When Sy Weintraub took over the Tarzan franchise in 1959 he was determined
to turn it around. Take Tarzan out of his tree house, have him speak in perfect
English and send Jane on a vacation. Unfortunately, he keeps the loin cloth.
I don't need to see a man in a loin cloth and it just feels weird that Tarzan,
now this very civilized gentleman who travels the world still wears a loin
cloth at times. A nice pair of Dockers would be fine. But I guess the women
deserve some cheesecake as well and Mike Henry is definitely a hunk. Weintraub
took over the last two of the Gordon Scott Tarzan films, then two with Jock
Mahoney and now three with Mike Henry. They are a big upgrade from Me Tarzan,
You Jane. Bigger budgets and they go to exotic places outside of Africa.
Henry had been a pro football player with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the
Los Angels Rams. He retired in 1964 and appeared in a few TV shows before
Weintraub spotted him and offered Henry the Tarzan role. He thought Mahoney
was too old. Henry looks great - incredible physique without overdoing the
muscular part. A lot like I would have looked if I had ever worked out a
day in my life. But he is an emotional brick wall - at least in this first
one he is pretty bad in the acting category. And he doesn't fight any animals
or swim or swing on a vine or give the victory call or call in the elephants
to destroy some native village. So not really sure how good a Tarzan he makes.
More of a loin cloth fashion horse. He apparently hated the experience of
being Tarzan and having to do Tarzan things - like hang out with chimps.
He got bit a few times, got sick, got bored and he ended up suing Weintraub
for cruel and unusual mistreatment. It seems to me that if you are going
to sign up for Tarzan, that is all included.
I love how the opening credits start off - a driving jazz score and a pop
credit sequence. I thought maybe Tarzan will be a spy in this one - Bond
in a loin cloth. He flies to Mexico and the bad guys pick him up in a car
- as he gets in Tarzan says he smells blood - and take him to a huge bull
fighting arena. Cool. Then they try and shoot him. Hmmm. How about letting
the bulls loose? That lack of imagination or Henry's unwillingness to be
gored by a bull was a sign of what was to come. A friend has called him to
Mexico to help him fight off a mad man who gives exploding watches to people.
He has heard of a secret city of gold and means to get it. Tarzan must stop
him or . . . nothing really. So Tarzan sets off with a boy who knows the
way, a leopard, a lion and a chimp. He is more Dr. Doolittle than Tarzan
as he can speak English and they understand. He has to fight a well-armed
small army but it never feels all that exciting. It is filmed at the Pyramid
of the Sun in Mexico and that is quite amazing. Lots of footage of very cool
animals as well - never in the same shot as Tarzan though. Directed by Robert
Day who had directed two previous Tarzan films and also directed She. Who
Must be Obeyed. Nancy Kovak is the blonde tied to a tree with an explosive
device tied to her. Blondes show up in all three of these films.
Tarzan and the Great River (1967) - 5.0
Tarzan is back where he belongs. In the jungle. Unfortunately, the wrong
jungle. After his adventure in Mexico in Tarzan and the Valley of Gold, this
time he is asked to go to Brazil to help an old friend. I keep thinking of
poor Jane back in Africa all alone. To Tarzan's credit, his eye never strays
to another woman and he had his opportunities. A man, a woman, a jungle and
only a loin cloth separating them. This is a fairly dull outing and feels
a few steps down from his Mexican adventure. That one had pyramids, this
one has bamboo scaffolding. That one had a large cast of extras, this one
has a bunch in war paint. That one had a chimp, a lion. a leopard and a boy.
This one has a chimp, a lion and a boy. The same three. Fortunately for Tarzan,
the lion and the chimp from Mexico are now in a zoo in Brazil and he gets
them on a loan out, The actor who played the young boy from the previous
film is back again as a different character. Manuel Padilla Jr. After this
he joined the Tarzan TV series with Ron Ely and later had small appearances
in Scarface, American Graffiti and The Great White Hope.
A killer cult tribe brandishing poisoned lion claws is terrorizing the tribes
along the Amazon by attacking them and taking the men as slaves to dig for
diamonds. Their leader is Barcuna and this really hurts to say - played by
the great Rafer Johnson. One of my childhood heroes when he won the Olympic
Decathlon in 1960. Now in the jungle speaking impeccable English in war paint.
And looking amazingly. Alongside Mike Henry who plays Tarzan it is like a
Mr. Universe contest. So Tarzan takes the lion and the chimp and goes by
foot to find the Killer Cult. Why I don't know. The lion is useless. He does
nothing the entire film but get petted by the boy. Kills no one, scares no
one. And the chimp? Well, he bites Mike Henry who then comes down with a
terrible infection and brings the filming to a stop. Not to upset you but
the chimp at the end of the film is not the same chimp as at the beginning
- poor Dinky went off to visit his ancestors. Henry hated being around the
animals.
He meets up with a boat captain (stand-up comedian Jan Murray) and his little
friend who are going up river to deliver medical supplies. When they get
there the village has just been wiped out by the Killer Cult except for the
white doctor who was there. And this is some doctor. Right out of the pages
of Jungle Babes. Played by Diana Millay of Dark Shadows fame perfectly made
up like she is waiting for a blind date. Blond and with a rosebud pout that
should be on a stamp. Much of the film is taken up by the Captain griping,
playing gin rummy and being funny, the woman insisting that they go to another
village to inoculate the villagers against a disease that they refuse to
take, Bad medicine. Who would have thought the Republicans made it this far.
A big fight between Henry and Johnson at the end. A Killer Cult movie should
have been better. Henry was to make one more Tarzan film.
Tarzan and the
Jungle Boy (1968) - 3.0
This final film in the Mike Henry Tarzan series comes to a merciful end.
It was shot in Brazil pretending to be Africa and was shot at about the same
time as Tarzan and the Great River, They even bring back Rafer Johnson to
once again fight Tarzan. It is pretty awful as most of it seems to consist
of Tarzan and and another party walking through the jungle endlessly and
with hundreds of shots of animals. It is basically a National Geographic
film with a bit of fighting. A lot of this dullness might be due to the production
problems and Henry getting sick. He was so happy when his contract was finished.
So I imagine was Rafer.
Another white boy is following in the footsteps of Tarzan. He was with his
father when he was killed in the river and the boy and his pet leopard survived.
Six years later he is still in the jungle and is spotted from an airplane
and a sexy photo journalist Myrna (Aliza Gur) comes to Tarzan to help look
for him. First they visit the Zagunda tribe that is having a competition
for the next King. It is between brothers - who were in fact real life brothers
- Rafer and Ed Johnson or as the film has it - Nagami and Buhara. It is a
pentathlon of sorts - five different events - with sharpened spears below
the pole vault. And amazingly Rafer - the winner of the Olympic decathlon
loses! I guess he should have spent more time practicing spear throwing.
This pisses him off to no end and he swears vengeance on Tarzan (who spotted
him cheating) and to kill the Jungle Boy.
A decent start to the film but then it just lapses into Tarzan searching
for the boy and Myrna and her party using Cheeta to follow Tarzan.
I have to say Aliza Gur (Miss Israel) is fine on the eyes and has a lovely
accent. But she is an idiot and gets a bunch of people killed. The boy has
no desire to go back until he sees Aliza and then is do they all look like
that. Let's go. Henry was suppose to go on to do the TV series but after
his experience he bowed out and Ron Ely got the role. There wasn't to be
another Tarzan film for quite a while. Let's face it, Tarzan was not made
for a PC World.
