Godzilla 1985 is a 1985 kaiju film directed by R. J. Kizer and Koji Hashimoto. The film is a heavily re-edited American localization of the Japanese film The Return of Godzilla, which was produced and distributed by Toho Pictures in 1984. In addition to the film being re-cut, re-titled, and dubbed in English, Godzilla 1985 featured additional footage produced by New World Pictures, with Raymond Burr reprising his role as American journalist Steve Martin from the 1956 film Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, which itself was a heavily re-edited American adaptation of the 1954 Japanese film Godzilla.
Both the New World Pictures and Toho versions serve as direct sequels to the original 1954 Godzilla, with Godzilla 1985 also serving as a sequel to Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. The same adaptation techniques used to produce Godzilla, King of the Monsters! were implemented with Godzilla 1985, with the original Japanese footage being dubbed and edited together with the American footage. The film retains the original musical score by Reijiro Koroku, while also integrating portions of the score for the 1985 Canadian film Def-Con 4, composed by Christopher Young.
Godzilla 1985 was met with mostly unfavorable reviews upon its release in the United States. Like Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, much of the nuclear and political overtones featured in the original Japanese film were removed from the American version. Godzilla 1985 was the last Godzilla film produced by Toho to be distributed theatrically in the United States until the release of Godzilla 2000.
Plot The Japanese fishing vessel Yahata Maru is trying to find its way to shore in a horrible storm, when a giant monster emerges from an eruption on a nearby uninhabited island and attacks the boat. A day later, reporter Goro Maki finds the vessel intact, along with its sole survivor Hiroshi "Kenny" Okumura.
The Japanese Prime Minister, Seiki Mitamura, is informed of the attack and that the monster is Godzilla; he orders that this be kept secret from the public. Maki's report is not published by his newspaper because it is "national security risk” and could cause mass panic. Maki is told to interview bio-physicist Makoto Hayashida instead. Maki finds Naoko, Okamura's sister working as a lab assistant to Hayashida and informs her that her brother is safe, against the government's orders. She rushes to the hospital.
Godzilla attacks and destroys a Soviet submarine. The Russians believe the attack was orchestrated by the Americans and the situation threatens to escalate into war. Mitamura is informed of the submarine attack and shown evidence that Godzilla was responsible. The media blackout is lifted and the Americans are absolved of blame. The Japanese arrange a meeting with the Soviet and American ambassadors. Prime Minister Mitamura decides nuclear weapons will not be allowed in Japanese territory even if Godzilla were to attack the Japanese mainland. The Americans balk at this, while the Soviets are in full agreement. However, Soviet Navy captain Kasirin secretly prepares a nuclear satellite, claiming Moscow has ordered this.
Godzilla appears on an island off the coast of Japan and attacks a nuclear power plant, removing the nuclear reactor and feeding off the radiation. Godzilla suddenly drops the reactor and follows a flock of birds back out to sea. The Japan Self-Defense Forces are deployed to wait for a possible attack by Godzilla at Tokyo Bay. General Kakurai of the JSDF briefs the Japanese cabinet about a top-secret weapon known as the "Super-X attack plane" that can be used against Godzilla.
Through the use of "ultrasonic images", Hayashida determines that Godzilla's brain is bird-like, only mutated. Hayashida realizes that Godzilla has a conditioned response to birds chirping and suggests they duplicate the sound electronically. Hayashida assists the Japanese emergency task force and plans to lure Godzilla into Mount Mihara's volcano by emitting bird sound frequencies. Mitamura authorizes both the JSDF plan and the plan to use the volcano against Godzilla.
Journalist Steve Martin is brought into The Pentagon to assist against Godzilla. Godzilla is sighted in Tokyo Bay, which is immediately evacuated. Godzilla proceeds to attack Tokyo and the JSDF launch the Super-X. In the attack, Godzilla sinks a Soviet merchant ship which was in actuality an intelligence collection vessel. Before dying of his injuries, Kasirin launches the nuclear missile.
The Pentagon prepares to assist the Japanese but Martin cautions that weapons will only confuse and antagonize Godzilla further. Hayashida uses the bird signaling device on Godzilla, which works initially, but before it can be tested further, Godzilla is attacked again by the JSDF. The Super-X arrives and defeats Godzilla with cadmium missiles. At that moment, the Soviet missile is detected by the Americans as it draws closer to Japan. When Washington warns that the blast will be 50 times that of the Hiroshima bombing, Mitamura permits the Americans to make an interception attempt.
Hayashida and his signaling equipment are evacuated and sent to Mount Mihara. The Americans launch a counter-missile and successfully intercept the Soviet missile. However, the nuclear blast fallout reawakens Godzilla and he destroys the Super-X. Hayashida relaunches the signal and lures Godzilla into the mouth of Mount Mihara. Using explosive bombs to cause the mountain to erupt, Godzilla becomes imprisoned after falling into the volcano.
Cast
Raymond Burr as Steve Martin Ken Tanaka as Goro Maki Tony Plana as Goro Maki (voice) Keiju Kobayashi as Prime Minister Seiki Mitamura Yasuko Sawaguchi as Naoko Okumura Lara Cody as Naoko Okumura (voice) Shin Takuma as Hiroshi "Kenny" Okumura Andy Goldberg as Hiroshi "Kenny" Okumura (voice) Warren J. Kemmerling as General Goodhoe James Hess as Colonel Raschen Travis Swords as Major McDonough Eitaro Ozawa as Minister of Finance Kanzaki Taketoshi Naito as Chief Cabinet Secretary Takegami Nobuo Kaneko as Home Affairs Minister Isomura Takeshi Katō as Trade Minister Kasaoka Mizuho Suzuki as Foreign Minister Kanzaki Junkichi Orimoto as Director-General Mohri Shinsuke Mikimoto as Chief Kakurai Yoshifumi Tajima as Minister of the Environment Hidaka Hiroshi Koizumi as Professor Minami Kunio Murai as Noboru Henmi Kei Satō as Gondo Takenori Emoto as Kitagawa Kōji Ishizaka as Guard Tetsuya Takeda as Tramp Crawford Binion as Lieutenant Oswald Justin Gocke as Kyle Martin Yosuke Natsuki as Professor Makoto Hayashida Paul Wilson as Professor Makoto Hayashida (voice) Luke Johnson as Kasirin Gregory Snegoff as Newscaster/Pilot/Government Official (voice) Kenpachiro Satsuma as Godzilla
Production In early 1985, trade papers reported that Toho was asking for several million dollars for the North American distribution rights for The Return of Godzilla, and that discussions had taken place with MGM/United Artists and other studios. At one point, a Toho spokesman complained that the best offer ponied up (by an unnamed Hollywood studio) was in the $2 million range. The bidding war didn't last long, and Toho got far less money. By May, the new Godzilla film had been passed over by the majors and fallen instead into the hands of indie distributor New World Pictures. New World gave budget breakdown for Godzilla 1985. The production budget was $700,000, including $500,000 to lease the film from Toho and $200,000 for filming the new scenes and other revisions. The marketing budget was a further for prints and advertising, adding up to a total budget of approximately .The Return of Godzilla - Box Office Report Toho Kingdom
After acquiring The Return of Godzilla for distribution in North America, New World put producer Tony Randel in charge of adapting the film for U.S. audiences. Randel and New World believed that The Return of Godzilla had so much inescapably "goofy" content that Americans would never take it seriously, and the only way to make it a success was by emphasizing its campiness. Their initial plan was to dub the Japanese footage into English in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner, and add in new scenes with American actors which would add the desired comic relief. Two screenwriters were recruited: Lisa Tomei wrote the script for the dub, and Straw Weisman wrote the script for the new scenes. Randel eventually decided to retitle the film Godzilla 1985, inspired by one of his childhood favorites, Frankenstein 1970.
Around ten minutes of new footage was added for the New World adaptation, most of it at The Pentagon. New World originally planned to tap Lorne Greene as the star of these new scenes. Still, Randel suggested that casting Raymond Burr would be a good homage to Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, as Burr had performed the same duty of starring in new American footage for that film. According to Randel, Burr was enthusiastic about the film when offered to reprise the role of Steve Martin, but after being signed on he made several unusual demands. The new footage was shot over three days, but Burr was only on the set for the first day, and was adamant that he would work no more than eight hours, forcing the director to focus on shooting Burr only and save reaction shots for later. Burr also refused to memorize his lines, insisting that teleprompters be strategically positioned around the set instead, despite the logistical difficulties this presented for the crew. Burr also made clear that he took the concept of Godzilla as an anti-nuclear allegory seriously and would not treat it as a joke. Warren Kemmerling also refused to perform comic material, though not out of respect for Godzilla, so the script was revamped to reassign all the comedic lines to Travis Swords.
Filming of the new footage was done at the Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles and a house in Malibu. The "war room" was a large montage of the war room from The Philadelphia Experiment, another film from the same studio. The poster image was the same as for the Japanese version, but a green tinting was added to Godzilla's charcoal gray skin and the Soviet attack satellite in the upper right corner was removed. Dr Pepper launched a US$10 million advertising campaign for the film. The soda brand is prominently featured in the new footage, such as a vending machine at The Pentagon.
Changes Much of the original version was deleted or altered. Here is a partial list of the changes:
Shortened Godzilla roars and the crew falls, whereas the audience sees Steve Martin (Burr) after Godzilla roars. Goro Maki (Ken Tanaka)'s fight with the giant mutated sea louse; the louse's voice was changed. The scene where Naoko Okumura (Yasuko Sawaguchi) learns her brother Hiroshi Okumura (Shin Takuma) is alive; Goro snaps pictures of them reunited, which angers Naoko because she realizes he only helped her in order to get the scoop. The meeting between the Japanese Prime Minister Seiki Mitamura (Keiju Kobayashi) and the Russian and American ambassadors. Also deleted was a scene following the meeting in which Miramura explains to his aides how he was able to reach a consensus with both sides. Furthermore, in the Americanized version, this scene appears before Godzilla's attack on the nuclear power plant, whereas in the Japanese version, the scene appears after Godzilla's attack.
Added Part of Christopher Young's score from Def-Con 4 in several scenes (including Godzilla's attack on the Soviet submarine, the scene where the SDF armored division arrives in Tokyo Bay, and Okumura's near-death experience during the helicopter extraction in Tokyo). Stock footage from Godzilla, King Of The Monsters was added as the Americans are talking about Godzilla's first appearance but mention that the attack happened in 1956 rather than 1954. (Godzilla, King Of The Monsterss release year was 1956.)