According to both The Making of 'King Kong', by Orville Goldner & George E. Turner (Ballantine Books, 1975), and The Stop-Motion Filmography by Neil Pettigrew (MacFarland and Co., 1999), O'Brien did indeed dislike the film---specifically, its comical tone---and walked off, but after work had begun, so his touch would have been felt. But neither of these have Pete Peterson on that film, and Pettigrew doesn't list any (completed and released) work for him before Mighty Joe Young. What's your source for him, Skye Reynolds? Also the statement from Obie's widow? (That's just a sincere request for information, honest. So many people have read sarcastic attacks into my postings where none was intended that I've gotten paranoid about clarifying them.)
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obit1
16 years ago
Pete Peterson was a grip on Mighty Joe Young and professed an interest in animating. O'bie gave him one of the Joe puppets and Peterson animated for a day, in the corner of the studio, having Joe pull a wagon. The animation test was so fantastic that Peterson was hired to be the second animator behind Ray Harryhausen.
Peterson did ALL of the animation of Joe in and around the truck, and did the entire "beautiful dreamer" piano hold up.
Now in Son of Kong, Obie had the same main animation assistant from King Kong, Buzz Gibson. Because of disagreements with Cooper, O'Brien refused to do any animation really and Gibson handled almost all of it.
Ironically, Buzz Gibson auditioned for Mighty Joe Young, but his animation was deemed far too stiff and artificial when compared to Harryhausen's.........
So there ya go.
http://www.woodywelch.com
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Skye_Reynolds
16 years ago
Yea, my mistake. Pete Peterson didn't come on the scene until Mighty Joe Young and he only has three films to his name; Mighty Joe Young, The Black Scorpion, and The Giant Behemoth. IMDb lists him as working on The Thing With Two Heads, but that must have been another Pete Peterson as Willis O'Brien's protege died in the 60s, though I don't know the exact date, and that film was done in the 1970s. I'm guessing The Thing With Two Heads was the only film that the other Peterson was a part of and so it was assumed that it was the same Pete Peterson as worked on the earlier films.
---
"Attempted murder? Now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?"
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hecklejecklelove
16 years ago
Back to the original topic...
I have always loved Son of Kong...Dont get me wrong, I dont hate King Kong Lives, but its definately one of the worst films in the Kong/Kong-like pantheon of films.
hjl
Star Wars Episode IV.V: The Holiday Special.
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movienerd666
14 years ago
son of kong is certainly better, mainly because it doesn't completely ruin the ending to the first one like kong lives did
you know there is a problem when games are smarter than movies
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mlspaur
14 years ago
"Son of Kong was ten times better than the sequel to the '76 version King Kong Lives (1986)!"
And "Citizen Kane" was ten times better than "Freddie Got Fingered."
So, what's your point?
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www1125
13 years ago
SON OF KONG was definitely better.
"Do you mind if I don't smoke?" ---Groucho Marx
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qlhologram
13 years ago
I hear King Kong Lives is considered to be the worst King Kong movie ever made
Son of Kong was a really good movie to watch
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www1125
13 years ago
I started KING KONG LIVES a couple of times, but got so bored I turned it off and watched the original. I did finally see it all the way through, and was still bored, but at least I finished.
"Do you mind if I don't smoke?" ---Groucho Marx
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blakjak_cc
13 years ago
lol classic! Yeah took me 4 or 5 goes to watch A Clockwork Orange, now it's in my all time top 5. :)
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Matuatay
11 years ago
I haven't seen King Kong Lives in about 20 years, but what I remember of it wasn't impressive. Primarily I remember a scene in which two guys are after Kong or Lady Kong and the King snaps one of them in half. (Gross) Then there was the beginning with the whole fake heart transplant which I again found disgusting and too bloody. Granted I was 10 at the time and my opinions of movies and gore within movies has probably changed, but I still have no interest in revisiting KKL for these reasons, in addition to reviews I've seen here on IMDB and discussion boards.
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