{"id":44353,"date":"2019-08-03T00:23:26","date_gmt":"2019-08-03T07:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=44353"},"modified":"2024-06-30T12:26:16","modified_gmt":"2024-06-30T19:26:16","slug":"mighty-joe-young-1949","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=44353","title":{"rendered":"Mighty Joe Young (1949)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Am I dreaming, or did I see a gorilla and a beautiful dame?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mighty-Joe-Young-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mighty-Joe-Young-Poster-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-44356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mighty-Joe-Young-Poster-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mighty-Joe-Young-Poster-86x128.jpg 86w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mighty-Joe-Young-Poster.jpg 670w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA nightclub owner (Robert Armstrong) convinces a young woman (Terry Moore) living in Africa to come to Hollywood with her giant ape, Joe, and perform in shows with a rodeo star (Ben Johnson) &#8212; but will Joe adjust to life on the stage rather than in the wild?\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ben Johnson Films<\/li>\n<li>Fantasy<\/li>\n<li>Friendship<\/li>\n<li>Primates<\/li>\n<li>Ray Harryhausen Films<\/li>\n<li>Terry Moore Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that while the &#8220;script wavers&#8221; for this &#8220;underrated fantasy gem about a friendly, incredibly strong 10-foot gorilla&#8221;, Joe remains &#8220;a fabulous, lovable (yet not completely domesticated) creature&#8221;, and &#8220;the special-effects and stop-motion work by <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=43687\"><em>King Kong<\/em><\/a>&#8216;s famous Willis O&#8217;Brien and Ray Harryhausen are marvelous.&#8221; He praises the fact that &#8220;Joe actually seems real, so subtle are his movements and expressions&#8221; &#8212; which is indeed true; it&#8217;s easy to forget exactly how much work went into creating this pre-CGI film. Moore is sweet yet strong as Joe&#8217;s &#8220;owner&#8221;, and her dedication to ensuring he doesn&#8217;t remain stuck in a life of humiliation is endearing. The final sequence at the burning orphanage is genuinely harrowing. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Willis O&#8217;Brien and Ray Harryhausen&#8217;s deservedly Oscar-winning special effects and animation<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mighty-Joe-Young-Still.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mighty-Joe-Young-Still.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"349\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-44355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mighty-Joe-Young-Still.jpg 600w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mighty-Joe-Young-Still-128x74.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mighty-Joe-Young-Still-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, for its historical relevance as Harryhausen&#8217;s breakthrough debut. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?page_id=1784#historical\">Historically Relevant<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0041650\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/fantasy\/mighty-joe-young-1949.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tcm.com\/this-month\/article\/28070%7C0\/Mighty-Joe-Young.html\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/fantasticmoviemusings.com\/2014\/12\/07\/mighty-joe-young-1949\/\">Fantastic Movie Musings Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1949\/07\/28\/archives\/mighty-joe-young-featuring-giant-gorilla-stars-terry-moore-and-ben.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Am I dreaming, or did I see a gorilla and a beautiful dame?&#8221; Synopsis: A nightclub owner (Robert Armstrong) convinces a young woman (Terry Moore) living in Africa to come to Hollywood with her giant ape, Joe, and perform in shows with a rodeo star (Ben Johnson) &#8212; but will Joe adjust to life on the stage rather than in the wild? Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Ben Johnson Films Fantasy Friendship Primates Ray Harryhausen Films Terry Moore Films Response&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=44353\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44353"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98177,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44353\/revisions\/98177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}