A case for Godzilla

Dec 24, 2024

I have three favorite movies: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blazing Saddles, and Amalie. Kubrick's 2001 is probably at the top of the list. And not just because it was the movie my wife Carla and I saw on our first date way back in February of 1977. For the record, she asked me out. It was a midnight showing. It also had to be one of the longest possible midnight first date movies ever, other than something like 1994's Sátántangó (Satan's Tango), which was directed by Hungarian Béla Tarr and seven hours long. The longest film ever, by the way, is Amra Ekta Cinema Banabo (We Will Make A Cinema), a 2019 black and white Bangladeshi-Bengali language fictional feature written and directed by Ashraf Shishir. It weighs in at over 21 hours long.

I first saw 2001 in 1968, when it was released. At the time, it rent my young reptilian mind asunder. Mind you, less than 18 months later man would actually walk on the moon. But more than anything, the movie showed what was possible in the realms of science and space exploration. It changed me forever. Looking back, it was also a changing of the guard in terms of my taste in science fiction movies. Thanks to Kubrick, realism now ruled the day with space films. No longer would cheesy not-so-special effects cut it, like the hubcaps used for flying saucers in Plan Nine from Outer Space. Even space monsters would have to up their game for me to buy into a movie plot. But there was always one notable exception—Godzilla. More on that in just a moment.

Otherwise, the local ABC affiliate had a science fiction feature on Sunday afternoons, surely the dead zone of weekly programming at the time in the age before infomercials. I made it a point of watching the Sci-Fi Thriller of the week on the regular. Attack of the 50-Foot Woman was one of my favorites. The woman in question, named Nancy Archer, was played by the lovely Allison Hayes. In the movie, she becomes gigantic after a shiny space alien shoots her with his ray gun. Talk about cinematic magic.

I saw the movie multiple times. My favorite part was when Nancy wakes up huge and has to rip down the living room drapes to fashion a sari-of sorts, so she can go track down her no-good husband, who's boozing it up at a local bar with some floozy. However, one Sunday afternoon the station’s projectionist must have been asleep at the wheel. That's because after a commercial break, the channel replayed the segment just shown—which happened to be the part where Alison gets zapped by the alien and then wakes up bigified. I was one part mystified why the station was replaying the segment just seen, and several parts thrilled at seeing a giant Allison Hayes supposedly sans clothing again. After all, when you're nine years old, it doesn't take much to rev your metabolism into the dirt bike zone.

Godzilla and his minions were also regulars on Sci-Fi Thriller. Seeing the huge G-man stalk through high tension power lines and setting off sparks was cause for excitement, not to mention all the times he destroyed Tokyo—which was early and often. But Godzilla wasn't just a radiation-fueled movie monster. He happens to be the longest-running film franchise, spinning off TV series, novels, comic books, video games, and other merchandise infinitum. The first of what would become 38 films was released in 1954. Some 33 films were produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. in Japan. And it's these early Toho efforts that captured my young fancy.

Any R & D on Godzilla can easily devolve into a deep, seemingly endless rabbit hole. To begin, there are several so-called "eras" in the movies where the tone and themes change, sometimes considerably. Some films have strong political messages while others offer complex mythologies. Other movies are straight ahead action films that feature aliens and other monsters besides the G-man. Still others are children-friendly by design. Godzilla's role also varies dramatically, from grade-A destructor to an ally of humans and protector of Japanese values—even a hero to children. So much for Freddy Kreuger.

Not to be outdone, American studios have produced four movies since 1998's Godzilla, including this year’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. No surprise the American movies—and 21^st century Japanese efforts—make use of CGI technology to create all-too realistic likenesses. But I think these newer, slicker productions lack the raw edge and crude props of the old Toho reels.

Call me old-fashioned, but I want to see my Godzilla staggering around like the actor inside the suit is this close to taking a dive on a cheesy set of miniature Tokyo hastily constructed from balsa wood. The same goes for the likes of Rodan, Salunga, Kumonga—and most of all Mothra. He's my other favorite. I also want to see fake flames bursting forth from the business-end of the aforementioned Titans. Or things violently bubbling up and out of a swimming pool/ocean. Realism be damned!

Perhaps what I'm trying to say is that screen cheese in Sci-Fi movies is timeless. That as slick as the new productions have become, there will always be room for the rough-cut staggering Godzilla of old. Or Mothra blazing across the sky with plastic fighter jets hung from strings in hot pursuit. And let's not forget our Nancy from the Attack of the 50-Foot Woman. Especially the scene when she wakes up bigified, drapes up in the living room drapes, and then literally lifts the roof off the local gin joint to nab her no-good shiftless husband. Sadly, Nancy doesn't do as well as Godzilla with the high-tension wires. They zap her to an early grave. In the end, I guess you can't have everything.