Jack Prescott
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- Fred Wilson: “Say... you're pretty good with that camera junk of yours, eh?”
- Jack Prescott: “I've snapped a few monkeys.”
- Fred Wilson: “That's it. Congratulations, you are now this expedition's official photographer.”
- ― Jack Prescott and Fred Wilson's dialogue on the Petrox Explorer (King Kong [1976])
Jack F. Prescott[1] is a protagonist and the leading male character in the 1976 film King Kong. In the 1970s, Prescott took part in an expedition to Skull Island. During this journey, he met actress Dwan and found the giant ape Kong, but was unable to save him from the Petrox Corporation and the American military.
Development
In the first script, written by Lorenzo Semple Jr., the main character was oilman Joe Perko, who developed a romantic relationship with a female photographer during an expedition to Skull Island. Producer Dino De Laurentiis liked this script, but Semple himself thought the main female character was too banal, and he suggested the idea that she was found by the ship's crew in the open ocean. De Laurentiis didn't like this decision, but John Guillermin preferred Semple's approach and so it became the final version of the script. The photographer's function was taken over by Jack Prescott, the new leading male character, while Joe Perko became the secondary crew member.[2]
Name
Jack Prescott's initials match those of Joe Perko, who was originally intended to be the film's main character.
Personality
Jack Prescott is a professor of primate paleontology at Princeton. An expert in his field, he also knows well the peculiarities of behavior and lifestyle of modern monkeys, which he photographs in the wild. Before pursuing zoology, Prescott attended medical school and is therefore skilled in first aid. He is also an ecological activist and despises the activities of oil companies such as Petrox. Prescott is an honest person and only allows deception for noble purposes. For example, to get to Skull Island, he stole a Petrox employee's uniform and bribed a security guard at the port. In difficult situations, Prescott acts decisively, although during the first encounter with Kong he did not have time to warn the other crew members from shooting. Having met Dwan, he quickly fell in love with her, but over time he realized that they were too different to be together. Dwan loves fame and a luxurious life, and he avoids unnecessary attention and does not earn enough to provide her with the best.
History
- King Kong (1976)
- King Kong Lives (1986) [stock footage]
King Kong (1976)
After learning from a friend that the Petrox Corporation was planning an expedition to an uncharted island, Jack Prescott secretly boarded the Petrox Explorer in Surabaya, Indonesia. Unnoticed, he spent a day in a lifeboat and then attended a presentation, where Fred Wilson and Roy Bagley talked about the true destination of the journey, Skull Island. Prescott interrupted Wilson's speech and told everyone present that a huge animal probably lived on the island, citing a summary of reports dating back to 1605, 1749, and 1944. Having discovered that Prescott was a stowaway, Wilson mistook him for an industrial spy. Captain Ross was not so categorical towards Prescott, but Wilson ordered him locked in an empty cabin. On his way to the cabin, Prescott managed to see a life raft in the open sea with actress Dwan, who had lost consciousness after the yacht exploded during a recent storm. Having satisfied himself after an inquiry to the Department of the Navy that Prescott was not a spy, Wilson appointed him the official photographer of the expedition. For the rest of the voyage, Prescott formed a close bond with Dwan.
When the ship stopped in front of a fog bank, Prescott went out in a boat with a reconnaissance party. Soon the fog cleared and they landed on the sandy beach of Skull Island, where Prescott began to keep an eye on Dwan, who was taking the situation too lightly. They walked up a wide canyon and discovered a giant wooden wall. Wilson thought it was as ancient as the Egyptian pyramids, but Prescott noticed that the cracks in the wall were filled with earth, which had to be changed after the rains, and therefore the island was inhabited. Just a few seconds later, Prescott's guess was confirmed when drum music began to play. They walked a little further and found a native settlement near a giant gate. After watching the islanders' ceremony, Dwan and Prescott assumed that it was a rite of adornment for the bride. Soon the witch doctor in the ape mask noticed the presence of strangers and approached them with a group of armed tribesmen. Prescott did not understand their language, but from the intonations he partially guessed what they were talking about. Refusing to give Dwan to the natives in exchange for six women from their tribe, the group returned to the ship. After arguing with Wilson over his plans to hunt a giant ape Kong that the natives probably worship, Prescott decided to return to the island alone for a photo shoot. Dwan warned him against this idea and hinted that they could have some privacy for the night. Returning for her a little later, Prescott found a primitive necklace near the boat and guessed that the natives had kidnapped Dwan. A rescue party went to the island and dispersed the natives with shots in the air. Prescott and the other crew members moved the giant bolt and opened the gate, but found only an empty altar and someone's huge footprints behind the wall.
Six people, including Prescott, went into the woods to search for Dwan. While camping overnight, Carnahan asked Prescott if he thought Kong was going to marry Dwan, and Prescott replied that he didn't know. However, he was absolutely sure that Dwan was alive, since most jungle apes eat exclusively fruit. The next day, the group moved slowly, distracted by the installation of seismic equipment at Wilson's remote command. Prescott was irritated by this, but he could not influence the situation. They did not catch up with Kong until the following night, when they were crossing a log over a deep chasm in the mountains. Prescott failed to warn crewmen not to shoot, and Kong, irritated by the shots, threw Garcia, Timmons, Joe Perko, and Carnahan into the abyss, and then noticed Prescott, who was hiding under a log. The beast tried to bring the edge of the cliff down on him, but Prescott hid in a small depression. Kong bent down and tried to grab Prescott, but he couldn't reach him with his hand. Enraged, Kong threw the log into the chasm and retreated back to the screaming Dwan. Only Prescott and Boan survived. Boan went back to the wall, and Prescott continued on Kong's trail. Tired, he caught up with him again at night, during the full moon. Kong was fighting a giant snake near the high rocks, and Dwan, who had escaped, ran into Prescott's arms. They watched the battle, and when Kong killed the snake, they ran away from him through the forest and jumped into the water from a great height. Returning to the wall where Wilson and his crew were waiting, Prescott and Dwan watched as Kong crashed through the gate, fell into the pit, and quickly fell asleep under the influence of chloroform.
Prescott and Dwan traveled to New York on the tanker Susanne Onstad, where Kong had been loaded. While discussing recent events, Prescott denounced Kong's capture and nearly got into an argument with Wilson, who was anticipating the upcoming success of using the captured beast as an advertisement for Petrox. One night, Prescott and Dwan wanted to have some privacy, but this time they were interrupted by Kong, into whose tank Dwan's handkerchief with a familiar smell accidentally fell. Dwan ran to the lid to calm Kong down and accidentally fell onto his palm. A terrified Prescott raised the alarm, but Kong released Dwan without harming her. In New York, Prescott had a final falling out with Wilson, refusing to participate in the show and sending his fee to the animal protection fund in his name. Prescott offered to terminate Dwan's contract as well, but she did not dare do so. Prescott came to the show and tried to intervene when reporters surrounded Dwan in front of Kong, but it was too late. Kong broke the chains and broke out of the cage, crushing several audience members and Wilson. Prescott helped Dwan escape from the panicking crowd. Together they ran and boarded a train, but Kong stopped it and began smashing the railwagons. They managed to jump out of the open door and drove away on an abandoned motorcycle. Dwan, tired, asked to go into an empty restaurant for a drink of water. While talking about a possible wedding, Prescott suddenly realized that the World Trade Center towers were very similar to the two rocks near which Kong lived on Skull Island. While he was calling the city government, Kong took Dwan straight from the restaurant. As Prescott had predicted, he headed for the World Trade Center and began to climb the building. Prescott tried to calm Dwan down by shouting from afar and took the elevator to the top floor, but was unable to exit through the closed doors onto the roof. Walking to the windows, he watched as Kong jumped to another skyscraper and dispatched the soldiers who were shooting at him with a flamethrower. Then three helicopters arrived, and Prescott realized that the government had lied to him when they promised not to kill Kong. As soon as Kong lowered Dwan onto the roof, they started shooting at him. Kong destroyed one helicopter, but having lost a lot of blood from the shots, he fell from the roof down. Prescott ran through the crowd toward the tearful Dwan as he descended, but stopped a few steps away when he saw that she was once again surrounded by reporters.
King Kong Lives
Full of shock and despair, Jack Prescott watched as helicopters shot Kong and he fell from the World Trade Center. No new scenes with Prescott were made for this film.
Gallery
Trivia
- Jack Prescott is an adaptation of Jack Driscoll from the original King Kong.
- Prescott's job as a paleontologist is the only possible reference to the prehistoric fauna seen in the 1933 King Kong, but absent from the 1976 remake.
- The 1976 King Kong gives contradictory indications of Prescott's date of birth. Both he and Dwan state that his astrological sign is Aries, but the document sent by the Department of the Navy lists his birthday as "6/28/45", which would make him a Cancer.
- Prescott is four years older than the actor who played him, Jeff Bridges.
Related characters
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References
This is a list of references for Jack Prescott. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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