The Mighty Peking Man

The Mighty Peking Man
The Mighty Peking Man
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ho Meng-hua
Written by	Kuang Ni
Produced by	Runme Shaw
Starring	Danny Lee; Evelyne Kraft; Hsiao Yao; Ku Feng; Lin Wei-tu
Cinematography	Tsao Hui-chi; Wu Cho-hua
Edited by	Chiang Hsing-Lung; Pepita Fairfax; Thom Noble
Music by	Frankie Chan; De Wolfe
Production; company	Shaw Brothers Studio
Distributed by	Shaw Brothers Studio
Release date	11 August 1977 (Hong Kong);
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Mandarin
Budget	HKD 6,000,000-$1,000,000 USD)(estimated)

The Mighty Peking Man (猩猩王) (Mandarin: Xīngxing Wáng – which translates to "Gorilla King" in English) is a 1977 giant monster film produced by Shaw Brothers Studio to capitalize on the craze surrounding the 1976 remake of King Kong. It stars Danny Lee and Evelyne Kraft.

Plot

A mysterious giant ape has appeared in the forests of northern India after a massive earthquake. The owner of a Hong Kong entertainment company, Lu Tian, is interested in capturing the ape for use in a global commercial show, or to make a taxidermy of it, which would be worth a fortune. At the same time, a young explorer, Chen Zhengfeng, also wants to go to India. Lu Tien learns that he is more familiar with the road and invites him to cooperate with him. He will be responsible for the cost of the trip, but the ape belongs to him after the capture, so Chen eventually refuses to cooperate with him. At that time, Chen Zhengfeng is in love with the diva Wang Cuihua. Chen Zhengfeng's younger brother, Chen Shiyu, is a popular songwriter and a womanizer. In order to get a song written by him and become famous, Wang Chuihua offers herself to Chen Shiyu. Inspired by this, Chen Zhengfeng agrees to Lu Tian's offer and teams up to go to India.

Under the guidance of a local guide, the expedition team is led through the forest, which is deserted, and climbs up cliffs and through lakes and swamps, where they are attacked by elephants, tigers and poisonous snakes. When the unconscious Chen Zhengfeng is attacked by the ape, a beautiful wild girl named Ah-wei intervenes. It turns out that the girl's parents were originally explorers, but their parents were killed in a storm while exploring in a small plane, leaving behind 4-year-old Ah-wei, who was rescued and raised by the ape whom she named Utam. Ah-wei gradually grows up, and has fun with the forest animals, such as cheetahs and elephants, together.

Chen Zhengfeng and Ah-wei fall in love with each other and become good friends with Utam. Chen Zhengfeng decides to take them back to the civilized world, but he falls into a trap set by Lu Tien and is forced to lock Utam on a boat, which sails back to Hong Kong across the Indian Ocean. When Ah-wei sees Utam being humiliated, she is upset and sees Wang Cuihua crying in Chen Zhengfeng's arms, so she turns around and escapes. Utam performs at a stadium in Hong Kong under the arrangement of Lu Tien. Ah-wei rushes to the stadium and throws herself into Utam's arms with tears in her eyes. When Lu Tien tries to rape Ah-wei, Utam witnesses through the window and breaks free from his shackles in anger, and Lu Tien flees in a panic. The angry Utam wreaks havoc and climbs up Hong Kong's tallest building, Hong Lok Mansion. The army mobilizes helicopters and armored vehicles to kill Utam before Chen Zhengfeng and Ah-wei can stop his rampage first.

Cast

Cast adapted from Shaw Brothers Volume 1 box set.^[3]

Danny Lee as Chen Zhengfeng
Evelyne Kraft as Ah-wei
Hsiao Yao as Wang Cuihua
Ku Feng as Lu Tien
Lin Wei-tu as Chen Shiyu
Norman Chu as Ah Long
Wu Hang-sheng as Ah Pi
Chen Ping as Lucy
Ted Thomas as The Commissioner
Steve Nicholson as Commissioner's aide

Production

The Mighty Peking Man had a budget of six million Hong Kong dollars for the Shaw Bros. studio.^[1] The film took over a year to complete and was shot in Mysore, India.^[1] The climatic confrontation scene was shot at the Connaught Centre in Hong Kong, which was then the tallest building in the country.^[4]

Release

Mighty Peking Man was released on August 11, 1977 in Hong Kong where it was distributed by Shaw Bros.^[3]^[1] It was released as Goliathon in its release in the United States in 1980.^[3]^[5]^[6]

Both Chungking Express and Mighty Peking Man was one of the two Hong Kong films released by Rolling Thunder, Quentin Tarantino's home video label in 1999.^[7] The film grossed $17,368 on its 1999 North American theatrical re-release.^[8]

Reception

Variety reviewed a 100-minute long Cantonese-language version of the film stating it was an "interesting if not unique Hongkong-made escapist entertainment for the inquisitive middle-of-the-roaders audience of other countries." and "it is high camp, Chinese style and for this reason it just might make it in less demanding markets."^[1]

In retrospective reviews, Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of a possible four in the Chicago Sun-Times, and, incidentally, actually upgraded his rating for the thematically similar Infra-Man:

"Mighty Peking Man is very funny, although a shade off the high mark of Infra-Man, which was made a year earlier, and is my favourite Hong Kong monster film. Both were produced by the legendary Runme Shaw, who, having tasted greatness, obviously hoped to repeat. I find to my astonishment that I gave Infra-Man only two and a half stars when I reviewed it. That was 22 years ago, but a fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that film. I am awarding Mighty Peking Man three stars, for general goofiness and a certain level of insane genius, but I cannot in good conscience rate it higher than Infra-Man. So, in answer to those correspondents who ask if I have ever changed a rating on a movie: Yes, Infra-Man moves up to three stars.^[9]

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Willis 1985, p. 321: "Review is of a Cantonese-language 100 minute version viewed in Hong Kong on April 10, 1977"
^ Siddique, Sophia; Raphael, Raphael (24 February 2017). Transnational Horror Cinema:Bodies of Excess and the Global Grotesque. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-58417-5. Retrieved 10 May 2020 – via books.google.com.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Mighty Peking Man". Shawscope Volume One (booklet). Arrow Video. 2021. p. 24. FCD2076.
^ "Trivia". Shawscope Volume One (booklet). Arrow Video. 2021. p. 25. FCD2076.
^ "Stewart & Everett Theatres Area Movie Guide". The News and Observer. 17 February 1980. p. C-V. Coming: "Goliathon" - PG
^ "Stewart & Everett Theatres Area Movie Guide". The New and Observer. 24 February 1980. p. 6-V. "Starts Friday at Many of these Theatres! [Goliathon]
^ Abrams, Simon (2021). "Film Notes". Shawscope Volume One (booklet). Arrow Video. p. 25. FCD2076.
^ "The Mighty Peking Man". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
^ Ebert, Roger (30 April 1999). "Mighty Peking Man". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 31 January 2016.