Located in Anahola on the beautiful island of Kauai in Hawaii sits the Anahola mountain range.

One of the range’s most unique formations is Kalalea Mountain (that one that sticks up in the middle). Kalalea Mountain was originally named Mano (Hawaiian for “shark”), but due to its resemblance to a gorilla’s head (facing left in my pictures), the mountain was given a new nickname: Kong Mountain.

The Anahola mountain range has appeared in dozens of movies and the island of Kauai was substituted for everything from Costa Rica to Vietnam. In fact, some of the locals used to joke that the island has appeared as everything but itself in films, although films such as Blue Hawaii and South Pacific were both filmed here.

Because of its distinct outline, it’s pretty simple to spot the Anahola mountains in the background of many films, especially if they were filmed from the same direction that I took my pictures from.

In the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Paramount mountain logo dissolves into Kalalea Mountain. Right after the dissolve, Harrison Ford (as Indiana Jones) steps in front of it, but you can still make it out in this screen shot.

Most of the opening sequence from Raiders of the Lost Ark was shot in Kauai, save for a few scenes that were shot on a sound stage.

This was not Harrison Ford’s last trip to the island. Check out where he landed his plane in Six Days, Seven Nights.

Did you spot Kong Mountain? The funniest part of this movie is, once you’ve been there, you realize that the two of them were “stranded” on the same island on a beach not too far from where they started. (Then again, in Hawaii, most trips on land end not too far from where you start.)

In the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder, Kauai became Vietnam. Check out the mountain range behind this explosion!

Take that, Kong! And when the mountains aren’t busy being blown up, Paula Abdul can be found dancing in front of them.

If you want to watch the video for Paula Abdul’s “Promise of a New Day” on YouTube you will see Kong Mountain at least a hundred times.

With the nickname “Kong Mountain” you may be wondering if the Mighty Kong himself ever saw the mountain. You will be glad to know that the 1976 remake of King Kong was filmed on Kauai island. Kong Mountain isn’t visible in this particular screen shot but I think you’ll recognize the mountain range.

Unfortunately as more and more movies begin to use digital effects to create their backgrounds, Kalalea Mountain may not appear in as many films in the future — although, oddly enough, many filmmakers take digital pictures of real locations and use them in their background effect shots. Could that be Kong Mountain in the background of the 2005 version of King Kong?

The trailer for next year’s highly anticipated Star Wars film Rogue One hasn’t officially been released yet, but screen shots of it have. One of the mountains in the bottom of this shot looks vaguely familiar…

Lots of other movies have been filmed on Kauai, including The Time Machine, Honeymoon in Vegas, Jurassic Park, Honeymoon in Vegas, and several others, however the movies above are just a few of the ones I found where I could clearly identify Kalalea Mountain (aka Kong Mountain).