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Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin), an executive for the Petrox Oil Corporation, sails from Surubaya, Indonesia with an oil exploration crew, stowaway Princeton primate paleontologist Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges), and rescued castaway "Dwan" (Jessica Lange) (named changed frrom "Dawn" because she thought it sounded more memorable) to an isolated, perpetually fog-encircled island somewhere in the Indian Ocean where they encounter a tribe of natives who think the beautiful blonde Dwan would be the perfect "bride" for their god—a giant gorilla named Kong. Kong is mesmerized by Dwan, but Wilson soon gets the idea of capturing Kong and bringing him to New York to be displayed as "Kong, Petrox's new mascot."

The screenplay for King Kong, written by American screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr, was based on the screenplay for the 1933 version of King Kong (1933), which was based on an idea conceived by American aviator and screenwriter Merian C. Cooper [1893-1973] after a dream in which a giant gorilla was terrorizing New York City. Semple's script was novelized as The Dino De Laurentiis Production of King Kong (1977). A sequel film, King Kong Lives (1986), followed in 1986. A second remake, King Kong (2005), was released in 2005.

The film suggests two contradictory locations - either in the Indian Ocean, where the island was located in the original 1933 version, or in the Pacific Ocean in French Polynesia. The case for the Indian Ocean locale is as follows: 1) the map that Fred Wilson shows his crew in the briefing room aboard the ship shows a "magic circle" south of Java, 2) the Petrox Explorer leaves from Surabaya rather than a location closer to French Polynesia, and 3) Fred Wilson radios in an air drop of chloroform from Surabaya - indicating relatively close proximity to that Indonesian port. The case for the Pacific Ocean locale is: 1) Jack Prescott mentions the diary of Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernando de Queiros who, in 1605, found the island just south of Tematangi - which is in French Polynesia, 2) Roy Bagley (Rene Auberjonois) refers to the island as a "typical Pacific formation", 3) Dwan specifically says they are in the Pacific Ocean, and 4) screenwriter Lorenzo Semple wrote in the foreword to the script which was released as a novelization that Dwan was found "drifting in the South Pacific Ocean". There are many possible ways to rectify the contradiction, but an answer is left up to the viewer as the film itself does not specifically address the issue. It's even very possible that the contradiction was intentional by the filmmakers.

Because they were Africans in the original 1933 version. The film does not address how African people might be living on an island either in the Indian or the Pacific Oceans, so the viewer is free to invent his/her own interpretation. A few possible answers include (1) an Arab slave trader in medieval times was blown far off-course in the Indian Ocean, (2) an abolitionist group in the 16th or 17th century secretly freed slaves from South America and repopulated them in what is now known as French Polynesia, or (3) a long-forgotten sea-faring civilization from Africa sent an expedition to the Far East and it shipwrecked on Kong's island.

The film does not explicitly answer this question. The scene where the Chief offers six of his women for Dwan is taken directly from the original 1933 version. In that earlier film, the Chief notes that Ann Darrow is a "golden woman" and then asks to have her for Kong. Ann Darrow had blonde hair, as did Dwan. Her pale skin color or her unusual beauty might also have been important to the Chief. In any case, he felt she was worth six native women and was even worth the risk of kidnapping her from the white man's ship, guaranteeing retaliation from a technologically superior foe. There is, however, a scene when the landing party first encounter the natives. The woman that the tribe originally were about to send through the wall for the sacrifice is donning a "golden colored" headdress, which could mean that sacrifice is supposed to be golden haired for some reason, so when they see Dwan, with her natural golden hair, they think her a much better suitor for Kong.

Right before they take her outside, you can see one of the women dressing her give her a small amount of liquid in a scallop shell to drink. It's very likely that it's some sort of drug found on the island that acts as a narcotic like morphine. It's probably meant to pacify Dwan so she won't resist while they prepare her for the ceremony. If she appeared to be drugged while they were dressing her (before the dose was given to her onscreen), it's reasonable to assume that they'd given her at least one other dose before that moment.

The film doesn't answer that question (neither does the 1933 original), but most likely the door was designed as a sacred gateway into an "other world" rather than as a simple, utilitarian opening in the wall. Medieval cathedrals in Europe have similar "large" doors, pillars, artwork and high vaulted ceilings, which serve as a psychological device for the worshipers, as if to connect them to something much larger and greater than themselves.

The whole "Why did they build a wall and door so big if Kong could destroy it? question is silly, and doesn't take into account that the natives DID NOT KNOW that Kong could or could destroy this wall. It was until Kong's "girl" got taken from him that he got that added strength to knock down the wall, hence it was "beauty that killed the beast" in the long run, the big picture.

Kong is not a gorilla. As in the original 1933 version, the 1976 Kong is an apeish monster - "neither beast nor man" - rather than the silverback gorilla as seen in Peter Jackson's 2005 film. He walks upright like a man because he is related to hominids, similar to the Bigfoot or Yeti. Producer Dino De Laurentiis believed it was important that Kong appear man-like so that the audience would empathize with him rather than merely feel pity for a four-legged beast.

You MUST REALIZE, this is NOT a movie about a normal Ape. It's a MONSTER MOVIE. A Monster Movie that separates fact from fiction. Having him stand upright was like having the Wolfman stand upright. It makes for something different, something monstrous but that is connected to humans. Or you can even say that Kong is more evolved. Either way, having Kong walk upright adds to his monstrosity which has to do with his height. If he didn't stand upright, he wouldn't be as large, and Kong needs to be large, tall, etc.

One answer is that he was too heavy to do so by use of his arms alone because the wall offered no footholds. Without the use of his legs, Kong was not able to lift his enormous weight up and over a wall that was much taller than he was.

Helicopters, most likely. Near the end of the film Jack Prescott makes a deal with the Mayor to send in helicopters with nets to capture Kong atop the World Trade Center. This suggests he was familiar with this mode of transport as a means of safely moving Kong. As heavy helicopters are capable of lifting 20 tons, two or three working together would have been sufficient to carry Kong's sedated bulk from the island to the supertanker.

Kong carries Dwan to the top of one of the World Trade Center buildings, and Jack follows in an elevator while the National Guard amasses on the ground below. When the soldiers begin throwing flames at Kong, he leaps to the other tower. Helicopters move in with their artillery. Kong sets Dwan down on a ledge in order to bat at them, but she begs him to hold on to her, knowing that the artillery won't strike if he still has her in his hand but, of course, he doesn't understand. The helicopters fire on him repeatedly until he collapses. Dwan rushes over to Kong, but he rolls off the roof and falls to the ground below. Dwan rushes down to the ground and tearfully stands next to Kong as his heartbeat slows, and he dies. The crowd of onlookers and media rush in to photograph her and the beast. As she is mobbed, Dwan calls out for Jack who attempts to make his way through the crowd but stops just short of reaching her.

Jack ultimately gives Dwan what she has always wanted: fame. It's far beyond anything he could ever offer her as an associate professor.

The 3-hour TV version included approximately 45 minutes of new scenes that were not in the theatrical release. The extra scenes are as follows:

(1) Jack Prescott is shown in a bar, secretly watching one of the Petrox's crew who is wearing a company jersey. Jack has paid off the bartender to slip a knockout drug into the crewman's drink. While this scene makes it clear how Jack got ahold of a Petrox jersey, presumably it was decided that the audience really didn't care and so it was edited out of the theatrical release.

(2) Some of the Petrox crew are playing cards on deck when Captain Ross, over the ship's speaker, orders them to assemble for a meeting. They are mystified because the ship is changing course. This scene actually remains in the published screenplay, so it must have been dropped fairly late. Also, you'll notice that the voice over the loud speaker isn't really John Randolph ("Captain Ross"). They must have edited the scene out before getting Randolph to loop his dialogue and, when they put it back for the TV long version, they just kept the voice which the actors had used for cueing.

(3) Earlier, Wilson told his men to "Take him below and lock him up until he's hungry enough to stop spouting ape $hit." Later, the camera pushes in through a porthole to show Jack locked up and getting more and more pissed off. He rises and bangs on the door, demanding some food, then takes off his jersey and lies down on the bunkbed. The scene was probably dropped just because it didn't really serve any purpose (except maybe to give the female viewers a thrill. You may recall, in later life, Bridges was famous for his washboard abs.)

(4) Having rescued Dwan from the life-raft, you will recall we are treated to a montage of idyllic scenes aboard the Petrox Explorer. This scene was cut out in which Jack comes upon a crewman, Garcia, peering upside down through the porthole into Dwan's cabin to watch her shower in the nude. A second crewman holds Garcia's legs. Jack, the gentleman, sneaks up on them, hands a life-preserver down to Garcia, then tickles the other crewman until he drops Garcia into the water. It's a cute scene and it's a shame they dropped it. They may have felt it just wasn't believable because, in reality, it would be very dangerous. For a moment, it looks as if Garcia is going to be sucked into the ship's prop!

5) After Kong escapes from his escape-proof cage, there is pandemonium. Wilson tries to flee but comes face to face with an irate Petrox exec brandishing a cane, who tells him, "Petrox will find you! You can hide on the moon! We'll find you!" Obviously, once it was decided to have Kong kill Wilson, this scene became pointless. Even so, it is awkward. If you were trapped in a panicking mob with a forty foot gorilla stomping around, would you stop to chew out your employee?

(6) In the theatrical release, Wilson was stomped by Kong. In the published screenplay, we think Wilson was stomped, then realize only his hat was crushed. In this long version, the foot comes down on Wilson, then lifts to reveal—the crushed hat. It is a very confusing shot. Was Wilson still alive, but just off camera, as in the screenplay? Or are we to infer that Wilson literally stuck to the bottom of Kong's foot! Either way, they left the crushed hat on the editing room floor.

(7) As Kong stomps down a New York street, he encounters a car which he picks up and throws into the side of a building. They may have dropped this scene because the car looks like a toy car when Kong picks it up. Also, they may have felt it was unnecessarily malicious on Kong's part. It's a shame because it's a pretty cool scene. Strangely, publicity shots from this scene cropped up in magazine articles advertizing the movie, from which it must have been dropped very late.

(8) A military top brass is shown canceling the jet fighters and sending in helicopters instead. This is followed by shots of the jet fighters "standing down". It is an oddly pointless scene. Originally the filmmakers were going to use jet fighters to strafe Kong on the WTC. Unable to get American fighters, they had planned to use Canadian aircraft. This deal fell through and they went with helicopters. But that explains why early versions of the movie poster show only jets, the helicopters being added in later. Also that explains why the jet in the posters is red and white—the colors of Canada.

(9) As Jack and Dwan run down a NY street, Jack tries to hotwire a car without success. The scene was probably dropped just because it wasn't needed.

(10) Kong is shown striding down a New York street with Dwan in hand. This was one of the most difficult effects shots, requiring the compositing of three moving elements: a moving background, a walking Rick Baker in ape suit, and a struggling Jessica Lange in the ape's paw. In American Cinematographer, the filmmakers explained how difficult it was to do, and how pleased they were with the result. Alas, it simply wasn't good enough. It simply doesn't look like Kong is really walking. As a result, difficult or not, it ended up on the editing room floor.