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Godzilla vs. Hedorah
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Godzilla vs. Hedorah
| image = Godzilla vs Hedorah 1971.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Yoshimitsu Banno
| producer = Tomoyuki Tanaka
| writer = Yoshimitsu Banno
Takeshi Kimura
| starring = Akira Yamauchi
Toshie Kimura
Hiroyuki Kawase
Keiko Mari
Toshio Shiba
| music = Riichiro Manabe
| cinematography = Yoichi Manoda
| editing = Yoshitami Kuroiwa
| studio = Toho Co., Ltd
| distributor = Toho
| country = Japan
| released =
| runtime = 85 minutes
| language = Japanese
| budget =
| gross = 300 million
}}
is a 1971 Japanese 'kaiju' film directed by Yoshimitsu Banno, co-written by Banno and Takeshi Kimura, and produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. It is the 11th film in the 'Godzilla' franchise, and features the fictional monster characters Godzilla and Hedorah. The film stars Akira Yamauchi, Toshie Kimura, and Hiroyuki Kawase, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano, and features Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla and Kenpachiro Satsuma as Hedorah. Satsuma would go on to portray Godzilla in later 'Godzilla' films.
'Godzilla vs. Hedorah' features an environmentalist message, with the malevolent Hedorah being spawned from pollution. The film was released theatrically in Japan on July 24, 1971. It received a theatrical release in the United States under the title 'Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster' in July 1972 by American International Pictures, as a double feature with the American film 'The Dethmaster'.
Plot
The microscopic alien life-form Hedorah feeds on Earth's pollution and grows into a poisonous, acid-secreting sea monster. After he sinks an oil tanker and attacks Dr. Toru Yano and his young son Ken Yano, scarring the doctor, Hedorah's toxic existence is revealed to the public. Ken Yano has visions of Godzilla fighting the world's pollution and insists Godzilla will come to humankind's aid against Hedorah.
Hedorah metamorphoses into an amphibious form, allowing it to move onto land to feed on additional sources of pollution. Hedorah, having emerged at a power station to consume pollutant gases from the smokestacks, is confronted by Godzilla. Hedorah is easily overpowered by Godzilla and retreats into the sea. During the fight, however, several pieces of its new body are flung nearby, which then crawl back into the sea to grow anew and allow the monster to become even more powerful. It returns shortly thereafter in a flying saucer-like shape, then assuming its strongest form of all, its "Perfect Form", which demonstrates some of the strongest powers it has access to yet.
Thousands of people die in Hedorah's raids and even Godzilla is unable to defend against Hedorah's poisonous emissions. As hope sinks, a party is thrown on Mt. Fuji to celebrate one last day of life before Japan - and then, the rest of the world - succumbs to Hedorah. Ken Yano, Yukio Keuchi, Miki Fujinomiya, and the other partygoers realize that Godzilla and Hedorah have come to Mt. Fuji as well for a decisive confrontation. During the battle, Godzilla fights valiantly against Hedorah, but is overpowered by the amorphous alien, losing an eye and having its hand burnt to the bone by Hedorah's acidic body tissues, which corrodes anything it comes into contact with. Finally, Godzilla is almost killed by Hedorah after Hedorah hurls Godzilla into a giant pit, then proceeds to attempt to drown Godzilla in a deluge of chemical sludge.
Dr. Toru Yano and his wife Toshie Yano has determined that drying out Hedorah's body may destroy the otherwise unkillable monster. While Godzilla and Hedorah fought, the JSDF swiftly constructed two gigantic electrodes for this purpose, and attempted to fire them, giving Godzilla the chance to return to the fight.
All of a sudden the electrodes short out, the power cut off by Godzilla and Hedorah's violent battle. Godzilla reactivates and energises the electrodes with its atomic heat ray, dehydrating Hedorah's outer body. Hedorah sheds this outer body and takes flight to escape, but Godzilla propels itself through the air with its atomic heat ray to give chase. Godzilla drags Hedorah back to the electrodes and continues to dehydrate it until Hedorah is on the brink of defeat. Godzilla tears open Hedorah's dried-out body and exposes it to the electrodes again, dehydrating the pieces until nothing remains but dust.
Godzilla returns to the sea, but not before pausing to gaze sternly at the surviving humans. Ken Yano bids goodbye to Godzilla.
Cast
Production
Director Banno initially conceived the idea for 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah' after seeing cities like Yokkaichi covered in black smog and the ocean filled with foam from dumped detergent and formulated the story of an alien tadpole transforming into a monster as a result of the pollution.
The film marked director Banno's directorial debut; however, the budget for 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah' was significantly lower than previous 'Godzilla' films. Banno was only given 35 days to shoot the film and only had one team available to shoot both the drama and monster effects scenes. Veteran Godzilla director Ishir Honda was later tasked by producer Tomoyuki Tanaka to watch Banno's rough cut and provide advice.
Kenpachiro Satsuma, the actor who played Hedorah, was struck with appendicitis during the production. Doctors were forced to perform the appendectomy while he was still wearing the Hedorah suit, due to the length of time it took to take off. During the operation, Satsuma learned that painkillers had no effect on him.Guy Marriner Tucker, 'Age of the Gods'.
Director Yoshimitsu Banno was going to make a sequel to this film, but it was scrapped due to the fact that Tomoyuki Tanaka reportedly hated 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah', so he fired Yoshimitsu Banno. The next film was going to be called 'Godzilla vs. Redmoon', but this was scrapped and later became 'Daigoro vs. Goliath', then they planned a new film called 'Godzilla vs. The Space Monsters: Earth Defensive Directive', but this was also scrapped and then became 'The Return of King Ghidorah', which was also scrapped, after which they ultimately made 'Godzilla vs. Gigan'.
The film also includes animated sequences, which were intended to convey the environmental message.
Release
English versions
The film was released in February 1972 by American International Pictures under the title 'Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster'. There were several small alterations: dialogue was dubbed into English by Titan Productions, several shots with Japanese text were replaced with English or textless equivalents, additional sound effects and foley were added to some scenes, and the song "Save the Earth" (based on "Give Back the Sun!", a song in the original Japanese version of the film) was added. This version was rated 'G' by the MPAA, and the same version was given an 'A' certificate by the BBFC for its UK theatrical release in 1975.The AIP version has been replaced in the North American home video and television markets (including Sony's DVD and Kraken Releasing's DVD and Blu-ray) by Toho's international version, titled 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah'. This version features the original English dub produced in Hong Kong and by extension lacks the English-language song "Save the Earth". This version was first broadcast in the United States by the Sci-Fi Channel on January 20, 1996.
Critical reception
Critical reaction to the film has been mixed, with some embracing its eccentricity and others deriding it. According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 62% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 5.30/10.Japan Hero said the film is "recommended for Godzilla fans, but don't expect much out of it," adding that while "the special effects appear to be pretty good" and "watching it in its original [Japanese] language does make the movie more tolerable," "the character designs ... are bad" and "the music ... really kills the movie." Monster Zero criticized the film's production values and said that it "succeeds in carrying the series over the edge into strictly kid's stuff" and "begins the series' inexorable slide into oblivion." Stomp Tokyo said the film has "many obvious, crippling flaws" but added that "there are some good things," praising the monster action in particular. In a review of 'Godzilla 1985', Roger Ebert cited it as his favorite of the Godzilla movies.
American Kaiju called the film "a confused Godzilla non-epic that doesn't seem to be sure just who it was made for in the first place." DVD Talk said it "earns points for trying something new, to break away from what was fast becoming a tired formula. The film isn't as entertaining as 'Godzilla vs. Gigan' or 'Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla', but it is more original and daring, and ... fans will want to pick [it] up." The U.S. dubbed version was featured in the 1978 book 'The Fifty Worst Films of All Time'.
In their scholarly book 'Japan's Green Monsters' on kaiju cinema, Rhoads and McCorkle offer an ecocritical assessment of Banno's film. Unlike other reviews and studies that criticize some of movie's special effects and production values, the scholars argue that viewing 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah' through the three lenses of Japanese environmental history, the monster genre, and the historical trends that crippled the Japanese film industry provide a new understanding of the film and Banno's intentions. Rhoads and McCorkle specifically counter prior poor reviews of the film like those proffered by Harry Medved and Stuart Galbraith, and argue that 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah' possesses far deeper environmental appeals than the obvious ones present on the film's surface.
Home media
The film was released on VHS by Orion Pictures in 1989 and on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on October 19, 2004. The film received another DVD release and a Blu-ray release by Kraken Releasing on May 6, 2014. A video transfer of 'Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster' was released in Canada on DVD packaged with 'Godzilla vs. Megalon' by Digital Disc.product no. DDC55332 In 2019, the Japanese version was included in a Blu-ray box set released by the Criterion Collection, which included all 15 films from the franchise's Shwa era.In 2021, Toho premiered a 4K remaster of the film on the Nippon Classic Movie Channel, along with seven other Godzilla films also remastered in 4K. The film was downscaled to 2K for broadcast.
Legacy
After director Yoshimitsu Banno finished directing 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah', he began work on creating another installment in the 'Godzilla' series. Like his first 'Godzilla' movie, Banno had wanted the next film to have a strong message against pollution. The initial idea was that a mutant starfish-like monster named Deathla battles Godzilla. However, he scrapped this idea and wrote what was going to be 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah 2'. In it, Godzilla was to fight another Hedorah, this time in Africa. Due to Tomoyuki Tanaka's reaction to Banno's first 'Godzilla' film, this was never realized.
Banno spent several years trying to acquire funding for a 40-minute IMAX 3D 'Godzilla' film starring a new version of Hedorah called Deathla. The project was tentatively titled 'Godzilla 3D: To The Max'. The project was eventually scrapped but several members of the production team, including Banno, would work on the 2014 'Godzilla.' In November 2013, Banno stated that he still hoped to make a sequel to 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah,' but died in 2017. He also served as an executive producer of 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' (2019) and 'Godzilla vs. Kong' (2021), both of which were released after his death.
Cancelled sequel
Yoshimitsu Banno was so pleased with 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah' that he started writing another 'Godzilla' film. Banno began preparing a script for 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah 2'. However, Tomoyuki Tanaka, who was hospitalized during the production of 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah', was extremely dissatisfied with the final product and went as far as to tell Banno that he had "ruined Godzilla." Tanaka prevented Banno from directing another Toho film afterwards and demoted him from director to producer on several upcoming films.
According to Banno though, from later interviews conducted with him, 'Godzilla vs. Hedorah 2' was actually still being worked on after he was removed from the project. Whether the film was going to keep its Africa setting at this stage is not known. The project was eventually scrapped and three more proposed projects would be introduced that following year before finally settling on 'Godzilla vs. Gigan' (1972). In a 2014 interview, Banno stated that he read a Godzilla film history book from the US and that he was surprised to read that the next film would take place in Africa and that Tanaka had said that he had banned him from his director position.
A single remnant of Banno's intentions to produce a sequel exists in the finished film. At the end of the film, an illustration of Hedorah's tadpole form can be seen, followed by a black screen with red text stating "And another one?", implying that Banno was in the process of preparing, or had already prepared a sequel premise for approval.
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