Search - Mighty Peking Man on DVD

"They Put A Chain On Him! He No Like!"

Robert I. Hedges | 06/16/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'll start by saying that I am generally fond of giant ape camp classics (like "A*P*E") but found "Mighty Peking Man" grating, long, boring, and unfunny. In short, it really tried my patience. I generously gave it two stars for the presence of Evelyne Kraft as the comical blonde jungle nymph who was raised by Mighty Peking Man, and especially the truly bizarre tiger and cheetah encounters (who knew a live cheetah makes such a great stole?)

Apparently Quentin Tarantino likes this movie, as it was released on DVD by Rolling Thunder Pictures under one of its many monikers, "Mighty Peking Man," though I think the original Shaw Brothers title "Xing Xing Wang" is much more entertaining. The film starts right off with an adventurer, Johnnie, discovering his girlfriend having an affair, so on a whim he takes an assignment to go to India to find a giant monkey, Mighty Peking Man. I have to tell you that this film had probably the worst process shots of animals I have ever seen. I especially loved the elephant stampede, though the big cats were great too. Mighty Peking Man himself is a guy is an absolutely terrible ape suit. In the first few minutes of the film the expedition to capture the monkey encounters an earthquake, a tiger attack (note: the way to escape a tiger attack is not to jump in quicksand as it turns out,) an elephant stampede, and a nasty fall from a scary cliff. Johnnie also finds Samantha, the blonde jungle queen, and it's love at first sight. Of course she was raised after surviving a plane crash as a girl by Mighty Peking Man, and they communicate on a deep level and he obeys her commands. Johnnie saves Samantha from a nasty cobra bite with the help of some medicinal leaves Mighty Peking Man brings, cementing their relationship. Please especially enjoy the "frolicking in the jungle" scene while some of the worst 1970's music in existence swells on the soundtrack. Both your eyes and ears will scream for mercy.

Of course Johnnie is still under contract to capture the ape, so even though he has reservations he persuades Samantha to accompany them to Hong Kong where he will be put on display. The lash him to the deck of a boat, sail through a typhoon (don't worry when the ship hits a rock in the middle of the ocean, that's just fine,) set up shop in a stadium, and proceed to mistreat the ape. I was amused that Johnnie bought Samantha a dress to replace her fur loincloth and bikini top. He chose an ultra-comfy form-fitting black latex outfit, which Samantha promptly threw out a porthole. Up to this point the movie was modestly entertaining from a camp perspective, but about halfway through it, I started to lose patience.

The big change involves the mistreatment of Mighty Peking Man, and the unbelievably overblown drama that went along with his escape and battle for existence. There's an unsavory assault complete with wine on bodice ("just like the jungle,") and lots of scenery chewing from both Samantha and the forces allied to kill the ape, though the justice was entertaining when the kidnapper got pulled from a building, flung to the ground and stomped with a very hilarious foot. There's lots of military hardware shooting at Mighty Peking Man, a double-crossing military officer, and of course the final stand atop Hong Kong's tallest building. (I wonder if the filmmakers had ever seen any earlier giant ape movies.... Sigh.) There is much drama (the plot to blow up the building with hardware apparently from a dime store is particularly painful) and much shooting, resulting ultimately in Mighty Peking Man toppling on fire to his death below, where a similar fate awaits Samantha. The film closes full of pathos with Johnnie holding Samantha in the burning building, much to the relief of the audience.

The DVD also features a preview of the film and a couple of other previews too, but no appreciable extras. The first half has the making of a camp classic, but the last half is so overwrought and heavy-handed that it fails as camp, making the film just an uncomfortable melange with occasionally amusing action. Do yourself a favor and just watch the trailer and feel free to discard the DVD. You aren't missing much, and it's 90 minutes of your life you can do something better with."