All 6 20th Century King Kong Movies, Ranked

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If you're asked to pick a defining movie monster of the 20th century, it’s going to be a toss-up between King Kong and Godzilla. Godzilla might be the King of the Monsters, and have more movies to his name, but King Kong does have "King" right there in his name, and his first movie predated Godzilla’s first by just over 20 years. Both are awesome, admittedly, and could stomp all over any and all regular-sized monsters out there who became popular in the 20th century thanks to the medium of film (sorry, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, and The Invisible Man… wherever you are).

Regarding King Kong and Godzilla, both have remained popular into the 21st century, and have had several crossovers to date, too. But the King Kong series, between 1933 and 1986, is particularly interesting because it’s a little more digestible, and because some of the movies within the broader series are so strange and different from the others. What follows is a ranking of every live-action King Kong movie released before the year 2000: six in total, ranging in quality from not very good to all-time classics.

6 'King Kong Lives' (1986)

Director: John Guillermin

Though the title was King Kong Lives, King Kong, as a series, kind of died after the release of this mostly forgotten 1986 film. It was almost 20 years before Peter Jackson remade the original film and gave Kong a live-action film he more or less deserved, with that film not connected to those in the MonsterVerse, which have seen his popularity grow once more, to perhaps even higher heights. That’s all rambling, but it speaks to the fact that King Kong post-1986 is more fun and/or interesting to talk about than King Kong Lives.

Thanks to a couple of goofily fun scenes, and the fact it’s not as technically incompetent as it could’ve been, King Kong Lives might not rank among the very worst giant monster movies of all time, but that’s pretty faint praise, all things considered. It brings Kong back after the 1976 film in a somewhat awkward way, and tries to go the Bride of Frankenstein route by giving him a female companion; a new love he’ll destroy for. It’s B-grade stuff at best, whereas the best King Kong movies feel B+ at worst, and this ensures it's only really recommendable to those who are fond of giant monster-related schlock.

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King Kong Lives

Release Date December 19, 1986

Director John Guillermin

Cast Brian Kerwin , Linda Hamilton , John Ashton , Peter Michael Goetz

Runtime 105 Minutes

5 'The Son of Kong' (1933)

Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack

While King Kong Lives was a sequel to a 1976 remake of King Kong, Son of Kong was a sequel to the original 1933 film, and a memorably nightmarish one, perhaps accidentally. It’s notable because of how quickly it was produced, ultimately coming out in the same year that the first King Kong came out, feeling rushed on account of it being not as entertaining, not nearly as long/epic, and not as technically well-made as the original.

It sees a return to the island that was visited in the first movie and, unsurprisingly, an encounter with the titular son of Kong, who becomes known as “Little Kong.” It’s a pretty generic 1930s genre flick, standing as something of a low point for the King Kong series as a whole. At least it’s only about 70 minutes long, and has a few scenes that could charitably be called mindlessly fun. That does mean it’s far from essential, but as far as time-wasters go, you could do worse, especially for a movie that’s over 90 years old.

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The Son of Kong

Release Date December 22, 1933

Director Ernest B. Schoedsack

Cast Helen Mack , Robert Armstrong , Frank Reicher , John Marston , Victor Wong , Ed Brady , Steve Clemente , Noble Johnson , Lee Kohlmar , Gertrude Short , Kathrin Clare Ward , Clarence Wilson , Fay Wray , Cy Clegg , Harry Cornbleth , Nathan Curry , Oscar 'Dutch' Hendrian , Tex Higginson , Ken Kuntz , Ed Lanegan , Jimmy Leon , James B. Leong , Sam Levine , Frank Mills , Frank O'Connor

Runtime 70 minutes

4 'King Kong Escapes' (1967)

Director: Ishirō Honda

Like King Kong Lives and debatably Son of Kong, King Kong Escapes can be classified as a B-movie, but it’s thankfully pretty fun, so long as you're cool with things being B-grade quality-wise. It was a Japanese/American co-production, and that gives it the flavor of a kaiju movie more so than most King Kong movies. The plot here is wonderfully simplistic, too, having Kong face off against a mechanized foe that's known as – no surprises here – Mechani-Kong.

If you want even more silliness, there’s also a human character called Dr. Who, so that’s something. King Kong Escapes is pretty stupid, because of course it is, but it scratches a certain so-bad-it’s-good itch, and that makes it oddly recommendable. It’s not consistently great, as there are some slower parts, and the runtime of 104 minutes ends up feeling much longer than you'd think, but the high points make it worthwhile for fans of kaiju cinema, flaws be damned.

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King Kong Escapes

Director Ishirô Honda

Cast Takeshi Kimura , Arthur Rankin Jr.

Runtime 96 Minutes

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3 'King Kong' (1976)

Director: John Guillermin

In 1976, the original King Kong was updated to the standards of a 1970s blockbuster. The resulting film was not as good as the original, but it was better than some people give it credit for. It attempts to go bigger and better than the 1933 film, and though it doesn’t succeed at the latter, it arguably succeeds at the former. There’s more action, a lot more color (bye-bye, black and white), and more minutes runtime-wise, making King Kong (1976) more of an epic.

This does, in turn, make it a little less punchy, and the bloat found in the film is probably the thing that weighs it down the most. Well, it’s that or the lack of freshness, given it’s pretty much a redo of a movie most will be familiar with, but that’s to be expected, to some extent, when the titles are identical. It’s not a great remake, but it’s far from a bad one, and it generally justifies its existence when judged as a cinematic update/do-over.

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King Kong

Release Date September 8, 1976

Director John Guillermin

Cast Jeff Bridges , Jessica Lange , Charles Grodin , John Randolph , Rene Auberjonois , Julius Harris , Jack O'Halloran , Ed Lauter , John Agar , Jorge Moreno , Mario Gallo , John Lone , Garry Walberg , Keny Long , Sid Conrad , George S. Whiteman , Wayne Heffley , Todd Baker , Corbin Bernsen , Ray Buktenica , Larry M. Byrd , Peter Cullen , S.C. Dacy , James Dunaway , Ned Gill

Runtime 134 minutes

2 'King Kong vs. Godzilla' (1962)

Director: Ishirō Honda

Yep, Godzilla fights King Kong in 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla. What more could you want? It doesn’t mess around concerning the parts that deliver on that promised smackdown, and when there are scenes that put the focus more on human characters rather than giant monsters, King Kong vs. Godzilla also has some goofy fun. There isn't really much drama here, as it’s more of a somewhat comedic adventure movie with a lot of bumbling around between the action set pieces.

That might technically make it one of the weaker Godzilla and/or King Kong movies, if you want to judge it in a more objective or academic way, but King Kong vs. Godzilla doesn’t seem too worried about being that kind of movie. It wants to have fun, it wants to get weird, and it wants its two titular monsters to fight. If you're okay with a film doing those things and not much more, you’ll probably have a blast with this one.

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Release Date August 11, 1962

Director Ishirô Honda , Norman Tokar

Cast Tadao Takashima , Kenji Sahara , Yû Fujiki , Ichirô Arishima , Mie Hama

Runtime 97 Minutes

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1 'King Kong' (1933)

Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack

Kong has never been cooler or more iconic than he was in the film he debuted in: 1933’s King Kong. This is, by a comfortable margin, the best King Kong movie of the 20th century, and it probably trumps any Kong-related movie released in the 21st century, too. It’s the giant monster movie that might well have had the biggest influence on the genre going forward. Sure, 1925’s The Lost World pre-dated it, but King Kong debatably perfected what a giant monster movie could be.

The story is one that, if not as old as time, is pretty close to it, with people going to an island, capturing a giant ape, taking it back to a populated area, and then dealing with the consequences when it breaks free. It’s pure and satisfying in ways that make it a classic to this day, and though it’s clearly an older film, King Kong is still creative and impressive on a technical front. It might not be entirely timeless, but it’s close to it, and stands as one of those original entries in a long-running series that can’t really be beaten, no matter how large or ambitious its sequels/follow-ups/remakes might get.