Film 1/52: A*P*E (1976)

The first entry in my 52nd Birthday movie challenge was A*P*E — in 3-D! It's one of the many mid-70s King Kong knock-offs (this one out of Korea) taking advantage of the publicity surrounding the Dino De Laurentiis remake. I've recently been checking out a number of those, so A*P*E (no, I have no idea why the asterisks are between the letters) seemed a perfect choice to kick things off with. A*P*E's love interest is played by Joanna DeVarona (later Kerns, of "Growing Pains" fame), whose sister Donna was am Olympic swimmer who trained right here in Santa Clara! So the most tenuous of local connections to this giant monkey film. Despite the less than stellar reputation, I always wanted to see it, in part due to the promised "Jaws vs Shark" scene. Well, you can't say that they don't make good on that promise in the opening moments of the film, during which our ape-suited actor wrestles with a clearly dead shark. This one definitely needs to be seen in 3-D to be fully appreciated. While there are actually some nicely composed shots with good depth to them, A*P*E is from the poke-you-in-the-eye school of 3-D filmmaking (which let's face it, can be fun, too). But the most memorable scene in the film comes after our big ape knocks a helicopter out of the sky into a rocky cliff, and then gives it the finger. I had to pull Vonna into the theater for an instant replay of that scene. Was it worth the time? You bet. Glad to have it in the library, and pleased to have finally seen it!