{"id":24540,"date":"2017-03-03T18:06:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T23:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=24540"},"modified":"2017-03-03T21:03:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-04T02:03:39","slug":"dinosaurs-vs-apes-hollywood-goes-ape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/03\/dinosaurs-vs-apes-hollywood-goes-ape\/","title":{"rendered":"Dinosaurs vs. Apes: Hollywood Goes Ape! (1994)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Don Glut is a lover of the golden age of monster movies, and his 1994 documentary explores Hollywood\u2019s fascination with apes. Though \u201cKing Kong\u201d popularized the giant ape in film, the idea of giant apes have been around for quite a while and even showed up every so often in silent films. Even by 1994 standards, \u201cHollywood Goes Ape!\u201d isn\u2019t the most polished documentary, but it does offer a no frills exploration in to ape cinema of all kinds. There are looks at giant ape films like \u201cKing Kong\u201d and \u201cKonga,\u201d and odd ball ape movies like \u201cThe Ape Man,\u201d and \u201cSuperman vs. The Gorilla Gang.\u201d<\/p>\n

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There are even glimpses in to the various actors and stuntmen that went on to portray apes in various serials and horror films throughout the fifties and sixties. Their history is one of the most fascinating as Glut explores how most of these men owned their own custom ape suits, often mastered the art of imitating apes, and yes, took playing apes so seriously that it was often tough to set them apart from real apes. Glut does every now and then glimpse in to more contemporary ape films, showing off the wonderful effects by Rick Baker in \u201cGorillas in the Mist,\u201d and the cast behind the ape characters in \u201cPlanet of the Apes.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, \u201cHollywood Goes Ape!\u201d is more about how Hollywood has always had a fascination with apes from the silent era right in to the sixties, and there are some neat interviews, especially with Forrest J. Ackerman, who recalls a lot of the experiences with King Kong and Konga. The documentary is a very entertaining history lesson for movie buffs with our hosts keeping up their end of the movie with some fun antics, history lessons in infamous films like \u201cRobot Monster,\u201d and there\u2019s even some discussion about the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial. \u201cHollywood Goes Ape!\u201d is an entertaining and breezy novelty documentary that tackles a shockingly popular facet of Hollywood, and how apes both humongous and man size, have pretty much always been a part of the movies.<\/p>\n