King Kung Fu

Coming from a fan of "Mystery Science Theater" and B-movies like "Plan 9 From Outer Space", I have to say "King Kung Fu" is one to see if you're in the right mood.

If you think the idea of a guy running around in a cheap gorilla costume beating people up sounds funny, then you're on the right track.

It certainly has its moments that made me laugh my ass off.

Why include a John Wayne impersonator, I have no idea, but it's hilarious! He's my favorite character and his impression is spot on, yet hysterically bad at the same time.

It's not a high class movie by any means. It's slapstick humor. I've seen it criticzed for its cheap gorilla suit and bad acting. It seems some reviews actually take it seriously and don't realize it's a comedy.

But the jokes range from clever like "I'm the karater and he's the karate" to just plain dumb "I gotta make like a banana and split." But when the jokes are bad, they're funny BECAUSE they're so bad. And that's what to expect from a movie like this.

If you like cheesy, out of control, "So bad it's good" movies, then give it a watch and you're sure to have a few good laughs.

Also See: John Landis' "SCHLOCK". Also, with a monkey running around.

As the producer of King Kung Fu, I marvel at the comments about this being "Worst Film Ever". For the correct information, please know that KKF actually played in 11 theaters around the country. Also while standing in the lobby of two theaters the audience laughed their tails off during the film. They then commented that it was "corny". It has been sold to Japan, Taiwan, and Poland. It was shot on 43 locations and has over 40 speaking parts. It was shot in SimianScope. King Kung Fu is the unforgettable story of a Chinese gorilla who knows Karate. After beating up his master (a Kung Fu Master)he is shipped to the U.S. as a gift by the embarrassed master. On the way to New York, he is put on display in Wichita, Kansas where two out of work reporters set him free with plans to "capture" him and get jobs. Police Captain J.W. Duke,(who resembles a certain Western Movie star)and his first officer Pilgrim, get involved in the city wide chase along with Rae Fey and a host of others. The gorilla and the girl end up on top of the tallest building in Wichita, a Holiday Inn. It is full of clichés, spoofs, and a cast of truly memorable characters for a lot of viewing fun. If you laugh at the opening titles when it says "Filmed in SimianScope" then you'll laugh all the way thru the movie. We started in 1974 and released the movie in 1987. (ran out of money several times)If you can accept the fact that it is a guy in a gorilla suit (who by the way does not talk) you can enjoy the film. (a stream of consciousness voice does not mean the gorilla talks). Hey, it's a G rated movie. It was one of two released in 1987. The other one was a Benjie Movie. Take a chance. Bob Walterscheid

This movie was made 33 years ago so it was not going to have great visuals like what we are used to today in more modern movies. The film has its funny moments but most of its just so slapstick that its not funny. Its hard to describe the humor of the film. Over acting is one of the funniest things to watch over and over again. B-movies sometimes are funny and this one is one of those types of films. There are lots of other factors that contribute to the film be watchable but it is something that you have to be in the mood to watch. I'm not sure if King Kong Fu was supposed to a comedy or a action flick. Its an odd combination of about three different movie genres.

My review was written in June 1990 after watching the movie on King Gemini video cassette.

This Wichitamade oddity is old-fashioned spoof recommended to fans of cornpone humor. G-rated opus was completed in 1987 and is awaiting distribution.

Filmmaker Lance Hayes shows a genuine affection for old movies, his main homage here being to the 1933 classic "King Kong". Strained storyline has China sending to America a gorilla trained in the martial arts as part of a cultural exchange program. He escapes from captivity, takes a liking to pretty blonde Maxine Gray (as "Rae Fey") and ascends the town's tallest building, a Holiday Inn.

This puerile entertainment is easy to watch though out of step with today's sensational approach. Targets of satire range from the David Carradine "Kung Fu" tv series (the ape is called Jungle Jumper instead of Weed Hopper), tv newscasts and John Wayne movies. Tom Leahy does an okay Duke impression, but looks more like Leo V. Gordon than the targeted superstar.

Bumbling comedy team of Tim McGill and Billy Schwartz gets some laughs, though their costuming and styling makes film look like an early '70s production, Gray manages to provide some alluring pulchritude without threatening pic's G tag.

Finale features extremely poor stop-motion animation to simulate the gorilla's fall from the roof onto a helicopter. John Balee wearing the apesuit is unimpressive.

I revisited my comments here for the first time in years, and was horrified to see that I'd misidentified it as the bad local film they used to show at the Drama Department picnic. Absolutely wrong--that was ANOTHER Wichita POS made for local TV called something like Creature From Beyond Time or similar. The Creature was Tom Leahy, the only remotely amusing actor in King Kung Fu.

I apologize to anyone who was harmed, offended, or left the profession because of my thoughtless remarks.

Otherwise, the rest stands. Bob Walterscheid said it best in his comments herein:

'If you laugh at the opening titles when it says "Filmed in SimianScope" then you'll laugh all the way thru the movie.'

Exactly. Couldn't have said it better.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Original comments:

In my decades-long hunt for the World's Worst Movie, I'm finding that there's distinct categories of Worst. There's sincere-but-lame Worst (Night of Horror), totally-inept Worst (Rat Pfink), crass-exploitation Worst (The Acid Eaters), and so on. There just isn't one standard of Worst that'll put Manos, Blood Feast, and Showgirls on the same rating scale.

King Kung Fu is the World's Worst Movie in the category, "Wichita, Kansas, In-Joke Films Made by Local Commercial Production Companies and Never Released Theatrically." All I can figure is that Bob Walterscheid, the person responsible, saw what fellow Kansas commercial producer Herk Harvey had accomplished with Carnival of Souls up in Lawrence a few years earlier, and decided to try and make his own feature-length film, and in color, yet.

To paraphrase Monster a Go Go, "It was mutilated in a horrible way no one had ever seen before."

The only public showing of this - "film" - I can document was as a running joke at the annual Drama Department picnic at Wichita State University, where you could hoot and point out everyone you recognized. Otherwise, even if you're as dedicated as I am in the hunt for the World's Worst, or, alternatively, even if you're a blood relative of one of the participants, trust me - you DON'T WANT TO KNOW. LET IT GO. PUT THE TAPE DOWN AND BACK SLOWLY AWAY. KING KUNG FU WILL SUCK THE AIR FROM YOUR LUNGS. IF THEY SHOWED THIS MOVIE ON THE BEACH AT PADRE ISLAND AT THE HEIGHT OF SPRING BREAK EVERYONE WATCHING WOULD IMMEDIATELY TURN INTO WARREN CHRISTOPHER.

I'm not kidding.