In my misspent youth, when I wasn’t outside playing with the dinosaurs, I would watch these newfangled things called movies. One of my absolute favorites was the 1949 fantasy-adventure, Mighty Joe Young, a story about a ginormous gorilla taken from its habitat to be displayed in America for the edification of the masses. Wait, does that sound familiar? Well, it should.
Mighty Joe Young was produced by the same creative group responsible for the 1933 classic, King Kong. The special effects team included a young animator named Ray Harryhausen, ultimately regarded as one of the best in the business. It surprised no one when the film won an Academy Award for its special effects.
STRIKING! STARTLING! STAGGERING!
Yes, that was its tagline. Remember, it was 1949. I’ll give you a brief overview shortly, but let me first talk about the excellent cast. The film starred Terry Moore as Jill Young (she was my second celebrity crush as a kid, after Doris Day), popular actor Ben Johnson as animal wrangler Gregg Johnson, and Robert Armstrong as talent promoter Max O’Hara, who is responsible for Mr. Joseph Young (as they called him) coming to America. Yes, the same actor who, as Carl Denham, brought King Kong to America.
As a child, Jill lives with her father on their farm in Africa, She barters with some natives for an orphaned baby gorilla that she names Joe, and raises him as part of the family.
Joe is wary of visitors to his home in Africa.
Fast forward a dozen years. Max comes to Africa with cowboy Gregg to capture lions and other animals for a themed nightclub he plans to open in Los Angeles. They encounter Joe, now 12 feet tall and weighing over two tons. Gregg, along with other wranglers, try to rope him, and that pisses Joe off. But before he can hurt them, Jill appears and calms Joe down. She is now a beautiful young woman, and both Max and Gregg are smitten—for different reasons.
MR. JOSEPH YOUNG
With the promise of fame and fortune (Jill’s father had died, and the farm is in financial trouble), Max convinces Jill to bring Joe to America. Max opens the nightclub, and “Mr. Joseph Young,” along with Jill, become big hits.
Joe and Jill perform demeaning stunts.
But Jill and Gregg are sad that Joe has to perform demeaning stunts. Joe is consigned to a cage most of the time, and both he and Jill are homesick for Africa. Max keeps talking them into staying “just a little longer.”
After four months, Gregg and Jill—now in love—decide they’ve had it and are going to take Joe back to Africa. They’ll tell Max after that evening’s performance. But things go south when some asshole patrons sneak backstage to Joe’s cage and get him drunk. Joe escapes and causes a great deal of damage before Jill and Gregg can get him under control. In the aftermath, a judge orders that Joe be shot to death.
Joe trashes the nightclub.
I’ll leave it at that. Plenty more to come, including an amazing scene with a deadly fire at an orphanage, which contributed heavily to the film winning its special effects Oscar. Until recently I hadn’t seen Mighty Joe Young for quite some time. Watching it brought back some great memories.