“Mighty Joe Young” (1949) / Z-View

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Mighty Joe Young (1949)

Director: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack

Screenplay: Ruth Rose from a story by Merian C. Cooper

Stars: Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Robert Armstrong, Mr. Joseph Young, Frank McHugh, Douglas Fowley, Nestor Paiva, Regis Toomey, James Flavin, Primo Carnera, Karl ‘Killer’ Davis, William ‘Wee Willie’ Davis, Man Mountain Dean, Richard Farnsworth, Phil Olafsson, Henry Kulky, Ivan Rasputin, Sammy Stein, Irene Ryan and Sammy Menacker.

Tagline:  Striking! Startling! Staggering!

The Plot…

The year is 1937.  Jill Young is an eight year old living on her father’s small estate in Africa.  Jill is in the front yard when two Africans pass by carrying an orphaned baby gorilla.  Jill makes a trade and becomes the owner of the infant gorilla.

Twelve years pass.  Max O’Hara (Armstong) has organized an African safari to capture lions for his nightclub show.  Greg (Johnson) is a cowboy who leads the group capturing the beasts.  They are about to leave when they spot a giant gorilla.  Max and Greg try to capture the huge ape but they only end up angering it.  Jill shows up and calms her now grown gorilla.

Soon enough Max convinces Jill if she comes to Hollywood with her giant ape, they will become famous with everything money can buy.

What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)

Mighty Joe Young won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects!

I first saw Mighty Joe Young when I was a child.  I loved it then,  I’ve rewatched it several times over the years and I still love it.  How could you not?  It has a misunderstood monster (Joe), lions fighting Joe, cowboys!, a test of strength between 10 strong men and Mighty Joe, a love story, and redemption.

The strong men who try Mighty Joe in tug of war include former world heavyweight boxing champion Primo Canera and nine professional wrestlers.  One of them was Sam Menacker.  I knew Mr. Menacker because he was the color commentator for professional wrestling in Indiana.  Menacker was a former wrestler himself.  I thought it was so cool to a young Slammin’ Sammy Menacker in a movie!

This was the first film to feature Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation effects.

Mighty Joe Young (1949) rates 5 of 5 stars.