Godzilla vs. Hedorah
(ゴジラ対ヘドラ Gojira Tai Hedora?, lit. Godzilla Against Hedorah)
is a 1971 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho Company Ltd. and the
eleventh installment in the Godzilla series as well as the Showa series.
The film was released to Japanese theaters on July 24, 1971, United States; February 1972.
The Smog Monster Hedorah arrives in a shooting star! Two giant monsters battle, crushing streets and forests underfoot!
(流れ星でやって来た公害怪獣ヘドラ！ 街を森をふみつぶし二大怪獣が大決戦！)
~Japanese Tagline
All life doomed as a hideous monster is spawned in the filth of pollution
~ International Tagline
Pollution's hideous spawn dooms the Earth to choking horror and pits... Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster. With deadly breath and venomous blood it slithers across the land. A poisoned slime in its wake... a trembling world in its path!
Our environment is doomed!
Creature of Slime and Sludge Spawned by Pollution's Poison Threatens to Destroy the Earth!
~American Taglines
With a strong environmentally-focused message, Godzilla vs. Hedorah features the Smog Monster Hedorah, who feeds on the pollution produced by mankind. As Hedorah continues to feed and evolve, Godzilla rises to confront the creature before it can threaten him as well as all of humanity. However, Hedorah is bolstered by mankind's pollution and continues to achieve larger and more powerful forms to the point it dwarfs even Godzilla and causes horrific devastation to all of Japan. Marine biologist Toru Yano and his son Ken work to find a method to defeat Hedorah as Godzilla's war against the Smog Monster culminates in a decisive final battle atop Mount Fuji.
Directed by Yoshimitsu Banno
Written by Yoshimitsu Banno, Kaoru Mabuchi
Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka
Music by Riichiro Manabe, Mari Keiko
Cinematography by Yoichi Manoda
Edited by Yoshitami Kuroiwa
Production design by Taiko Inoue
Special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano
Assistant Director of Special Effects Koichi Kawakita
Cast
Akira Yamauchi as Doctor Toru Yano
Hiroyuki Kawase as Ken Yano
Toshie Kimura as Toshie Yano, Ken's Mother
Keiko Mari as Miki Fujinomiya
Toshio Shiba as Yukio Monai
Yoshio Yoshida as Fisherman Gohei
Haruo Suzuki as JSDF Commanding Officer Suzuki
Yoshio Katsube as JSDF Engineering Officer Katsube
Tadashi Okabe as Scientist
Yasuzo Ogawa as Civilian
Wataru Omae as Police Officer
Haruo Nakajima as Non-commissioned officer
Eizaburo Komatsu as Non-commissioned officer
Koji Uruki as Non-commissioned officer
Yutaka Oka as Non-commissioned officer
Takuya Yuki as Communications Officer Yuki
Yukihiko Gondo as Helicopter Pilot
Tatsuhito Go as Young Man
Kentaro Watanabe as News Announcer Watanabe
Tatsu Okabe as Interviewer Okabe
Kazuo Imai as Mahjong Man
Saburo Kadowaki as Mahjong Man
Masaki Shinohara as Mahjong Man
Nobuo Katsura as Mahjong Man
Haruo Nakajima as Man on TV
Akio Kusama as Man on TV
Soji Ubukata as Man on TV
Shigeo Kato as Construction Worker
International English Dub
Barry Haigh as Yukio Keuchi
Linda Masson as Miki Fujinomiya
Chris Hilton as JSDF officer
Titan Productions English Dub
Bernard Grant as Dr. Toru Yano
Peter Fernandez as Yukio Keuchi
Lucy Martin as Toshie Yano
Earl Hammond as JSDF officer
Monsters
Godzilla (SoshingekiGoji)
Hedorah
Fish People (hallucination)
Smog Factory (animation sequence)
King Ghidorah (toy)
Baragon (toy)
Ultraman (toy)
Kanegon (toy)
Weapons, vehicles, and races
Giant Electrode
Kawasaki-Vertol KV-107 II
Alternate Titles
Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (United States)
Hedorah, the Toxic Bubble (Hedorah, la burbuja tóxica; Spain)
Godzilla Against Monsters of Smog (Godzilla contra monstruos del smog; Mexico)
The Monsters of Smog (Los monstruos del smog; Mexico)
Fankenstein's Battle Against the Devil's Monster (Frankensteins Kampf gegen die Teufelsmonster; Germany)
Godzilla: Fury of the Monster (Godzilla - Furia di Mostri; Italy)
Godzilla Against the Monster of Fog (Godzilla contre le monstre du brouillard; French Belgium)
Godzilla Against Hedorah (Godzilla kontra Hedora; Poland)
Satan's Creature (Satans creatuur; Netherlands)
Monster Hedorah (Canavar Hedorah; Turkey)
U.S. release
Godzilla vs. Hedorah was released theatrically in the United States in 1972 by American International Pictures, under the title Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster. The film was dubbed into English and were also several small alterations: dialogue was dubbed into English by Titan Productions, several shots with Japanese text were replaced with English or textless equivalents, additional sound effects and foley were added to some scenes. The opening song, Return the Sun!, is recorded over with new English lyrics and retitled Save the Earth.
The AIP version of the film is only available on VHS and LaserDisc.
Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster was initially rated PG by the MPAA, but re-rated G despite the unusual amount of on-screen death for a kaiju film (The same version was given an 'A' certificate by the BBFC for its UK theatrical release in 1975). When TriStar Pictures released the international version of the film on DVD, it was rated PG once more. The film does not appear to have been widely released as a double feature, though 103 theaters in the New York City area paired it with Frogs and five Houston theaters with Yog, Monster from Space.
The AIP version has been replaced in the North American home video and television markets (even including Sony's DVD) by Toho's international version, titled Godzilla vs. Hedorah instead of Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster. This version features the original English dub produced in Hong Kong, and by extension lacks the English-language song, Save the Earth which was replaced with the original opening song Return The Sun!. This version was first broadcast in the United States by the Sci-Fi Channel, on January 20, 1996.
Before AIP's Americanization, Toho commissioned an international English dub from a company in Hong Kong, which went unreleased in English speaking territories until the Sci-Fi Channel aired it on January 20, 1996. It has since been included on the DVD and Blu-ray releases by Power Multimedia, Columbia TriStar Home Video, Madman Entertainment, and Kraken Releasing.
Godzilla vs. Hedorah - Dub Comparison
Comparing the Toho International and AIP versions.
Reception
Godzilla vs. Hedorah was panned by the few Japanese critics who reviewed it, except the Yomiuri Shimbun. It was mentioned in passing by New York Times critic Vincent Canby in his review of Frogs, with Godzilla described as "a sort of Japanese Smokey the Bear... looking as embarrassed and pious as an elderly clergyman at a charity masquerade ball." Writing for the British Monthly Film Bulletin, David McGillivray remarked that, "Times certainly have changed since the days when Godzilla was an 'X' certified Thing bent on destroying Tokyo. Today he is a comic figure (with his own signature tune) obligated to save mankind from destroying itself by way of water and atmospheric pollution." He concluded by saying, "[T]here is scarcely a minute when the monsters are not exploding something or other with their death rays. Eight-five minutes of such excess is a little wearying, although one has to admire Toho's public-spirited enthusiasm." Boxoffice, in its Review Digest, simply rated the film "good."
Among genre fans, Godzilla vs. Hedorah has long sparked divisive opinions, though they are generally more favorable now than in past decades. In G-Fan's reader surveys, its rating has consistently risen, from 5.81 in 1996 (18th out of 22 Godzilla films) to 7 in 2014 (19th of 29). Praise for the movie tends to focus on its experimental style, powerful anti-pollution message, and Hedorah's strength as a villain, while criticism targets the frequent shifts in tone, Riichiro Manabe's score, and, most prominently, the decision to make Godzilla fly. Scott Ashlin, writing for the website 10,000 Misspent Hours, encapsulates those mixed opinions: "I'm not sure I've seen such an intractable tangle of the laugh-out-loud stupid and the chills-up-the-spine disturbing in one movie, ever. Yeah, this is the flick in which Godzilla flies by using his atomic breath as a jet engine, but it’s also the one in which entire crowds of extras melt away into muddy skeletons as Hedorah flies overhead."
Steve Ryfle thought poorly of the way the film's message was presented, saying, "The problem is that its treatment of pollution is visually didactic and dramatically childish... the issue of pollution is reduced to terms a child can understand (a monster) and its root causes are never discussed, making it hard to take the picture seriously." David Kalat noted the film's many parallels with the original Godzilla - the on-screen suffering of civilians, Dr. Yano's damaged eye, fish killed by chemicals in a tank, the ending raising the prospect of a second Hedorah, and an allegorical monster who "embodies and symbolizes humanity's poison (industrial pollution) without assigning responsibility to any one person or group." Godzilla, no longer the villain, also departs from the role of heroic kaiju in many of Toho's 1960s films, as he is "not recruited by any human interest group. In fact, Godzilla saves the human race only as a side effect of battling Hedorah, which Godzilla does for his own reasons. Godzilla acts as a free agent, motivated by his own agenda. Hedorah threatens the world, so Godzilla acts to save it." The film is, in his estimation, "a cynical, depressing picture with no real hope for the future. The authorities are stupid and incompetent, and the counter-cultural youth movement is also stupid and incompetent. Industry, which caused the problem in the first place, makes no effort to redress their wrongs."
On his blog, artist Matt Frank suggests that Banno's documentarian background should be taken into account when considering the film's unique style: "The various animated segments call to mind the chapter-breaks in a documentary. The other cutaways and nonsequiturs, such as the television interview, the collage of people shouting (not to mention the baby submerged in sludge) all remind me of something you’d see in a Michael Moore-style production highlighting the effect of pollution and the public's call to action."
The U.S. dubbed version was featured in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.
Ken's Poem - Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
English visuals from Ken's poem in the international version,
which were not included in TriStar and Kraken's DVD and Blu-ray releases
Trivia
Director Yoshimitsu Banno has mentioned that Hedorah's eyes were deliberately made to resemble female genitalia, with Banno joking that the vaginal inspired look made it more unsettling. During Godzilla's battle with Hedorah, strange white orbs are ripped out of Hedorah's dried-out body. According to Banno, they are meant to be Hedorah's eyes, which he considered the most important part of a person's body. The movie has a running theme of eyes being injured with several of its characters. However, the reason they don't resemble Hedorah's actual eyes are due to a rushed production and smaller budget. Banno mentioned that not only had Toho given him less than half of the budget of prior Godzilla films, he was only given 35 days to shoot the entire picture (both drama and effect scenes). Making matters even more challenging for Banno was the fact that he had to make do with a single crew.
This was the first film that featured Kenpachirô Satsuma to wear the Smog Monster suit. Though small in stature, Satsuma was quite strong for his size, and was the only one capable of supporting the 300 pound suit for long periods of time. (Though there were some wire works to help support.) Satsuma then went on to wear the Gigan costume for the next two films. After a break of over 10 years, he would be asked to wear the Godzilla costume for Godzilla 1985 (1985), and would continue to wear it through the Heisei series, and retired after Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995).
A sequel, set in Africa, was planned. However, G-series producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, who had been hospitalized during the film's production, was enraged by the film once he saw it, telling director Yoshimitsu Banno that he had ruined the Godzilla series. Tanaka immediately ordered the filming of a more conventional Godzilla movie (Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)). Thus, the "Smog" sequel was never made.
When Godzilla chases down Hedorah near the end of the film, the director originally shot two different scenes. One had Godzilla chasing Hedorah on foot, the other had Godzilla flying after him. The flying scene was the one used in the final cut of the film, because the director thought a comical scene was needed to lighten up an otherwise dark film.
The original Japanese trailer promoted this as "Promising young director Yoshimitsu Banno debut title." However, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka was said to have not been pleased with Banno's work and it is often alleged that Banno was banned from ever working on another Godzilla film for as long as Tanaka lived. Banno however has mentioned that the story is exaggerated and that while Tanaka's reaction to the movie wasn't positive, it wasn't nearly as heated as it is so often claimed. Banno would eventually acquired Godzilla's film rights and planned to produce an IMAX short film entitled Godzilla 3-D to the Max. When Banno could not acquire funding for the film, he approached Legendary Pictures on behalf of Toho and discussed production of a new feature film. Ultimately, Godzilla (2014) was produced from this deal, with Banno acting as executive producer. While Banno passed away before ever getting the opportunity to make another Godzilla film, his drive would eventually lead to the creation of the MonsterVerse, which has given Banno posthumous credit as a producer.
This is the only movie in which Godzilla demonstrates his ability to fly by firing his atomic breath towards the ground and propelling himself backwards.
In the German version of the movie, titled "Frankensteins Kampf gegen die Teufelsmonster" ("Frankenstein's Fight against the Devil-Monster"), Hedorah was renamed to Hydrox.
There are differing accounts on who came up with the movie's anti-pollution message and dark imagery. Director Yoshimitsu Banno says it was him, as he wanted to maintain the social commentary aspect of the Godzilla series relevant. Special-effects director Teruyoshi Nakano on the other hand claimed that Banno was trying to make the movie appeal to kids, and that the darker scenes were his ideas.
One commonly misreported "fact" about the film stated that Hedorah's suit actor Kenpachirô Satsuma suffered from appendicitis during shooting, and had to undergo surgery while still inside his monster costume. In reality, his symptoms only got bad after filming had already wrapped and he was doing an interview for a magazine, while wearing the suit. He was taken to a hospital following the interview, and was not treated on set. One part of the story that is true is that his body was resistant against pain-killers. Even after being sedated, Satsuma had felt the pain of the surgery.
Though it's commonly said that producer Tomoyuki Tanaka was furious at director Yoshimitsu Banno after viewing the finished film, Banno claims that people exaggerate the story and that Tanaka's reaction to the movie, while negative, wasn't nearly as heated.
Like many Godzilla films, this film has a strong social message attached to it. In this case, the rising crisis of pollution that was impacting Japan during the early 1970s.
Roger Ebert's favorite Godzilla movie.
This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #1,000.
The bizarre - but impressive - feat of Godzilla flying hasn't been repeated in any other Godzilla movie, though it has reappeared briefly in video games and comics. The fact that the only time it happens in live-action is in Godzilla vs. Hedorah makes this moment even more noteworthy. As for how it came together, Godzilla vs. Hedorah director Yoshimitsu Banno has explained (via Vantage Point Interviews) that Godzilla needed to fly in order to catch up with the smog monster. Also, the scene added a bit of levity to the movie, which was much darker than its predecessors.
The film was intended to address the crisis levels of pollution in post-war Japan.
Hedorah is often assumed to have been born from pollution but the monster is actually a space monster, arriving on earth to feed on pollution.
Director Banno has mentioned that much of the inspiration for the film came from the seminal environmental science book, Silent Spring by Rachel L. Carson.
Before his death, Yoshimitsu Banno released a book titled "The Man Who Made Godzilla Fly" which details his career under Akira Kurosawa and Mikio Naruse, to the making of this film, his career at Toho, and the development of the Legendary Godzilla film.
This was the last Godzilla film to be released by American International Pictures (AIP) and dubbed by Titra Productions. The remaining Godzilla films from this decade were released by Downtown Distribution and/or Cinema Shares, and simply used edited versions of Toho's international English prints.
For the first time, the American International Pictures (AIP) dub of the movie translated its theme song, "Bring Back Nature". The English song, re-titled "Save the Earth", was performed by then-upcoming singer Adryan Russ. Russ claims that for a long time she had considered her involvement with a Godzilla movie an embarrassments, but upon learning of the movie's cult status, she completely changed her mind. The other official English dubbing track for the film, produced by Toho, keeps the song in Japanese.
According to several official Toho sources, Hedorah is a female monster. Director Yoshimitsu Banno mentioned its eyes were deliberately made to resemble female genitalia to make the monster look unsettling. In the child-oriented Godzilland merchandise series that ran from 1984 to the early 90s, Hedorah was depicted as a girl with pink color and prominent eyelashes, although she did not have a role in the Godzilland animated series. The 2019 mobile game Godzilla Defense Force also claimed that the original version of Hedorah is a female and the later incarnation from Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) is a male.
Prior to this film Yoshimitsu Banno had been study under Mikio Naruse and Hiromichi Horikawa and his directing experience had mainly been as an assistant director for Akira Kurosawa.
Director Banno has mentioned how the culture of Japan influenced his work stating, "Although it brings many disasters, the nature in Japan is deep and rich. We see nature as even rocks having life because we've lived with nature since ancient times. We're animalistic, meaning we believe even inanimate object may posses souls because we've lived with this rich nature and natural disasters for so long and we try to harmonize with it."
Yoshimitsu Banno added the scene of Godzilla flying to provide the film a moment of levity to contrast the dark imagery seen in other parts of the film.
According to Banno, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka had director Ishirô Honda watch a rough edit of the film and give Banno his advice. Banno was successfully able to asked Honda if he could convince Tanaka to give him a few more days of shooting.
This is one of only three Godzilla films from the Showa era to feature a child protagonist.
Godzilla Vs Hedorah Was Released On VHS Dubbed In English In The UK In 1998 By Carlton Home Entertainment.
Yoshimitsu Banno's drive to create a new Godzilla film lead to the Hollywood reboot, Godzilla (2014), and the eventual Monsterverse.
In terms of Godzilla screen-time, this is third highest Godzilla film with most Godzilla screen time. It also has the most Godzilla screen time out of all the original Showa films.
With the previous film changing the series in a more child-friendly direction, director Yoshimitsu Banno wanted to include a message about pollution that would speak to adults as well.
Because Hedorah's eyes were based on the vulva, the monster is considered to be female. This is according to several official Toho sources.
This was the first Godzilla film on which special effects wizard Kôichi Kawakita worked, uncredited, as assistant special effects director. After working as an assistant on several other Godzilla films into the mid-1980s, he would be the special effects director of the franchise from 1989 (the start of Japan's Heisei era) to 1995.
Godzilla vs. Hedorah includes a scene that is the first, and only, time Godzilla demonstrated the ability of flight in a film, using his atomic breath as jet propulsion. Yoshimitsu Banno reportedly added the scene to provide a light moment in what is otherwise a fairly dark movie compared to many of those which preceded it. Godzilla also demonstrated this ability in the comic series Godzilla: Ongoing and in Bandai Namco's Godzilla: The Game.
Despite Tomoyuki Tanaka reportedly prohibiting Yoshimitsu Banno from ever working on another Godzilla film, Toho attempted to produce a sequel to Godzilla vs. Hedorah with Banno as director, though this never made it past the concept stage. After Tanaka's death, Banno attempted to create a spiritual successor to Godzilla vs. Hedorah called Godzilla 3D to the MAX, which was scrapped in favor of Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, for which Banno was credited as an executive producer.
During the fight against Hedorah in the countryside, Godzilla tries to fend off one of Hedorah's eye beams by performing the famous '+' position with his arms, as a reference to the Ultraman series. However, this fails, and he gets his arms burnt.
Hedorah is the last monster that Godzilla battles in the Showa series that acts independently and is not under the control of some other being or beings.
Godzilla vs. Hedorah played in Japanese theaters as the main feature in the Summer 1971 Toho Champion Festival, accompanied by a Return of Ultraman compilation film, Hutch the Honeybee: The Injured Ballerina, General Inakappe: The Great One/We Must Give All, and Japanese Folklore Tales: The Straw Millionaire.
Kenpachiro Satsuma suffered acute appendicitis while promoting Godzilla vs. Hedorah, which required surgery. During the procedure, he discovered that he was unaffected by painkillers, forcing the doctor to knock him out with chloroform. Satsuma wore part of the Hedorah costume for an interview just before his diagnosis, giving rise to a myth that the surgery had taken place with him still inside the suit.
Hedorah is the first monster to make Godzilla visibly bleed, splitting his head open during their final battle in an attempt to flee. The original special effects director for the Godzilla series, Eiji Tsuburaya, seldom showed the monsters bleeding in the films, as he did not wish for the series' younger viewers to see such graphic images. After Tsuburaya's death, Teruyoshi Nakano took over as the head of the special effects department, and many of the Godzilla films he worked on included scenes of monster bloodshed.
Scans of AIP's Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster Pressbook
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
(ゴジラVSヘドラ Gojira tai Hedora)
is a 2021 short film directed by Kazuhiro Nakagawa for Godzilla Fest 2021, and a follow-up to the previous year's Godzilla Appears at Godzilla Fest. It celebrates the 50th anniversary of the feature-length Godzilla film of the same name.
Plot
Emerging in an oil refinery on a clear day, Hedorah begins menacing the refinery workers by firing his sulfuric acid mist and pieces of his body at the surrounding area, then begins consuming pollutants by inhaling smoke from one of the refinery's smokestacks. Godzilla interrupts him and the two kaiju trade blows, wrecking numerous buildings in the complex in the process. Godzilla unleashes his atomic breath, but Hedorah avoids it, then knocks him to the ground and sprays him with mist, burning his left eye. Godzilla kicks Hedorah into some power lines, the electricity weakening the Smog Monster. As Hedorah struggles to recover, Godzilla gets to his feet and obliterates him with a blast of atomic breath. Triumphant, he stomps away.
Directed by Kazuhiro Nakagawa
Executive producer Keiji Ota
Produced by Kota Ishizuka
Planning by Tetsuya Yoshikawa
Stock music by Akira Ifukube, Riichiro Manabe, Keith Emerson
Cinematography by Yutaka Adachi
Edited by Kazuhiro Nakagawa
Production design by Kohei Sugiyama, Tsukimi Uehara, Kenichi Matsumoto
Storyboards by Kazuhiro Nakagawa
Suits modeled by Shinichi Wakasa
Fluid graphics by Akiko Nakayama
Cast
Naoya Matsumoto as Godzilla
Hikaru Yoshida as Hedorah
Monsters
Godzilla (FinalGoji)
Hedorah
Production
Godzilla vs. Hedorah was shot on an outdoor set at Toho Studios over the course of three days in late September 2021.
Both monsters were portrayed by suits originally built by Shinichi Wakasa for Godzilla: Final Wars in 2004.
Trivia
While pronounced the same, this short's title is distinguished from that of the original Godzilla vs. Hedorah
by its use of the English "VS" (similar to the Heisei Godzilla films), rather than the kanji 対 (tai).
Godzilla vs Hedorah (ゴジラVSヘドラ) 2021:
A short film by Toho (4K Upscaled)
