This movie doesn't fall under the category of "why am I reviewing this film" but instead is in the "why haven't I reviewed this film before now" category. I'm always on the lookout for a good monkey movie, but for some reason I had never thought to talk about Mighty Joe Young, the best monkey movie of all time. While I've been familiar with Mighty Joe Young for as long as I can remember, it didn't really dawn on me until recently what a strange film it is. I knew it was an odd movie when I saw it as a child, but it wasn't until I had reflected on the film for awhile that I realized it's a unique flick that epitomizes everything one could hope to find in a monkey movie.

Side note: There is no hard and fast rule for what qualifies as a monkey movie. Everything from the obvious choices [King Kong, Planet of the Apes] to the films less on the beaten path [The Barefoot Executive, Shakma] qualify regardless of genre or competency. As long as the movie features a primate doing it's primate thing it's a monkey movie. As for why one should watch a monkey movie it breaks down in the following way: monkeys = fun, movies = fun, monkey movies = a great deal of fun.

Mighty Joe Young understands this idea so it focuses all the movie's energy into creating a showcase for Joe, who is the star of the film, a creation of painstaking stop motion technology, and a great big monkey. That isn't to say that the rest of the movie is any less bizarre when Joe isn't on screen; the movie plays as if the film makers threw everything at the movie and used whatever stuck.

The plot concerns New York entrepreneur Max O'Hara [Robert Armstrong, who seems to be the channeling the spirit of the character he played in King Kong] who is looking for an angle that will help him launch a successful night club in California. He hits upon the unique notion that in order to promote the proposed jungle theme of his club he'll go on safari to Africa and take along a bunch of cowboys. O'Hara figures the safari is a gold mine of free publicity, which is an interesting justification for the trip since going on vacation on the other side of the world along with a rodeo full of cowboys -complete with horses- can't be cheap. While hanging out in the part of Africa that looks a an awful lot like a lot in Hollywood, a giant ape lumbers into camp. Scared that they were going to lose all the lions they had captured for the night club [feeding a dozen lions on top of everything else; that was going to be one heck of an expensive club] the cowboys ride off after the monster monkey. How many other films have you seen where a big monkey gets in a fight with a bunch of lasso swinging cowboys? Truly a great moment in movie history.

Putting an end to all this alpha male zaniness, Jill [Terry Moore], Joe's owner, shows up. It seems that ever since her father died, Jill has been happily living on her ranch with Joe and the locals to keep her company. O'Hara convinces her that she and her big monkey should come to America. While head cowboy Gregg [Ben Johnson] has reservations, his feelings that Jill is awful purdy over-ride his qualms.

Setting up Jill and Joe as a double bill, O'Hara starts pulling in the crowds with a woman who can sort of play the piano and a giant monkey. Growing unhappy with all the demeaning tricks he's forced to perform, Joe goes on a rampage after some customers get him drunk. After getting in an all-out bar brawl with a bunch of lions, Joe is a wanted monkey. While Gregg, Jill, and O'Hara try to rescue him from the police, Joe comes upon a burning orphanage [no, really!] After rescuing several orphans Joe is hailed as a hero and the movie ends happily with Jill, Gregg, and their giant gorilla living happily ever after in Africa.

This summary doesn't do justice to the nutty world of Mighty Joe Young. The movie seems to of been put together to be a showcase for Joe's stop-motion antics [which were produced by a team that included both Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen] as well as a de-facto remake of King Kong [the producer, writers, and director were the same as the group that worked on Kong.] But instead of being just a re-telling of King Kong softened down to make it more family-friendly fare, Mighty Joe Young is it's own thing. While King Kong often seemed to lag when Kong or some other beastie wasn't on the screen, Mighty Joe Young manages to be a hoot even when there aren't any monkeys on screen. Full of kooky plot developments, hysterically blase racism, and characters that are so goofy that it's hard to believe that the actors were able to keep straight faces while saying their lines, the movie somehow works as a cohesive whole.

If you can only see one monkey movie you should seriously consider re-arranging your life so you can catch as much simian cinema as possible. Once you have your priorities straight swing out and rent the original Mighty Joe Young; the movie delivers as much monkey fun as you could possibly want.

Maybe some day I'll get around to reviewing the version of Mighty Joe Young starring the ubiquitous Bill Paxton and eternal starlet Charlize Theron. So many monkey movies, so little time. Until then swing on out of here to either the Second Movie or Main page.