Here's a fine example of the film industry's head disappearing up its own ass. A*P*E is a bad imitation of Dino De Laurentiis' ill advised remake of King Kong. Like a bootleg video tape, more and more is lost with each successive version. The result is a magnificently bad movie.
En route to Disneyland, a thirty-six foot ape escapes from captivity. After destroying the ship that was carrying him, our hero does battle with the worst looking fake shark ever to grace the silver screen. The ape quickly makes fish chowder out of his rubber adversary then comes ashore in Korea. He stomps on some buildings and a few of the locals before raising the interest Colonel Davis (Nicol), commander of the American armed forces stationed nearby. Our furry (and let's be frank, mangy) friend stumbles across a movie set where he develops a serious jones for leading lady Marilyn Baker (De Varona, who later changed her name to Joanna Kerns and became one of the stars of Growing Pains). Marilyn's reporter boyfriend Tom Rose (Arrants) and Korean military officer Captain Kim (Lee) set out to put an end to the big guy's (dare I say it?) monkey business.
Anyone who groaned at the sight of the glassy eyed, snaggle toothed beastie who passed for the king in the Toho flicks King Kong Versus Godzilla or King Kong Escapes will surely swoon at the cheesiness of this particular ape suit. It looks to have been made from an old rug, one that hasn't seen a vacuum cleaner since the Johnson administration. The miniatures are utterly pathetic, the highlight of which is a particularly unrealistic cow that our hero carefully steps over on his way to squash some Korean extras.
A*P*E, at least, doesn't take itself too seriously. In one particular seen Marilyn looks up at her hulking, moth-eaten captor and says "Be gentle with me, big fella." And of course the highlight of the film is when the ape gives the finger to the attacking helicopters. Director Leder (who gave us I Dismember Mama and Body Count) makes no bones about the fact that he is ripping off the De Laurentiis Kong. He even goes so far as to cast himself as the director of the film within the film. His character, of course, is named Dino.
Goodtimes Home Video is obviously in need of a box cover proofreader. The year of release is listed as 1967 when it should be 1976. One of the actors names is misspelled, all of the Korean actors names have been anglicized (Lee Nak Hoon, for example, becomes Francis Lee), and for some reason Leder's cameo is credited to Joseph P. Hill (his real name appears in the onscreen credits). Given the nature of the film, though, these screwups seem almost appropriate.
Shown in 3-D during its theatrical run, and also known as Attack of the Horny Gorilla (!)