KBT Presents: KING KONG

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past two or three weeks, you may have heard about a certain expensive remake from the director of those Lord of the Rings pictures, Peter Jackson. Since the re-mastered DVD of the 1933 RKO Pictures original special effects blockbuster is a just a mighty fine presentation of the film, KBT is letting you folks out there do a little homework for the biggest movie of the holiday season 2005.

The original Kong brought together as many elements of the B-picture while simultaneously creating the template for the slew of Z-grade features in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s before they came back into A-List budgets with 1993's Jurassic Park. Terse but functional dialogue, proclaimations of greatness from an ambitious megalomaniac, sappy and semi-awkward romance, and a boatload of special effect shots of a giant monster ravaging one thing or another. This was the pornography of any boys urge for the fantastic. Case in point: You get not one, but THREE(!) fights featuring the gigantic Kong fighting off Dinosaurs. Just think of how much The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, not to mention film-makers Edward D. Wood, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Zemeckis, owe to this film. But King Kong goes far beyond that, insofar as it is buried into the subconciousness of cinema as any one of Hollywoods iconic films from an earlier era: Citizen Kane, Singin' in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, or Star Wars.

Before taking the voyage on the glossy modern version (which is not inappropriately being compared to Titanic in terms of run-time and cost), come check out the original adventures on prehistoric islands, tropical natives in politically-incorrect ooga-booga glory, inexplicably present gigantic gates, dinosaurs (dinosaurs, dinosaurs), and the sublime aerial confrontation atop the Empire State Building. See and hear actrees Fay Wray scream in about 40 different ways while her leading man Bruce Cabot comes to the rescue. Gentle mocking aside, as much as the picture as aged in 70+ years, there is still the power to capture the imagination.

Drinks at 8, Trailers and Showtime at 8:30pm - Tuesday December 13.