Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981)

Director:

John Derek

Writers:

Tom Rowe (screenplay) and
Edgar Rice Burroughs (characters)

Release Date:

24 September 1981 (West Germany)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

The most beautiful woman of our time in the most erotic adventure of all time.

Plot:

The Tarzan story from Jane's point of view. Jane Parker visits her father in Africa where she joins him on an expedition...

Plot Keywords:

Tarzan | Sexploitation | Bare Chested Male | Female Nudity | Gorilla

Awards:

1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Bo Derek	...	Jane Parker
Richard Harris	...	James Parker
John Phillip Law	...	Harry Holt
Miles O'Keeffe	...	Tarzan
Akushula Selayah	...	Africa
Steve Strong	...	Ivory King
Maxime Philoe	...	Riano
Leonard Bailey	...	Feathers
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	Club Member
Laurie Main	...	Club Member
Harold Ayer	...	Club Member

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 (cut) (1981) | Iceland:L | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Seychelles

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The stunt coordinator on this film was Jock Mahoney, who actually played Tarzan in two early 1960s films.

Goofs:

Factual errors: There are no wild reticulated or Burmese pythons in Africa.

Quotes:

[It's night. We hear Tarzan yelling]
Parker: Oh, shut up, you boring son of a bitch!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Great British Sunday (2008) (TV)

Quite possibly the worst movie ever made

In 1992 Miles O'Keefe told Joe Bob Briggs on TMC's "Joe Bob Briggs' Drive-In Theatre" that the audition process for the title role in John Derek's "Tarzan the Ape Man" consisted of being dressed up in a wig and a loincloth with other Tarzan wannabes and taken to a park in LA where they were told to swing around in the trees and make noise. "...and people were throwing things at us and it was--a mess! And on the basis of that that I got the part." Originally Lee Canalito got the title role, and footage was shot of him as Tarzan, but ultimately Miles O'Keefe was brought in. The orangutan who played Cheetah got taken on the publicity tour and Miles was not taken, presumably so he would not upstage Bo Derek.

After a memorable turn in Blake Edward's "10" Bo Derek settled into a brief career of movies directed by her husband John Derek as a chance to showcase his wife's boobs. "Tarzan the Ape Man" was the first of these, with Bo getting top billing as Jane, Richard Harris as Jane's father getting second, Cheetah the orangutan getting third and Miles as the title character getting fourth. Not much happens in the movie, there's mostly a lot of walking through the jungle until Bo announces "I THINK I'LL TAKE A BATH NOW". She continuously holds her index finger up to her lips for reasons not really comprehendable. Her husband's direction, according to Miles, was "Honey, get your breasts up." Richard Harris yells every line he has, Miles O'Keefe says it was because he was bored. Tarzan finally shows up halfway through, but he has no dialogue. All action scenes are done in slow motion so it ruins the effect and makes them way too long.

Despite 38 full breast exposures "Tarzan the Ape Man" is truly one of those movies that is so bad it's bad. Even people who love bad movies don't like this movie. There is no rating in this review because there is no way on IMDb to give a movie zero stars.