Re: King Kong
 

Was a huge fan of the original as a kid, ever since staying up late to watch it on the late, late show when I was about 8 yrs old. I was consumed with the film for years after that- haunting the newstands every months hoping it would be featured in Famous Monsters or Monsters Of The Movies, or whatever other fly by night mag got published.
My father bought a Super 8 projector around the same time, and the one film I wanted most was KK- but no matter where we looked, we never found one.
Then for Christmas '76 (when the remake was released) there was a package under the tree in the unmistakable shape of a 400' reel box. As I tore away the wrapping, the first word to appear was "Kong" written small. I paused for a second and beamed at my parents- They'd finally found it! I loved them so much!
Then as I finished tearing away the paper my smile glazed over "Oh, it's Konga. Hmm"

Konga, and all the other Hammers he made that I saw as a kid, were a big reason I always hated Gough as Alfred. The guy was always a vile weasel in these films, so it was hard to warm to him as Bruce's trusted man Friday.

As far as the other films go- I was a snob as a kid regarding the remake. I hated the irreverence, and the gaudy modernization of the material (Jack Driscoll was now a hippie?! UGH!). But the problem I eventually had with the original was- I audio taped it the next time it aired, and after that I listened to the soundtrack constantly. The soundtrack burned itself into my cortex and to this day I can rattle off the whole film in one sitting even though the last time I watched it was 5 years ago and probably 10 years prior to that. I listened to the audio of it so much, it's very difficult, almost impossible, to get lost in it and actually just enjoy it anymore.
OTOH, at some point when I became an adult, I actually started to dig the remake. All the aspects of it that bugged me as a kid, I now find refreshing and enjoyable. The first is a classic on a pedestal. This one is a light Saturday matinee. It was the first film I ever watched start to finish the first time I bough a projector, and I'm tickled it continues to be one of the most satisfying HD discs I own (first on HD DVD, and now on BD).

Had good expectations for the Jackson version, but can't stomach the end result at all. Save for some spectuacular effects shots, just a major mis-fire all around, imo.