# How about a good list of monkey movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421 "2005-06-01T18:53:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/21 "2005-06-01T21:18:00Z")
Did nobody get my “orangutans being called monkeys”? That’s just sad. Additional movies: \*[MVP: Most Valuable Primate](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196106/) \* and its sequels, _MVP2: Most Vertical Primate_ and _MXP: Most Xtreme Primate_. True classics in the “Apes Playing Sports” genre. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/22 "2005-06-01T21:23:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **The Wizard of Oz** As David Letterman would say, “Flyin’ monkeys is funny!” Speaking of Letterman, he was selling sock monkeys in the movie “Cabin Boy” IIRC. Do sock monkeys count? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/23 "2005-06-01T21:23:13Z")
I’m glad the OP said a good list of monkey movies, instead of a list of good monkey movies (since most of these films, _Oz_ and _Kong_ obviously excepted, suck). From the IMDB keyword search: [gorilla](http://www.imdb.com/List?tv=on&&keywords=gorilla&&heading=19;gorilla) (120 results), [ape](http://www.imdb.com/List?tv=on&&keywords=ape&&heading=19;ape) (65), [monkey](http://www.imdb.com/List?tv=on&&keywords=monkey&&heading=19;monkey) (190), [orangutan](http://www.imdb.com/List?tv=on&&keywords=orangutan&&heading=19;orangutan) (15) and [chimpanzee](http://www.imdb.com/List?tv=on&&keywords=chimpanzee&&heading=19;chimpanzee) (74). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/24 "2005-06-01T23:47:33Z")
There’s an orangutan in the Marx Brothers’ _At The Circus_, and several Three Stooges shorts have gorillas, although they were portrayed by actors in gorilla costumes. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/25 "2005-06-01T23:55:56Z")
**Hail To The Chimp** “Heh heh. _That’s_ what you get for not hailing to the chimp.” ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/26 "2005-06-02T00:32:01Z")
**Monkeybone** , which got savaged by the critics and bombed at the box office, but I liked the weird goofiness of it, and Henry Selick’s bizarre animation. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/27 "2005-06-02T01:33:10Z")
Sign of the Cross from 1932 has an implied public girl/gorilla bondage sex scene (no, I am not kidding). How’s that for a classic? And if you include guys in gorilla suits, you have to include two classics, “Robot Monster” and “Trading Places.” ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/28 "2005-06-02T01:34:20Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > And if you include guys in gorilla suits, you have to include two classics, “Robot Monster” and “Trading Places.” Not to mention Marlene Dietrich dressed as a gorilla in _Blonde Venus_. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/29 "2005-06-02T01:35:14Z")
Oh, and Gladiator Eroticus had a gorilla, who was clearly a guy in a monkey suit, fighting, along with a guy in a lion suit, against a naked Amazon gladiator. Oh, I’ve seen some baaaaaaaaaaaad movies … ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/30 "2005-06-02T01:48:17Z")
**Bonzo Goes to College** Pretty much all the \*\*Tarzan \*\* movies **Congo** **Murders in the Rue Morgue** **Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla** (1952) **The Ape-Man** **Return of the Ape-Man** Can we count [**Robot Monster**](http://www.podster.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fotos/robmonster.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/31 "2005-06-02T01:50:09Z")
[Human Nature](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219822/), written by Charlie Kaufman (so you know it’s zany and kind of postmodern). Strictly speaking, the chimp is Rhys Ifans, playing a “Kaspar Hauser”-type case, only raised by chimps, or apes, or hockey defensemen, or something. And at one point Patricia Arquette stops shaving and goes nekkid, which is a really bad idea. I guess between the two of them you get the equivalent of one really good ape. Also, [Gorilla At Large](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047041/) (1954), featuring a young Lee J. Cobb and an even younger Lee Marvin. Despite having these tough guys plus the aforementioned gorilla (at large, no less!) it managed to be pretty lame, even though it was made in 3-D, so if you have the glasses, it’s kinda cool. On second thought, I was wearing the glasses when I saw it on TV when I was in, oh, junior high school? And even then I thought it was lame. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/32 "2005-06-02T01:53:31Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > And if you include guys in gorilla suits, you have to include two classics, “Robot Monster” and “Trading Places.” Also **Where’s Poppa?** (Sorry I missed your _Robot Monster_ before posting mine) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/33 "2005-06-02T02:16:06Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Also **Where’s Poppa?** > > (Sorry I missed your _Robot Monster_ before posting mine) I must admit I’m a little surprised … the bubble machines generally give them away. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/34 "2005-06-02T02:18:56Z")
In _The Cameraman_, Buster Keaton acquires an organ-grinder’s monkey about halfway through the movie. That monkey sticks with Buster through thick and thin for the rest of the film, and it’s fantastic. Does pretty much everything he does, and helps him get the girl in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/35 "2005-06-02T11:38:00Z")
**Any Which Way You Can** ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/36 "2005-06-02T11:53:05Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Not to mention Marlene Dietrich dressed as a gorilla in _Blonde Venus_. Later ripped off/homaged in **Batman And Robin** , with Uma Thurman in the gorilla suit. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/37 "2005-06-02T11:58:23Z")
> [@JerH](#): > > Did nobody get my “orangutans being called monkeys”? That’s just sad. Oook. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/38 "2005-06-02T13:29:46Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Oook. To elaborate: The librarian usually only objects when someone actually speaking aloud makes the mistake of calling an orangutan a monkey. Something that is written down – especially something as ephemeral as a message on a message board – doesn’t really get his attention. For which we should all thank our lucky stars. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/39 "2005-06-02T15:27:23Z")
**The Barefoot Executive** **Lost in Space** had a kind of robot monkey in it. **American Pie** had a monkey in it. I think there must be film executives who think any movie can be punched up with the insertion of a monkey. Even otherwise sane movies like **The Women** insert monkeys into the proceedings for no discernable reason. It think if a space alien were to judge our culture solely by the movies we make, they would conclude that about one in every ten houses has a monkey in it. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-good-list-of-monkey-movies/306421/40 "2005-06-02T15:39:19Z")
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