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My Favorite of the Old Godzilla Films

posted 7 years ago by FilmBuff (7435)
7 replies | jump to latest

Back when Godzilla films were meant to be corny fun, this was the best of the bunch. Sure, if you try to take it seriously as a film it's ridiculous, but as an entry in a series of ridiculous films featuring men in foam rubber monster suits stomping on balsa wood model cities, this ranks right near the top for me.

Jet Jaguar is awesome, the inventor and his friends have a crazy pad and some killer clothes, the aliens rock, and the movie is just FUN.

I know many will disagree, and I fully admit that the 2014 Godzilla and the original 1954 film are both excellent films, but as for the campy fun one expects from Godzilla, the Megalon film can't be beat.

The other standouts, for me anyway, are

Godzilla's Revenge, in that it's not even really a Godzilla film. It's about a kid who imagines Godzilla, and is a nicely paced tale of a latchkey kid in '70s Japan.

Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster, also great cheesy fun with a darkness to it that the other films lack. Much closer to a horror film than anything other than the original

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster is a rock 'n roll good time

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Looking forward to seeing how they update King Ghidorah in the upcoming Godzilla film.

But please...no Gigan and his circular saw belly...

[–] FilmBuff (7435) 7 years ago

The wait for the new Godzilla film has been interminable! I'm very curious how the other monsters will look.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

The Smog Monster may come across as Greenpeace garbage but I still think the premise could work.

Unless they turn him into a big, ball of plastic on some Pacific Island for a modern take.

[–] corey (774) 7 years ago

The restored Japanese original 1951 (?) version has always been my fave since I was a kid. Just saw the full version on TCM not long ago.

[–] FilmBuff (7435) 7 years ago

It's 1954, and yeah, it's excellent in its original form. When I was young the only version you saw, in the US anyway, was a completely re-edited version with a new story featuring Orson Welles spliced in. That isn't a bad film, but it's nothing like the original. If you can separate that film from the never-ending series of goofy films that came after it, it can be appreciated as a cinematic masterpiece in its own right.

[–] corey (774) 7 years ago

Yeah, there was at least 40 minutes added and Raymond Burr was NOT in it. I think they added him in to attract American audiences. Then that's the TV version I grew up with.

[–] millsey72 (10938) 2 years ago

I always thought this to be one of the more serious Godzilla films when compared to many of the others