I’d previously experienced the remarkable original ‘King Kong,’ which remains impressive due to its groundbreaking special effects, as well as Peter Jackson's more modern adaptation, also quite striking. I’d only encountered negative comments about the 1970s version, but I’ve grown to appreciate films by Guillermin, and when I noticed a used copy of it on blu-ray at an affordable price, I decided to give it a try considering the cast involved. It's certainly not the strongest entry in the series, but it isn't terrible either. It was interesting to learn that Joseph Sargent was initially intended to direct, with Peter Falk as the lead, and that Meryl Streep had been considered for Jessica Lange’s part. The alterations made to modernize Kong for the 1970s were fascinating—they planned to make the script a complete departure from Cooper and Schoedsack's classic film—and I find myself wondering what it would have looked like if Jackson had reimagined Kong as a contemporary, disturbed primate instead of setting his version in the past. Even as someone from Canada, seeing the World Trade Center brought back a sense of longing for that time. The only portion of the movie that felt difficult to sit through was the scene where Kong is forced to entertain at the American Bicentennial celebration, and I wondered how Lange managed to descend so quickly from the rooftop of one of the buildings at the film’s conclusion. That probably wasn't shown, and the editing likely felt hurried to meet the release date, so it went unnoticed.

Source on TMDB