Gojira (1984)

Directors:

Koji Hashimoto
R.J. Kizer

Writers:

Shuichi Nagahara (writer)
Tomoyuki Tanaka (story)
(more)

Release Date:

23 August 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Your favorite fire-breathing monster... Like you've never seen him before!

Plot:

Thirty years after the original monster's rampage, a new Godzilla emerges and attacks Japan.

Plot Keywords:

Godzilla | Monster | Gojira | Submarine | Radiation Revived Monster

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

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, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Mizuho Suzuki	...	Foreign Minister Emori
Junkichi Orimoto	...	Director-General of the Defense Agency
Hiroshi Koizumi	...	Geologist Minami
Kei Satô	...	Chief Editor Gondo
Takenori Emoto	...	Desk Editor Kitagawa
Sho Hashimoto	...	Captain of Super X
Nobuo Kaneko	...	Home Affairs Minister Isomura
Kunio Murai	...	Secretary Henmi
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Environemental Director General Hidaka
Shigeo Katô	...	Ship Captain
Kôji Ishizaka	...	Power Plant Guard
Tetsuya Takeda	...	Bum
Kenpachiro Satsuma	...	Gojira (as Kengo Nakayama)
Raymond Burr	...	Steve Martin
Warren J. Kemmerling	...	General Goodhoe (US version)
James Hess	...	Colonel Raschen (US version)
Travis Swords	...	Major McDonough (US version)
Crawford Binion	...	Lieutenant (US version)
Justin Gocke	...	Kyle (US version)
Patrick Feren	...	Extra (US version)
Mark Simon	...	Extra (US version)
Shepard Stern	...	Extra (US version)
Alan D. Waserman	...	Extra (US version)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takashi Ebata	...	Ship Captain (uncredited)
Kenji Fukuda	...	Super X Lieutenant (uncredited)
Shinpei Hayashiya	...	Cameraman Kamiya (uncredited)
Isao Hirano	...	Airforce Chief of Staff (uncredited)
Luke Johnson	...	Soviet Colonel Kashirin (uncredited)
Eiji Kana	...	Army Chief of Staff (uncredited)
Takeshi Katô	...	Trade Minister (uncredited)
Shin Kazanaka	...	Uno (uncredited)
Yasuhiko Kono	...	Naval Chief of Staff (uncredited)
Shinsuke Mikimoto	...	Chief of Staff (uncredited)
Kanta Mori	...	(uncredited)
Takeo Morimoto	...	Newscaster (uncredited)
Gregory Snegoff	...	Newscaster / Pilot / Government Official (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Kenichi Urata	...	Secretary Ishimaru (uncredited)
Kiyoshi Yamamoto	...	Science Agency Director (uncredited)

Directed by
Koji Hashimoto
R.J. Kizer		(US footage)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Shuichi Nagahara		writer (as Hidekazu Nagahara)
Tony Randel		uncredited
Tomoyuki Tanaka		story "The Resurrection of Godzilla"
Lisa Tomei		US version only

Produced by
Norio Hayashi	....	producer
Kiyomi Kanazawa	....	producer
Tony Randel	....	producer (US version)
Fumio Tanaka	....	associate producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Reijiro Koroku

Cinematography by
Kazutami Hara

Film Editing by
Yoshitami Kuroiwa

Casting by
Tadao Tanaka

Production Design by
Akira Sakuragi

Art Direction by
Akira Sakuragi

Set Decoration by
Akio Tashiro

Costume Design by
Kenji Kawasaki

Makeup Department
Fumiko Umezawa	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Takahide Morichi	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lee Berger	....	first assistant director: US
Takao Okawara	....	chief assistant director

Art Department
Yoshiki Kasahara	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Noboru Ikeda	....	assistant sound technician
Mikio Mori	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby
Noboyuki Tanaka	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
Eiichi Asada	....	assistant camera
Yasuyuki Inoue	....	special effects art director
Mamoru Kume	....	pyrotechnician
Koji Matsumoto	....	wire works
Mitsuo Miyagawa	....	pyrotechnician
Mitsuo Miyagawa	....	wire works
Takeshi Miyanishi	....	pyrotechnician
Teruyoshi Nakano	....	director of special effects
Tadaaki Watanabe	....	pyrotechnician
Nobuyuki Yasumaru	....	prosthetics creator
Shinji Higuchi	....	special effects assistant (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Yoshio Ishii	....	matte photography
Yoshikazu Manoda	....	optical photography
Kohei Mikami	....	special effects lighting
Bret Mixon	....	animation camera: US version only
Takeshi Miyanishi	....	optical photography
Toshimitsu Oneda	....	special effects cameraman
Yutaka Tsuchiya	....	computer graphics
Takeaki Tsukuda	....	matte photography
Takeshi Yamamoto	....	special effects cameraman

Camera and Electrical Department
Steve Dubin	....	cinematographer: USA
Hideo Inagaki	....	electrician
Yoshinori Ishizuki	....	still photographer
Shinji Kojima	....	lighting technician
Akira Oba	....	lighting assistant
Shunji Yokota	....	lighting grip

Editorial Department
Michael Spence	....	editor: US version
Fusako Takahashi	....	negative cutter

Music Department
Takasha Miki	....	composer: songs
Katsuaki Nakaya	....	conductor
Jeff Vaughn	....	score mixer
Christopher Young	....	composer: stock music (US version)

Other crew
Hideo Aoki	....	special advisor
Ernest D. Farino	....	title designer (US version only)
Hiroko Kajiyama	....	continuity
Yorihiko Osaki	....	special advisor
Toshifumi Sakata	....	visual consultant
Kazuo Suzuki	....	maintenance
Takehisa Takarada	....	assistant to director
Hitoshi Takeuchi	....	special advisor
Toyo Tanaka	....	special engineer
Takashi Wakiya	....	assistant to director
Straw Weisman	....	creative consultant
Nobuyuki Yasumaru	....	gojira suit designer and constructor
Fumio Tanaka	....	consultant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Toho Company
• Toho Eizo Co.

Distributors

• New World Pictures (1985) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Starmaker Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Astro Distribution (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Future Film (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (laserdisc)
• Kuk Dong
• Manga Films (video)
• New World Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2008) (Japan) (TV)
• VCM (198?) (Finland) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Marbling FineArts (miniatures and models)

Other Companies

• Computer Graphic Lab  cooperation
• Hattori Seiko  cooperation
• International Container Terminal  cooperation
• Mitsubishi Rayon  cooperation
• Nagao Modeling  cooperation
• Osaka Shosen Mitsui Senpaku  cooperation
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

Godzilla (International: English title)
Godzilla 1985: The Legend Is Reborn (USA)
Godzilla: 1985 (USA) (closing credits title)
The Return of Godzilla

Runtime:

Germany:82 min | Japan:103 min | USA:87 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | Russian | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (Japan theatrical release) | Mono (US release)

Certification:

Finland:K-11 (DVD) | Finland:K-14 | Australia:PG | Spain:13 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Raymond Burr reprised his character as the journalist Steve Martin for the American version of this film. However, since Steve Martin was the name of a popular comedian, he is referred to on screen as "Steve" or "Mr. Martin."

Goofs:

Continuity: Godzilla changes sizes many times over the course of the movie.

Quotes:

[US version]
Steve Martin: Nature has a way sometimes of reminding Man of just how small he is. She occasionally throws up terrible offspring's of our pride and carelessness to remind us of how puny we really are in the face of a tornado, an earthquake, or a Godzilla. The reckless ambitions of Man are often dwarfed by their dangerous consequences...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Death Wish 3 (1985)

"Godzilla 1985"

I may be one of few, if only, people to say I actually liked "Godzilla 1985," the first in the second generation of kaiju-eiga films that began after a 10-year hiatus, since the last Toho-backed "Godzilla" effort "Terror of Mechagodzilla" (1975), which concluded the first generation of movies.

Godzilla is the most popular movie monster from the East and I've been watching these films since I was five. Of course, in "Godzilla 1985" (which is 1984 in Japan time), Godzilla returns to his old stomping grounds of Tokyo. He first attacks a fishing boat and kills everyone on-board except one, then a Soviet submarine, a nuclear reactor (which is where we see the glorious Big Guy for the first time), and finally has his eyes set on Tokyo. What hinders this film big time, especially in the American version, are the ugly Cold War-era politics that played into many of the film's changes in order to accommodate polarized audiences in the United States. Russians are portrayed as being inherently evil and the Japanese are shown as being weak and totally dependent on America. But by making America the hero in this picture, Americans are shown as being quite pigheaded and arrogant, with the exception of Raymond Burr, who also appeared in the American version of the original "Godzilla" (1954). (So it looks like the American producers really screwed themselves big time with this transition.) This seriously makes the movie dated and draws attention from away from the stronger, more relevant issues the original Japanese screenwriters had envisioned. On the plus side, Toho created a rather terrifying and truly menacing Godzilla, whose presence is made all the more frightening by those blood-red eyes and thunderous roar of his. This Godzilla is the embodiment of true screen menace, in a return-to-form from the previous incarnation in the '70s. Even though he is the villain in this picture, one could shed a tear at the film's ending (which you wouldn't need to do if you care to watch the superior 1989 sequel "Godzilla vs. Biollante"). The special effects are magnificent, though dated; one of my particular favorite sequences is Godzilla's showdown with the Super X attack fighter and his attack on the nuclear reactor.

I'd recommend this entry only if you're a die-hard kaiju-eiga fan; if not, you should probably skip this one and go straight to "Godzilla vs. Biollante," which is my personal favorite "Godzilla" film from the second generation. But it's a shame that "Godzilla 1985" was ruined by American intrusion in its transfer from Japan to the U.S.

5/10