1971 Godzilla vs. Hedorah

  • AKA “Godzilla v. The Smog Monster”
  • Directed by Yoshimatsu Banno, Ishiro Honda
  • Written by Yoshimatsu Banno, Takeshi Kimura
  • Stars Akira Yamanouchi, Toshie Kimura, Hiroyuki Kawase
  • Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
  • Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdm8xgG5rR8

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This one beats us over the head with the message that pollution is bad, and we should do better or else. The overbearing message takes a little of the fun away, but it’s got plenty of the Godzilla vs. a big bad creature action. Plus, it had humans doing science and military stuff. We thought it was okay, but it was not the best of them. 

Spoilery Synopsis

We open on shots of various industries and also a bubbling lake, where something rears its ugly head as credits roll. The song involves pollution and the end of the world, and we watch many scenes of floating trash and sludge. 

We cut to a little boy, Ken, playing with his Godzilla toys. Mr. Gohai brings Ken’s father, Dr. Toru Yano, a marine biologist, an odd fish to examine. The old man whines that he hasn’t caught a single shrimp recently, and it’s getting worse. New reports talk about a new giant creature that’s been attacking ships in the harbor. Ken points out that it looks a lot like the big tadpole that Mr. Gohai brought them, and Dr. Yano agrees. 

Yano then goes scuba diving to see what he can learn about the missing shrimp. He sees lots of submerged trash. Ken stays on the beach and soon encounters the giant creature, but it turns around and ignores him. It goes after Yano instead, who is injured. 

The news reporters come to interview the family, and Ken has named the tadpole-creature “Hedorah.” Yano checks out one of the little tadpoles and learns that it’s a mineral, not biological at all. He puts a few grains of the creature-powder in water, and it comes to life. “It was born of sludge!” He watches two separate pieces join together to make a bigger creature. 

Meanwhile, Godzilla encounters floating sewage and fallout. He doesn’t like it and shoots it with his atomic breath. 

We cut to a Japanese hippie-disco, where everyone shows us that this was the 70s in the most 70s way possible– we get another musical number (same as the opening theme song) about extinct species and poisonous metals. As she sings, we watch Hedorah crawl around on dry land and sucking the smog out of a smokestack. Godzilla reaches land too, and he seems to want to find whoever’s been making all the mess. 

Unsurprisingly, the two creatures meet and fight. Back at the disco, everyone puts on fish-head masks as the song finishes. They’re all having fun– until a Hedorah tentacle slides down the steps and leaves goop all over their cat. A young couple, Yukio and Miki.  runs out of the disco and watches from their car as the two monsters go at it some more. Godzilla seems to win, but far too easily. Both creatures go back out to sea. 

We get more news reports about Hedorah’s terrible rampage. Dr. Yano examines the powder that Hedorah leaves behind. It is the same as the little tadpole. He comes to the conclusion that Hedorah is not from Earth and must have come here on a meteorite. 

Yukio and Miki take Ken to the amusement park and the little boy sees Godzilla nearby. Hedorah flies over a yoga class, and everyone passes out from the smell. Yano says Hedorah will just continue to get bigger and bigger. “Mankind could beat it if we could all join forces.” 

Hedorah has changed forms a few times, so experts predict what form it will come in next time. The monster seems to be creating more pollution as well as just eating it. 

We have another impromptu dance party on the beach, and between the bonfire and the noise-pollution, you-know-who shows up, and Godzilla is not far behind. All the revelers throw torches at Hedorah once it knocks out Godzila. It shoots acid on some of them and just plows over and melts others. 

The creatures stand in front of each other and stare at each other. We soon learn that Hedorah can shoot lightning out of his eye. It releases smoke that makes Godzilla pass out. Hedorah then grabs the unconscious Godzilla, picks him up, and flies away with him. It soon drops Godzilla into a pit that it starts filling with sludge. 

Dr. Yano has come up with a pan to make two giant electrodes that, when Hedorah goes between them, will shoot him with electricity and “desiccate him.” Except the monsters have just knocked out the power lines! 

 The men hurry to repair the power lines, but it takes time. A helicopter distracts the monster for a while, but eventually, he continues moving. The power comes on just in time and zaps Hedorah at the same time Godzilla does. Godzilla reaches into Hedorah’s body and pulls out his two eyes that he destroys; those were the center of Hedorah’s power. 

Hedorah’s still not dead yet after all, and it flies away. Godzilla then uses his own atomic breath to fly away after him. The two fight one more time, even though Hedorah is blind now. Godzilla flies the other monster back to the electrical weapon and drops him back inside. Godzilla pulls out all his organs this time and throws them all across the film. Soon, Hedorah is nothing but multiple puddles of muck, and then he cooks them all again. 

Godzilla looks at Yano and the soldiers, and he thinks about it, but then turns and walks away. We end with Godzilla looking at the pollution as he walks back to the sea. Little Ken watches his favorite monster head home.

Brian’s Commentary

Those opening credits– were they going for James Bond-thing for Godzilla?

Subtle. It’s a word these filmmakers never learned. There were even little animated segments between scenes showing some of the stuff that Hedorah does. Did we really need a song about mercury pollution? Pollution is bad, mmmmkay? 

Hedorah is still just a guy in a suit, but it’s an interesting design with the one red glowing eye and “seaweed” tentacles. 

I dunno what I dislike about this one, but it absolutely didn’t grab me. Maybe it was the over-the-top “message” since all the other usual Godzilla tropes and ideas were good. This is the only film where Godzilla flies, and it’s a very silly scene. 

Kevin’s Commentary

It was only an hour and 25 minutes, but I thought it managed to feel longer. The environmental messages were a little bit too heavy-handed. It wasn’t bad. Another example of Godzilla fighting a big bad with a predictable outcome.

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