Image: TMDB
About This Quiz
This campy remake, helmed by Dino De Laurentiis and surprisingly loaded with star power, transplanted the "Kong" story to the 1970s oil crisis! Test your recall of this monster movie with our quiz!
1976's "King Kong" was a remake. When did the original movie come out?
1933
The third "King Kong" was released in 2005. It was a labor of love by Peter Jackson, who'd loved the original growing up.
1941
1944
1950
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What is the name of the oil company making a South Pacific expedition?
Exxoil
Union
Petrox
Though the name "Petrox" was plausible as an oil company, it was also an in-joke. "Pet rocks" were all the rage in the 1970s -- they were rocks that people bought as "pets," because of their totally low maintenance.
Shields
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In what country does the action begin?
Australia
Indonesia
A title in the opening scene announces the setting as Surabaya, Indonesia. The Petrox Explorer is about to set sail on an expedition to find more oil on an uninhabited (they think) island.
Japan
Singapore
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Who played Fred Wilson, the executive in charge?
Gavin MacLeod
Charles Grodin
Grodin eats a good bit of tropical scenery in this role. He's the classic Clueless Executive, willing to do anything for a buck.
Sterling Hayden
Patrick Duffy
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Which actor made his/her film debut in "King Kong"?
Jeff Bridges
Charles Grodin
Jessica Lange
Lange was modeling when Dino De Laurentiis discovered her -- not always the mark of a true thespian. But Lange went on to win Oscars, Emmys and a Tony Award. Impressive!
Jack O'Halloran
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What is the name of Lange's character?
Anna
Chelsea
Dawn
Dwan
Dawn, an aspiring actress, has rearranged the letters of her name to make it more memorable. (Is anybody else thinking about Sarah Jessica Parker's character, SanDeE*, in "L.A. Story"?)
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What is Jack Prescott's line of work?
oil roughneck
medic
primate paleontologist
Jack, played by Jeff Bridges, is the complete package: a brainy, ethical scientist who turns into an action hero as needed. And he has the greatest hair in 1970s film.
ship's navigator
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Why does an oil expedition have a primate paleontologist on board?
so Princeton would underwrite part of the trip
it's a cover, so environmentalists won't object
paleontology is a secret passion of the head of Petrox
Prescott stowed away
Prescott bribes the guard at the shipyard, then climbs aboard via a mooring rope, hand-over-hand. We told you he was an action hero!
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What toast does Fred make as the expedition gets underway?
"Energy for the whole world!"
"Here's to smooth sailing!"
"Here's to the big one!"
Subtle! It's hard to see with all the foreshadowing in here.
"To absent friends!"
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How does Jack reveal his presence on the Explorer?
he gets in line for food
he gets spectacularly seasick
his hair is longer than regulation
he questions Fred's assumptions in an informational lecture
Fred is explaining to the crew how the island was discovered and why he believes it's oil-rich. Jack speaks up from the back of the room, debunking his claims.
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What hides the island from human view?
its small size
a permanent fog bank
The island is shrouded permanently by a cloudbank -- hey, what could go wrong under those conditions? (Bonus points if you knew it's "Brigadoon" that only appears every 100 years.)
dense light-deflecting foliage
it only appears every 100 years
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Fred thinks abnormally high carbon dioxide indicates the presence of oil. What does Jack say it could be?
animal respiration
Jack believes it's animals breathing that might be causing the high levels of CO2. But wouldn't that require a whole pack of super-sized Kongs?
global warming
textile factories
rotting vegetation
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How does Dwan get on the ship?
she stowed away, like Jack
she does a nightclub act, to entertain the crew
she's Fred's girlfriend, so allowed passage
she appears in a life raft
Jack spots the life raft, and a rescue operation quickly gets underway. Dwan is inside -- unconscious, but not at all sunburned and with her makeup completely unsmudged.
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Why did the yacht Dwan was on blow up?
it was carrying unsafely-stored fireworks
someone was smoking near oxygen tanks
a harpoon hit the fuel tanks
we have no idea
The Petrox Explorer gets a distress call early on, which is presumably the yacht. But that's all the set-up we get for Dwan's appearance. Screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr. called Dwan's appearance in the raft "a fantasy."
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What do they find on the island that suggests human inhabitants?
a flag on a pole
footprints
the remains of cooking fires
a very high wall
Fred calls the wall a ruin. Jack disagrees: It's been repaired, which must have happened after the most recent monsoon season. Fred simply doubles down on his theory: The wall's ancient, and the island is uninhabited, he insists.
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What does the island tribe's chief want to trade for Dwan?
food and drink
fine breeding horses
six native women
Six native women for one blonde American. Clearly, the chief is working on the same kind of value scale that Eli Roth would later use in the "Hostel" movies!
a pearl
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As part of her attempt to calm Kong, what does Dwan ask him?
if he has a name
if he likes bananas
if he thinks she's pretty
what his astrological sign is
There's some evidence that 1976's "King Kong" is a parody of Hollywood. Fred represents an egomaniacal director, wearing an ascot and mustache and yelling at people through a bullhorn. Dwan is a typical starlet, fantasizing about her big break and asking everyone their sign.
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Speaking of signs, which is Dwan, and what does she guess Kong is?
Pisces/Aries
Libra/Aries
Jack is also an Aries. Earlier, Dwan warned him not to go ashore, as the night was inauspicious for him.
Taurus/Capricorn
Aquarius/Capricorn
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Why does Jack believe that Kong isn't going to eat Dwan?
she doesn't have enough meat on her bones
she'll talk her way out of it
apes are vegetarian
This is true; apes eat a lot of fruit and wild carrots. It's a common misconception that large animals must be carnivores. Some very small animals are predators, while some of the largest don't eat meat at all.
the villagers call the sacrifice the "Bride" of Kong, not his meal
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After giving Dwan a bath in the waterfall, how does Kong dry her off?
rubbing her in a large leaf
blowing on her
Kong seems to treat Dwan like a pet. This runs opposite to the fears of the Explorer crew, who think that Kong intends to rape her. (Ick, by the way.)
setting her on a rock in the sun
giving her an old tarpaulin for a towel
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How does Kong kill several members of the rescue team?
steps on them
crushes them in his hand
rolls them off a log bridge
Only Jack and Boan survive this, by grabbing vines and swinging to safe crevices in the sides of the ravine. Other crew members fall into a river far below.
throws them into the ocean
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What distracts Kong so that Dwan can escape?
Jack menaces him with a burning stick
an attack by a giant snake
The snake first menaces Dwan, and Kong acts to protect her at risk of his own life. Dwan sensibly -- if a bit ungratefully -- uses the opportunity to run to Jack.
there's an explosion at the base camp
he gets a sharp thorn in his foot
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How long, according to geologist Roy, will it take before the island's oil is ready?
six months
two years
ten years
ten thousand years
Fred, of course, is furious. He was staking his career at Petrox on this find.
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After finding out about the oil, what does Fred want to do?
pack up and leave, without Jack or Dwan
lie to Petrox about the oil's viability
bring Kong to the States to put on display
Fred arranges an airdrop of supplies they'll need. The crew digs a giant pit to trap Kong in -- which, surprisingly, works.
open up the island to tourism
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At Kong's public "debut," the drape over his cage resembles what?
red, white and blue flag bunting
a panorama of the island
a Petrox gas pump
The script played up the "greedy oil company" to the hilt. Of course, the U.S. was in the midst of the "oil crisis," and public dislike of oil companies was running high, so it made sense.
Kong himself
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What upsets Kong into breaking out of his cage?
fireworks that resemble a lightning storm
reporters pushing and shoving Dwan
Jack, in the distance, yells to the reporters not to do this; Kong will see it as a threat to Dwan. Of course, no one hears him or pays attention.
the size and noise of the crowd
being displayed in a cage... what more would he need?
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How does Fred die?
Kong steps on him
We would've enjoyed the gas-pump-drape idea as well. But if you make a movie with an 80-foot-tall ape, you've almost gotta have him step on the bad guy.
the crowd tramples him
he's smothered by the "Petrox gas pump" drape
he survives to the movie's end
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Where do Dwan and Jack take refuge after escaping from Kong?
a bar
The sewers would be the safest place, as they're underground. But Dwan might get her evening gown dirty... and we can't have that!
a firehouse
a police station
the sewers
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What does Kong climb up, once he recaptures Dwan?
the Empire State Building
one of the World Trade Center towers
Reportedly, employees at the Empire State Building were upset that the scene of the finale was changed from their great landmark to the newer, taller World Trade Center. But, looking back, the scene has a certain poignance -- by the time the 2005 remake of "King Kong" was made, the World Trade towers were no more.
50 Rockefeller
the Brooklyn Bridge
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Atop the World Trade tower, what does Dwan beg Kong to do?
surrender
let her go
hold her in his hand
Dwan realizes that she can act as a human shield, so that the soldiers won't fire on Kong. But Kong doesn't pick her up, and he succumbs to the soldiers' machine-gun fire.
jump to safety
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Who says the famous line, "It was Beauty killed the Beast."
Jack
Roy
a reporter on the scene
this line is not in the movie
Screenwriter Semple didn't use the famous line from 1933, perhaps wanting to differentiate his work from that film. The 2005 film -- truer to the original -- restored it.
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How many times is the island referred to as "Skull Island"?
twice
three times
repeatedly
never
There's one reference to "the island of the skull" in the historical lore. But the name "Skull Island" is never used.
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Which actress was deemed too "ugly" to play Dwan?
Cheryl Ladd
Bo Derek
Meryl Streep
Streep tells the story of Dino De Laurentiis disparaging her looks in Italian. He didn't realize she was fluent until she apologized, in the same language, for not being pretty enough to be in his film.
Faye Dunaway
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Which starlet also screen-tested for the role of Dwan?
Heather Locklear
Melanie Griffith
Griffith, the Hollywood-raised daughter of Tippi Hedren, would likely have had little difficulty with the role of Dwan. She broke through later with films like "Working Girl" and "Something Wild."
Demi Moore
Meg Ryan
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Which actress filled Fay Wray's and Jessica Lange's shoes for the 2005 "King Kong"?
Jennifer Aniston
Julia Roberts
Amanda Seyfried
Naomi Watts
Watts played Ann Darrow, a broke actress who goes to Skull Island as part of a film shoot. Does she end up atop the Empire State Building? Do you even have to ask?
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You Got:
/35
TMDB