King Kong (1976) - beauty and the beard

This movie had a lot of hype preceding its release in 1976, and it did well at the box office. I remember seeing it in the theater and enjoying it. The critics haven't been to kind to it though and Peter Jackson's more recent special-effects-laden version no doubt garners more praise. This one's admittedly a cheese-fest, but I think there's lot to like here. Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange are both otstanding, although I doubt either one of them would point to this movie as a great moment in their careers. The story is similar but not the same as the classic original and best King Kong from 1933. It's given a contemporary 1970s setting, and they're looking for oil rather than planning a movie (remember, there was a gas shortage). So some evil oil dudes (led by Charles Grodin) set sail for a strange island which they think will pour forth a lot of the black gold. This absence of a movie-making plot leads to a very contrived scene when they find the unfortunately named starlet Dwan (Jessica Lange) adrift in a raft. I guess they couldn't think of a better way to get her on board the boat. After that it pretty much goes as you'd expect. Scantily clad girl meets giant ape, giant ape falls for girl. A bad ending for the big ape.

There's more to it than that however, and for me at least, the most mesmerizing aspect of the movie was Jeff Bridges' facial hair. There's a lot of it and whenever it was on screen I couldn't take my eyes off it. Jeff Bridges plays Jack Prescott, a liberal-type scientist who wants to study Kong. He also falls for the girl, giving Jessica Lange two hairy beasts to contend with.

Favorite 45s - Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) by Looking Glass (1972)

Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) by Looking Glass was a number one hit single in 1972 and was consistently played on the radio for many years. It also got a ton of play in our house as we had the 45, so it always takes me way back in time whenever I hear it. It's a super catchy tune, expertly produced and arranged, with a great lead vocal by composer and guitarist Elliot Lurie. Timeless and classic, it's one of the great hit songs from the 1970s. The b-side, One By One, written by the other singer-composer in the band, Piet Sweval, isn't half bad either. Though not a catchy tune like Brandy, it's got a nice forlorn feeling and more of a country vibe.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1976) - clones are creepy

1977 Pocket Book, cover art by Ed Soyka

This excellent science fiction novel (winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards) starts out with a near future doomsday scenario. There's massive pollution leading to climate change, plague and disease, starvation and economic collapse. So this super wealthy family, some of whom are politicians and scientists who foresaw the worst, prepared for the coming collapse of civilization by creating their own little scientific compound in a valley somewhere in New England. Ultimately the plan is to start a new community with the help of cloning. At first this just means cloning livestock, since all of the animals have been dying. But they soon realize there will be a shortage of people because of infertility, so they decide to clone humans too. Which is where it gets interesting. You see, clones are kind of creepy...

1976 Harper & Row with M. C. Escher cover

The tale is told from the vantage point of several different characters across several generations (clone generations not being quite the same as regular human gens). The main conflict, besides survival, is the individual versus the group. Nonconformity was a great concern in seventies literature, with science fiction writers being particularly intrigued by the idea of pitting individual freedom against what's best  for society as a whole. The sympathy would usually (though not always) side with the individual. Kate Wilhelm does a great job of presenting a case for both sides, although ultimately it is the individual who has the wherewithal to survive. The nonconformist has the imagination to navigate a new beginning, whereas the hive-minded clones are stifled by their reliance on the group. Yea for imagination!