Congo (1995)

When an expedition to the African Congo ends in disaster, a new team is assembled to find out what went wrong.

Director:

Frank Marshall

Writers:

Michael Crichton (novel), John Patrick Shanley (screenplay)

Stars:

Laura Linney, Tim Curry, Dylan Walsh

2 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Laura Linney	...	Dr. Karen Ross
Dylan Walsh	...	Dr. Peter Elliot
Ernie Hudson	...	Captain Monroe Kelly
Tim Curry	...	Herkermer Homolka
Grant Heslov	...	Richard
Joe Don Baker	...	R.B. Travis
Lola Noh	...	Amy (as Lorene Noh)
Mary Ellen Trainor	...	Moira
Misty Rosas	...	Amy the Gorilla
Stuart Pankin	...	Boyd
Carolyn Seymour	...	Eleanor Romy
Romy Rosemont	...	Assistant
James Karen	...	College President / Elliot's Boss
Bill Pugin	...	William
Lawrence T. Wrentz	...	Prof. Arliss Wender

Storyline

A megalomaniac C.E.O. sends his son into the dangerous African Congo on a quest for a source of diamonds large enough and pure enough to function as powerful laser communications transmitters (or is it laser weapons?). When contact is lost with his son and the team, his sometime daughter- in-law is sent after them. She is a former CIA operative and, accompanied by gee-whiz gadgetry and a few eccentric characters (including a mercenary, a researcher with a talking gorilla, and a a nutty Indiana-Jones-type looking for King Solomon's Mines), sets out to rescue her former fiancé. What they all discover is that often what we most want turns out to be the source of our downfall.

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Plot Keywords:

lost city | gorilla | diamond | talking gorilla | ape | 

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Taglines:

Where you are the endangered species

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for jungle adventure terror and action and brief strong language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English American Sign Language

Release Date:

9 June 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kongo

Filming Locations:

Costa Rica

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$24,642,539, 11 June 1995, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$81,022,101

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$152,022,101

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures,The Kennedy/Marshall Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although not featured in retail versions of Congo (1995), there appears to be a rare phenomenon where most viewers distinctly remember a scene with a laser wielding monkey. This has yet to have been discredited by the writers.

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Goofs

When Monroe explains the noises of a Colobus monkey mating season to Karen and Peter, the full moon is shown as seen in the northern hemisphere - but the Congo lies on the equator, from where a full moon would appear to be tipped onto its side.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Rudy, TraviCom Security: [over PA system] Doctor Ross. Doctor Ross. We've got satellite in the Congo.
Dr. Karen Ross: What did they say, Rudy?
Rudy, TraviCom Security: I can't repeat anything in here.
Dr. Karen Ross: It's Charles.
Rudy, TraviCom Security: It's Charles.
Rudy, TraviCom Security: [trying her access card] It won't work.
Dr. Karen Ross: You changed the code already?
Rudy, TraviCom Security: The old man's got me changing it every 3 hours now.
[imitating Cary Grant for voice print]
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Surviving Leviathan with Ernie Hudson (2014)

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Soundtracks

California Dreamin'
By John Phillips & Michelle Phillips

User Reviews

This movie is not as bad as its rating suggests

Congo is rarely mentioned in any discussion about film. It seems like a forgotten artifact, abandoned like King Solomon's mines, discovered only by only those who maintain some fundamental interest; what you find is going to depend on how open you keep your mind. Rest assured, those of you who would rather ignore it aren't going to be missing a diamond, but I'd say an arrowhead isn't out of the question.

I'll dispense with the metaphors: Congo is not a bad film. I watched it many times in my youth and just watched it again yesterday, and the biggest complaint I have is that the original song 'Sounds Of Africa' is awful. I won't summarize the plot or analyze the film in explicit detail, but I will say that it is briskly paced, sharply written, and features solid characterizations, or as solid as they can be in an adventure epic. As an example, Tim Curry has been dismissed too often as the comic relief when he is actually central to the plot and turns in a deliciously dense performance, above and beyond the limitations of his character. Considering the slightly campy tone, the special effects are well above what anyone could expect. Just don't come prepared to judge them based on modern standards or Jurassic Park. Personally, I find physical effects more endearing than CGI anyway.

As many reviewers have said, it's a film of a bygone era, a lost world story treated as an adventure epic. Clearly it's not Indiana Jones and the tone tends to waver a bit, but it's never boring, and if it had been adapted from the book directly, it would have been. I can't imagine someone watching the airplane SAM scene without being excited by the action, or watching the group's border crossing struggles without at least sporting a grin.

So, check your ego and check your critical faculties; this is no Citizen Kane and it doesn't pretend to be. Those that harshly criticize it, by my estimation, have a lot to learn about having a good time at the movies.