Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)

A shipping disaster in the 19th Century has stranded a man and woman in the wilds of Africa. The lady is pregnant, and gives birth to a son in their tree house. The mother dies soon after. ... See full summary »

Director:

Hugh Hudson

Writers:

Edgar Rice Burroughs (novel), Robert Towne (as P.H. Vazak)

Stars:

Christopher Lambert, Andie MacDowell, Ralph Richardson

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ralph Richardson	...	The Sixth Earl of Greystoke
Ian Holm	...	Capitaine Phillippe D'Arnot
James Fox	...	Lord Charles Esker
Christopher Lambert	...	John Clayton / Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
Andie MacDowell	...	Miss Jane Porter
Cheryl Campbell	...	Lady Alice Clayton
Ian Charleson	...	Jeffson Brown
Nigel Davenport	...	Major Jack Downing
Nicholas Farrell	...	Sir Hugh Belcher
Paul Geoffrey	...	Lord John 'Jack' Clayton
Richard Griffiths	...	Captain Billings
Hilton McRae	...	Willy
David Suchet	...	Buller
Ravinder	...	Dean
John Wells	...	Sir Evelyn Blount

Storyline

A shipping disaster in the 19th Century has stranded a man and woman in the wilds of Africa. The lady is pregnant, and gives birth to a son in their tree house. The mother dies soon after. An ape enters the house and kills the father, and a female ape takes the tiny boy as a replacement for her own dead infant, and raises him as her son. Twenty years later, Captaine Phillippe D'Arnot discovers the man who thinks he is an ape. Evidence in the tree house leads him to believe that he is the direct descendant of the Earl of Greystoke, and thus takes it upon himself to return the man to civilization.

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Plot Keywords:

ape | tree | earl | 19th century | stranded | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

30 March 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Greystoke - Die Legende von Tarzan, Herr der Affen

Filming Locations:

Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$45,900,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., WEA Records

Technical Specs

Runtime:

143 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of Bear Grylls' favourite films.

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Goofs

Eric Langlois has metal fillings.

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Quotes

John Clayton: Half of me is the Earl of Greystoke...
John Clayton: the other half is WILD!

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Connections

Spoofed in Rated Sex (1986)

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Soundtracks

Oh God Our Help in Ages Past
(uncredited)
Traditional

User Reviews

I HAVE SEEN ALL THE VERSIONS. THIS ONE WOULD DO BURROUGHS PROUD!

I have lived long enough to have seen all the Tarzan movies from Elmo Lincoln to Chris Lambert, and believe me, this one was like watching the pages of ERB's novel come to life on the screen. Rarely does Hollywood stick to a novel when they adapt it for film, but this one did. And all the former comments failed to applaud the primate sequences for their realistic performances. The sequences where Graystoke takes his ape mother, later Lord Greystoke and ape father's hand on his head to try and see if their is still life in them, was a primitive act of real Gorillas that was in the original novel - but never used in the other Tarzan films. A wonderful film and a very good performance by Sir Ralph Richardson, which was his final one.

Babe Hardy