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The King of Kong

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The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySeth Gordon
Produced byEd Cunningham
Luis Lopez
J. Clay Tweel
Beau Bauman
Ross Tuttle
StarringSteve Wiebe
Billy Mitchell
Walter Day
Brian Kuh
Todd Rogers
Steve Sanders
Doris Self
CinematographyRoss Tuttle
Edited byJim Bruce
J. Clay Tweel
Music byCraig Richey
Distributed byPicturehouse
Dendy Cinemas
Release dates
United States:
August 17, 2007
Australia:
February 28, 2008
Running time
79 minutes
CountryTemplate:FilmUS
LanguageEnglish

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is an American documentary film that follows Steve Wiebe as he tries to take the world high score for the arcade game Donkey Kong from reigning champion Billy Mitchell. The film premiered January 22, 2007, at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival[1] and has been shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, the SXSW Film Festival, the TriBeCa Film Festival, the True/False Film Festival, the Aspen Comedy Festival, and the Fantasia Festival. The film opened in limited release in the United States on August 17, 2007, in 5 theaters, and by September 9, 2007, the film had expanded to 39 theaters in the U.S.[2] Later in 2007, it appeared on the cable network G4.

The film's original title was simply The King of Kong but later received the subtitle A Fistful of Quarters.

A scripted movie adaptation is already in the works. Director Seth Gordon has said that the movie might be a sequel instead of a remake, telling the story of how the documentary changed both men's lives, as well as their continuing rivalry.[3]

The film's DVD release was on January 29, 2008.[4]

Cast

Synopsis

File:KingOfKong-Screenshot1.png
Twin Galaxies founder Walter Day (left) observes Steve Wiebe's game of Donkey Kong.

In Ottumwa, Iowa, Walter Day founded Twin Galaxies, an organization formed to keep track of high scores achieved on arcade games in the United States. Billy Mitchell, having achieved the highest ever recorded scores on Donkey Kong and Centipede in the 1980s, remains a video game legend in 2005. Twin Galaxies has now become a global organization. Mitchell is unabashedly cocky and fond of self promotion, proclaiming himself the "Sauce King" of Florida for his successful line of homemade hot sauces. Next to his family, Mitchell considers his arcade scores his greatest achievements in life.

On the other side of the country, in Redmond, Washington, Boeing employee Steve Wiebe has been laid off as a Boeing engineer, and now spends his time as a science teacher. His friends and his wife, Nicole, describe him as a tragic figure who always comes up short, despite being proficient at music, sports, art, and mathematics. He was a star baseball pitcher but was injured and unable to pitch in the state championship. He is a gifted drummer yet does not care to perform. Preparing to get back into the workforce, Wiebe begins going to night school to get a masters degree and obtains a Donkey Kong machine to play in his garage as a pastime. After reading of Mitchell's world record of 874,300 on the internet, Wiebe uses his math and engineering skills to discover various patterns in the game, and is able to master the game and achieve a score of 1,006,600 points. Wiebe submits the tape to Twin Galaxies, and for a few weeks, Wiebe is a local celebrity and news topic as the new world record holder.

However, Mitchell sends his self-styled protege, retired banker turned pro-gamer Brian Kuh, to investigate Wiebe's machine. Kuh finds that the machine's circuit board was provided by Roy "Mr. Awesome" Shildt, a self-styled fitness guru and pickup artist who claims to hold the high score for Missile Command. Unbeknown to Wiebe, Shildt and Mitchell have been nemeses for years ever since Mitchell caused Shildt's high score to be brought under scrutiny, preventing him from receiving official recognition from Twin Galaxies. Ever since, Shildt has been looking for a way to exact clandestine revenge on Mitchell. Based on Wiebe's association with Shildt, the staff of Twin Galaxies suspects that Wiebe's board might have been tampered with and as such, he may have achieved his score dishonestly.

In order to prove his gaming skills, Wiebe travels to Funspot Arcade in Laconia, NH, to perform a high score live for Twin Galaxies founder Walter Day and other high-ranking members of Twin Galaxies, hoping to confront Mitchell and play head-to-head. Although Mitchell does not show, he sends Kuh to observe Wiebe's play. Just prior to the kill screen, Kuh is seen gathering a large crowd to witness. Wiebe reaches it and also achieves a new world record of 985,600 points. However, Mitchell sends a low-quality VHS to Funspot, depicting himself achieving a higher score of 1,047,200 points - a stark contrast to his opinion throughout the film, in which he repeatedly asserts that live scores are the only ones credible. Despite Wiebe's protests that his own first score was disqualified for being submitted via unsupervised videotape, Twin Galaxies accepts Mitchell's score over Wiebe's and proclaims that Mitchell is still the record holder.

Nine months later, Wiebe learns that Guinness World Records wants to publish several of Twin Galaxies' records — including Mitchell's latest score. Wiebe and his family travel to Hollywood, Florida, near Mitchell's home, to challenge him in a public competition, but Mitchell refuses to accept the challenge, and Wiebe fails to surpass a million points. Nevertheless, Day, on behalf of Twin Galaxies, finally acknowledges Wiebe's integrity and credibility.

In a coda to the film, Wiebe, in front of the film's documentary crew, achieves the world record of 1,049,100 in his garage.

On July 13, 2007, in celebration of the film's release and the 25th anniversary of Mitchell's first record-setting performance, Mitchell again played in public and retook the Donkey Kong record with a score of 1,050,200.[5]

Reception

File:KingOfKong-Screenshot2.png
Billy Mitchell in his car in Hollywood, Florida. In the movie, Billy appears to be avoiding Steve, but he claims he actually greeted him numerous times.

The film was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. As of December 7, 2007, the film had an average score of 83 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 23 reviews.[6] Rotten Tomatoes reported that 97% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 92 reviews.[7]

Robert Wilonsky of the Village Voice called the film a "miniature masterpiece"[8] and in August 2007 said it was "[his] favorite movie of the year" up to that point.[9] (Wilonsky eventually chose My Kid Could Paint That as his favorite film of 2007.)[10] Pete Vonder Haar of Film Threat gave the film 5 stars and said "It’s not just one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen, it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Period."[11] Richard Roeper called it "one of the most fascinating films of the year and it deserves an Oscar nomination for best documentary."[9] Keith Phipps of The Onion AV Club gave the film an "A-" and said at one point it "turns into a film about what it takes to make it in America."[12] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, wondering "Who would have guessed that a documentary about gamers obsessed with scoring a world record at Donkey Kong would not only be roaringly funny but serve as a metaphor for the decline of Western civilization?"[13] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times similarly gave the film 3 stars and called it "a documentary that is beyond strange."[14]

Among critics who gave the film negative reviews, Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post said "Is there anything more tiresome than watching people play video games?" and "The competition is so vicious because the stakes are so low."[15] Stephen Garrett of Time Out New York called it "moderately entertaining and ultimately kind of pathetic" and said that the early-1980s arcade subculture is explored better in the documentary Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade.[16]

The Boston Society of Film Critics named it the runner-up for Best Documentary Feature of 2007.[17] The film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature of 2007 by the Broadcast Film Critics Association[17]. The film was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature by the Chicago Film Critics Association, but lost to Sicko.[17]

Top ten lists

The film appeared on a few critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[18]

Disputed facts

Walter Day of Twin Galaxies believes that the documentary is dishonest in its portrayal of the actual events. In posts on a Twin Galaxies forum entitled "The King of Kong — Official Statement"[19] he contends, among other things, that:

  • In 2000 Tim Sczerby reached a high score of 879,200 points. Steve Wiebe beat both this score and Billy Mitchell's 1982 score. (In response, the film's producers claim that "Tim Sczerby's consistently disputed record was impossible to verify and did not merit inclusion in the film."[20])
  • Billy Mitchell was not always avoiding Steve Wiebe. They met and played together on several occasions before the time period of the film, notably the 2004 Classic Gaming Expo, and they were on very friendly terms — even giving interviews together. In one scene in the film, it is implied that Mitchell drove away from his restaurant when he learned Wiebe was there, but Day contends that in fact Mitchell came in with his whole family and greeted everyone apologetically, including Wiebe.[21]
  • Steve Wiebe actually held the high score record for almost 3 years, and when his videotaped score of 1,006,000 points was rejected, the record actually reverted back to Wiebe's own previous record reached in 2003 — it did not revert to Billy Mitchell's 1982 score as implied by the film.
  • Mitchell's videotaped record sent to the Funspot event was actually discarded after the event, and Walter Day apologized "for the mistake of approving this videotape without the benefit of a complete verification process". The score was reverted to Wiebe's score achieved at Funspot.[22]

Day feels that the information presented above "shows that Twin Galaxies did recognize Steve Wiebe's great skills and honor him," and "reveals that Twin Galaxies did not elbow Steve's accomplishment aside so as to protect Billy Mitchell's 874,300 point score."[23]

Other facts

Director Seth Gordon has also admitted to painting Billy Mitchell as a lighter character than his real life persona[24] concerning the movie. Gordon also claims that Billy Mitchell is "so much worse than we painted him out to be", but he chose to only include scenes that were necessary to tell the story.[25]

While Gordon contends that the movie would have been "darker" had he not played with the facts; a 2008 interview/article by "Retro Gamer" Magazine, 52nd issue, with Billy Mitchell, Walter Day, and Steve Wiebe suggest otherwise. [26].

Influence

The My Name is Earl episode (Season 4, Episode 19, "My Name is Alias", 10 minutes 52 seconds in) a tribal person references the movie by saying "Hey, there's about to be a Donkey Kong kill screen in the game tent... if you're interested."[27]

The popular FX drama, The Shield, named the penultimate episode of the series "Possible Kill Screen" as a reference to this movie.

References

  1. ^ The King of Kong - Slamdance Film Festival 2007. Slamdance.com. Retrieved 2007-08-26
  2. ^ "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007) - Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  3. ^ 'King of Kong' Movie Might Be a Sequel? Nathan Fillion vs Johnny Depp?, Justpressplay.net, Retrieved 2007-08-30
  4. ^ IGN DVD: Trailers, Wallpaper, Pictures, and Reviews
  5. ^ "Man Shatters Donkey Kong World Record Exactly 25 Years After First Setting It in 1982"
  6. ^ King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, The (2007): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-12-07
  7. ^ The King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-08-22
  8. ^ Robert Wilonsky (2007-08-14). "Tracking Shots: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters". Village Voice. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  9. ^ a b "Ebert & Roeper - August 17, 2007 episode". Ebert & Roeper. 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  10. ^ Ebert and Roeper
  11. ^ Pete Vonder Haar (2007-08-18). "THE KING OF KONG". Film Threat. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  12. ^ Keith Phipps (2007-08-17). "The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters". The Onion AV Club. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Text "The A.V. Club" ignored (help)
  13. ^ Peter Travers (2007-08-07). "The King of Kong : Review : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  14. ^ Roger Ebert (2007-08-24). ":: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  15. ^ Ann Hornaday (2007-08-24). "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ Stephen Garrett (August 16–22, 2007). "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters". Time Out New York Issue 620. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  17. ^ a b c "Metacritic: 2007 Film Awards & Nominations". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
  18. ^ "Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  19. ^ Walter Day (January 24, 2008). "Twin Galaxies Forums - The King of Kong Official Statement". Twin Galaxies. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
  20. ^ Seth Gordon and Ed Cunningham. "Some frequently asked questions about The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters". The King of Kong Official Movie Site. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
  21. ^ http://forums.twingalaxies.com/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=11148
  22. ^ http://forums.twingalaxies.com/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=11027
  23. ^ http://forums.twingalaxies.com/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=10930
  24. ^ http://blog.spout.com/2008/11/26/seth-gordon-interview/
  25. ^ http://blog.spout.com/2008/11/26/seth-gordon-interview/
  26. ^ Retro Gamer Magazine, 52nd issue
  27. ^ http://www.channelguidemagblog.com/index.php/2009/02/20/my-name-is-earl-recap-my-name-is-alias/
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