"The Mighty Gorga" is probably the worst King Kong rip-off there is. The plot concerns an impecunious circus owner going to a Congo that looks strangely like southern California in search of a giant species of ape that will make his circus some money. Along the way he picks up a woman who is searching for her father (who also wanted to exploit the giant ape), and they encounter a tribe of Indians (played by Caucasian actors) who sustain Gorga on the flesh of maidens so that he doesn't trash their village. The characters wonder what Indians are doing in Africa, but no explanation is ever given (and, incidentally, the only Black person observed during their visit to the Congo speaks English without a foreign accent). In the final scene, the protagonists still haven't captured Gorga, but state their intention to do so although they have no idea how they will transport him back to the States. The special effects are simply unbelievable - the giant ape costume is worse than anything seen in a high school drama production, the one composite shot of the ape and the humans together is pathetic, and the "Indian" scenes (especially the colloquies between the witch doctor and the ape) are like "Gilligan's Island" scenarios; but worst of all is the dinosaur sequence in which the human characters fend off a plastic Tyrannosaur puppet (no exaggeration - it's really that bad) by pelting it with its own eggs, and then observe it being fought to the death by Gorga - this scene is an absolute insult. Even as a devotee of schlock cinema, I was shocked at the ineptitude of this film - it fell far below my already low expectations. If there is a worse giant ape film around, I haven't seen it, and I'd have to see it to believe it.
Review of The Mighty Gorga
