| The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Seth Gordon |
| Produced by | Ed Cunningham Luis Lopez J. Clay Tweel Beau Bauman Ross Tuttle |
| Starring | Steve Wiebe Billy Mitchell Walter Day Brian Kuh Todd Rogers Steve Sanders Doris Self |
| Music by | Craig Richey |
| Cinematography | Ross Tuttle |
| Editing by | Jim Bruce J. Clay Tweel |
| Distributed by | Picturehouse Dendy Cinemas |
| Release date(s) | United States: August 17, 2007 Australia: February 28, 2008 |
| Running time | 79 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a 2007 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 film 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]
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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 an unfortunate 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 focuses on Donkey Kong, 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 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, New Hampshire, 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 immediately 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 achieves the world record of 1,049,100 in his garage.[5]
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] 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."[10] 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."[11] 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?"[12] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times similarly gave the film 3 stars and called it "a documentary that is beyond strange."[13]
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."[14] 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.[15]
Film critic Richard Roeper stated that the film "deserves an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary" in 2007 on At The Movies.[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]
The film appeared on a few critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[18]
Both Walter Day of Twin Galaxies and director Seth Gordon claim that there are inaccuracies in the film. Day 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:
Gordon has claimed to have painted Billy Mitchell as a more light-hearted character than his real life persona[23] 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, because the movie would have been "darker" had he not played with the facts.[23]
In the My Name Is Earl episode, "My Name Is Alias", 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."[24]
In the video game Donkey Kong Country Returns, a necktie resembling the one Billy Mitchell wore in the movie appears in the background of one of the game's levels.[25]
In the Regular Show episode, "High Score", a giant floating head with a mullet closely resembling Billy Mitchell holds the record for an arcade game called Broken Bonz.[26] He tries to cheat to win but is ultimately defeated by the show's protagonists.
The Fox TV series Bones season 5 episode 9 "The Gamer in the Grease" is focused around the dispute over a video submitted high score for the arcade game Punky Pong by Steve Riften and Billy Gabel (in an American-flag tie, similar to the one often worn by Billy Mitchell).
In the 11th season of South Park, the episode More Crap tells the story of Randy Marsh submitting to the European Faecal Standards and Measurements Institute what he believes to be the largest recorded BM. Later in the episode, the previous record holder, Bono, submits a video tape claiming to have beaten this record, which is accepted by the institute.
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 and retook the Donkey Kong record with a score of 1,050,200.[27] Inspired to attempt the record because of the movie, a new King of Kong was crowned on February 26, 2010 when Queens NY plastic surgeon Hank Chien surpassed Mitchell's high score by scoring 1,061,700.[28]
On August 7, 2010, Twin Galaxies once again certified Billy Mitchell as the record holder with 1,062,800 points. This coincided with the first induction ceremony for the International Video Game Hall of Fame. Mitchell set the new record playing at the Boomers-Grand Prix Arcade in Dania, Fla. where he played for two hours and forty two minutes before quitting once he topped Chien's score. When asked why he quit early, Mitchell said "Some say I'm being cocky. Some say I'm being lazy. I say, I'm being Billy Mitchell." He also once again set the record in Donkey Kong, Jr[29] but on September 9, 2010 he again lost the title, this time to Mark L. Kiehl.[30]
Steve Wiebe once again regained the world record in September 2010, with a score of 1,064,500.[31] This was broken by Hank Chien in January 2011, with a score of 1,068,000.[32] Hank beat his own record a month later with a score of 1,090,400.[33]
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