Hail to the king
Political skullduggery. Conniving henchmen. Honor. Hubris. And it’s all centered around a short Italian man with a mustache rendered in 8-bit software.
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, making its Hawai’i premier at the Movie Museum this Saturday, and available on DVD, is a story that has to be seen to be believed. Following one man’s quest to beat the record score at Donkey Kong, the video game that was a staple at pizza joints and 7-elevens the world over in the early ’80s, it’s a documentary that puts all inspirational sports movies to shame, all the more impressive as its material revolves around a subject one would never suspect to caring about.
But the participants in Seth Gordon’s first documentary do care. They speak reverently about the game’s difficultly. ‘The average Donkey Kong game doesn’t last a minute,’ says Billy Mitchell, the record holder for over 20 years. ‘It’s absolute brutality. It boils down to hardcore skill.’
The main focus is on Steve Wiebe, a hapless sad sack from Washington who has shot for greatness–and missed–several times. Showing great promise for pitching as a youth, he practiced so hard until he injured his arm, taking him out of the running. After giving up dreams of being a musician and starting a family, he was laid off from his job at Boeing on the same day he and his wife signed papers on their house.
Out of a desire to be the best at something in his life, Wiebe remembers that he was good at the video game. After looking up the high score at [TwinGalaxies.com], the official scorekeeper of videogames, he decides this is one goal he can achieve. He becomes so obsessed with breaking the high score that his family suffers stoically, though sometimes not silently. When he turned in his tape showing his new high score, his child Derek is heard on the background audio, screaming and whining, ‘Stop playing Donkey Koooooooong!’
The record holder Mitchell, an arrogant hot sauce mogul and world record holder for five different arcade games in 1985, was awarded Video Game Player of the Century in 1999. Wearing tight suits and American flag ties and sporting a mullet-style haircut with full beard, he somehow manages to command reverence and servitude from other celebrities in the gaming world. It’s these same people who, after Wiebe turns in a video tape beating Mitchell’s score by 132,300 points, travel to his house and dismantle his machine to check for possible improprieties, the hanging chads of competitive arcade gaming.
It’s at this point the film changes from a simple spotlight on two oddballs into a fascinating tale of good versus evil. Wiebe’s score is invalidated for a gummy substance found on one of the computer chips, and Mitchell beams in smarminess over retaining his record. In return, Wiebe agrees to try and beat the score live in front of an audience on a sanctioned machine in Lake Winipesaukee, New Hampshire. Upon arriving, he’s surrounded by players loyal to Mitchell, and they crowd around Wiebe in an obvious attempt to intimidate him.
Still, Wiebe beats the score. Mitchell still isn’t ready to let the game be over though, and turns in a videotape showing him scoring over a million points. Despite improprieties on the tape, showing old-boy favoritism, Wiebe’s record is taken off the record books. High scores hardly settle the score, however, and Wiebe notes, ‘I guess it’s not even about Donkey Kong anymore.’
The film makes no allusions on whom they’re rooting for, but it’s Mitchell’s preening that settles the audiences allegiances, all the while surprised that we could possible be interested, much less on the edge of our seats with baited breath for the outcome. Heartwarming and heartbreaking, comical and tragic, The King of Kong is one of the best documentaries in recent years.
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters plays Sat., 2/9 at The Movie Museum, 3566 Harding Avenue #4. Showtimes at 2, 4, 6 & 8 pm. Reservations taken at 735-8771
