Talkback: Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

[Godzilla Lover101]

Godzilla vs Hedorah is one of the biggest missed opportunities of the Showa era IMO. It was extremely dark, and Hedorah was a great opponent for Godzilla. All the goofy themes however destroyed this film. If you look past those however, this is a film worth a few watches.

[AbudJasemAlBaldawi]

This movie REALLY needs a change of soundtrack

[ILL GREEN]

Soundtrack is pretty cool. I just hate that walalalalala wa trumpet shit.

[20th Century Boy]

I think the soundtrack fits the film just fine. There are times when it's very Morricone-esque.

[he-ba]

Everything about this movie is just downright creepy. And it's awesome.

[Kaiser]

I think the soundtrack fits the film just fine.

This. Riichiro Manabe gets way too much flack for this film (he does deserve everything people say about him in regards to Godzilla vs. Megalon however) and I think the music is an excellent representation of the atmosphere in the film. Not every soundtrack is meant to be listened to on its own, some are just supposed to be atmospheric and Manabe does very well in that regard with the harsh and unsettling score he provides.

[Vankor]

Loved this film. The non-rock parts of the soundtrack are indeed unsettling like Kaiser says. It was one of my favorites as a kid partly because of the dark seriousness of it. Few Godzilla movies have had people really getting killed on screen, and this one has tons. And up close personal stuff too, like the kids dad being attacked near the beginning of the movie.

[Monarch_SPC]

I watched the Japanese version for the first time and I really enjoyed it. Even more so than when I used to watch it as a kid. It has a good amount of dark moments and the real aspect of death from pollution. The fight scenes were pretty good. However I never understood why Godzilla wipes his mouth allot and motions towards Hedorah. I liked Hedorah also and the different stages it had. The characters were really good too. And I did like how Ken tries to offer advice and he is mostly correct in his thoughts. Very smart kid.

[KaijuFiend]

I love the film's soundtrack. The "wurr, wurr, wurrr..." that starts up most of the time Godzilla does something just has this enjoyably cheesy quality to it. It plays so often that by the time you get to the scene of Godzilla flying, it makes it even more unintentionally hilarious. This film is a masterpiece for that scene alone.

[ILL GREEN]

I watched the Japanese version for the first time and I really enjoyed it. Even more so than when I used to watch it as a kid. It has a good amount of dark moments and the real aspect of death from pollution. The fight scenes were pretty good. However I never understood why Godzilla wipes his mouth allot and motions towards Hedorah. I liked Hedorah also and the different stages it had. The characters were really good too. And I did like how Ken tries to offer advice and he is mostly correct in his thoughts. Very smart kid.

Everyone wonders at this but I think I can explain Godzilla's hand gestures.

Hedorah is a product of mankind's failures as well as Godzilla. Godzilla understands Hedorah's pain and his wrath against humankind. In the first scenes, we have a small Hedorah, this is his infant stage. Hedorah is a mere child and thats why Godzilla didn't hurt him much but chased him back into the sea. Godzilla used hand gestures to say "hey, I appreciate you being a fellow kaiju and all but your shit stinks! You gotta get out of here!" But Hedorah, being trouble youth, says " fuck you!" So Godzilla tossed him out to sea. In the second confrontation, Hedorah is bigger now but still a teenager and he returns to mainland. Godzilla, who only seeks to chastise the lad in kaijuhood, gestures for him to get the fuck out of Dodge, in which Godzilla never does. He either gives you a dirty look or a good thrashing. But here he does it, because Godzilla feels Hedorah's pain so he was kinda merciful. Hedorah though, represents the rebellious teen, fought against his elder. By the last scene, Hedorah is a full blown kaiju and Godzilla knows he got to get rid of him dead or alive because Hedorah is very foul in all meanings of the word. Godzilla is really giving a "No more mr. Nice guy!" gesture.

The more I watch the movie, the more symbollic it gets.

[Goji]

That was uh..riveting, Green.

[kamilleblu]

Hedorah started off the 1970s on a high note and gave the franchise one of its most interesting monsters. It's certainly a standout entry with all the unique camera angles, ever changing tone, presence of drugs, child protagonist, and creepy (yet fitting) soundtrack. My biggest complaint is probably the monster action, while good, it moves unusually slow in this film.

[Nikkolas]

Out of curiosity, do people think Hedorah was an evil" Kaiju? I only watched the dub but it seems to me that Hedorah landing here was completely by accident. It's not a Ghidorah, an alien who flies around wrecking crap because it likes it. It's a truly alien lifeform that cannot possibly coexist with humans but otherwise is not really malicious or that intelligent. Its very nature is too different from ours but that is the problem rather than it being evil.

[Darksenshi]

Out of curiosity, do people think Hedorah was an evil" Kaiju? I only watched the dub but it seems to me that Hedorah landing here was completely by accident. It's not a Ghidorah, an alien who flies around wrecking crap because it likes it. It's a truly alien lifeform that cannot possibly coexist with humans but otherwise is not really malicious or that intelligent. Its very nature is too different from ours but that is the problem rather than it being evil.

I've actually never thought about it like that. That's a damn good point. All Hedorah wanted was to feed on earth's pollution. But that wasn't possible because people were being killed in the process. So big G had to step in.

What I've always wondered is why Mothra wasn't added to the movie in some form or fashion. Mothra being Earth's protector would have fit in perfectly in the movie. Maybe she could have convinced Hedorah to leave Earth. Or at least tried.

[Kaiser]

Out of curiosity, do people think Hedorah was an evil" Kaiju? I only watched the dub but it seems to me that Hedorah landing here was completely by accident. It's not a Ghidorah, an alien who flies around wrecking crap because it likes it. It's a truly alien lifeform that cannot possibly coexist with humans but otherwise is not really malicious or that intelligent. Its very nature is too different from ours but that is the problem rather than it being evil.

I've actually never thought about it like that. That's a damn good point. All Hedorah wanted was to feed on earth's pollution. But that wasn't possible because people were being killed in the process. So big G had to step in.

What I've always wondered is why Mothra wasn't added to the movie in some form or fashion. Mothra being Earth's protector would have fit in perfectly in the movie. Maybe she could have convinced Hedorah to leave Earth. Or at least tried.

Budget. The Mothra suits were both in a pretty bad state of disrepair, the flying prop looked terrible as far back as its last appearance Ebirah and the larva had seen better days when it was used in Destroy All Monsters. Besides, Mothra wouldn't really have much to do; covering Hedorah in silk spray probably wouldn't be that effective.

And Hedorah is a parasite essentially. It may not be malicious but if it was affecting your health and causing you discomfort, you'd want to get rid of it regardless of whether it's doing what comes naturally to it. It's the same reason why you don't just let mosquitos bite your arm.

[Darksenshi]

Yeah he was a pest that needed extermination basically. I wonder how big Hedorah would have gotten if Godzilla and the military hadn't killed it. It already towered over Godzilla before it died. One can only imagine how out of control things could have gotten if it were allowed to keep feeding.

[ILL GREEN]

Hedorah would've devoured everything and maybe reach continent size! It was a threat and he was also aware of his powers that gradually developed and he was getting power drunk when he asorbed Godzilla's atomic breath. He would've been like General Zod testing new abilities either on the Earth or on Superman, in this case, Godzilla.

Off left field; there is a Hedorah theme song and not Save the Earth. Its goes "Hedorah, oh Hedorah..." and the rest I don't know but thats the chorus.

[Can of Conspiracy]

You mean this song, right?



His "cameo" on that Zappa cover deserves a mention as well.

[Goji]

Yep, that's the one. The "Defeat Hedorah" pop song is from the original Japanese soundtrack. MEGALON, and the first Mechagodzilla film have similar songs on their OSTs as well.

Kaiser, the only Mothra "suit" was the larva in the original film. The imago Mothras are all marionette's, and the larva's in all of the Godzilla were realized through a combination of SPX; none of which involved suits.

[Kaiser]

Poor choice of words on my part. I know they're not suits, my mind just blanked on what else to call them, hence "suits". Getting barely four hours of sleep last night will do that to your mind.