do things that a robot could never do , like jump hundreds of feet into the air on top of a massive t - rex .
my hassle is about king kong . i created the character long before i came to rko and have always believed i retained subsequent picture rights and other rights . i sold to rko the right to make the one original picture king kong and also , later , son of kong , but that was all .
while they had a majority of the rights , they did not own the king kong name and character . the courts ruling noted that the name , title , and character of kong no longer signified a single source of origin . the courts also pointed out that the kong rights were held by three parties :
owns only those rights in the king kong name and character that rko , cooper , or ddl do not own .
. . . and what better competition for godzilla than his old rival king kong ? this would lead to the 2000 animated television show
kong : the animated series .
a combination of marketing and timing led to moderate success for
king kong appears in edo ,
but not with audiences .
not surprisingly the japanese apparently loved king kong lives when it was released there under the title “king kong 2 . ” heisei era godzilla artist noriyoshi ohrai created a knock - out poster for the film – though i also quite like the american poster as well complete with its cheesy tagline – and two official video games based on the movie were developed and released only in japan by konami . these were “king kong 2 : season of the megaton punch” for the famicom and “king kong 2 : revived legend” for the msx . not surprisingly these games pushed the kaiju aspect of kong even further with the famicom game totally discarding the human aspect of the film and instead having players assume the role of king kong as he traverses the globe fighting giant robots in order to save lady kong . now there’s another sequel i’d also like to see !
the men who captured the giant ape king kong return to skull island and find his likewise gigantic but far more friendly son .
shortly after this , richard cooper sold the rights to king kong to universal pictures , outside of book and publishing rights to the character . there was one more instance of king kong legal troubles , involving the creation of the nintendo video game character donkey kong , but the court ultimately ruled that universal was in bad faith for suing nintendo for copyright infringement over their character .
the final result was a fight scene between king kong and a t - rex that took over seven weeks to film .
another guest spot ! in addition to his earlier article on king kong novelizations , justin mullis also submitted this radical thesis on the oft - maligned king kong lives . many thanks to justin for the piece ! without further ado , let’s get controversial !
erb’s book , revised from her earlier 1998 version , comprehensively details global and national interpretations and analyses of king kong , and includes a section on peter jackson’s king kong . it is indispensable for film studies scholars who want to situate the film within competing discourses .
the fugard theatre’s king kong is directed by jonathan munby who directed the fugard theatre ' s production of a human being died that night with noma dumezweni ( the only double olivier award - winning southern african actor ) amongst many other international productions . following king kong munby directs sir ian mckellen in shakespeare ' s king lear for the chichester festival in the uk .
provides the reader with information on the production of king kong and reception of the 1933 film , including animation of willis o’brien . includes reviews , discussions of the writing , interpretations , animation , and an interview with fay wray .
rko studios was not the only company to build off the success of
king kong
in 1933 , as shochiku studios in tokyo decided to make their own movie featuring a giant ape ,
wasei kingu kongu ,
translated as
japanese king kong .
shochiku studios landed the job of translating
king kong
into japanese for their audiences , and wanted to create a comedic short to coincide with the release .
i would also argue however that king kong lives is every bit as much a kaiju movie in spirit as the giant claw and that in order to fully appreciate king kong lives and everything is has to offer fans of the genre only need to view it as if it is one . seriously , if you’re a kaiju fan who’s reading this article and who doesn’t like kong kong lives but gives king kong escapes ( 1967 . dir . ishiro honda ) a pass ask yourself “why ? ” and ask yourself how much more accepting of king kong lives you might be if the movie had been made by toho rather than hollywood ? [ 2 ]
when producer dino de laurentiis tried to make a sequel to his 1976 “king kong” remake ( which we’ll get to shortly ) , the result was “king kong lives . ” this movie stumbles with the premise : kong didn’t die from falling off the twin towers . instead , he just got hurt really , really bad .
this british film is more of a parody of “king kong” than a serious contender for best kong movie , but it is worth noting for its gender reversal of the story . instead of a giant male ape after a beautiful young woman , queen kong is about a giant female ape after a handsome young man .
however , the newest revival of king kong did trigger another barrage of legal battles to decide who owned the rights kong . according to ray morton ' s king kong : the history of a movie icon ( 2005 ) , the initial legal battles surrounding the 1976
king kong
and the rights to the character still lingered in the courts . while the three parties of rko , universal and de laurentiis argued back and forth over the matter , colonel richard cooper , son of the deceased merian c . cooper , stepped forward for the cooper estate . shortly after , universal discovered that the copyright of the novelization of the orignal
king kong ,
written by edgar wallace , had expired without renewal . universal then claimed that this made king kong public domain and that they should be able to make a movie based on a public domain story without infringing on anyone ' s rights , so long as it stayed within the context of the original story .
the series also spawned two direct - to - dvd movies long after the series had ended , with
kong : king of atlantis
being released in 2005 ( which contained three musical numbers ) , and
kong : return to the jungle
in 2007 , where poachers attempt to catch king kong and put him in a zoo .
more than half a century since the first performance in 1959 , the fugard theatre’s production of this iconic and historic musical has receivedfive star reviews and rapturous audience responses . king kong tells the story of heavyweight fifties boxing champion ezekiel dlamini whose self - appointed ring name was
king kong
to the wildly exhilarating music of todd matshikiza .
it was toho’s third godzilla movie , and fortunately for the good people of japan , when the two giant monsters meet they decide to brawl rather than joining forces to wipe out the entire human population . since both godzilla and king kong seem to survive the movie , a sequel was inevitable : 1967 ' s king kong escapes , also helmed by honda . it featured a battle royale between the robotic mechani - kong and the king himself , and was based off the king kong show , an american / japanese animated series that ran for three years on abc .
according to steve archer ' s
willis o ' brien : special effects genius
( 1993 ) , shortly after
king kong ,
o ' brien came up with the concept of king kong fighting a massive version of frankenstein ' s monster . it wasn ' t until about 1960 that o ' brien proposed his idea to rko studios , with sketches of kong and a new frankenstein ' s monster fighting in san francisco , dubbing it
king kong meets frankenstein .
there were also several tie - ins to king kong throughout video games , as well as references . konami would reuse the animations and character models from
king kong 2 : ikari no megaton punch
and
king kong 2 : yomigaeru denesetsu
in a crossover game they published in 1988 called
konami wai wai world ,
which was only released in japan .
taking place directly after the events of the last film , king kong survived his fall from the top of the world trade centers and was put into a coma for ten years . he was monitored by dr . amy franklin ( linda hamilton ) , who gave kong an artificial heart to survive . however , kong loses so much blood during the surgery that dr . franklin fears kong will die , until explorer hank mitchell ( brian kerwin ) arrives with a captured giant female gorilla , dubbed
lady kong .
the blood transfusion is successful and king kong awakens , only to grab lady kong and escape the complex .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing king kong ( 2005 ) near you .
the success of these monster movies throughout the 1940s and 1950s would bring about the next time king kong would emerge , as an idea conceived by willis o ' brien .
additionally , a new king kong film is in the works and is set to be released in 2017 , entitled
kong : skull island .
the film will be a joint production between warner brothers and legendary pictures and is set to reboot the kong franchise .
a 1962 film which has godzilla clash with king kong . it was the third godzilla film and remains the greatest box - office hit in the series .
affirming that the king kong novelization and serialization were indeed in the public domain , and universal studios could make its movie as long as it did not infringe on the original elements of the 1933 rko film , which had not yet passed into public domain . universal postponed their plans to film a king kong movie , called the legend of king kong , for at least 18 months , after cutting a deal with dino de laurentiis that included a percentage of box office profits from his remake .
a pharmaceutical company captures king kong and brings him to japan , where he escapes from captivity and battles a recently released godzilla .
finally , the biggest example of a king kong video game came in the form of a tie - in to the 2005 film . released by ubisoft in 2005 , they gave us
peter jackson ' s king kong : the official game of the movie
for the xbox 360 . this was the first game ubisoft released for the xbox 360 and was nominated for video game of the year at the spike tv awards that year .
cooper later said ,
my hassle is about king kong . i created the character long before i came to rko and have always believed i retained subsequent picture rights and other rights . i sold to rko the right to make one original picture ' king kong ' and also , later , ' son of kong , ' but that was all .
the ride combines practical effects , such as large tanks of air to simulate kong ' s breath , and computer generated effects that show kong battling dinosaurs . the ride is patterend mostly off of the 2005 film , with a similar design to skull island and kong between the film and this ride .
skull island : reign of kong
uses many of the same technics as one of universal ' s other big attractions
harry potter and the forbidden journey ,
where the riders are put in front of a large protector and move with the actions , in this case the movements of king kong .
king kong has had quite the run of animated renderings ever since , including a recent appearance in the lego batman movie . other kid - friendly cartoon kongs : 1998 musical the mighty kong , which has the voices of dudley moore and the little mermaid ’s jodi benson ; kong : the animated series , which spawned a few straight - to - dvd movies and aired on fox kids in the early 2000s ; and current netflix series kong : king of the apes , which is set in the year 2050 and features evil robotic dinosaurs .
the key example of this film changing something from the 1933 film was that , at the end of the movie , rather than climbing the iconic empire state building , king kong now climbs to the top of one of the world trade center towers , which were taller than the empire state building .
urltoken - king of kong : a fistful of quarters is a great documentary / film charting the itense rivalries of classic arcade record high score holders . it focuses in particular on billy mitchell & steve wiebe .
king kong has continued to survive through his many theme park attractions at several universal studios parks , including ones in hollywood and orlando .
so , where does king kong fit into all of this ? magonojyou has a pet ape that he used to kidnap chinami , and the pet ' s name is
king kong .
in fact , this pet ape looks more like a yeti than an ape , according to film historians .
the first of these attractions opened at universal studios hollywood in july of 1986 , months before
king kong lives
hit theaters . this ride , pictured above , was part of the theme park ' s famous studio tour . it involved the tram being confronted by king kong on the brooklyn bridge . called
king kong enounter ,
the ride used a massive animatronic kong , built by disney imagineer bob gurr . universal , however , was looking to expand its theme park footprint and to continue to challenge disney . this resulted in the opening of universal studios florida in june of 1990 . one of the rides the park opened with was called
kongfrontation
.
kong caged : lovelace describes kong as being shackled to the floor inside a large cage when he is presented to the public as part of denham’s show , as oppose to the now iconic crucifixion pose from the 1933 film . both the 1968 comic adaptation and dino de laurentiis and john guillermin’s 1976 king kong remake share the cage imagery .
one of those upcoming monsterverse flicks is the rematch , if not the remake , that we’ve been waiting for since 1962 , when ishiro honda’s king kong vs . godzilla debuted .
the fourth film in the new monsterverse cinematic universe that began with 2014’s godzilla is also essentially a remake of 1962’s king kong vs . godzilla . opens may 29 , 2020 .
ah , the power of it . ah , the superpower ! hail to the power ! hail to the power of kong ! and petrox !
these masks were composed of a plastic skull over which were placed artificial muscle groups activated by rambaldi ' s cables which entered the costume through the feet of the kong model , with a latex skin over the top of the plastic skull . these masks used hydraulics to move , which required a team of operators working off - set with control boards . finally , baker put contact lenses over the eyes of the masks so kong would resemble a gorilla . baker wore the king kong suit and performed as kong throughout most of the film .
but the most difficult part of filming
king kong
was combining the live action sequences with the stop motion scenes , while making it seem like the actors were in the same place as these monsters .
so why did they make a king kong film five years after the films initial release ? part of it was most likely due to
king kong
being rereleased in japanese theaters in 1938 , and zensho cinema wanted to make their own film that would build off the success of this release simply by claiming their ape was giant .
the battle for king kong and its resolution made headlines . many ran articles in february of 1976 quoting universal president sid sheinberg , such as the anderson herald , as he stated :
our agreement permits mr . de laurentiis to make the best possible film , and permits universal to select the best possible approaches to its king kong venture . universal intends to produce and release a king kong film under optimum production and distribution conditions , subsequent to the de laurentiis film release .
the king kong suit , however , had a more difficult time being accepted , especially by tsuburaya , according to donald f . glut ' s
classic movie monsters
( 1978 ) . he rejected the first suit sent his way for the legs being too long and kong being far too fat . several other designs were used before the final concept was created for kong , though the end result was the birth of the largest king kong to this date at 147 feet tall in the movie .
due to the success of
king kong ,
rko studios wanted to capitalize on its success immediately , and thus green - lite a sequel as soon as possible .
the world of donkey kong competition is one of the most intriguing in retro gaming , so if you want a bit of insight into the original kong off last year , check out our interview with tournament host richie knucklez .
however , less than a month after his ruling , judge manuel real made a subsequent ruling , stating that all the rights in the name , character and story of king kong ( outside of the 1933 film and
son of kong
) belonged to the cooper estate . this would become known as the
cooper judgment
and was a massive victory for richard cooper , as it proved what merian c . cooper had said for years about king kong .
the film was titled king kong vs . godzilla ( 1962 ) because , at the time filming began , king kong was more popular in japan than godzilla , so it made sense to give him top - billing . also , given that godzilla was considered a villain at this point in time , it was also decided that king kong would triumph over godzilla , but leave enough ambiguity to suggest that godzilla is still alive for future films .
but what truly stands out about king kong is that he has such a powerful legacy that has lasted this long . the first
king kong
came out 83 years ago , when talking pictures were still perfecting their craft and charlie chaplin ' s character of the tramp was the most recognizable image in the world . yet , here we are in the age of computer generated imagery that can bring anything we can image to life , and we still want to see king kong duke it out with godzilla . that is the definition of a classic .
rather than wait for any legal battle to settle , de laurentiis rushed into making his king kong film instead . pouring millions into the budget , and spurring up advanced advertisements , de laurentiis made his project known to the public . faced with lengthy legals battles and the prospect of launching a king kong film immediately after paramount pictures already did , universal canceled their project under a mutual agreement with de laurentiis for a percentage of the profits from the paramount pictures film and the rights to make a king kong movie at a later date .
there were 25 episodes of
the king kong show
before it was cancelled in 1969 , but it was successful enough that rankin / bass felt they could extend the kong franchise further by reaching out to an old friend : toho . . .
lakeman was not the only player in the hunt for the donkey kong record in recent times .
the switch from king kong to godzilla is quite clear in ebirah , horror of the deep ( 1966 ) , as godzilla performs many actions throughout the film that are uncharacteristic for him , but common place for kong , such as godzilla gaining strength from electricity ( a power kong had in 1962 ' s king kong vs . godzilla ) , protecting the native girl from another monster , and throwing rocks at the titular ebirah , a giant lobster , rather than using his signature atomic breath .
king kong has also faced his share of down sides , in particular the constant legal battle over the brand and who owned him - merian c . cooper , rko studios or the public . in a way , the court case might have hurt kong in the long run , because it deterred other companies from wanting to do anything with king kong , or else they might get into more legal trouble at points in history .
cooper plainly did not obtain any trademark rights in his judgment against rko , since the california district court specifically found that king kong had no secondary meaning .
according to
chronology of zensho films ( in japanese )
( 2002 ) , the film was released by zensho cinema as a two - part drama about the giant kong kong appearing in japan ' s edo period , often depicted as a feudal period filled with samurais . posters of
king kong appears in edo
show kong grasping the damsel in this film , chinami , in the palm of his hand and swatting the men trying to rescue her .
when tsuburaya heard that toho wanted him to do the special effects for a king kong film , he dropped every project he had worked on to support this film . tsuburaya had been a massive fan of the special effects used in
king kong
since he was a kid and considered it an honor to work on this film .
since hollywood has always known the importance of cashing in on one’s hot property , an insta - sequel followed : 1933 ' s son of kong , helmed by cooper’s king kong co - director ernest b . schoedsack . in son of kong , denham ( armstrong again ) returns to skull island on a treasure hunt and meets “little kong”—a smaller , much jollier , ultimately way less compelling version of his father . box office success did not repeat .
richard cooper filed a cross - claim towards rko , saying that while the novelization rights had not been renewed , the cooper estate still had control over the plot and story of
king kong .
king kong is brought in by an evil ruler to dig for precious gems in a mine when the robot mechakong is unable to do the task . this leads to the machine and the real kong engaging in a tremendous battle that threatens to level japan .
the 1932 film shares much with king kong , though its lack of a monster ( unless man is the true monster ? ) made me hesitate to include it here at first . however , it’s worth noting because it’s an underrated and influential classic ( films from hard target to zodiac to predator draw inspiration ) , and because of its ties to the king kong production .
on may 6 , 2015 , universal also announced that they were working on a new king kong attraction , that would be known as
skull island : reign of kong
that would open in the summer of 2016 in their islands of adventure in the orlando theme park . the ride has had a few soft openings for advanced crowds , and the ride is similar to
king kong : 360 3 - d ,
as you are transported on a small truck through skull island , along with a group of cave explorers , where you encounter and are chased by dinosaurs , only to come face - to - face with king kong .
both legendary pictures and warner brothers are prepared to sign on to do more king kong films in the future if
kong : skull island
does well financially , but have already taken a large step towards something bigger .
the family that befriends kong has three principal members , professor bond , the father of the family , the teenage daughter susan bond , and little bobby bond that kong saves from a t - rex in the first episode . there is also the returning character of captain englehorn from the 1933 film , who transports kong and the bond family around the world . the bond family also has the reoccurring villain of dr . who ( not the british one ) , a mad scientist bent on conquering the world and intends to use king kong to reach his goals .
even if you ' ve never so much as eaten a single ghost in a game of ms . pac - man , king of kong is still a remarkable ( and remarkably hilarious ) film .
since then , universal has largely owned the rights towards king kong . while rko studios still owned the rights towards the first two films , dino de laurentiis owned the rights of his kong films ( although de laurentiis eventually sold those rights to studio canal ) , and the cooper estate owning the book and publishing rights , universal was allowed to do as they pleased with the character . this led to king kong becoming a major attraction at universal ' s theme parks .
to cut costs , o ' brien reused as many old animatronics and miniature sets that he could salvage , in particular from both
king kong
and
creation
including an aluminum frame - work for king kong that would be used for little kong and many of the same monsters . o ' brien was also forced to cut corners on the stop motion animation to give these scenes a more cartoonish feel .
this court case kept filmmakers from pursuing more films starring king kong for some years . it wasn ' t until 1975 that interest in a new kong film would appear . . . only to cause another legal battle .
for king kong : our furry friend has left quite the legacy throughout film and television . one that has always been on the pioneering edge of special effects , whether that was stop motion animation in the 1930s , large - scale monster battles in the 1960s , massive animatronics in the 1970s or paving the way for motion capture in the 2000s , king kong has helped to aid the next step in movie effects .
as for king kong , his popularity was once again growing and american studios were fascinated with bringing him back to american audiences . but since the last time kong was made in the states , a new form of media had become just as popular as the cinema - television .
for international releases , rankin / bass were in charge of the dubbing process for king kong escapes ( 1967 ) , but universal still retained the rights to king kong , so they would release the film in the united states . rankin / bass decided to have different voice actors dub over the lead roles for the american release of king kong escapes ( 1967 ) , with veteran voice actor paul frees handle most of the male roles , including dr . who . rhodes reason got to re - dub over his lines , but rankin / bass decided to not have linda miller re - dub her lines .
after rko sent cooper many ideas for titles for the film , including
kong : jungle beast
and
kong : the jungle king .
eventually , cooper and ruth rose simply referred to the film as
kong .
selznick approached cooper about this , saying that with a one - word title like that , audiences might get the film confused with docudrama ' s at the time like
grass
and
chang ,
both films cooper had produced earlier in his career . this caused cooper to add the word
king
to the title , leading us to the now famous title of
king kong .
television the king kong show ( 1966 ) . in this cartoon series , the giant gorilla befriends the bond family , with whom he goes on various adventures , fighting monsters , robots , mad scientists and other threats . produced by rankin / bass , the animation was provided in japan by toei animation , making this the very first anime series to be commissioned right out of japan by an american company . this was also the cartoon that resulted in the production of toho ' s godzilla vs . the sea monster ( originally planned as a kong film ) and king kong escapes . kong : the animated series ( 2001 ) . an animated production set many decades after the events of the original film .
kong
is cloned by a female scientist . this show , coming a few years after the release of centropolis ' godzilla : the series repeated at least two of the monsters ( although with vastly different backgrounds ) seen in the godzilla series . a direct - to - dvd movie called kong : king of atlantis , based on the 2001 series , was released to try and cash in on the 2005 movie . both the series and the movie were then included in toon disney ' s
jetix
group for a time , also to take advantage of the 2005 movie ' s release . a year later , a follow up direct - to - dvd film was released called kong : return to the jungle . the king kong suit from king kong escapes appeared on ike ! greenman episode 38 called greenman vs gorilla . due to copyright reasons king kong ' s name was changed to gorilla .
this turn of events led to two parties approaching rko to get the rights to make a new king kong film . on one side was de laurentiis and the other universal , each approaching rko with a $ 200 , 000 licensing fee but with different percentages on the earnings ( 3 % from paramount pictures , 5 % from universal ) according to
king kong : the history of a movie icon
( 2005 ) . paramount ended up signing a contract while universal claims they had a verbal agreement to the same effect . around this time , both finally discovered that two king kong films were being made ,
king kong
at paramount pictures and
the legend of king kong
at universal . both unhappy with this turn of events , a court battle ensued . universal struck first and sought $ 25 million in damages from both de laurentiis and rko . de laurentiis counter - sued for $ 90 million in damages on the grounds of copyright infringement .
a crew of explorers and filmmakers set out to investigate the myths of the legendary creature king kong . traveling to skull island , they discover a land unaffected by time as kong lives with dinosaurs that have been hidden and protected from man for centuries . as the crew struggles to survive on the treacherous island , they eventually capture kong through his fascination with a beautiful woman . taken back to new york , it may only be a matter of time before kong escapes his confines .
“the original production of king kong united audiences of all races – at the height of apartheid - and was a celebration of south african talent , ”says daniel galloway the executive director of the fugard theatre . “we have been delighted to see that audiences from all walks of life and across several generations have enjoyed the 2017 production which is itself a celebration of our outstanding local talent . ”
as for the special effects involved in
king kong ,
special effects developer rick baker and creature designer carlo rambaldi took a cue from films like
jaws
and decided to bring kong to life using large - scale animatronics .
there has also been at least one children’s book adaptation of the original king kong . first published in 1983 and then again in 1988 by random house this version was based on the lovelace novelization but rewritten for children by judith conaway with accompanying illustrations by michael berenstain . conaway was not the last to rewrite lovelace’s prose however . in 2005 writers joe devito and brad strickland also rewrote lovelace’s 1932 novelization and published it under the title merian c . cooper’s king kong : a novel . the point of this was apparently to improve upon lovelace’s original as well as to bring the novelization into the same narrative continuity as devito and strickland’s own original prequel kong novel kong : king of skull island .
according to august ragone
eiji tsuburaya : master of monsters ,
( 2007 ) , the result was a black - and - white silent comedic short that used
king kong
as a backdrop to its story , as the main character dresses up in an ape costume in trying to woo his girlfriend and plays king kong for a vaudeville theater .
denham , who ? : actor robert armstrong played movie mogul carl denham in the 1933 film , but in lovelace’s 1932 novelization the character is just called denham with no first name . this is one of the surest signs that you’re dealing with a kong adaptation that is using the novel as its basis and includes both the 1968 and 1991 king kong comic adaptations and 1998’s the mighty kong .
massive mechanical arms would be built by baker and rambaldi also , used to fit jessica lange in the palm of kong ' s arm . like the masks used for kong ' s face and the giant mechanical kong , the arms used hydraulics , and required another large team of operators to handle its movement .
but kong would be saved in the form of a new challenger , in an entirely different setting and vastly different period of filmmaking .
then we have the video games that tied into the
kong : the animated series
television show . in 2002 , bam ! entertainment released a tie - in for the game boy advance , while mga entertainment released another in 2003 for their own electronic handheld that also came with a small figurine of king kong . also , majesco games released a tie - in to the straight - to - video animated film
kong : king of atlantis
in 2005 for the game boy advanced by the same title .
in the original script , the gorilla is named
kong
. the film was then entitled the eighth wonder and press booklets were sent off to thousands of movie theaters in 1932 to excite the theatre owners into placing
the eighth wonder
onto their advertisements . the
king
was added to the title by studio publicists . apart from the opening titles , the only time the name
king kong
appears in the picture is on the marquee above the theater where kong is being exhibited , and the marquee was in fact added to the scene as an optical composite after the live footage of the theater entrance had been shot . however , denham does refer to kong in his speech as
a king and a god in the world he knew .
the giant gate used in the 1933 movie was burned along with other old studio sets for the burning of atlanta scene in gone with the wind . the gate was originally constructed for the 1927 biblical epic the king of kings . it can also be seen in the bela lugosi serial the return of chandu .


blunder boys is the 166th short film released by columbia pictures in 1955 starring american slapstick comedy team the three stooges ( moe howard , larry fine and shemp howard ) .

the comedians released 190 short films for the studio between 1934 and 1959 .

blunder boys

blunder boys was a pretty good short considering it was shemp ' s last completed film . the rest of his films were : husbands beware , creeps , flagpole jitters , & for crimin ' out loud . sadly , four of his shorts were shot with a double after he died in 1955 . but blunder boys isn ' t too bad for being shemp ' s last completed film . * * * out of 5 stars .
so the programme was never going to be far from critique , in particular one especially hard - to - spot blunder in a scene featuring dr watson .
and we ' ll drink a good success to all fox - hunting boys .
the school has issued a statement a year to the day later , saying it was sorry for the blunder and the
emotional and physical harm
it caused to the families involved .
alive ! four thai boys who made it out of cave in daring . . .
,
which has also been covered—though not yet officially released—by the pet shop boys .
blunder boys
is living proof that a ) amc should show more of shemp ' s later shorts , and b ) columbia should put more shorts on vhs . notice that the first holiday shemp identifies himself as is st . patrick ' s day : shemp ' s birthday .
wat - son your screen , dr ? sherlock viewers mock martin freeman for pretending to update static picture of his blog in epic blunder . . . as opener gets best audience of new year ' s day
rickie lee jones and the pet shop boys shared the bill at the 2007 montreux jazz festival .
the song
mr . average
on andy ' s 2014 solo release torsten the bareback saint name - checks the pet shop boys :
i remember when the pet shop boys were new… .
the drama returns : despite the blunder , the show was a success as actors ( from left ) benedict cumberbatch , martin freeman and amanda abbington returned as sherlock , dr watson and mary watson to an audience of 8 . 1million
the boys were rushed to hospital with life - threatening injuries and further performances of the production were cancelled .
the pet shop boys and elton also collaborated on a 2005 cover of
alone again , naturally .
rescued thai cave boys face a lifetime of trauma from their ordeal as traumatic memories could trigger fear . . .
, the pet shop boys share with elton john the distinction of having composed totally original scores for stage musicals .
george invited the boys to be his opening act at his 2007 wembly arena concert , but they politely declined .
anne dudley , who has worked extensively with the boys , orchestrated george ' s
careless whisper
single .
like the pet shop boys and the aforementioned rickie lee jones , rufus appeared at the 2007 montreux jazz festival .
frantic parents of rescued thai cave boys have not been told which children have been saved – as teammates . . .
, both the boys and neil hannon appeared on the november 1 , 1996 episode of the u . k . tv show
the boys performed at the big
pre - nuptial
bash for elton and his partner david furnish in late 2005 .
blunder boys is a most welcome oasis in the midst of the stooges stock footage drudgery that was all too common by 1955 . by the way , did anyone else notice larry give a sort of reverse middle finger during one of the halladay , tarraday , holiday segments ? it was most unexpected ! we also get a glimpse of shemp ' s fat double when he goes partway through the ceiling ! this is more of a general observation , but it seemed that about one out of every 4 or 5 shorts were original . had shemp lived long enough , the stooges might have had another 2 to 3 years of rebuilt remakes before reaching the end of their original shemp era material . anyway , blunder boys gets 8 / 10 from me . i found this one fun and enjoyable ! cheers !
not their best by any stretch , but at least the boys are trying something different ; considering the budget handcuffs they had to work with , i think blunder boys comes off pretty well . in fact , i wish they ' d been allowed more opportunities to do these kind of specific satires of hit shows and movies . it must ' ve been a terrible blow for moe to lose another brother , but at least shemp passed on without suffering ( i ' ve read he actually died smiling - a nice touch , eh ? )
final four thai cave boys and coach are in ' good health ' but must remain trapped underground for at least . . .
elton ' s 1997 album the big picture features string arrangements by anne dudley , who has also often collaborated with the boys .
the divine comedy is the second of three artists in this list—see the beach boys , above , for the first—who share with the pet shop boys the distinction of having been covered (
our mutual friend
) by the fauré quartett on their 2009 album popsongs .
incidentally , if i didn ' t count cd singles , the beach boys / brian wilson would easily replace psb in first place .
peter gabriel ' s
here comes the flood
is covered by the fauré quartett on their 2009 album popsongs , making him the third artist in this list ( along with the beach boys and the divine comedy ) who shares that honor with the pet shop boys .
in the same year , 1987 , the pet shop boys and richard carpenter both released collaborations with dusty springfieldthe boys , of course , on
what have i done to deserve this ? ,
and richard on the song
something in your eyes
from his solo album time .
in the documentary pet shop boys : a life in pop , comedian matt lucas jokes that psb are
almost as good as erasure .
vincent frank—better known as frankmusik—remixed the pet shop boys '
love etc .
and produced erasure ' s 2011 album tomorrow ' s world .
donna beat the boys and taylor - wood by two decades in covering serge gainsbourg ' s
je t ' aime moi non plus .
one of the better three stooges shorts with shemp is blunder boys , a very funny spoof of dragnet which was in its original run on television and very popular at the time . moe narrates the film and its how the stooges become police detectives in the crisp staccato style of sergeant joe friday . of course this is the three stooges so some liberties are taken with the facts . there is a brief prologue in which stooges are shown during world war ii fighting a rear guard action , the only kind they know how as moe informs us . larry comes into his own in this film with a very funny bit about how he is dazed , but in that condition of stupor wipes out an enemy machine gun nest singlehanded . the climax of the film involves the boys tangling with a criminal in drag in the person of vaudeville veteran benny rubin who must have been on loan from jack benny because rubin was something of a semi - regular on his tv show . rubin and shemp have some battle of wits . blunder boys , a very enjoyable short subject that concentrates on only the facts ma ' am .
this was a difficult and most distressing time for the boys and their families , and the staff and other students involved in the production .
neil unsuccessfully auditioned for elton ' s rocket records label way back in the early 1970s , years before there even were
pet shop boys .
an unreleased demo version of the pet shop boys '
forever in love
contains a brief sample borrowed from the beach boys ' and the fat boys ' collaborative 1987 hit cover of the rock and roll classic
wipeout !
it ' s someone shouting
wipeout !
in a very silly voice , appearing near the beginning of the bb / fb track and about halfway through the psb demo . and , according to chris , another unreleased track ,
fat northern bastards ,
samples the
ba - ba - ba
vocal segment from the beach boys '
barbara ann .
longtime avowed bowie fans , the boys remixed and performed on the single version ( and appear in the video ) of his song
hallo spaceboy .
a rare 1986 vinyl ep released as a promo by record mirror magazine features the pet shop boys '
in the night
along with depeche mode ' s
dressed in black
( prior to its subsequent release on black celebration ) and two other tracks by the beastie boys and ll cool j .
of course , the boys titled their 2009 album yes , but surely that ' s just a coincidence . ( after the title was announced but even before the album itself was released , fans were cracking jokes online about how the band yes should respond in kind , titling their next album pet shop boys . )
as noted above , my favorite dc album is 1996 ' s casanova . ten years later the boys would release their own song
casanova in hell .
the boys remixed
walking on thin ice
for lennon ' s widow , yoko ono ( and performed it live on stage with her in june 2005 ) .
turnabout is fair play , so the boys asked bowie to remix
i get along ,
but he declined on account of his hectic schedule at the time .
i should watch this again before commenting because my only clear recollection of
blunder boys
are the parts where they parody
dragnet .
those are the parts i enjoy most . for me , shemp ' s yukking it up over his own bad puns makes those parts funny . i also like the beginning where the police call box shakes when moe closes its door . forgot to add : i * love * shemp ' s groundhog / ground hog pun . i also enjoy seeing moe ' s just - too - large glencheck jacket with that loud tie .
chris has noted that the boys ' 2002
university tour
was inspired by the fact that the first paul mccartney and wings tour was of u . k . universities .
on his 1989 flowers in the dirt album , mccartney worked with producer trevor horn . this was only a year after the boys had worked with horn on their album introspective .
apparently some copies ( no one ' s sure how many , but very few ) of disc 2 of the 1986 - 87 cd reissue of john lennon / yoko ono 1972 album some time in new york city were mistakenly pressed with the psb album please rather than the
live jam
it ' s supposed to have . the lennon release was on capitol / parlophone , a subsidiary of the boys ' label , emi . so the two cds were probably pressed at the same facility , thereby enabling the blunder . an anomalous , rare , quite collectible—and quite valuable—error .
andy has also described erasure as
the poor man ' s pet shop boys ,
which he clarified by adding that erasure ' s roots were more
working class .
both peter and the boys were recipients of 1987 brits awards : gabriel as best male solo artist and psb as performers of the single of the year ,
west end girls .
as with the aforementioned stephin merritt ' s magnetic fields , rufus was among the artists lined up for the boys ' erstwhile 2001 touring
gay music
summer festival
wotapalava .
as noted above under erasure , stephen hague has worked with the boys on various occasions . hague has worked with gabriel as well , such as by co - producing his 2002 album up .
jon pollak , who was the lighting designer for the boys ' somewhere shows at the savoy theatre in 1997 , also designed the lighting for a rickie lee jones tour in the late 1980s .
german synthesist - composer - producer harold faltermeyer , who cut his professional teeth working extensively with summer and moroder during their disco heyday , co - produced the pet shop boys ' album behaviour .
marius de vries , who co - produced two tracks on the boys ' december 2009 christmas ep , has worked often with rufus wainwright , including producing his albums want one and want two .
both groups have repurposed music they had originally intended for a james bond film . in the case of the beach boys , it was the title track from pet sounds , an instrumental initially titled
run , james , run ,
whereas for the pet shop boys it was an early version of the basic instrumental track of
this must be the place i waited years to leave .
the pet shop boys and neil hannon are professed admirers of each other ' s music . neil tennant reportedly once referred to hannon as
unbelievably talented but , unfortunately , an unrecognized genius .
merritt ' s most prolific band , the magnetic fields , was slated to take part in the pet shop boys ' ill - fated 2001 touring
gay music
summer festival
wotapalava .
johnny marr once told the boys that , when he had previously met donna ' s most frequent producer and collaborator , giorgio moroder , he had expressed great interest in working with neil and chris .
andrew dawson , whom the boys tapped as producer and mixer of their 2012 studio album , had served as audio engineer for simon and garfunkel ' s 2004 live reunion album old friends live on stage .
as with the aforementioned thomas dolby , rufus performed at the latitude festival in suffolk on july 15 , 2012 , the same day that featured excerpts there from the boys ' ballet the most incredible thing .
the stooges are private detectives hired to protect a rich politician . after the man disappears , the boys wander around his spooky mansion confronting various villains and a dangerous dame . . . . see full summary »
blue weaver , a keyboardist who spent much of the seventies working with the bee gees , also worked with the boys on their first album , please , as well as some of their earliest live performances .
speaking of interviews , during a 1991 appearance on the short - lived tv show rick dees live into the night , the gibb brothers mentioned the pet shop boys among artists they currently drew upon for inspiration .
in august 2009 neil hannon talked to the guardian about music that inspires him .
if you want it intellectual and soulful ,
he said ,
you can look to the pet shop boys .
according to michael cowton ' s 1991 book pet shop boys : introspective ( p . 5 ) , neil in his pre - fame days enjoyed doing parodies of various popular artists , including the moody blues .
pink floyd ' s most famous ( and , arguably , their greatest ) album the dark side of the moon was recorded at abbey road studios , where the pet shop boys have often recorded as well .
i can ' t resist noting that neil had his photo taken with yes ' s best - known keyboardist , rick wakeman , and posted it on the boys ' twitter page on march 10 , 2009 .
this may be a bit esoteric , but it ' s interesting at least to me : both the pet shop boys and the carpenters are officially and
correctly
referred to without the use of the definite article
the .
that is , one is always supposed to say simply
pet shop boys
and
carpenters
—not
the pet shop boys
and
the carpenters .
that being said , i personally feel free to deviate from that stated preference on the part of the artists in question whenever i think the writing calls for it . i believe elegance in composition trumps idiosyncracies in naming conventions .
‘2 days , 8 wild boars . hooyah’ : upbeat navy seals celebrate successful rescue of eight thai cave boys after elite divers pulled them through flood water - leaving just four children and their coach trapped for another night
in 1986 , after the boys hit it big , they attended her birthday party at london ' s groucho club , where she asked them to be the opening act on her next tour . they politely declined .
anyhow , back at the ranch , i saw blunder boys tonight wednesday after the sox whupped the ' stros as i videotape the morning airings on spike tv , damn this is a good one , in my top 5 shemp shorts and in my top 25 stooges . moe is better portraying sgt friday than webb his self . fine straight acting , larry in the army was among his best outings and shemp was off the chain throughout the short . being very familair with the original 1950 ' s dragnet , it made it funnier , those who only know the 60 ' s dragnet series may not appreciate the parody as much . the enrollment in criminology school is classic stooge , great dialogue .
the stooges go to criminology school and graduate with the lowest possible honors . the boys join the police force and are assigned to track down a crook called the
eel
, who disguises . . . see more »
roughly nine years before the boys released bilingual ( 1996 ) , an album largely inspired by brazilian music , the manhattan transfer released brazil ( 1987 ) , which was even more strongly inspired by the music of that nation .
friends and pets play a role in both bands ' names . the pet shop boys , after all , were named for petshop - owning friends . and procol harum borrowed their name from a friend ' s burmese cat .
the boys have scheduled a four - night
inner sanctum
residency at london ' s royal opera house in july 2016 , but rufus beat them to it with his own five - night residency there in july 2011 .
well , i remember a few of the things i loved as a kid watching tv - - the stooges being one ( obviously ) and the other being the show dragnet with jack webb as joe friday , so naturally when i saw blunder boys for the 1st time , i immediately felt that this was my favorite shemp short . now - - if you were to ask me - - what my favorite shemp is , i might have a hard time picking this one or the much earlier scrambled brains . at any rate , blunder for me is easily the last stooge masterpiece & maybe the last one really worth talking about . so many great bits in this one - - the opening scene alone has a shitload of great lines , i . e . 3 fingers on the arm of the law & shemp being the hangnail . i also loved moe talking about the rear - guard action - - it ' s the only action we knew how to fight . the scenes in alma matter ' s office are definitely the best part , especially larry and shemp going gaga over angela stevens - - who can blame them . the last time i get to trot out this rating : 10 out of 10 pokes . . . .
i fully and readily acknowledge that pet sounds ( 1966 ) is a far better album—in fact , one of the greatest rock / pop albums of all time . and i enjoy it immensely . but , for some reason , i enjoy sunflower even more . maybe it ' s because i feel that pet sounds is almost like a brian wilson solo album with beach boys vocals , whereas sunflower is indisputably a beach boys album , with nearly equal contributions from every member . it showed dennis wilson at his peak as a singer and songwriter ( the man was a lot more than just
the beach boys ' drummer
) , and baby brother carl did some of his all - time greatest singing while coming into his own as the inheritor of brian ' s mantle as a studio - savvy producer . and it ' s also where the beach boys wrote the book on the art of background vocals .
the stooges go to criminology school and graduate with the lowest possible honors . the boys join the police force and are assigned to track down a crook called the
eel
, who disguises . . . see full summary »
both erasure and the boys have worked with producer / mixer richard x : psb on the song
fugitive
and
the way it used to be ,
and erasure on their albums snow globe and the violet flame .
it was the scissor sisters ' outrageous bee gees - on - ecstasy remake of the floyd classic
comfortably numb
that helped persuade the boys to tap them ( the sisters , that is ) for remixing
flamboyant .
my favorite shemp short . being a dragnet fan , i always liked this one & moe ' s jack webb spoofing . the narrative bumpers are excellent & my favorite scene is when the boys are in alma matter ' s office .
the pet shop boys wrote but decided against releasing a tribute to the cartoon / action figure action man , tentatively titled
if anyone can , the action man can .
( they ended up repurposing part of its music for
the 1996 divine comedy single
generation sex
features narration by tv personality and columnist katie puckrik—who also happens to be a dancer who toured with the pet shop boys ' as part of their onstage ensemble on their 1991 performance tour .
the music of quite a few artists—including several cited on this page—has become integrated into
jukebox musicals .
( the beach boys , the beatles , billy joel , queen , the four seasons , and , yes , abba come to mind . ) but the pet shop boys share with abba ' s benny and björn ( and with elton john ) the distinction of having composed completely new scores for stage musicals : closer to heaven for psb and chess for benny and björn .
in an interview with rob fitzpatrick in the april 2009 issue of the word , neil said of one of the beach boys ' classics ,
' good vibrations ' is surrounded by genius , it sounds like it just arrived like that .
in a 1988 television interview , neil compared the pet shop boys to steely dan as songwriters who seldom toured as performing musicians . of course , that was a few years before both bands began to perform live much more often in the 1990s .
well , the pet shop boys did turn
i can ' t take my eyes off you
which was co - written by gaudio and originally performed solo by valliinto an unlikely hit medley with
where the streets have no name .
set in the old west , the stooges are mistaken for lawmen and manage to capture a gang of crooks . the boys then get the job of guarding some money in an old house reputed to be haunted by . . . see full summary »
like a number of other artists listed here ( the beatles , david bowie , kate bush , genesis , and pink floyd ) , queen shares with the pet shop boys the honor of receiving the ivor novello award for outstanding contribution to british music .
blunder boys
happens to be a parody of an old crime drama
dragnet
moe makes a good dead - pan narration of lapd detective joe friday , as played by the late jack webb . webb was the driving force of universal - based mark vii limited productions ( the logo that featured the hammer and chisel , and # 7 which is etched in stone - in roman numerals . moe was halliday , larry was tarraday , and shemp played various characters that ends in day ( st . patrick ' s day , groundhog day , new year ' s day , christmas day , independence day , and labor day ) . there were good detectives , but the boys ended up on the streets - somebody has to do the dirty work around here . a great stooge short . see it in its entirety commercial - free , not on spike . btw : what ' s the 81 - c ? a double - eye poke in which moe gave to both larry and shemp . don ' t try this or any other pain - crunching methods at home .
the stooges witness an armed robbery and are brought in by the cops as suspects . after passing a lie detector test , the boys are freed and go back to their jobs in a cafe . when one of the . . . see full summary »
in 1995 , madonna collaborated with massive attack to cover marvin gaye ' s 1976 hit
i want you .
in 2002 , the pet shop boys interpolated a bit of the same song into the conclusion of their track
between two islands .
the boys ' april 2 , 2017 performance benefitting the teenage cancer trust at royal albert hall provides another psb / who connection . the who ' s lead singer , roger daltrey , is ( along with sarah , duchess of york ) a patron of the trust , and he played a key role in establishing the annual series of concerts for that charity , during which the who have often performed . chris lowe attended the who ' s own 2017 benefit concert there several nights before the boys ' performance . and daltrey took the stage once again on april 2 to
re - introduce
the pet shop boys toward the end of their intermission , relating an anecdote about how their benefit show was taking place several years after he had first asked them about it .
neil has cited the bb classic pet sounds as one of his favorite albums . ( hmmm pet sounds pet shop boys . ) and he once told an interviewer that his all - time favorite pop song is
god only knows
from that same album .
with regard to losing to the pet shop boys as
best group
at the 1988 brits awards , barry gibb admitted in a 2013 interview that he and his brothers felt very
jealous
at the time , believing that they should have won instead .
both psb and queen have collaborated with liza minnelli : the boys , of course , on her album results , and the surviving members of queen in april 1992 at the freddie mercury memorial concert in london , where she sang
we are the champions .
i had not seen the blunder boys in 30 years , since 9 - 23 - 75 , when i used to see the stooges 2 - reelers on los angeles over the air tv late at night and early weekend mornings , channel 13 - kcop . this is one according to my notes i had never seen in the movies , either as a short before the main feature or at one of the many stooges festivals i have attended . i have the stooges filmography photocopied from an an early 1970 ' s leonard maltin book called the great movie shorts and have used that to notate the dates i have seen each of the shorts , i mark tv or movies because back in the day the tv versions were heavily edited so as to fit 2 episodes in a 1 / 2 hr show so the movies versions obviuosly had the complete 2 - reeler .
the surviving members of the who , pete townshend and roger daltrey , share with the pet shop boys and the aforementioned george michael as well as brian may and roger taylor of queen the fact that they performed at the closing ceremonies of the 2012 olympics in london .
there’s a wonderful scene midway through clint eastwood ’s jersey boys . we catch a fleeting glimpse of a rugged young cowboy on a black and white tv screen - and it turns out to be none other than eastwood himself , in an episode of his breakthrough series rawhide .
the working title of the pet shop boys ' 1987 feature film it couldn ' t happen here was reportedly a hard day ' s shopping —clearly an ironic and perhaps even self - deprecating nod to the beatles ' first film , a hard day ' s night ( 1964 ) .
elton and the boys are personal friends . but even before they became friends , elton sent them a crate of champagne when
west end girls
became a big hit . as chris once described it to chris heath ,
it was like ' welcome to the club . '
in 2000 merritt provided time out new york with a list of what he considered to be the single best recordings for each year of the twentieth century . for 1993 he singled out the pet shop boys '
dreaming of the queen
as the finest that year had to offer .
marie
( 1974 , from good old boys ) a portrait of a redneck who treats his wife like crap yet still loves her deeply , only he can ' t bring himself to tell her that while he ' s sober . and this one ' s even more gorgeous .
paul mccartney shares with the pet shop boys the distinction of having composed a ballet . the tennant / lowe work is , of course , the most incredible thing . sir paul ' s is titled ocean ' s kingdom , and it premiered in september 2011 at the new york city ballet .
as with the bee gees , influences go both waysand in this case in the same song . reportedly it was the pet shop boys ' influence that inspired dm to give
enjoy the silence
a strong dance beat . ( it seems they originally considered it more of a ballad . )
while i admit that it ' s not exactly the passing of the torch , the moodies had their last u . s . top 10 hit ,
your wildest dreams ,
in the same year ( 1986 ) that the pet shop boys had their first ,
west end girls .
while we ' re on the topic of the yes ' s drama , we should note that one of the audio engineers for that album was julian mendelsohn , who would later go on to work with the pet shop boys both as engineer and producer during their first few years of commercial success .
like the beatles , stevie nicks was listed among 300 artists whose names quickly flashed on an overhead screen during
the clock 10 - 11 - 12
in live performances of the most incredible thing . ( the boys must like her a lot more than the rest of
the mac .
)
for rumpus in the harem , palma is seen from the back several times . the first time occurs in the restaurant when moe declares that the trio must do something to help their sweethearts . larry then concludes the conversation by saying
i ' ve got it , i ' ve got it !
moe inquires with
what ?
larry replies ,
a terrific headache !
later , palma is seen from the back being chased in circles by the palace guard . a few lines of dialogue appear —
whoa , moe , larry ! moe , help !
— by dubbing shemp ' s voice from the soundtracks of fuelin ' around and blunder boys . [ 1 ] palma is seen one final time , making a mad dash for the open window , and supplying his own yell before making the final jump . this was one of the few times during his tenure as shemp ' s double that palma was required to speak without the aid of dubbing . [ 2 ]
neil met kate at the grosvenor house hotel at the 1987 bpi awards .
she wasn ' t particularly friendly , i ' m afraid ,
says neil ,
but she wasn ' t unfriendly . shy , i think .
both boys ran into her again at an emi conference in 1993 .
another bit of a stretch , but on the afternoon of july 15 , 2012 , excerpts from the pet shop boys ' ballet the most incredible thing were performed at the latitude festival in suffolk , u . k . that same afternoon , dolby also performed at the festival , though on a different stage .
both are songwriting teams known ( fairly or unfairly ) for irony . yes , i know the boys don ' t like to be called
ironic
in the immortal words of neil tennant ,
irony is shit
but there ' s no denying they ' ve written their share of ironic songs .
johnny marr has described himself as
the carlos alomar of the pet shop boys
—a metaphor that means absolutely nothing to anyone who doesn ' t recognize the name of david bowie ' s perennial guitarist . alomar has appeared in a supporting role on bowie ' s albums more often than any other single musician .
hold me
( 1982 , from mirage ) i love the blend of christine ' s and lindsay ' s voices , but better yet is the delightfully strange arrangement , which tips several hats to the beach boys —appropriate enough given that the lyrics were apparently inspired by christine ' s tumultuous relationship with dennis wilson .
in the 2010s , the pet shop boys edged past donna to become the fifth most successful act in the history of the u . s . dance charts ( as tabulated by billboard magazine ) . now , if that doesn ' t seal the deal of them being bona fide superstars and legends of dance music , nothing will .
michael nyman arranged the strings on the track
reaching out
on kate ' s 1989 album the sensual world . years later , the boys would base their song
love is a bourgeois construct
on nyman ' s 1982 composition
chasing sheep is best left to shepherds ,
itself based on a work by henry purcell .
it ' s a rather tenuous connection , for sure , but i like it : one of abba ' s more bizarre songs ,
two for the price of one
from the visitors , shares with the
possibly more mix
of the pet shop boys '
did you see me coming ?
a concern with personal ads .
just as the pet shop boys collaborated with jean - michel jarre on the track
brick england
on his 2016 album electronica 2 : the heart of noise , vince clarke collaborated with jarre on the tracks
automatic ( part 1 )
and
automatic ( part 2 )
on its 2015 predecessor electronica 1 : the time machine .
in the audio commentary track of the pandemonium live dvd , the boys and set designer es devlin compare the part where chris briefly dances onstage with the support singers / dancers during the song
why don ' t we live together ?
to apparently similar moves made by madonna in her performance of her 1985 hit
dress you up
on madonna live - the virgin tour . remarkably , chris had said more than 20 years earlier—as revealed in robin mackintosh ' s 1988 book pet shop boys special ( page 58 ) —that among his ambitions was to do a dance routine onstage similar to that performed by madonna for
dress you up .
how ' s that for a long - term vision ?
the two bands have connectionsalbeit very different oneswith british songwriter / producer jonathan king , who discovered , named , and gave genesis their professional start back in the late 1960s . two decades later the pet shop boys would successfully sue king for his allegations that they had cribbed
it ' s a sin
from cat stevens ' s
wild world .
more than one writer have described simon and garfunkel as
arguably the most successful duo in pop music history
( perhaps in terms of total units sold worldwide ) , although the pet shop boys by common reckoning—at least judged by chart performance—hold that title in the u . k . ( for another extremely successful duo , just scroll down a bit . )
just as the pet shop boys collaborated with jean - michel jarre on the track
brick england
on his 2016 album electronica 2 : the heart of noise , pete townshend collaborated with jarre on the track
travelator ( part 2 )
on its 2015 predecessor electronica 1 : the time machine . ( reportedly other jarre - townshend collaborations remain unreleased .
queen ' s freddie mercury and psb share opposite sides of a rarity released in 1987 by emi in hong kong : a clear vinyl single titled dance and romance , in which freddie ' s solo outing
the great pretender
appears on the
romance
side and the boys '
it ' s a sin
occupies the
dance
side .
i thought this was an excellent short with no old footage with hilarious scenes . i also really liked shemp ' s monkiers
st . patrick ' s day
,
christmas day
, etc . larry ( as most everyone knows ) raises his middle finger . the scene with the boys getting lost in a turkish bath is hilarious ! * * * * mike holme
neil has , with obvious delight , told the story of how , at a festival once where both psb and david bowie were among the performers , he was watching bowie ' s set when the latter at one point said ,
i would like to dedicate the next song to neil tennant from the pet shop boys . it ' s called ' queen bitch . '
on a more concrete level , stephen hague , who has often worked with the boys , produced please , and provided additional production for very , also produced erasure ' s album the innocents . in fact , erasure and psb have shared numerous other producers , engineers , and remixers , among them david jacob , phil harding , mark stent , shep pettibone , and bob kraushaar .
david byrne , the talking heads ' erstwhile leaderi want to call him the
head head
so badly i could just burst has , like the pet shop boys (
my october symphony
) and kate bush ( see above ) , drawn upon the services of the balanescu string quartet . in 1988 , the quartet joined byrne for a series of live concert performances .
a lengthy interview with neil specifically on the subject of bowie ' s music and careerincluding his influence on the pet shop boysappears in the january 2007 issue of record collector . neil notes ,
david bowie transformed the way i felt about music ,
and reveals that whenever he and chris perform their song
sexy northerner
live he has to restrain himself from impersonating bowie vocally .
both psb and kate have recorded duets with elton john . the boys have done so on
in private
and
alone again , naturally
( not to mention neil and elton both guesting on the killers '
joseph , better you than me
) , and kate did so on
snowed in at wheeler street
on her 2011 album 50 words for snow .
representatives for madonna contacted neil and chris in 2007 asking whether they might have something
lying around
that would be good for her to record . but before the boys could actually offer anything , madonna ' s people phoned back to politely withdraw the request since madge had decided to
go r & b
for her next album—which turned out to be 2008 ' s hard candy .
joe mentioned the boys in the march 2015 entry in his blog ,
what i ' m listening to ,
this particular edition subtitled
80s vs . 90s .
in it he speaks , with some apparent regret , of the change in british pop music that occurred from one decade to the next :
meanwhile in darkest england , frilly shirts and eyeliner gave way to northern miserablism . . . well , it had to , didn ' t it ? i preferred the pet shop boys , or the pogues… .
( a remarkable pairing there , to say the least . ) he wrote at even greater length about psb on his personal website in october 2016 , stating ,
i became a pet shop boys fan quite late . after years of not being sure , i suddenly realized that a lot of their songs were great—even classic—and i suddenly found myself charmed by neil tennant ' s voice… .
he goes on to write about several of their more recent albums , starting with release , but spends most of his time discussing electric and super , comparing the two . while he likes them both , he considers super the
more substantial album .
the moodies ' special 1988 re - recordings of their classics
question
and
isn ' t life strange
for one of their hits colllections were orchestrated by anne dudley , who also provided orchestrations for justin hayward ' s 2013 solo album spirits of the western sky . as documented elsewhere here on my website , she has worked quite a bit with the pet shop boys as well .
the stooges go to criminology school and graduate with the lowest possible honors . the boys join the police force and are assigned to track down a crook called the
eel
, who disguises himself as a woman . the stooges track the eel to a hotel , but he slips through their hands after a wild chase . the stooges are booted off the force and wind up as ditch diggers .
neil took part in a june 2010 tribute concert in honor of rufus ' s mother , singer - songwriter kate mcgarrigle , who had passed away the preceding january after a long bout with cancer . he performed kate ' s song
i cried for us ,
which the pet shop boys subsequently recorded and released as one of the
b - sides
for their single
together .
if the moodies were the faves of my teen years , these guysthe greatest and most enduring of the italian - american doo - wop groupswere the faves of my pre - teen years . like their contemporaries the beach boys , they quickly transcended their initial genre and produced some of the most vivacious music of the sixties . frankie ' s astonishing voice , boasting the most phenomenal falsetto in the history of recorded music—and he was a great singer even when he wasn ' t using his falsetto—struck a chord in me even then . bandmate bob gaudio wrote some terrific tunes , too . in fact , let ' s hope the pet shop boys can match the legendary longevity of the valli - gaudio musical partnership , which has now lasted more than a half - century . and on a handshake , no less .
on march 1 , 2012 , neil and chris took part in recording sessions for string and brass parts for their album elysium at capitol studios housed in the capitol tower in hollywood , california . these studios have served as a favored recording venue for many legendary artists , not the least among them the beach boys . brian ' s live 2008 performance of that lucky old sun for dvd was also filmed there .
jackson makes passing reference to psb in his autobiography a cure for gravity :
up close , there might appear to be a million worlds of difference between , say , aerosmith and the pet shop boys . zoom out , and they ' re both pop groups . zoom out further , and it ' s all just music .
not exactly a profound observation , joe , but i still love ya .
when neil presented madonna with a brits award in february 2006 , she thanked various british artists , including the pet shop boys , for their influence on her music . before the show , neil and madonna even did a radio interview together , during which they performed a brief a cappella duet of
sorry
( lasting only a few seconds ) , with neil reprising his
please forgive me
part .
rag doll
( 1964 , from rag doll ) more class - consciousness ( well - heeled boys apparently can ' t go out with poor girls , either , much less marry them ) in this , the apotheosis of doo - wop . but what truly makes it great is the coupling of such lovely harmonies and such touching lyrics :
such a pretty face should be dressed in lace .
more than one concert reviewer has compared the pet shop boys ' 2009
pandemonium tour
staging with the floyd ' s classic 1980 - 81 the wall tour in that both made use of an onstage wall , though in very different ways . one reviewer suggested that the psb wall was inspired by their song
building a wall ,
which is distinctly possible considering that it was part of the tour setlist .
the stooges go to criminology school and graduate with the lowest possible honors . the boys join the police force and are assigned to track down a crook called the
eel
, who disguises himself as a woman . the stooges track the eel to a hotel , but he slips through their hands after a wild chase . the stooges are booted off the force and wind up as ditch diggers . written by mitch shapiro
by contrast ( perhaps somewhat facetiously ) , chris said in an interview for mixmag in 2012 that he tends to want pet shop boys music to be
downbeat
—or , as he put it more specifically ,
i would rather it was all like pink floyd .
then again , it would seem that chris does indeed have some fondness for floyd . in chris heath ' s book pet shop boys , literally , neil says that when he first met chris , he
went back to his flat and he had all these pink floyd cassettes ,
at which neil added he was
shocked .
the albums specifically mentioned in this exchange are dark side of the moon , wish you were here , and the wall , although chris ' s opinion of the latter is that it ' s
not very good .
speaking of stuart price , it was surely his production work on madonna ' s confessions album as well as his service as musical director for her subsequent confessions tour—replete with his trademark mashups—that led to the boys tapping him to produce their 2009 brits hits medley and then their own mashup - laden pandemonium tour , followed by their albums electric and super ( and prospectively a third as part of a
psb - price trilogy
) .
rufus appeared as a guest vocalist at the boys ' special may 2006 bbc radio concert with orchestra , singing their
casanova in hell .
( this show , including rufus ' s performance , was recorded for the live album concrete . ) and rufus also provides backing vocals on the 2016 psb track
wiedersehen
—although , to be honest , i wouldn ' t have known without the credits and announcement of the fact .
after bowie passed away in 2016 , the boys would at times dedicate certain performances to his memory . for instance , during their concert in july 2017 in turku , finland , they dedicated their rendition of
always on my mind
to bowie , at which time neil mentioned how they had met up with bowie ( not for the first time , of course ) when they had both played the ruisrock festival in turku back in 1997 .
this whole world
( 1970 , from sunflower ) brian ' s sense of tonality can be shocking . it ' s challenging enough trying to figure out the key ( s ) of the aforementioned
god only knows .
but this one takes the cake . here he and his boys adopt and discard keys , one line after another , with greater ease than a cold sufferer going through kleenex . yet it all sounds perfectly natural .
and while i ' m generally loath to include shared remixers among these
connections
( on account of the potential for it getting out of hand ) , i shouldn ' t ignore the very special case of the klf , who rarely mixed other artists ' work but made exceptions for both depeche mode ( the
trancentral mix
of
policy of truth
) and the pet shop boys (
so hard
and
it must be obvious
) .