However, Godzilla is not the only megafauna that stalks the silver screen. Within the Godzilla, there are dozens of monster. And giant monsters have an enduring popularity. King Kong, the super-sized ants from Them, the killer mollusks from It Challenged the World...stupendous spiders, mammoth moths, a big bald bad-ass in diapers (that would be Colonel Manning of The Amazing Colossal Man and War of the Colossal Beast), the angry baby-monster from Cloverfield...the list goes on and on. It would seem almost impossible to chose a runner-up to the Big G.
You're lucky that I get paid to do the almost impossible. I'm going to limit the choices to the marauding mega>monsters from Japan, the kaiju. Which one, after Godzilla, does it for me?
The Gargantuas from War of the Gargantuas. Although they only appeared in this movie, they are considered canon monsters in the Godzilla universe, with the creatures mentioned in Godzilla against MechaGodzilla and featured in the comicbook series Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth.
Although they only starred in one movie, they made a big impact on your humble author's young psych when he first saw the movie many, many years ago. Unlike many more elaborate kaiju designs, the Gargantuas are basically guys on fur suits. This allows them to be much more acrobatic and fluid in their movement and fight scenes. Care was taken to give them distinct personalities (although these basically boil down to "good brother" and "bad brother.") The sibling rivalry appealed to me, since my own brother and I had a similar relationship...although our fights never quite devastated Tokyo. The effects are pretty standard for Toho at the time (1966), although there are a couple of standout scene including one at Tokyo's Haneda airport that highlights the creativity that the best Toho films had.
The film started as a sequel to the previous year's Frankenstein Conquers the World (aka Frankenstein vs Baragon starring the awesome Nick Adams and the super-hot Kumi Mizuno), but was changed into a stand-alone film early in development (although a few details point to the earlier film). The film has a pretty good cast, the weakest actor being Russ Tamblyn, who plays the protagonist (Dr. Paul Stewart) in full-on "I need a paycheck and don't give a shit about the movie" mode. The score, by Toho regular Akira Ifukube, is pretty grim, in keeping with the overall tone of the movie.
The main thing to recommend the film, however, is the agility of the monsters, how exciting the fighting sequences are and the rather grim and serious overall tone of the movie. All of this makes War of the Gargantuas one of the most enjoyable Toho kaiju movies.
Oh, and did I mention the awesomely bad song "Feel in My Heart" warbled by Kipp Hamilton? Listen to it once and you will never get it out of your brain. I first saw this movie 30 years ago and its been bouncing around in my head since then...which would explain so many things...
Gaira, the "bad" Gargantua expresses displeasure at being bumped from a flight. Who can blame him?
Kipp Hamilton wants to haunt your dreams. Listen to this and she will.
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