Xing Xing Wang aka The Mighty Peking Man (Meng Hua Ho, 1977)
"We go away, we go jungle"
Originally released in the US as, erm 'Goliathon', The Mighty Peking Man is the Shaw Brothers' answer to King Kong & Godzilla in one move(ie). You know the story: Giant monster found on strange island, taken back to the big city (In this case, Hong Kong) where he tears shit up. Yes. That's the one.
The added bonus here, though, is a lovely blue-eyed scantilly-clad blonde jungle beauty who can't speak! Phwoar! It seems she (known as 'Samantha' in the dubbed version) survived a plane crash, and the giant ape helped raise her, 'cos he fancied her. So when Johnny Fang arrives on the island to search for the giant monster, he also falls for the luscious blonde. Cue a remarkable love montage that includes Johnny & Samantha frolicking through the jungle, wrestling with tigers, leopard-hugging, prancing, leaping & laughing- sometimes in slow-motion- just to emphasise their love for each other.
So, when the monster - who growls just like Godzilla- is captured and taken to Hong Kong, Samantha also tags along. But an attempted rape (of Samantha, not the giant ape), sparks fury from the monster, so he escapes, grabs the dame, and heads for the nearest skyscraper.
It's all textbook silliness, but Peking Man was made in 1977, so we have a fine array of fashion and some truly funky music by Yung-Yu Chen to entertain us. It's a bad movie, but so darn funny at times (helped also by the bad dubbing), and then of course there's Samantha, who swings around the film practically naked. She was played by Evelyne Kraft (below), who I believe was Swiss, and made a few German films before making this one, which was her most famous role.
Xing Xing Wang is an entertaining trash classic!
