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Gojira (1984)
Country of Origin: Japan
Year of Production: 1984
Running Times: 82 mins (Germany)
87 mins (USA) 103 mins (Japan)
Format: colour 35mm
Panavision (anamorphic)
Ratio: 1.85:1 (US version) 2.35:1
(original version)
Sound: Dolby
CREDITS
PRODUCTION
Production Company: Toho
Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka
US Version Producer: Tony Randel
SCRIPT
Script: Shuichi Nagahara
US Version Script: Lisa Tomei, Tony Randel (uncredited)
DIRECTION
Director: Koji Hashimoto
US Scenes Director: R.J. Kizer
Chief Assistant Director: Takao Okawara
US Version Assistant Director: Lee Berger
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Kazutami Hara
US Scenes Director of Photography: Steve Dubin
Lighting: Shinji Kojima
Cameras and Lenses: Panavision
EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Yoshitami Kuroiwa
US Version Editor: Michael Spence
MUSIC
Music: Reijiro Koroku
US Version Additional Music: Christopher Young (from Def-Con
4 (1984))
US Version Score Mixer: Jeff Vaughn SPECIAL EFFECTS
Director of Special Effects: Teruyoshi Nakano
Special Effects Lighting: Kohei Mikami
Special Effects Cameramen: Toshimitsu Oneda, Takeshi Yamamoto
Special Effects Art Director: Yasuyuki Inoue
Gojira Suit Designer / Constructor: Nobuyuki Yasumaru
Special Effects Assistant: Shinji Higuchi (uncredited)
VISUAL EFFECTS
US Version Animation Camera: Bret Mixon
DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Akira Sakuragi
US Version Title Designer: Ernest D. Farino
MISCELLANEOUS
Creative Consultant: Straw Weisman
Consultant: Fumio Tanaka (uncredited) CAST
Ken Tanaka (Goro Maki)
Yasuko Sawaguchi (Naoko Okumura)
Yosuke Natsuki (Dr Hayashida)
Keiju Kobayashi (Prime Minister Mitamura)
Shin Takuma (Hiroshi Okumura)
Eitarô Ozawa (Finance Minister Kanzaki)
Taketoshi Naitô (Takegami)
Mizuho Suzuki (Foreign Minister Emori)
Junkichi Orimoto (Director-General of the Defense Agency)
Hiroshi Koizumi (Minami)
Kei Sato (Gondo)
Takenori Emoto (Kitagawa)
Sho Hashimoto (Captain of Super X)
Nobuo Kaneko (Isomura)
Kunio Murai (Henmi)
Yoshifumi Tajima (Hidaka)
Shigeo Kato (ship captain)
Koji Ishizaka (power plant guard)
Tetsuya Takeda (bum)
Kengo Nakayama (real name: Kenpachiro Satsuma) (Gojira)
US VERSION ADDITIONAL CAST
Raymond Burr (Steven Martin)
Warren J. Kemmerling (General Goodhoe)
James Hess (Colonel Raschen)
Travis Swords (Major McDonough)
Crawford Binion (Lieutenant)
Justin Gocke (Kyle)
US VERSION EXTRAS
Bobby Brown, Patrick Feren, Mark Simon, Shepard Stern, Alan D. Waserman PLOT SUMMARY
A ship is found adrift at sea, its crew killed
by a species of giant louse. The sole survivor reports that the ship
had been attacked by the legendary monster Godzilla. Before long,
the rampaging beast has destroyed a Russian submarine, brought the
world to the brink of nuclear war and is closing in on Tokyo... CAPSULE REVIEW
Despite some surprisingly cut-price effects and something of a misunderstanding
of what it is that makes Godzilla so popular with the fans, this attempt
to relaunch Godzilla is a solid one - it's entertaining without ever
being outstanding and more importantly proved that was life in the
old dog yet, acting as the springboard for a whole series of new Godzilla
adventures. The US version is ruined by the unneccessary decision
to have Raymond Burr return in his old role and by the shameless,
relentless and intrusive product placements for a popular soft drink. AVAILABILITY
USA
Theatrical Distributor: New World Pictures
Video Distributors: New World Home Video; Starmaker Video
Laserdisc Distributor: Image Entertainment Inc
South Korea
Theatrical Distributor: Kuk Dong
Spain
Video Distributor: Manga Films S.L.
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
Australia
Rating: PG
Spain
Rating: 13
UK
Rating: PG
USA
Rating: PG
West Germany
Rating: 12
AWARDS
1986
Razzie Awards (USA)
Worst New Star (the computerized Godzilla) – nominated
Worst Supporting Actor (Raymond Burr) - nominated
TIMELINE
1984
December
15: Japan – theatrical release
December
25: South Korea – theatrical release
1985
July
26: West Germany – theatrical release
August
23: USA – theatrical release POSTER TAGS
The Legend Is Reborn. ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Godzilla - Die Rückkehr des Monsters -
German title
Godzilla - English language title
Godzilla 1985: The Legend Is Reborn – US title
Godzilla: 1985 - US title
O Regresso de Gozilla – Portugese title
El retorno de Godzilla - Spanish title
Le retour de Godzilla - French title
The Return of Godzilla LINKS
SEQUELS
Gojira tai Biorante (1989)
Gojira vs Kingugidora (1991)
Gojira vs Mosura (1992)
Gojira vs Mekagojira (1993)
Gojira vs Supesugojira
(1994)
Gojira vs Desutoroia (1995)
REMAKE OF
Gojira (1954
SEE ALSO
Gojira (1988)
Gojira: Kaiju dai-rantou
(2002)
Kronos (1957)
Super Godzilla (1993)
INCLUDES FOOTAGE FROM
Nosutoradamusu no daiyogen (1974) REFERENCES
MAGAZINES
Video Watchdog no.34 (1996) (USA)
article (Drink Dr. Pepper by R.J. Kizer)
Video Watchdog Special Edition no.2 (1995 / 1996)
(USA)
review (by Shane M. Dallman) KEYWORDS
giant monsters; godzilla; remakes; sequel
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