Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

John Guillermin

Writers:

Edgar Rice Burroughs (characters)
Les Crutchfield (story)

Release Date:

8 July 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Plot:

Four British villains raid a settlement to obtain explosives for use in a diamond mine. In doing so they nearly destroy the settlement...

Plot Keywords:

Tarzan | Bare Chested Male | Jungle | Sequel | Wilderness

Cast

Gordon Scott	...	Tarzan
Anthony Quayle	...	Slade
Sara Shane	...	Angie
Niall MacGinnis	...	Kruger
Sean Connery	...	O'Bannion
Al Mulock	...	Dino
Scilla Gabel	...	Toni

Runtime:

USA:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:(Banned) (1959) | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Company:

Solar Film Productions

Trivia:

Cheetah appears only during one line ("So long, Cheetah"). This is because the chimpanzees brought from England to Kenya for the filming were so terrified of the jungle night noises they wouldn't perform.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Death Proof (2007)

Greatest Tarzan Film

Easily the best Tarzan film ever made. So well produced it might have been filmed in 2006 instead of 1959, it's that good. As an action film it can't be beat by anything made today, much less almost fifty years ago. The scenery, photography, action, cast, everything in this is first rate.

If you're a Tarzan fan, I think this movie comes closest to capturing the essence of the original character. There has never been a better Tarzan than Gordon Scott, before or since. Not only does he look powerful, his face shows a complex range of conflicting emotions, like that of a man torn between the savage jungle world in which he survives and the civilized world that he realizes, for all his education and intelligence, he can't be a part of. In one amazing piece of acting, Scott kills an enemy, gives the Tarzan yell, then runs to a pool to watch his reflection, as if to reassure himself that he is still a man.

The story moves very fast as Tarzan pursues a gang of killers down a jungle river. Sean Connery, as one of the criminals, has an outstanding role as a nasty, bullying drunk. The other characters are so well written and acted that in a few minutes we are given amazing insight into their motivations. There are several well directed action sequences, all very plausible, and the location photography is so good you feel the jungle heat.

With the presence of Connery and other great actors, it's hard to believe this film has not been seen more, or at least released on DVD. The only drawback is that it's too good, kind of like the Bond flick "Goldfinger" and any follow up films would pale in comparison.