Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Bye Bye Monkey

Play trailer Poster for Bye Bye Monkey 1978 1h 54m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
60% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 42% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
A man walking along a beach near New York City finds the corpse of King Kong and the ape's orphaned son.

Critics Reviews

View More
Jesús Fernández Santos El Pais (Spain) 07/31/2019
The film's true interest resides, above all, in the effective scenes of dark humor and in the general idea of the script, which is surely Marco Ferreri's most ambitious one to date. [Full Review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Christopher Long Movie Metropolis 07/25/2009
5/10
Ferreri's first English-language film... is more of a collection of disjointed ideas than an actual story. Go to Full Review
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 07/20/2009
0/4
A hopelessly irrelevant, downright interminable piece of work... Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 10/03/2005
3/5
Brian Webster Apollo Guide 01/01/2000
77/100
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
02/27/2012 Il film non ha una storia ben definita, ma lavora per immagini. Gérard LaFayette è un giovanotto affascinante che vive in un seminterrato di una metastorica New York. Lavora come elettrotecnico in un museo delle cere su Roma antica, tenuto da un melanconico direttore di probabile origine italiana, tale Andreas Flaxman. Come hobby aiuta un gruppo di teatro off di attiviste femministe, delle quali la bella Angelica è di lui innamorata. Ama anche passare del tempo con un gruppetto di anziani di cui è "protettore": l'anarchico individualista italiano Luigi Nocello, il suonatore nero Miko, l'evanescente Robin e la bella signora Toland. Proprio durante una passeggiata con loro, lungo le spiagge del fiume Hudson, Luigi scopre, vicino alla carcassa morta di King Kong, uno scimmiotto neonato, a cui Gérard si affeziona talmente da adottarlo, considerandolo suo figlio, battezzandolo col nome di Cornelio. Luigi, sentimentale e rancoroso, si suicida, impiccandosi. Angelica, avendo precedentemente violentato Gérard, ne rimane incinta, ma il ragazzo rifiuta alcuna responsabilità. A casa, LaFayette scopre Cornelio divorato dai topi. Stravolto, cerca riparo dal suo amico Flaxman, che non appare per nulla comprensivo. Un po' in maniera casuale, un po' voluto, i due periscono nell'incendio del museo. Nella scena finale, Angelica e sua figlia giocano sulla spiaggia. [it.wikipedia.org] See more 10/21/2011 ....yeah. So, anyway, gender roles are reversed, Gerard Depardieu is raped by a feminist theatre troupe 'cause they want to know what it's like to rape' (not be raped as that would be unpleasant) and then he finds King Kong's son by the corpse of said Kong (Dino DeLaurentis Kong no doubt). That's about 22 minutes in. Uh...then...uh...you get to see Depardieu naked, if that's your thing. He's young enough and speaks English with a thick accent. I'm sure that's a fetish for someone. Everything is a fetish now. See more walter m @Harlequin68 05/11/2011 "Bye Bye Monkey" starts with Lafayette(Gerard Depardieu) waking to a New York City being fumigated for rats. That's not all as he also has trouble selling fake leopard skin to Flaxman(James Coco) for his wax museum. Lafayette becomes a guinea pig for the women's theatre group where he works the lights to determine whether a man can be raped. Angelica(Gail Lawrence) demonstrates in the affirmative. At first incensed, he calms down enough to inspect King Kong's carcass where Luigi(Marcello Mastroianni) finds a baby monkey which he gives to Lafayette for safe keeping because of his allergies. I guess if one were so inclined, one could think of "Bye Bye Monkey" as a quasi-unofficial sequel to the 1976 remake, especially considering the body of the beast in the shadows of the World Trade Center.(I'd also work a Dave Kingman reference in here but he was on the Cubs in 1978. Darn it.) What is really important about "Bye Bye Monkey," a provocative and affectionate black comedy, is that it is about the little people on the ground going about their lives as tumultous events happen above them, most of whom like King Kong are from far-off lands. It is the rats who are native to New York and will be here long after we are all gone. In this topsy-turvy world, Lafayette occasionally takes on animal characteristics and, as Angelica points out, is more of a mother than a father to the baby monkey. See more 04/20/2011 Pretty boring, but interestingly weird in a Robert Downey Sr kinda way. See more 03/17/2011 I loved Ferreri's La Grande Bouffe. I love Mastroianni in everything he's ever done. I thought finding a dead King Kong and his baby would have to be in some way interesting. It was not. It was so not. It starts off with a bunch of feminist performers raping Depardieu. Then Depardieu walks around with his junk hanging out a lot and talks by blowing through a whistle. He takes in the chimp. The girl who raped him moves in with him. Discovers she's pregnant. Rats eat his monkey. There is some sort of monologue about ancient Rome and Civilization. Some characters die. I have no idea what just happened. The cinematography was nice... See more 01/19/2011 Ferreri's first English-language film... is more of a collection of disjointed ideas than an actual story. See more Read all reviews
Bye Bye Monkey

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Jabberwocky 45% 47% Jabberwocky Watchlist The One and Only 55% 57% The One and Only Watchlist First Family 20% 10% First Family Watchlist The Gods Must Be Crazy 86% 84% The Gods Must Be Crazy Watchlist The Hollywood Knights 14% 72% The Hollywood Knights Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis A man walking along a beach near New York City finds the corpse of King Kong and the ape's orphaned son.
Director
Marco Ferreri
Producer
Maurice Bernart, Yves Gasser, Giorgio Nocella, Yves Peyrot
Screenwriter
Gérard Brach, Marco Ferreri
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Aug 19, 2008
Runtime
1h 54m