Talkback: Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

[Gamera216]

Godzilla vs. Hedorah aka Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster



The first of the 1970's Godzilla films, and, for better or worse, one of the more memorable entries in the Godzilla series.

Okay, so do you like this movie or hate it. Point out what you like and what you don't like

Like: I like that it is a good challenge for Godzilla and that the ending is really a good battle.

Dislike: That When Hedorah flys through the construction site there is not sound when it falls apart. The Theme for when Godzilla comes around! That in the final battle when Hedorah burns Godzilla's hand off that you'll some times see his hand still has skin then it goes to without then back to skin.

[HayesAJones]

I love it! It's just crazy and introduces a very cool villain. Oh, and Godzilla flying just may be the most amazing thing ever on film.

[Arbok]

I love it. It's unique, crazy, and out there.

If there were more like it in the franchise, I probably wouldn't care for it as much. However, as the lone super bizarre entry in the series it has a lot going for it. This, Gigan, and Mechagodzilla tend to be the ones that I find myself watching quite often oddly enough.

Plus, Hedorah is such a strange creation. Unlike anything Godzilla has faced before, even drastically different from Destoroyah even though they have similar evolution patterns.

[Legionmaster]

Love it. The cheapness of the Hedorah suit works for it, everything in the film is just so ridiculous its awesome, it brings a very avant garde feel to the series, and Godzilla flies. If only that damn kid wasn't so effing annoying...

[Legion1979]

The cheapness of the Hedorah suit works for it

What so cheap about the Hedora suit? You want a cheap Hedora suit? Go watch Final Wars.

[Legionmaster]

The cheapness of the Hedorah suit works for it

What so cheap about the Hedora suit? You want a cheap Hedora suit? Go watch Final Wars.

The low budgetness of Godzilla films in general. The Hedorah suit is just a bunch of floppy crapt put on a suit. And, wouldn't you know, it looks fantastic. The GFW Hedorah suit prob cost more to make lol. It was just horrible execution, but otherwise it looks good too.

I think what I mean can be explained by lookin at Jet Jaguar. He's supposed to be a robot. Made of metal. But, because they're just latex suits, he looks like a foam robot. It's awful. But Hedorah makes it look good.

[Legion1979]

This isn't necessarily a knock against you Legionmaster but I don't understand how someone can be a fan of Japanese giant monster movies (especially from this era) and think the rubber suit look is crap or awful. That's just how the style looks and it's there in all of these types of productions, from Godzilla to Gamera to Ultraman. Sure Jet Jaguar doesn't look like a traditional, solid robot. Neither does Mechagodzilla. But that's part of the appeal. Complaining the style looks "awful" sort of misses the point.

[Legionmaster]

But Mechagodzilla looks like metal. JJ doesn't. And just because I'm a fan doesn't mean I have to like everything about them.

[HedorahLives]

It's funny how the reputation of Godzilla vs Hedorah has been reformed in the last decade. Back around the end of the 90s, I remember everyone disliking it, considering it part of the slouch in quality from Godzilla's Revenge to Godzilla vs Megalon. I like my Godzilla movies to be at least half insane and GvH is probably the most insanely weird film of the franchise, complete with a great, original villain (okay, they borrowed from The Blob) and a director with some ambitious, crazy ideas. I mean...Hedorah is basically a walking turd. When he's swimming in the water, the underneath shots make him look like a floater.

[Drunken Kong]

The movie is awesome. It's the first film in awhile that is actually "dark" in some sense, showing the death of people.

Yeah Godzilla flys, but so what. That girl with sexy clam dancing in the beginning is dope so that makes up for it. And the intro song for the film is catchy as well.

It's definitely a film stuck in it's time, but it's still a goofy and fun movie.

[Chris55]

I don't like it very much. The music grates on me and it's just boring. It's the film I've seen the least of.

[Tyler]

I love it and hope Banno gets to make his 3D film someday (although the new movie might be that or take place of it).

[Killswitch]

One of the better films from the 70's. Hedorah was a very cool monster, but the film didn't end well IMO. It should of ended when Godzilla destroyed the white balls. I still don't understand how or why another Hedorah popped out, and took off. Godzilla flying was a huge No, No!

[Hedorah]

One of my favorite Showa movies!!! (who would've thought???) It's so original and just insane! Godzilla flying = one of the most epic scenes in the series. Hedorah was a great villain and a great challenge for Godzilla, it was an all around good movie.

[g2kmaster]

I do not get the cheapness comments.

As for the film itself, it is one of my favorites of the franchise. It is abstract and yet is at the time the darkest kaiju film since the original Gojira (Mothra vs. Godzilla, while a good film, is not as dark as this film). Plus, I love Hedorah and the concept of him and just... it oozes with awesomeness. Especialy the abstract imagery. Almost art house.

[Living Corpse]

I do not get the cheapness comments.

Here let me spell it out for you.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... BadItsGood




Anyways I normally like the serious films but Godzilla vs Hedorah is the exception. Maybe. The film is so out there that even the film itself can't seem to make up it's mind on weather it wants to be a serious flick about pollution, be a horror flick, or a kids movie. It's like a acid tripe.


Hedorah is in my top ten favorite monsters. In fact he is in the top five, so you can imagine how pissed off I was that he got killed off so easily in GFW. Seriously he should have been in the final fight, helping Gigan and Monster X.

[JVM]

It's one of the better Showa films, and definitely the most unique. Hedorah's executed amazingly for a '70s production and Godzilla's at his most heroic hour.

[DaikaijuSokogeki!]

I love it. The psychedelic atmosphere of the film makes it hands-down one of the most unique in the franchise. Hedorah is one of Godzilla's most menacing villains, Godzilla has a strong presence as a monster not too keen to humanity forced to fight something humanity created, and the human characters progress the story well. I personally have always dug the music score for some strange reason. Manabe's score just works in some weird fashion. The SPFX are also pretty neat too, especially Hedorah's transformation sequence. The way you can see his shadow on the background looks sweet as hell.

So yeah, a very fun Godzilla film that too often gets dismissed for its psychedelic attitude, even by its own producer. I'd prefer Banno over several of the directors Toho hired in the Heisei period any day of the week.

[ZigraDude]

I love it. It's one of a kind. I don't think Yoshimitsu Banno ruined Godzilla at all, like Tanaka told him, he just established Godzilla as an ally of mankind. Is it different? Hell yeah, but it didn't ruin Godzilla at all. It introduced one of Godzilla's greatest foes and it seems Japan is in love with Hedorah nowadays. The Save the Earth song is fun to listen to, especially the AIP version.

[Kuroneko-sama]

Love it! I loved it as a kid, and I still love it as an adult. It's original, it's fun, it's dark at times, but, overall, it's a great film to watch. Manabe's score can be a bit irritating at times, but it fits in with the movie rather well, so it doesn't detract from the film too much. Hedorah's one of my all-time favorite Godzilla enemies - I'm really hoping they bring it back. Considering the massive amounts of Hedorah references even outside of Japan, I can see it one day making a comeback.