GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER
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| Rated G
| | Copyright 1971 Toho Company Ltd.
| | Reviewed by Andrew Borntreger on 'a long time ago'
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- Godzilla - The world's largest ecologist.
- Hedorah - Cosmic monster brought to Earth by a meteor, feeds on pollution.
- Ken - Dr. Yano's son, he seems to have ESP in relation to Godzilla.
- Dr. Yano - Scientist of some sort, could be Marine Biology. Badly injured by a brush with Hedorah while diving.
- Mrs. Yano - Mother of the family.
- Groovy guy and girl - A pair of Japanese flower children, there is one less happy thought in the world after he is "sludged" to death by Hedorah.
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Who needs Greenpeace when you have an environmentally conscious monster running amok?
The situation is looking bleak for Japan, everything is polluted or dying and the full horror of late 60's music is upon them. Researchers are trying in vain to find solutions to the many problems. Dr. Yano might be a brilliant scientist, but he can do little more than join in when everyone cries out, "We're doomed!" While diving (to mourn the destruction of coastal ecosystems) he encounters the evolving menace called Hedorah. Poor little Ken, standing alone on the rocks and calling out to his father, is one of the only poignant moments in what was intended to be a meaningful film. After this it gets silly.
Godzilla investigates what is befouling the waters and chases the smog monster away, it appears to be a seriously one sided battle. After dining on more sludge and flourocarbons the evil creature returns, more powerful and able to fly. Los Angeles might have poor air quality, but it does not have a floating muck monster that trails acid mist in its wake.
Meanwhile, Yano makes the important discovery that electricity will dry out and kill Hedorah. Under his supervision the military constructs a giant array of what appear to be mirrors, but they reflect electricity back and forth between them. It's science, or something passing for it. Neat!
Several silly things happen during the final battle and I'd be remiss to not mention two of them. The first involves Hedorah's nasty habit of spitting caustic sludge, at one point Godzilla ducks the first then stands up to take another right in the face. He slaps his hand over the muck and I could almost hear him mutter, "That was dumb, owwww." Of course the second is the world famous scene where Godzilla uses his breath to fly along like a rocket. Oh yes they did...
Often the lighting leaves much to be desired, though I am certain that was on purpose. The filmmakers were obviously trying to convey a brooding message about our planet's bleak future if the situation remained unchanged. Things could have been worse, imagine a later version entitled "Godzilla vs. El Nino."
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| Things I Learned From This Movie: | |
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- Monsters use oil tankers as beverage containers.
- Pollution is bad, but 60's music is much, much worse.
- Monsters use factories as bongs.
- Putting a giant (and caustic) pile of crap in an airplane spin is not the best of ideas.
- Rodan intended "The Thinker" to portray a severe burn victim.
- Telephone booths make excellent bomb shelters.
- Japanese women should leave Scottish fashions alone.
- Mud wrestling is much less interesting when you are the only one in the pit, rubber suit or not.
- Defensive driving courses should include tips on avoiding falling monsters.
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- 10 mins - Kenny, did you misplace your daddy?
- 15 mins - Godzilla is using radioactive breath to clean up floating sludge. You do realize that this is like nuking New Jersey to solve their problems...
- 26 mins - What drug is he on? Just for the record mind you.
- 27 mins - Hedorah's muck burned off half of Yano's face and killed that one group of men, but this cat is unharmed? I mean sure, it looks miserable, but it should be looking like a cockroach after you spray it down with Raid.
- 32 mins - Another one of those weird cartoons...
- 46 mins - They actually found a way to include the artist's conceptual drawings in the movie.
- 58 mins - Throwing torches at that thing? You all are either extremely brave or extremely stupid. Oh, a third possibility, extremely dead.
- 77 mins - Three, two, one... ...liftoff! Hehehehe! (With all the aerodynamic and thrust concerns here this is ludicrous.)
- 82 mins - Gives new meaning to "stomp a mudhole in his ass" doesn't it?
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| | Audio clips in wav format | SOUNDS | Starving actors speak out | |
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| File | Dialog |  | gvssmog1.wav
| Dr. Yano: "Godzilla?"
Ken: "Uh huh, you listen to what I say, I'm positive he'll kill Hedorah. He'll get him!"
| | gvssmog2.wav
| Announcer: "The appearance of Hedorah is causing rising alarm throughout all Japan."
| | gvssmog3.wav
| Scientist: "Hedorah created the sulfuric acid mist in its path and many people attempting rescue have been seriously injured. The mist affects mainly the throat and the eyes. The dead clutter the streets of the city of Fuji."
| | gvssmog4.wav
| Ken: "Hedorah's only sludge; we could dry it out."
| | Theme Song | Listen to a clip from the soundtrack. | |
| | Click for a larger image | IMAGES | Scenes from the movie | |
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| | Watch a scene | VIDEO | MPEG video files | |
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 | gvssmog1.mpg
- 2.8m
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| Liftoff! Arguably the silliest thing in any Godzilla movie is this scene. Faced with Hedorah's airborne retreat the King of Monsters decides to annoy every aerodynamics engineer employed by Lockheed Martin.
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| | Leave a comment | EXTRAS | Buy the movie | |
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