The embargo and price rises resulted in division between the US and European allies, as the Europeans imported as much as 80% of their oil from the middle east and north Africa while the US imported only 12%. Support for Israel declined, and support for Arab nations increased.

The embargo ended in March 1974, but resulted in an enduring quest for alternative energy sources, the disappearance of the giant cars that were previously popular and Japanese imports becoming popular, continual suspicion of domestic oil importers, and assorted other economic and mental scars. Natural gas and nuclear power became much more important in many nations as a way to escape reliance on middle eastern oil, especially in France and Japan.

The continuing quest for reduction of petroleum use led to the change from the large action figures of the 60s and 70s to the small action figures that would predominate in the 1980s and beyond.

On the brighter side of things, Japan, also subjected to the embargo, moved economic focus from production of oil-reliant products to electronics. This is what gave us our beloved video games. But it also gave Saudi Arabia hundreds of millions of dollars to promote Wahhabism, which was not so good.

There was another energy crisis in 1979, after the Iranian revolution, which was more of a panic since oil supply was only reduced by a few percent. But similar things happened, and I can remember being in the backseat waiting at gas stations for so long I missed Scooby-Doo.

But the US, though traumatized, was not in a state of crisis when King Kong was in the theaters. I have vague memories of it being too damn long, with much of the weirdness of the relationships among the characters being entirely incomprehensible to a 3 year old.