TARZAN AND HIS PALS

Cheetah and girlfriend -- or is it the other way around? 

TARZAN AND HIS PALS.

This week we look at some more movies featuring not just Tarzan, but other jungle adventurers such as Bomba and Jungle Jim. We've got several Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films, as well as some with Lex Barker, Gordon Scott, and Mike Henry playing the role. When Johnny Weissmuller andd Johnny Sheffield, who played Boy, got too old for their roles, they each got their own series, Jungle Jim (with Weissmuller) for Columbia and Bomba, the Jungle Boy (with Sheffield) for Monogram. These comparatively cheap series ran concurrently with the Lex Barker and Jock Mahoney Tarzan's, and there were quite a few entries in each series.

Weissmuller's interpretation of the role did not especially match the character as originally described in Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan of the Apes. Gradually, the character began to display the intelligence and sophistication that went along with Tarzan's undeniable savagery. After awhile, the more savage aspects of the character were pretty much dropped altogether.

As for the Tarzan series, which had a great many installments, it wasn't long before Cheetah (or Cheeta or Cheta), whose sex kept changing, became the true star of the series, especially in the later Weissmuller features.

NOTE: As I've done a double-load of posts this week, Great Old Movies may take a vacation along with me next week.

TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY

Steve Bond and Mike Henry

TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY (1968). Director: Robert Gordon.

Aggressive photojournalist Myrna (Aliza Gur) and her associate Ken (Ron Gans) approach Tarzan (Mike Henry) and tell him that a young boy disappeared seven years ago (making him approximately 13) and that while his geologist father was found dead, he may still be alive. Tarzan agrees to accompany the duo and makes it clear that it is to find the boy -- he couldn't care less about any photo spread. Tarzan and the others encounter a tribe whose leader has ordered a contest for his two sons to compete against each other, with the winner taking over the tribe. After a series of struggles and no clear victor, Nagambi (Rafer Johnson) tires to poison brother Buhara (Edward Johnson). When Tarzan comes to his rescue, Nagambi vows to kill not only his brother and Tarzan, but even the missing boy, Erik (Steve Bond), who has taken on the role of a Bomba-like character. Worse, Buhara tells Tarzan that despite his saving his life, tribal law dictates that any stranger who remains in their land will have to be put to death. That's gratitude for you! Tarzan and the Jungle Boy -- which is not an imitation or remake of Tarzan Finds a Son! despite claims to the contrary -- has an interesting premise (more concerning the brothers than the boy) as well as beautiful settings and widescreen color photography. Unfortunately it lacks suspense and tension, a feeling that something must be accomplished or else. Cheetah in this is obviously male and not especially cute, but Erik has a pet chimp named Hilda who is more on the mark. The best scene has Tarzan struggling to get his foot out of a giant clam, the only semi-fantastic element in the movie. Henry makes a more than competent Tarzan and certainly looks the part. Although Rafer and Edward Johnson play brothers in the movie, they were apparently not brothers in real life; Rafer was an Olympic champion. Steve Bond later became a soap star.

Verdict: Good-looking if minor Tarzan entry. **1/2.

GOTTA LOVE THAT TARZAN!

Alexander Skarsgard as Tarzan

GOTTA LOVE THAT TARZAN!

It's amazing that Edgar Rice Burroughs' early twentieth century creation is still going strong over one hundred years later. Next summer Alexander Skarsgard is the latest actor to play the Ape Man, and in a blockbuster summer movie, no less. Let's face it, Tarzan is a product of a simpler time, a thoroughly racist and absurd concoction in a highly fictional "Africa" that nevertheless captured the imaginations of millions of readers -- and filmgoers. More recent films have done away with the condescension towards black natives, added black characters, and done their best to counteract the tone of the early movies, although in the novels Tarzan was never that disrespectful of native Africans.

This week we look at Burroughs' first Tarzan novel, as well as selected films in which Tarzan is portrayed by various actors, beginning with Johnny Weissmuller and going on to Lex Barker, Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney, and Mike Henry.

TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD

Mike Henry as Tarzan

TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD (1966). Director: Robert Day.

"A couple of animals and a half-naked wild man against Vinero?"

This widescreen, technicolor Tarzan adventure starts out like a Eurospy movie with Tarzan (Mike Henry) in suit and tie attacked by a sniper in an empty stadium -- it's actually an excellent sequence. Tarzan then strips down to his loincloth -- giving even Gordon Scott a run for his money in the body department -- to take on the evil Augustus Vinero (David Opatoshu), who hopes to loot a hidden city of its treasure of gold. Vinero is a thoroughly nasty character who affixes a medallion with a bomb on it to his ex-girlfriend (Nancy Kovack of Diary of a Madman) and tells her if she moves just an inch she'll explode! Tarzan goes to the city with his pals, a chimp named Dinky, a trained lion named Major, and a little boy from this "lost" city named Ramel (Manuel Padilla Jr.). The villain gets a very ironic and satisfying comeuppance. Arguably the sexiest of all the Tarzans, Henry plays the strong, silent type and is perfectly okay in that mode. This appears to take place in South America and not in Africa, as the later Tarzan films often placed the ape man in other countries. Val Alexander's jazzy musical theme is completely inappropriate, as this really isn't a Eurospy film. Aside from the lead players, the film is dubbed, primarily by the busy Paul Frees [The War of the Worlds]. Robert Day also directed She with Ursula Andress.

Verdict: Entertaining sixties Tarzan adventure. ***.

TARZAN OF THE MOVIES

TARZAN OF THE MOVIES: A Pictorial History of More than Fifty Years of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Legendary Hero. Gabe Essoe. Cadillac Publishing; 1968.

In this heavily illustrated book packed with movie stills and behind-the-scenes shots, Essoe covers dozens of Tarzan features from the silent period up to the Tarzan TV show with Ron Ely. As well, Essoe relates the careers, private lives and subsequent fates of the various actors who played the "Ape Man:" Elmo Lincoln; Johnny Weissmuller; Herman Brix (Bruce Bennett); Buster Crabbe; Gordon Scott; Mike Henry; Lex Barker; Jock Mahoney; and others. There are details on the sound serial The New Adventures of Tarzan; the disastrous Tarzan of the Apes remake with Denny Miller; the color features that were actually filmed in Africa and other exotic locations; and the terrible truth about Cheetah and the various, rather nasty chimps who played him. You'll also learn how Tarzan Escapes was deemed too gruesome and re-shot, with a sequence involving big bat monsters being excised, not to mention the Tarzan/big-crocodile fight that was used over and over and over again in Tarzan and probably other jungle movies.

Verdict: Good, informative read with great pictures. ***.