Konga

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Konga.
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Not since King Kong has the screen exploded to such mighty fury.
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Defying bullets, bombs, rockets, standing 100 feet tall.
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Sending an entire civilization into panic.
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Konga.
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In color and spectamation.
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We're not talking about actors.
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We mean a real monster.
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I brought her back.
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She'll live and I'll get her another body.
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I know they’re gonna catch me but don't let anyone see me like that.
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Please Doctor Help me!
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Biologically speaking, it's of primary importance that man should want to mate.
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Hey that’s right!
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You don't get all your kicks from surfing do you?
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We want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the man.
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And we want to get loaded.
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You think you're gonna make a play with the world?
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Well I’ll see you in Hell first!
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The American International Podcast.
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Are you ready?
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Hello and welcome to another episode of the American International Podcast.
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I'm Jeff Markin.
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I'm Cheryl Lightfoot.
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And today we are taking a look at Konga from 1961.
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Konga was directed by John Lemont and produced by Herman Cohen, Nathan Cohen, no relation, and Stuart Levy.
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Konga stars Michael Gough as Dr. Charles Tucker, Margo Johns as Margaret,
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Jess Conrad as Bob Kenton, Claire Gordon as Sandra Banks, Austin Trevor as Dean Foster,
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Jack Watson as Superintendent Brown, George Pastell as Professor Tagore,
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Vanda Goodsell as Mrs. Kenton, Stanley Morgan as Inspector Lawson, Grace Arnold as Miss Barnstell,
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Leonard Sachs as John Kenton, Nicholas Bennett as Daniel,
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Kim Tracy as Mary,
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Rupert Osborne as Eric Kenton, Waveney Lee as Janet Kenton,
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John Welsh as Commissioner Garland, and an uncredited Paul Stockman as the larger Konga.
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When the movie opens, we find it was filmed in spectamation.
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And if you're wondering what that is, it really isn't anything.
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I think it just refers to some of the camera tricks that were going to be performed in lieu Special Effects for this movie.
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And after the pronouncement of spectamation, we see that we're in a jungle,
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and there's a plane flying overhead, a small passenger plane.
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It's a small plane, probably holds two people in max, and it looks like it's coming in for a landing,
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but just before it lands, it's engulfed in flames, like a huge fireball.
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And I suppose it lands that way.
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It didn't land, it just exploded.
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Right.
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It was a crash landing, and we can presume there are no survivors.
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As does the radio BBC broadcast that is reporting on this crash?
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Right.
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Apparently the villagers took words, the local news outposts, who got word to London,
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that Dr. Charles Decker and his pilot were killed in this crash.
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And Dr. Decker is a famous English botanist.
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I mean, I'm sure you have lots of botanists that you admire,
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maybe some trading cards, everyone's into botany.
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So our next piece of exposition comes from a newsboy doing the crying of the headlines in the streets,
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and he announces that Dr. Decker has been found after a year in Africa.
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Yeah, it's one year later, and Dr. Decker is doing kind of a press conference.
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At the airport.
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At the airport, he has a chimp on his lap.
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Nobody really notices that at first.
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It's not referred to in any of their questions.
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And he explains how he has crawled from the wreckage and found his way to a primitive village
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where he was taken in and was able to recover at a fairly quick rate,
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but decided to stay because of the scientific discoveries that he was discovering.
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Well, he was very interested in the local flora, not so much the fauna.
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They ask if he was a prisoner, he says no, but he was kind of a curiosity.
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You can imagine why.
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But after a while, he got to set up a lab and start doing some research there.
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And he befriended a witch doctor from this tribe and learned a lot of his science.
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So as he cuddles this monkey pretty hard, he tells the reporters that if he can prove conclusively what he learned from the plants in this jungle,
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they may have to tear up a lot of textbooks.
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He found a link between plant and animal life.
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He's going to lecture on that when he returns to his job at Essex College.
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And he may have made other discoveries, but he's not going to divulge them right now.
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One of the reporters finally notices the chimpanzee.
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And he explains that he has named this chimpanzee Konga
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and that he befriended the chimpanzee when it led him to the village.
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And now it has a place in his heart and he couldn't bear to be part of it for him when he left Africa.
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So Dr. Charles Decker returns to his home where we learned that his secretary, assistant housekeeper, Confident and good friend, Marritte, has kept the home going for him in his absence.
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Not just the home, but she kept up with his experiments when he was gone.
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And you can put housekeeper, etc. in air quotes because there's obviously much more to their relationship as we'll find out later.
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She was convinced that he didn't die in that crash, so she kept everything going for him back home.
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And now that he's back home, he's excited to get back to work and he explains how Konga will be the first step in a devolution combining plant and animal life.
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This kind of makes Marritte unhappy because he doesn't care at all what happened to her in the past year.
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Decker just wants her to get a cage ready for Konga.
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They make their way to the greenhouse where he starts to prepare for his new experiments.
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He begins by trashing the place. He pulls up basically every plant that's already existing because he needs the space for the new plants that he's brought back from Uganda.
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Yeah, there's some beautiful flowers there and he just throws them on the ground.
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He says we can use those as mulch for his new plants.
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And he says he has found plants with human traits from the village witch doctor.
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Yeah, that sounds a little suspect. And Marritte's not convinced either.
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He shows her some plant cuttings and says that these plants are going to grow quickly, but he asks her to turn up the heat in the greenhouse because they need it to be sort of a tropical jungle atmosphere in there.
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Right, he needs it to be 90 degrees and this causes Marritte to need some air so they agree that they will rest and continue their work tomorrow.
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The next day they're in the lab, Konga is in his little cage and Decker is creating plant extract from the something that he brought back.
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It looked like the asparagus extract that Dr. Fibes was creating.
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I thought that too. So apparently what he learned from the witch doctors that this extract stimulated growth when it was used in the village, the witch doctor also had seeds that he used on his patients to make them docile and obedient.
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And Decker has some of that as well and I think he's going to add it to that serum.
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And while he's chatting this potion that he's concocting boils over and he chastises himself for not paying attention.
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You fool.
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But alarmingly, Marritte's cat gets into this spilled mixture.
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We saw the cat when we first got home with Decker and I guess his name is Tabby and he's looking up the potion on the floor.
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Marritte doesn't seem to trouble by this, which she should, I mean, who knows what's in that concoction, but Decker goes nuts.
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He goes to his file cap and grabs a gun and puts two bolts into the head of Tabby.
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Marritte is a guest. How could you?
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And he explains that it wouldn't be good for his experiments to have a cat the size of a leopard roaming the streets of London.
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I think that would be a fantastic movie.
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A week goes by. The plants have grown quite a bit and they eat large chunks of meat.
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These plants have some of them look like fiendous fly traps and some of them, I'm sorry to say, look like giant fallacies with tongues.
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It's a little greenhouse of horror.
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Dr. Decker clips a few leaves and says they're ready for his experiment and he heads back to the laboratory and prepares an injection for a conga.
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Poor little monkey. And with effects similar to Michael Landon turning into a teenage werewolf, the chip seems to grow.
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I don't know if it's that impressive.
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It's just sort of like a wiping effect where we see different sizes of the chip kind of wiping into existence.
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And I'll say he's just a little bigger than he used to be.
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But Marritte's impressed and she is fully on board with the mission now.
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But it's not all experimentation for Dr. Decker because he has a job. He goes back to the university and he is showing films of his class that he had taken while in Uganda.
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These films show the natives in their habitat.
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The Bugandas he calls them.
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This film was not shot in Africa.
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It was shot in Papua New Guinea.
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And it's kind of funny where he talks about someone creating this fabulous pearl dish but it's just a clamshell with a pearl lining.
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So not entirely accurate in any way. But the class isn't pressed.
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One of the students, Sandra, has volunteered to help Dr. Decker in attempt to advance her studies.
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That doesn't make her friend, boyfriend, Bob happy because he wanted to go get a coffee with her after class.
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Bob is more of a wannabe boyfriend. She doesn't seem to have much time for him because she's so involved with her studies.
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And Dr. Decker takes advantage of that. Decker tells Sandra that he's impressed how she's grown in the past year.
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Which is kind of icky.
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But he's not just referring to her looks. He's referring to her intellect and her drive as well.
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Now Decker's newspaper interview when he first returned has raised some concern amongst the staff of this school.
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Some eyebrows definitely.
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But he's called down to the dean's office.
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The dean doesn't want to make cookie claims on behalf of the university. It's okay if he says that whatever he's doing is in his private time.
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But he didn't mention where he worked. And that is a no-no.
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And Decker is angry that they feel this way because his discoveries, if proven true, will be credited to the university, of course.
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Yeah, but I don't think the dean's too interested in that.
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He's so rarely deranged from his journey. I think he needs a rest.
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And Decker insists that his work will continue. And the dean says that nobody won't. He kind of pulls rank.
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And they really get into a big argument here.
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And Decker storms out of the office.
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And we cut to the home laboratory where Konga comes downstairs with a tray of tea.
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Yeah, the really high point of his experiments now is he's created a monkey butler.
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And Margaret is thrilled.
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With a banana. That's such a cliche. She's really babies him.
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Decker enters and he's a little cranky from his argument with the dean.
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Yes, he's chafing under the dictatorial rule of the dean.
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He wants to convince him that he's not crazy. So he's got a new serum for Konga.
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He inquires whether Margaret has been logging Konga's measurements. And it's very important that the notes are accurate because now more than ever he needs this experiment to be successful.
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It's time to inject Konga again. But he doesn't want Margaret there to witness it this time.
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No, he has her to leave so he can be alone with Konga.
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And the reason for this is because he also put those seeds into the serum this time.
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So he's going to exert a little mind control over Konga and does not want Margaret aware of this.
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So you see the same bad special effects again where there's a wipe effect and all of a sudden the jump has turned into a guy in a gorilla suit.
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How is that even possible? Is that even the same species? He's talking to Konga and he's reminding him that they know each other better than the world even suspects.
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And I was just wondering what does that mean? That sounds so icky again. This guy is such a creep.
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But while he's doing this, he's hypnotizing Konga with a flashlight, shining it straight into his eyes and telling him that he must obey.
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You remember when you were small and I saved you blah blah blah.
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When he's all through that, he calls on Margaret to see what he has done.
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Margaret is stunned at this. So I think she's thinking this is a positive because he really somehow managed to take a tiny little chip and turn it into a man-sized gorilla.
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Astrix, Guining Gorilla suit.
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So now it's time for the first test of obedience.
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Yeah, the gene is working late that night and Konga is sneaking around outside his office.
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Looking in through the window, he breaks in and starts to throttle the dean, presumably to his death.
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Well, this is death because the next morning his death has made the papers.
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Yeah, the news boys out crying about this headline. We didn't have Facebook back then.
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Now, Sculling Yard has concluded that the murder weapon was an arm, but it can't be that of a human.
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They found black hairs on the body, but no animals have been reported missing like from zoos or private collections.
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But they're going to look into that anyway because that's really the only lead that they have.
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So Margaret has also read the paper and she bursts into the greenhouse to confront Decker about this.
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Right, she knows that they had that argument, so she accuses Charles of having killed the dean.
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Or maybe not killing himself, but having him killed.
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He insists he was nowhere near the dean and she insists that he was involved.
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And then he admits what he had done and asked her what she's going to do about it.
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Yeah, he says we killed Dean Foster and whether he means Decker and Konga, Decker Margaret and Konga, it's kind of all the same.
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They're all implicated together.
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And there's absolutely nothing she can do because her feelings for him are too strong.
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She's already taken him for better and for worse in her mind.
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I don't think that's legally binding. I think she could get out of it if she really wanted to.
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He says he had to kill someone to prove Konga's strength.
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So it might as well be the dean who's putting a spanner in the works of his plans.
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Yeah, and Margaret wonders why he had to be someone of such high stature.
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It couldn't have been somebody less important.
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But to Decker, humans are the same as rabbits and mice. It doesn't matter who you kill in the name of science.
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And he reminds Margaret that she is an accessory, but insists that he will do whatever she wants.
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And what she wants is for him to marry her.
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She's tired of pretending to just be the housekeeper and the assistant and secretary.
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She goes to the parties with him and she knows that people are whispering about them behind their backs.
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She doesn't want to be on the down low anymore. She wants to go legit and be Mrs. Dr. Decker.
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Well, and also in her defense, she's no spring chicken and it is the sixties.
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She's kind of a horse-faced, a very handsome woman, but she's probably not had a lot of offers.
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And it's now or never in the marriage game for her.
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Decker agrees but says that they have to wait till this school term ends
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because then they'll have time for a honeymoon.
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And then until that time, don't say anything to anyone about anything.
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Not their engagement, not who may or may not have been murdered by a kanga, keep it all quiet.
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Scaling Yard is continuing their investigation and they're questioning the dean's secretary.
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She says that she heard loud and angry voices while Dr. Decker was in the dean's office.
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She's very distraught and after the interview, she leaves and Decker is out in the waiting room.
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They're going to talk to him next.
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And he explains that they had a difference of opinion, but it was resolved before he left the office.
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And the cops want to know what caused the disagreement.
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And he kind of professors explains to them that they wouldn't understand.
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He'd have to get a whiteboard and a laboratory to explain it to them.
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It's kind of condescending.
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But one of the detectives says that, well, crime solving is a science as well.
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So as one scientist to another, why don't you give me your theory as to what happened?
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And Decker says he has no idea because he deals in life, not death.
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That evening, Charles is throwing a party.
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Is he doing it to celebrate the dean's death?
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Maybe, but that's not the official reason.
208
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,000
We don't really have an official reason. It's just a gathering of...
209
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,000
A reception of some kind.
210
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,000
It seems very port taste to be holding it right now.
211
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:24,000
And that's all anyone at the party can talk about, two women are gossiping about the dean's death.
212
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,000
And well, who's going to be the next dean?
213
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:35,000
At this party is professor Tagore, who is a scientist who is working on similar experiments to those that Dr. Decker is.
214
00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:39,000
He tells Decker he read his report and that he's working along the same lines.
215
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:42,000
And Decker's really interested by this.
216
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,000
He suggests a partnership.
217
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:51,000
Tagore is not interested. He wants to keep working on his own lines of experimentation.
218
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:55,000
He's really close to a breakthrough in his mutation growth project.
219
00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,000
What's really important is that Tagore is ready to take his work public.
220
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:07,000
And Decker can't have that because he wants the fame and fortune that botany...
221
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:11,000
The botanical world will just dove upon him.
222
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:15,000
But he has to be first in order to get that.
223
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:24,000
So Decker reminds Tagore that science should trump the ego and it's really important to put that first.
224
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,000
And suggest that they meet sometime tonight.
225
00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,000
Right, they agree to a consultation. Compare notes.
226
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:33,000
Decker wants to tour Tagore's laboratory.
227
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:36,000
Yeah, to see just how far along he actually is.
228
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,000
So they arrange a science play date for midnight that night.
229
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:42,000
After the party, Margaret's relaxing.
230
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,000
Decker says that she should go to bed.
231
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,000
I think he's saying that so that he can leave without being noticed.
232
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:52,000
Well, the reason he has to leave without being noticed is because he's going to smuggle kanga along with him.
233
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,000
Oh, yeah. I think she might notice that.
234
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,000
So he drives to Tagore's place.
235
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,000
He's got a large van.
236
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,000
Like a delivery van.
237
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,000
He unlocks the back of the van before heading to the door. He knocks.
238
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:10,000
He knocks again.
239
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,000
Because I think Tagore was in his laboratory.
240
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,000
I said he'd have to knock aloud to get my attention.
241
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,000
Because he didn't have any servants.
242
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,000
Yeah.
243
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:24,000
So it's Tagore admits him and Decker enters leaving the door a jar behind him.
244
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,000
They start talking about their current work and how cool science is.
245
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,000
And Decker calls it a godlike power.
246
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,000
And you can see that he really believes this.
247
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:36,000
Tagore asked if Decker has reached the final stage of his experimentation.
248
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,000
I'm not sure what the final stage would be.
249
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:44,000
If there's anything more final than creating a man in a gorilla suit from a chimpanzee.
250
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:47,000
Decker's not going to admit that yet.
251
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,000
But Tagore says that he has reached the final stage, whatever that is.
252
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,000
I guess it means you're just about to publish.
253
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,000
And Decker grouses that he's not going to let Tagore steal his thunder.
254
00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:03,000
This would have been a really great movie if Tagore had like a man-sized lizard and he and kanga had to fight.
255
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,000
No, a cat.
256
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,000
Anyway, kanga has made his way in and does a way up with Tagore.
257
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,000
He reaches through some shelves and grabs them by the neck and strangles them.
258
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:20,000
And kanga starts trashing the lab as Decker is stealing Tagore's research off the wall.
259
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,000
Now it's time for a class field trip.
260
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:27,000
All the students are crammed in the back of the van except for Sandra who will ride up front with Dr. Decker.
261
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,000
It's interesting that the newsboy didn't announce that Professor Tagore was killed.
262
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,000
And it really never gets mentioned again.
263
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,000
Well, he was a foreigner so they probably didn't care.
264
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,000
Oh, yeah, he did wear a turban and it was 1960 something.
265
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:39,000
Well, you're right.
266
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:40,000
So it's time for a field trip.
267
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:45,000
The students, including Bob, crammed to the back of the van and they take off.
268
00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:51,000
And this other students are rousing Bob because his girl is up front with a professor and set her back with him.
269
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,000
And then they all decide to listen to the radio.
270
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:57,000
Yeah, one of them has a small transistor radio so they get some tunes going.
271
00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,000
Just like you would today, but you know, you'd use your phone.
272
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:05,000
Up in the front of the van, Decker is talking to Sandra, hoping that they can get some alone time today.
273
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,000
While the other students are doing whatever they're supposed to do.
274
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,000
Sandra was not very on the ball.
275
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,000
Well, she didn't agree to the alone time.
276
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,000
Out in the field, the students are looking at ferns.
277
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:17,000
Apparently they're amazing.
278
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,000
But Bob is glaring at Sandra as she takes notes.
279
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:24,000
Decker sends them all out in different directions to collect their own fern samples.
280
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,000
Although it is starting to rain.
281
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:31,000
Sandra isn't to go out. She used to stay with Decker and prepared questions on ferns.
282
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:32,000
Bob's not happy about that.
283
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:36,000
He thought they could go out together and well, do whatever comes natural.
284
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:40,000
Bob comes from Sandra who says that he doesn't like Decker's influence on her.
285
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,000
Yeah, he says it's unnatural because he's old enough to be her father.
286
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:47,000
And she says that her intentions are purely studious.
287
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,000
And also Bob's mothering her.
288
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,000
But she does agree that they can discuss this tonight over a coffee.
289
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:57,000
He gives her a quick kiss as Decker watches and then they split up.
290
00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,000
Bob joins the others and is mocked.
291
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,000
Poor guy.
292
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,000
The rain is starting to fall much harder.
293
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,000
So the kids run to the cabin.
294
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,000
It's like a ranger shed.
295
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:11,000
And they play some more music.
296
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,000
Yeah, they turn on the radio again and they start dancing.
297
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:18,000
And then Decker and Sandra come in and they're kind of in a clinch.
298
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,000
Like he's holding his coat over her.
299
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,000
She's got his arm around him. It looks pretty shady.
300
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,000
But the field trips cancel due to rain.
301
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:28,000
He announces Decker gives Sandra the key to the van and all the students run off.
302
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,000
But Bob stays behind.
303
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:34,000
Bob's going to confront Charles about his seeming interest in Sandra.
304
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:35,000
Yes.
305
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,000
It's really inappropriate.
306
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,000
And Bob says as much.
307
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:44,000
And Decker says that his interest in Sandra is purely that of teacher and student.
308
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:45,000
Right.
309
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,000
And Bob's not buying it.
310
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,000
And they have a slap fight.
311
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,000
It gets a little more intense than that.
312
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:54,000
Bob nearly strangles him.
313
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:55,000
Right.
314
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:56,000
Yeah.
315
00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:01,000
Like he's laying on top of him and choking him out.
316
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,000
But then cooler heads prevail.
317
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,000
Bob apologizes.
318
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:10,000
Decker seemingly accepts it and says that nothing is further is going to come from this.
319
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:11,000
Just don't do it again.
320
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:12,000
Keep your mouth shut.
321
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,000
Bob is worried he'll be thrown out of school.
322
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,000
Decker says that we can just pretend it never happened.
323
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,000
So later we're at home with Bob and his family.
324
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:21,000
They're serving dinner.
325
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:25,000
Bob sits down to the table, but he's not interested in eating.
326
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,000
Once again, he gets mocked this time by his little brother and his little sister.
327
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,000
Yeah, he comes from a sitcom family.
328
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:38,000
They're concerned that he's really into this girl and she's not serious about him.
329
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,000
And Bob's dad tells Bob, you should play it cool.
330
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,000
That's how I got your mother.
331
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,000
That's what the Americans would do.
332
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:46,000
Yeah.
333
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,000
Bob actually never ate any dinner, but he has to leave anyways.
334
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:50,000
He has to go meet Sandra.
335
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,000
So he goes outside and he's firing up his scooter.
336
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,000
I don't know if that's a Vespa, but it's something like that.
337
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,000
So it's not very dignified.
338
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:05,000
He doesn't get too far before Konga jumps from the bushes and malls Bob.
339
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,000
Oh, that's poor guy.
340
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,000
Nothing has gone as way this entire movie.
341
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:11,000
And now he's dead.
342
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:18,000
His parents find his body next to his still running scooter as Konga tautels home to Dr. Decker.
343
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:21,000
By this time the police are there, but they don't spot Konga.
344
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,000
They do talk to Bob's mom and dad though.
345
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,000
And mom and dad don't know who would have wanted to hurt Bob.
346
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:37,000
He had in him any rivals for Sandra that they knew about.
347
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:40,000
So we're back at Scotland Yard.
348
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:45,000
Bob's note that there are three victims now at this one university.
349
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,000
So I guess they did realize that Professor Tagori was dead.
350
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:55,000
And these victims all have had animal hairs discovered on the victims bodies.
351
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:59,000
Likely chimpanzee or some similar creature.
352
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,000
Likely gorilla seat.
353
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:05,000
There are no animals on the loose though, so they're really baffled.
354
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:09,000
Now this is three murders and Margaret is questioning why a boy would have to be killed
355
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,000
as part of this experiment.
356
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:17,000
Yeah, they're eating breakfast and Decker is cooling, sipping his coffee and reading the paper.
357
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:23,000
And Margaret just slaps that paper away from him and asks if he'd like a side of murder with his breakfast.
358
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,000
And Decker reminds her that he has killed no one.
359
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:32,000
It's just part of this experiment and it's been successful because Konga has obeyed every order that he's been given.
360
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,000
This should horrify Margaret.
361
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:40,000
And it seemingly does initially, but she gets good with it pretty fast.
362
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:45,000
But she does mention that three murders might be a bit much and might arouse suspicion.
363
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,000
Yeah, she doesn't want Decker to get caught.
364
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,000
No, because what else is going to marry her?
365
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:54,000
Yeah, he'll lose everything. She'll lose everything. There's a lot at stake here.
366
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:58,000
And Decker agrees that the time has come to destroy Konga.
367
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,000
I don't know if she's too happy about that either.
368
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,000
But Decker says he has the formulas right so they don't need him anymore.
369
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,000
Right, they can recreate it if need be.
370
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,000
Make another man in a monkey suit.
371
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,000
Because it's only a matter of time before the police start connecting the dots.
372
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:17,000
Yeah, he actually plans to return to Uganda with Margaret and set up a new laboratory there.
373
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:27,000
And to not arouse suspicion, he says that he will attend the boys funeral and then invite Sandra, the boys girlfriend, to dinner.
374
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,000
How is that not suspicious?
375
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,000
They put off their trip to Uganda for a couple of weeks.
376
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,000
Just again, to avoid suspicion.
377
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:43,000
So dinner with Sandra is complete and all three are Margaret, Sandra and Decker are sitting in the parlor chatting.
378
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:47,000
She doesn't seem too distraught over the death of her supposed boyfriend.
379
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,000
Yeah, didn't this just happen like a few days before?
380
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:55,000
So good old Margaret is going to go do the dishes, leaving Decker and Sandra alone together.
381
00:25:55,000 --> 00:26:00,000
And Decker begins by proclaiming how great a man and scientist he is.
382
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,000
And he tells her to forget about Bob.
383
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,000
That's in the past.
384
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,000
And he's going to show her some of his work so he brings her out to the greenhouse.
385
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,000
That is such a classic move.
386
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,000
Come with me to my greenhouse.
387
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:16,000
Once in the greenhouse, he shows her his giant beastly plants.
388
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,000
One of them actually nips at her.
389
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:19,000
Scares her a little bit.
390
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:24,000
And he tells her to be careful because the arc carnivorous now they were previously insectivized.
391
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:29,000
But now they're carnivorous and will eat anything that comes into range of them.
392
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:34,000
And these plants also spew acids so they could eat you even without biting you.
393
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,000
Lovely, lovely flora.
394
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,000
This frightens her.
395
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:43,000
It's also really hot in the greenhouse and she's getting a little disoriented, I think.
396
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:47,000
Decker says that she should get used to the heat if she's going to be his assistant.
397
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:52,000
And explains that Margaret, his current assistant just lacks Sandra's natural skill in potenti.
398
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:57,000
Decker says that Margaret's usefulness is coming to an end.
399
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:02,000
He says he needs a young fresh mind, which has got to hurt for Margaret.
400
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,000
And then he says to them all her.
401
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,000
Sandra does not welcome his attentions.
402
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:07,000
He's got her in a clinch.
403
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:08,000
She's holding her tight.
404
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,000
She's struggling to get away.
405
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:15,000
Margaret by this time though, he should bust in and maybe help her.
406
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:16,000
But no.
407
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:21,000
Now Margaret realizes that she might be the next to join the Congalign.
408
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:25,000
That was a great way to phrase that.
409
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,000
So she goes inside the Conga to strike first.
410
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:32,000
Yes, she's going to juice up Conga one last time.
411
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:37,000
And Sandra is confused by Decker's advances, but she's in enough of her right mind to say no,
412
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,000
but it doesn't seem to matter.
413
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,000
No, he continues to assault her.
414
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:46,000
Down in the lab, Margaret is trying to hypnotize Conga to listen to her voice
415
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:50,000
and sort of reprogram him from obeying Decker.
416
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:54,000
Then she injects him with another dose of the serum.
417
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,000
And Margaret sends Conga out to obey her orders.
418
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,000
The assault on Sandra continues in the greenhouse.
419
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:01,000
He's powing at her.
420
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:06,000
He says he loves her and she's hot and confused and unhappy.
421
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,000
And just wants to be left alone.
422
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,000
The storm has caused Conga to grow once more.
423
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,000
He says tall is a tall ceiling in the laboratory.
424
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,000
He starts the trash lab.
425
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,000
And he sets fire to Dr. Decker's notes.
426
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:24,000
And then, okay, the special effects are awful.
427
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:28,000
When Conga became this height, it was just as bad as every time before.
428
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,000
But now it's even worse because he picks up Margaret.
429
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:36,000
But then when they pull away, there's a shot of him holding like a tiny rag doll in his hand.
430
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:42,000
And in addition to looking incredibly fake, it's just the wrong size proportion.
431
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,000
She should be much bigger in relative proportion.
432
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,000
I don't think any of the proportions are correct for the rest of this movie.
433
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:49,000
No.
434
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,000
But in their defense that shot with the doll is only on for less than a second,
435
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:57,000
you're not supposed to be able to notice it.
436
00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:58,000
It's long enough.
437
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:02,000
So he throws the doll on the ground and then reverts to being Margaret.
438
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:03,000
She's all broken.
439
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,000
And Conga grows again and he bursts through the ceiling.
440
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,000
Yeah, that cool-aid man going through the house.
441
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:10,000
And then through the wall.
442
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,000
Yeah, he turns this house into a pile of rubble in an instant.
443
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:19,000
In the greenhouse, Decker is still molesting Sandra when Conga breaks through the top of the greenhouse.
444
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,000
He puts his hand in there.
445
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,000
Sandra escapes but is caught by one of the carnivorous plants.
446
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,000
Yeah, a Venus flytrap style thing.
447
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,000
Grabs are by the arm and she's stuck there.
448
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,000
Whatever happens after that, we don't know.
449
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:32,000
We never see her again.
450
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:36,000
We can presume she died because of the acidic qualities that these plants.
451
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:40,000
I feel like maybe it's just Ador arm and she went away one-armed.
452
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,000
But it doesn't matter.
453
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,000
We'll never know.
454
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,000
And then on the other hand gets picked up by Conga.
455
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:50,000
Up till now, Conga has been doing everything that Decker has told him to.
456
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,000
So Decker says, "Let me down, you fool."
457
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:57,000
Right, but he's been reprogrammed so he's not going to do what he's told.
458
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,000
At least not by Decker anymore.
459
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:04,000
Now the fire brigade pulls up to the house ready to put out the conflagration within.
460
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:09,000
And they can't help but notice the large gorilla standing next to the building.
461
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,000
Yeah, because I think by now he's like about 20, 30 feet tall.
462
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,000
A scallion yard is getting calls about this giant gorilla.
463
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:22,000
They take the call and say, "Fantastic, there's a huge monster gorilla that's constantly growing to out lettuce proportions, clues in the streets."
464
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,000
He's moving towards the embankment area.
465
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:30,000
So the police rush towards the embankment area as Conga terrorizes the streets.
466
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:35,000
If people are running and screaming in all directions, we do see Conga.
467
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:41,000
He's standing behind and obviously flats of buildings like the George Hotel.
468
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,000
It's not a very destructive rampage.
469
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,000
He's very carefully walks around the buildings.
470
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,000
Yeah, he kind of shuffles.
471
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,000
We see his feet only walking through town.
472
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,000
And he's kind of at a slow shuffle.
473
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,000
So I don't know why people are shrieking and screaming.
474
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:55,000
They could easily outrun him.
475
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:59,000
Conga stops at Big Ben and the crowd knows he stops.
476
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:02,000
So they stop too because they want to know what he's going to do.
477
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:06,000
So if you look at the time, it says that it's 1138.
478
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,000
And Conga is just standing there.
479
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:09,000
He's not going to move anymore.
480
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,000
And nobody's running anymore.
481
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,000
They all just stop to goch at him.
482
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,000
And the police arrived along with some armed forces.
483
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,000
And they can't figure out what to do except to open fire.
484
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,000
So they do.
485
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,000
Even though he's holding Decker.
486
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:28,000
Decker's squirming in his grasp and yelling to be put down and saying, "You fool a lot."
487
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,000
But to no avail, he's not going to let him go.
488
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,000
If it was a woman, they would hold fire trying to think of another way to.
489
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:35,000
Would they?
490
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,000
Maybe back then they would.
491
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:38,000
They would at any more.
492
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,000
Don't shoot. He's holding a man.
493
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:43,000
Don't shoot. He's holding a white man.
494
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:44,000
So they open fire.
495
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,000
Most of the shots seem to go over Conga's head.
496
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,000
So this actually goes on for quite a while.
497
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,000
Right.
498
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:55,000
While they're doing all this shooting, most of the most of it is going over Conga's head.
499
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,000
One seems to strike the clock tower.
500
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,000
And everything else is a mess.
501
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:07,000
At some point he throws Decker to the streets where he lays like a broken doll.
502
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,000
He's dead, finally.
503
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,000
The clock now says midnight.
504
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:17,000
And they finally, finally score enough hits to bring Conga down.
505
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:22,000
But on his way down, somehow he's reverted to the chimp he was at the beginning of the movie.
506
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,000
And everyone's there as in disbelief.
507
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,000
Yeah, he's dead on the pavement.
508
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,000
He's also a doll here. They didn't actually kill a chimp for this movie.
509
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:31,000
Thank goodness.
510
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:35,000
And that's it. That's the end.
511
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,000
And that's Conga.
512
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:47,000
Welcome back to the American International Podcast.
513
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:51,000
On this episode, we are discussing Conga from 1961.
514
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,000
So this was filmed in London in April 1960.
515
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:59,000
It followed the success of Herman Cohen's previous British-made film, "Horrors of the Black Museum."
516
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,000
And then also featuring Michael Goff.
517
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,000
And was also released domestically by American international pictures.
518
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:11,000
It was released on a double feature in America with Master of the World, which was a Vincent Price movie.
519
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:15,000
Now Cohen wrote this. He had admired the movie King Kong.
520
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:21,000
He liked it so much that he actually bought the rights to the picture in order to use it in the marketing for Conga.
521
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:25,000
The original working title of this movie was, "I was a teenage gorilla."
522
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,000
It sounds ridiculous, but if you look at it closely, it's not that far off.
523
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:33,000
This movie follows basically the same formula as "I was a teenage werewolf."
524
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,000
Right, but it's not told from the point of view of the gorilla.
525
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,000
The gorilla is just kind of a device that...
526
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:41,000
Right. If Conga was one of the teenagers, it would be the exact same movie.
527
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:46,000
It's true. But they did find that the "I was a teenage..."
528
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:50,000
formula had kind of been played out by then, and they opted not to go that way.
529
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:54,000
Now, as he said before, Paul Stockman was a man inside the ape suit.
530
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,000
In an interview, he said that he came to get the part of Conga,
531
00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:02,000
because his agent said there was an American producer looking for a six-foot actor.
532
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:06,000
Asked him to go to you. "Mexer, hersel room, and luster square, London."
533
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:10,000
He goes in the room, and there's 20 other six-foot tall guys there.
534
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,000
And he thought, "Oh, wow. It's a lineup."
535
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:19,000
So Herman Cohen comes in carrying a big cardboard box, saying, "The actor I need must be exactly six feet tall."
536
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:24,000
So if you're six feet, one, five foot eleven, thank you for coming, but you should go home.
537
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:30,000
So now there's two or three other guys there, and they open the cardboard box, and it's a gorilla headpiece.
538
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:37,000
And they make all three of them try it on, and the reason that he was picked is because he had brown eyes,
539
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:40,000
and the other two had blue eyes, and they needed a brown eye and gorilla.
540
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:43,000
So that's how history was made here.
541
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:47,000
The suit in question was owned by Gorilla Man, George Barrow's.
542
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:53,000
And George Barrow's had played Roman in robot monster using the same suit, minus the Gorilla headpiece.
543
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:57,000
So how did Paul Stockman end up in the costume and set a George?
544
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:02,000
The production had enough to rent the gorilla suit, but not enough to rent George Barrow's, so they just rented the suit.
545
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:07,000
It was shipped to London, and they shot their masterpiece and sent it back in Iraq.
546
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,000
No way. I hope they didn't get their deposit back.
547
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:18,000
When they were filming the movie, they spent about five or six nights just shooting people running around the streets,
548
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:26,000
screaming and running in all directions. And then on the last night, they filmed the scene where Congo was killed,
549
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:35,000
and the noise that they made, I guess it would be fake artillery fire, scared people so much that they were actually calling in Scotland yard for real,
550
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,000
thinking that there was some attack going on.
551
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:45,000
When this movie was released, AIP recommended that theater owners schedule a showing for monkeys in Apes in a zoo or in a pet store,
552
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,000
and invite the press to come and cover the proceedings.
553
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:54,000
I don't know if that ever happened. I feel like we would have heard something about monkeys being shown a movie.
554
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:58,000
And I'm not sure how that would actually get butts in seats.
555
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:07,000
It didn't really help with the reviews, though. The New York Times called it nothing more than an overblown King Kong with a lead,
556
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:18,000
and a hammerly played by Michael Goff in an improbable looking AIP. And in timeout, it was called a NEPT silly, but ludicrously enjoyable.
557
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:25,000
And it wasn't the end of the Konga story. There actually was a novelization of the film written by Dean Owen,
558
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:30,000
that included gratuitous sexual scenarios that weren't related to the film at all.
559
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:40,000
And also, from 1960 to 1965, Charlton Comics published 23 issues of a book called Konga, which included work by Spiderman co-creator Steve Ditko.
560
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:47,000
And Konga returned in a three-issue mini-series that started off as a return of Konga before it was renamed Konga's Revenge.
561
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:55,000
And that ran from 1962 to 1964. Just Conrad, who was Bob, was scheduled to sing a song in this film, but it got cut.
562
00:36:55,000 --> 00:37:00,000
So I guess there was still sort of in their...let's throw in a musical number for the teen's phase.
563
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:04,000
Yeah, I believe just Conrad was a British pop star at the time.
564
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:08,000
I'll have to look that up and see if I like any of his music.
565
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:16,000
Alright Jeff, how would you rate Konga on our AIP scale? Where A is awesome, I as Intermediate in P is pathetic.
566
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:25,000
This is a tough one because this movie is so over-the-top goofy, but it's also so much fun that I have to give it an A for awesome.
567
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,000
Oh really?
568
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:30,000
This is probably Michael Goff's greatest performance in any film.
569
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,000
Even better than when he was Alfred in the Batman movies?
570
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:36,000
That was so subdued in comparison.
571
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:40,000
But every time I see him now, I just shout "You fool!"
572
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,000
Anytime I see a giant monkey, I shout "You fool!"
573
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,000
There are absolutely no likeable characters in this movie whatsoever.
574
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:52,000
No, there aren't. There's no one to root for. Maybe Sandra, she's sort of a pawn in this.
575
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:58,000
Sandra's kind of stupid though. She's very oblivious to everything going on around her.
576
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:05,000
Well what about Bob? Bob didn't deserve anything that happened to him. He was just a teenage boy with hormones.
577
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,000
Yeah, he's pretty pathetic too.
578
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:15,000
You're so harsh. I mean it's obvious why Sandra's not interested in him. He seems a little desperate.
579
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:20,000
A little doofy too. Maybe if he had sung to her, maybe he could have won her heart.
580
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,000
But yeah, I'm going to give this film an A for awesome.
581
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:27,000
You've got a guy in a grilisuit that's always a plus in a movie.
582
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:32,000
This guy in the grilisuit grows to outlandish proportions. That's another plus.
583
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:38,000
He goes on a rampage of London that isn't much of a rampage. Okay, that might not be a plus.
584
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,000
But we get to see the clock tower. Parliament's nowhere around, but there's towers right there.
585
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:47,000
And it's just a lot of fun. You're never bored watching this.
586
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:55,000
You loathe Dr. Jekker and every scene he's in. And you learn to loathe everybody else through him.
587
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,000
I mean really if there's any likeable character in here, it might be the Dean.
588
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:03,000
Or guy too. He did have a point.
589
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:08,000
Dekker was unhinged and not just temporarily deranged. He was just permanently deranged.
590
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:13,000
So Michael Goss, greatest role to see him play one of the worst human beings in the history of the world.
591
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:18,000
It's just so much. This movie is so much fun and I can't recommend it enough.
592
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:22,000
I'm going to rate it.
593
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:29,000
We don't really do like A- or whatever, but it's almost an A for me.
594
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:36,000
But it's just the parts that you like, the giant monkey and the London tourism and all that.
595
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:44,000
That comes at the very end of the movie. And up until then, it's kind of a talky boring slog to get there.
596
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:52,000
Where we have to watch Dekker become more and more unhinged and more drunk with power and more murderous as we go on.
597
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:59,000
And yeah, Michael Goss is great in this role, but you'll absolutely hate him from the first moment you meet him.
598
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:11,000
And Margaret, the supposed conscience really just caves so quickly when it comes to not wanting to lose her comfortable position.
599
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:18,000
So she's almost worse than him because she could pull the reins in on him and have the cops come.
600
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:23,000
She could have saved Bob. She could have saved Professor Tagori. And she could have saved the dean.
601
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:32,000
So I think she's almost worse for not doing anything in order to keep her cushy job and her almost marriage.
602
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:38,000
And I think I'm a little nicer to Bob and Sonder than you are. They're just kids and they don't deserve what happens to them.
603
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:45,000
Whatever happened to Sonder, we never know. But I think the worst part is the special effects. They're just terrible.
604
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:55,000
And maybe if they sort of remade this movie, not from scratch, but they just sort of redid the special effects a lot of George Lucas redoing Star Wars movies.
605
00:40:55,000 --> 00:41:03,000
If they made those just a little bit more believable and a little less cringingly awful, I think I would give it a name.
606
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,000
But for now, I'm going to stick with I.
607
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:12,000
Well, I think the special effects are part of the charm of this movie. That's one of the things that boosted it up to an A for me.
608
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:17,000
Not because they're good, they're not, but because they're fun to look at.
609
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:21,000
I don't know. They're fun. They made me laugh. I guess if that's what you consider fun.
610
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:34,000
But I just think that there had to be a better way to accomplish that. I would even prefer that they did it off screen rather than making us watch this very, very silly transformation from a champ into a different world.
611
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:39,000
I think that's what I think it's like a champ into a gorilla-suited man.
612
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:46,000
Chimps can't turn into gorillas and there's nothing you can do to make that happen. No science exists.
613
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:53,000
Not that, then, not now. So I guess I'm stuck on that. So I it is for me.
614
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:58,000
I don't think good effects would save this movie.
615
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:03,000
I think it would just make the rest of the movie seem poorer and comparison.
616
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,000
Yeah, I suppose you have a point.
617
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:12,000
And you say that the movie is talking, but because it's Michael Goff doing what he's doing, it's enjoyable.
618
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:18,000
If anybody else was in this, I don't think I would enjoy this movie as much. I can't imagine anybody else going off the rail.
619
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:25,000
If they put Vincent Price in this movie. Oh, he couldn't do it. No, because he would have had too much fun being evil.
620
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:29,000
And he would have been over the top. And you would love him for it. You would love him for it.
621
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:36,000
But Michael Goff, you don't love him for it. And he's over the top for him, but it's not for the role.
622
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:45,000
No, I understand that. I just say it's talky because I was taking notes on this and had to keep pausing the movie to write down what was happening because it was all conversation.
623
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:49,000
So maybe that's just my note-taking perspective.
624
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:56,000
The first time we watched this was a long time ago, and I didn't have as many issues with it as I did when I looked at it more critically.
625
00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:59,000
So don't watch it critically. Just watch it for fun.
626
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:05,000
And this movie has so many great lines that we just brushed over. Besides the constant mention of you fool.
627
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:13,000
I love it when Konga is still a chimp and Decker tells Margaret, please leave. I want to be alone with Konga.
628
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:23,000
Or I can't stand hysterics, especially in the morning. He's maddeningly cool to her when she's trying to get upset. And that makes her even angrier.
629
00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:26,000
See, this movie is just so much fun. He's diabolical.
630
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:31,000
And I guess it's going to wrap it up for this episode of the American International Podcast.
631
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:36,000
I'm Cheryl Lightfoot. And I'm Jeff Markin. And we'll meet you at the drive-in.
632
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:48,000
Follow the American International Podcast on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterbox at AIP_Pod and on Facebook at facebook.com/AmericanInternationalPodcast
633
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:52,000
The American International Podcast is produced and edited by Jeff Markin.
634
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:57,000
A man whose mind is distorted by hatred. And Cheryl Lightfoot.
635
00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:00,000
A girl hungry for too many things.
636
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:14,000
The American International Podcast is part of the Pop Culture Entertainment Network.
637
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:24,000
[Music]