King Kong vs. Godzilla 1963
Directed by Thomas Montgomery, Ishirō Honda · 96 mins · 1,601 views
Synopsis
Trailers
Reviews (80)
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U.S. Dubbed Version We must not panic! If there’s one thing we can’t afford right now it’s hysteria. Welcome to an incredibly silly film. It kills me that in an attempt to provide narrative and explanations, the American version shoehorns in an obnoxious newscast. The whole thing reminds me of that Newscaster from The Muppet Show that always had stuff falling on him. The guest scientist is my favorite. Especially when he pulls out a children’s book of dinosaurs in an attempt to make sense of it all. It’s so bad, that for me, it was probably the most amusing part…well, that and the fact that King Kong has these really bizarre arms and a mesmerizingly awful face. On the plus side, the octopus scene looks fantastic and I like this version of the Godzilla suit. Gentlemen, that’s all I can tell you for now. Good-day. Oh My Godzilla! Long Live Physical Media Cinematic Time Capsule – 1963 Ranked
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English Version below🟠🟢🔵 Winter ist Klassikerzeit die Sechste (6/6) feat. Godzilla-Ranking Die Rückkehr des King Kong (US-Version) (1962) Aussehen: 3 Impact: 3,5 Story: 3 Soundtrack: 3 Gegenspieler: 3,5 Mitstreiter: – Review: Sei es dem Tag geschuldet oder dem einem Wässerchen vom Abend zuvor zu viel, warum mich der Rewatch dermaßen abholte wie er es tat, doch er tat es. Hauptkritikpunkt der auch für immer einer der Hauptgründe bleibt, weshalb der, je nach Ansicht und Aufzählung, dritte bzw. vierte Film aus dem Godzilla-Franchise dermaßen schlecht wegkommt, sind die Logiklöcher innerhalb der stark für den US-Markt überarbeiteten Version im sowohl Streichen diverser Handlungsstränge wie neu gedrehter und dementsprechend neu hinzugefügter. Ein wie gesagt berechtigter Kritikpunkt der, fällt er einen unangenehm auf wie,…
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Finally getting round to this American re-edit as preparation for an episode of ‘The Great Movies Pod’. It’s a really cool podcast that you should listen to, if you don’t already. They are tackling all of Ebert’s ‘Great Movies’ – and every now and then do a bonus thing about wider cinema. When compared to the other American re-edits, this film is by far the best. It does not completely destroy the central film and maintains some of the tone. However, a lot of this is down to the original film itself, which lends itself more freely to Americanisation than previous efforts. Obviously, this is because of Kong’s presence, making this film a cultural crossover that therefore holds up better…
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Okay, so since the US version is on here (as well as the original), I’ll take the opportunity to review this twice. But instead of declaring the US version inferior to the Japanese cut (which, it ever so slightly is) – I gotta make a brief comment on how they hang Kong from a bunch of helium balloons and fly him in to battle Godzilla. It’s literally some of the funniest shit I’ve ever seen. See how he swings his little arms and legs in desperation to escape, bless him.
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The Multifarious Monster of Monster’s, The King of Kaiju, the Atomic Admonitory: GODZILLER! Please, no more. Yea, I’m not gonna flub a flimsy fib, I’m rather moderately relieved this’ll be the last caucasian cut of these kaiju flic’s for a hot bit. But I will say, when it comes to these dude’s in the red’s, white’s & blue’s attempts at slicing and splicing together some foul freakish Franken creature feature, this particular monster motion picture is probably the best in the clique. Even so, the grandness of this specific feat remains to be that of a minute one at best. Though the voice of the satirically silly orig is left vaguely intact albeit to an immensely miniscule extent its new identity feels…
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WWill Sloan 8 月 26, 2026
I’m logging the American re-edit of this, for that is the version I rewatched. Incredible how terrible it is. Every few minutes it cuts to a white newscaster smugly delivering the most boring and useless information ever. At one point he interviews some kind of scientist character who illustrates one of his points by pulling out a children’s picture book titled “Dinosaurs.” America was so racist at this time that Universal had a movie where King Kong fights Godzilla and determined that the only way to get American audiences to see it in sufficient numbers was to put a white guy in there, no matter how boring. Of course, as with The Magnificent Ambersons, the raw material speaks so strongly…
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wish the japanese version existed in this quality so funny that one of the scenes they filmed to add in was of a scientist explaining that godzillas brain was the size of a marble
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I’ve brought my opinion of this one up an entire star and a half on this second viewing. It’s more evidence to me that ones enjoyment of a film can sometimes vary simply depending on the state of mind one is in while viewing it. I did view the Criterion copy this time which may also have been cleaner than whatever copy I viewed before, which I think I got out of a Wall-Mart bin. Either way I’ve grown to enjoy these rubber-suit smash fests more and more, especially this one as it hosts the first cross-over between the two most popular Kaiju in their earliest incarnations. — Previous Review — >> It seems from the difference in numbers on Letterboxd…
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Sstephen_cook 8 月 18, 2026
Criterion Challenge #22 (Watch a film rated 2.0-2.9 stars) Script/pacing/editing are a bit pants but honestly still quite fun, and obvs gotta respect the practical effects and model work
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Unfortunately I don’t have access to the original Japanese Version so I’m stuck with this version. I still think the movie is really fun but I just hate the bits of the news reporters they add.
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I love how Kong gets powered up by electricity like he’s Ernest P. Worrell in Ernest goes to Jail.
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Woof, the US version is a little roughly edited. That first interaction between King Kong and Godzilla was pretty laughable with Godzilla on the high ground showing his awesome power and King Kong just sort of shrugging and then backing away. King Kong’s costume was just bad and distracting. Interested in seeing the Japanese cut.
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c’est niche
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King Kong can’t make a monkey out of us. The american recut of rhe film am watching tonight once again it isnt to good.
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Hehe Monkey
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WE MUST BRING THEM TOGETHER…. KONG VS GODZILLA!!!!! King Kong vs Godzilla is while it is fun to watch it is far from perfect. For the most part this film is very fast paced and rushes to bring Godzilla and Kong face to face. The destruction scenes and the monster battles are great. But the ending of the battle i can’t stand because Kong gets struck by lightning and becomes stronger which in my opinion is total bullshit. Overall King Kong vs Godzilla is a fun mid movie UP NEXT IS MOTHRA VS GODZILLA
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The Montgomery cuts take away from the film so heavily. They basically exist to talk down to the audience. Understanding that at the time this film was made, the US would only be vaguely familiar with Godzilla, each scene added by Montgomery kills the pacing of the movie and offers nothing of substance in return. Also, how dare they say Godzilla has a small brain. My boi is the smartest kaiju out there! The rest of the film is not…
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Nooooooo Godzilla please don’t disappear underwater again no
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Watched the US version released with the Criterion Collection. The radio newscast scenes was the biggest flaw this movie has. After watching so many of the Monsterverse movies I can see how this was a blueprint for those. Enjoyable film and almost laughable.
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MMelissa Louise 8 月 9, 2026
this was the roughest watch so far…but the man who ran the pharmaceutical company hamming it up was great, and Godzilla got in some good tail swipes at least
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That was indeed Kong vs zilla! I am suprised Kong won but curious if that was diff for the Japanese movie. Also the whole movie just felt like random excuses to find a way to make these two fight. Like Godzilla is back for the 3rd time randomly. Kong gets wasted every month so that’s when you have to transport him like it’s all so loose it felt like poor writing that was like yeah whatever just find a way…
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I think that this is one of the dumber Godzilla movies, which does a disservice to Kong at every opportunity (that balloon entrance was certainly something). That said, this is the first time a Godzilla movie is stupid fun that let the series last for as long as it has.
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If only this didn’t have blackface in it and godzilla won the wrestling match against king kong (he cool tho) I would have given this 5 stars for the moments of hilarity and creative fights
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this movie has aged like a vintage milk, i don’t care about any of these characters and the comedy is straight poop from butt
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Steve Martin, I miss thee…
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Oh, you consider the Monsterverse version of this story to be superior? Well, does that film have Kong getting drunk, Godzilla evilly clapping his hands, or Kong shoving a tree down Godzilla’s throat? I rest my case. While the original is superior, but I grew up with this dumb American version, so it will always have a place in my heart. Ishiro Honda’s name getting misspelled in the opening credits is inexcusable, though.
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Absolute Cinema. Os caras meteram uma criança japonesa de Black Face com um cigarro broder… Melhor filme pra assistir num date, papo reto, o que uns chamariam de trash eu chamo de cult, e isso define o que é Godzilla
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La película que me introdujo a la era showa de Godzilla. El traje de Goji es extraordinario. King Kong se parece a mí después de un shot de fernet y vodka.
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HELL YEAH It is just so awesome and very odd how some franchises seem perfect with eachother, perfect for a crossover, you can’t ever imagine a world where King Kong doesn’t fight Godzilla, where Jason Voorhees doesnt slaughter Freddy Krueger, where aliens and predators don’t slash it out, it’s just so amazing how vibrant and exciting pop culture is. It’s just so interesting how such a concept as Godzilla vs King Kong blew up, with both of them at this…
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I bought the blu-ray thinking this was the original. Kind of disappointing but at least I’ve finally seen one of the American re-edits. Definitely a downgrade from the original though.
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Certainly aged rather poorly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Japanese person in blackface so this was a first. It’s funny seeing the Americanised version because the added scenes add absolutely nothing to the story and are by far the most boring parts. Doesn’t matter what the scene was, as long as they got some white guys in then the average American back then would actually pay to see it. I love the amount of rocks that got kicked and tumbled onto Kong’s face, it was a laughable number of times it happened.
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As I mentioned in my “Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster” review, after the serious 1954 original, Godzilla became a pop culture phenomenon, shifting the sequels into pure, fun silliness with great soundtracks. If you are looking for a deep story or complex characters, skip them all, but if you embrace what they have to offer, sit back and enjoy. Out of all the sequels I’ve watched, this might be the funniest. I watched the 1963 English-dubbed version, which includes inserts of…
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Épico
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youtu.be/UbpPOebLYwY?si=rxDdXXLol3SvHT0g
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What’s the matter? …. Giant octopus… Hurry.
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porra esse boneco do king kong é muito feio
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if we are being honest i like this better than the newer ones it isn’t so hard to understand it’s basically look heres Godzilla and Here is Kong they are gonna fight we don’t need the long polluted backstory. this is from the 60s so naturally everything is basically a toy watch these toy tanks burn but thats why its so fun its campy it knows what it is and who its audience is so go in and have fun watching these two giants duke it out.
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Watched the American version released a year after the original as it was what came with the Criterion set. What can you do. One of the most racist things I’ve ever seen. As soon as they has access to colour they did blackface lmao. Hilarious fights tho, Kong slipping and cracking his head on a rock had me dead
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Insane to think that Godzilla serves as an allegory to the Atom bomb that was dropped by America for only 20 years later letting US get a piece of their Godzilla pie.
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I accidentally watched the americanized version before I knew there was a different cut. I’m most sad about missing out on the original soundtrack. I love the use of miniatures in this movie. some of those buildings looked like they had real infrastructure. I died laughing when kong bonked his head. because of the original poster art I expected a scene where kong spins godzilla around by the tail.
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They gave a kid a cigarette in this film. I really loved the way Godzilla behaved and fought in this, noticeable improvement from 1954 and 55. His design as well was incredible. Although it’s a bit stupid how Kong only won because electricity makes him stronger “for some reason” and that happens to be Godzilla’s weakness, wish it was explained a bit more.
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TTye 7 月 28, 2026
This mf Kong really takes the main girl and climbs any building in the movies he’s in 😭 keep the tradition alive Either way, this is a guilty pleasure. The dub wasn’t too bad either.
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Yeah makes sense why Kong has a big brain he saw a big lizard breathing fire and left. He a real one for that.
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On the one hand, there’s not much to say about this. But it is interesting how quickly Godzilla loses his nuclear apocalypse coding. Here in the third film, he’s already just a big goofy guy, Bluto in a Popeye cartoon. The Kong design is pretty fugly as well. It’s kinda fun, and the weird international footage gives it a tone all its own, but hopefully there’s greener pastures ahead.
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Pros: Godzilla destroying pratical sets still feels great Mr Tako was a funny character The final fight was good and fun The score was great the classic toho music Cons: The american add ons felt unessesary Kong’s design was ugly The human characters were boring Godzilla was barley in the film A bunch of plot convenience like Godzilla getting hurt by electricity and Kong getting powers from electricity Japanese black face on faro island Overall: the american re edit wasnt…
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I’ll start out positive… The movie looks very good as the first Godzilla film in color. Godzilla looks great, happy to finally see him in color. That’s about it. I credit this movie with single-handedly showing me how wrong I was thinking that dubbed movies were better than dubbed ones. Within five minutes of starting the film, the English dialogue just felt so out of place and bland in a cinematic universe I had only experienced in Japanese up until…
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The American re-edit doesn’t really hold any more or less logic than the Japanese version. It’s messy and goofy and dumb and laugh out loud funny and it doesn’t do anything to further any kind of lore for the monsters. The additional American footage has a kind of Wes Andreson-esque way about it that is actually quite delightful though. Ties the original in ratio of time allowed for giant monkey carried by balloons.
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blackface 🙁
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Tem uma cena em que eles entregam um cigarro para uma criança japonesa de 5 anos fazendo black face
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Bbrooke1993 7 月 23, 2026
Genuinely such a fun movie.
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My kaiju winner is a monkey?
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You know Godzilla has the fire powers, and King Kong has the Electric Boogaloo powers???
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There’s NO WAY that Godzilla was dominating every fight, then Kong magically walks away. I simply didn’t like this that much. I became increasingly annoyed by the American reporter, whom I have deemed “Mr. Exposition”. I thought the fights looked good in this, and I would like to watch the original instead.
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Say what you will about the Americanization of the original Godzilla, at least the producers tried to integrate Raymond Burr’s Steve Martin into the original narrative. Even if the end result was a supersized box of “yeesh,” an attempt was made. That’s more than I can say about the Americanization of Toho’s King Kong vs. Godzilla, which axed the original score in favor of more familiar American movie tracks and opted to present the events of the film as some…
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The fight of all time
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On the one hand, I’ve really gotta track down the original 1962 Japanese release of this film. On the other hand, I was blessed with so much unexpected physical comedy thanks to Ichirō Arishima‘s depiction of Mr. Tako, as well as King Kong just dangling in a tangle of cables and weather balloons. This is not a good film by any stretch of the imagination, but it feels like the best kind of hang film.
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godzilla is so ugly in this bruh
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What a delightful movie! It just brought me so much joy for 90+ minutes. Godzilla was fabulous as always. When you crash a submarine into my boys bedroom, of course he’s gonna be mad. King Kong having a drug problem was not on my bingo card. But Mr favorite thing about this film had to be Mr. Tako. Like when he almost set off the dynamite TWICE, I knew we were in for a good time. I wish we had a whole movie of Mr. Tako just trying to be Godzilla’s PR manager after King Kong fires him. It would be pure gold. 🥹
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Same feelings as the og King Kong. The fight between King Kong & Godzilla is one of the best parts of the film, but keeps the rythmn of the original King Kong. Racial baggage and all. Reading Eiji Tsubaraya’s book and can see where the scrapped Frankenstein concept left in the film. Also can tell how frustrating it must’ve been to make kaiju films with Toho by how the main characters interact with their boss. Upper management & C-Suite executives are always fickle creatures
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Despite the obviously obscene cultural misrepresentation of Solomon islanders, I am obsessed with the fact that giving a child in blackface a cigarette was the answer of peace The way they move is how i would play with my teddy bears as a kid Subtitles were like 5 seconds off on the website which is annoyingly unreliable CC2026 category #38 – Random Letter Generator Letter selected: ‘K’
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The second installation in the Godzilla franchise reinvents it. No longer is Godzilla a metaphor for the devastation of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the grim reality of that period in time for the Japanese, but now some sort of primal beast that battles with another in order to reign supreme. However, as contradictory as it may seem, this film shows that it is not necessarily a degradation of the Godzilla franchise by becoming more comedic in…
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To have watched this entire version of the movie just to discover that the original Japanese cut is hidden on the 8th disc in the Criterion boxset was a real hit. A truly terribly funny dub, and a bad looking Kong to boot. It’s not all bad though, it’s actually quite a fun film most of the time. That gets really hard to believe after having the white man explain something stupid to me over and over again, but hey, not like I could’ve just watched the other version or anything! That final fight is so awesome though.
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Canonically establishing that Godzilla’s brain is the size of a marble
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.ᐟ the criterion collection aquele filme TÃO ruim que acaba sendo engraçado demais
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6.9. It’s fun. I was surprised to learn this was the 3rd Godzilla movie ever made, I always assumed it came much later. The fighting is fun, though tame looking now, just two guys wrestling in monster suits. The story is also fine, though forgettable.
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Love a giant octopus
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Got the Bluray, unfortunately I only have the dub version BUT, honestly from what I read it wasn’t too far off as what the original Japanese intended. It’s a silly movie but it’s fun.
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King Kong vs. Godzilla suffers from the exact same issues as the American version of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, it’s a heavily re-edited version of the Japanese movie that removed a lot of its original charm, has a pretty lazy dub that is comical at times and added in boring newsroom scenes. That being said the Kaiju fights are still fun to watch no matter how goofy it may look. I would say stick to the original version. *Watched via Criterion Blu-ray*
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Nota de TV, por Eduardo Marín Conde (2 de noviembre de 1985) El encuentro de dos famosos monstruos en una confrontación titánica; buenos efectos especiales le dan un toque atractivo y especial a esta cinta de terror que es más una aproximación a las aventuras de fantasía. La realización es japonesa. Canal 9, 12:00 hrs.
- Synopsis
- When an underhanded pharmaceutical company goes to a remote tropical island to steal King Kong for advertising purposes, they get more than they bargained for when the gigantic ape attacks an unsuspecting village and an enormous octopus.
- Director
- Thomas Montgomery, Ishirō Honda
- Writer
- Paul Mason, Bruce Howard, Shinichi Sekizawa
- Studio
- Universal International Pictures, Ryder Sound Services, Inc., TOHO, Tokyo Laboratory
- Country
- USA, Japan
- Language
- English
- Year
- 1963
- Runtime
- 96 mins
- USA03 Jun 1963
- Canada30 Jun 1963
- USA26 Jun 1963
- Canada11 Jul 1963
- UK01 Nov 1963
- Mexico25 Dec 1969
- Netherlands21 Jul 1976
- UK11 Nov 2005
- USA29 Nov 2005
- USA01 Apr 2014
- USA07 Oct 2014
- USA10 Sep 2019
- USA29 Oct 2019
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