Tarzan's Three Challenges

TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1963) a Sy Weintraub production, directed by Robert Day, stars Jock Mahoney in his second and final role as Tarzan, the jungle lord. An immediate sequel to TARZAN GOES TO INDIA (1962), this time Tarzan heads out for more adventure out of Africa. Produced in Metro-color and breaking the traditional stories featuring Tarzan, Jane, Boy and their chimpanzee, Cheta, none of these characters exists here nor does the famous Tarzan yell. With the exception of Woody Strode, who assumes second billing after Mahoney in the casting credits, many of the supporting players are virtually unknown to American audiences, which is just as well, mainly to give the impression of watching actual people from Thailand rather than marque named performers playing characters from another country.

The plot development deals with Tarim (Woody Strode), a dying leader of Sun Mai, who has summoned Tarzan from Africa to guide Kashi (Ricky Der), the true heir and chosen one, to Sun Mai to claim his throne. Tarim has a jealous brother, Khan (Woody Strode), who believes his own son, Hani (Jimmy Jamal) should be the successor and attempts on keeping Tarzan from fulfilling his mission. Parachuting from a passing airplane, Tarzan (Jock Mahoney), immediately deals with Khan's men getting in his way. He soon befriends Hani (Salah Jamal) whom he uses as his guide. After passing his test of strength and wisdom, Tarzan meets Kashi, along with Cho San (Tsuruko Kobayashi) and Mang (Earl Cameron) to accompany him on his long and dangerous mission. With the journey completed, both Tarzan and Kashi find themselves individually put to difficult tasks and challenges. Featuring Anthony Chinn (Tor); Christopher Carlos (Sechung) in the supporting cast. Both Ricky Der and an elephant named Hungry get special introduction billing in the opening credits.

Location scenery, color photography and good story make up for the fact that Jock Mahoney does not eradicate the memory of Tarzan actors who preceded him, namely Johnny Weissmuller. Although a lot of effort was put into TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES to make this both different and uplifting to this long running series, Jock Mahoney doesn't seem the right fit for the Edgar Rice Burrough's created character. Speaking in articulate manner is fine. He venturing from Africa to Thailand only in loincloth, with his predecessor Gordon Scott being a muscular build, Mahoney's physical appearance shows him to be the slimmest Tarzan thus far. Regardless of these minor flaws, Mahoney, as in TARZAN GOES TO INDIA, does his best with his role. With Mahoney reportedly a stunt man before turning to acting, it's been said Mahoney did his own stunts here, and it shows. At least of all the movies featuring Jock Mahoney, he would be best remembered for being one of many actors to have played Tarzan. Woody Strode, however, stands out as the villain (what Tarzan movie never had a villain?), especially when fighting with knives on a net over a pit of burning coals with Tarzan, one of the true highlights of the story. A straightforward 100 minute adventure with slight humor going briefly to the elephant named Hungry.

Never distributed on home video but available on DVD, TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES did have cable television broadcasts including American Movie Classics (1997-2000) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: August 5, 2010). Next TARZAN adventure: TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD (1966) introducing Mike Henry as the new and muscular Tarzan. (***)

This is Tarzan at its best. A man of nature dealing with the nature of man. Defending the spiritual from the corporeal. Terrific allegory. Jock Mahoney, although a bit old at the time of this film, is a terrific Tarzan. My favorite.

Tarzan's Three Challenges (1963)

** (out of 4)

Strange entry in the never ending series has Tarzan (Jock Mahoney) going to an oriental country when he learns that their leader is dying. The throne is suppose to go to the dying man's son but his evil brother (Woody Strode) plans on stealing it. This film does have some nice touches here and there but sadly the screenplay takes way too many easy spots and in the end there's just not enough to carry the 93-minute running time. I think Mahoney makes for a rather strange Tarzan because outside the outfit and people calling him Tarzan you'd never really know he was the legendary character. I say that because Mahoney really doesn't give him much of a personality and so many of the classic things are missing here including the famous yell. I'm really not sure how much blame should go towards the actor since he apparently got dysentery and dengue fever while filming this movie. You can actually see that his body weight is different in various scenes in the film and there are times that he appears so white you'll be thinking he's playing a ghost. I'm really not sure of the full story so I don't know if the actor got sick early on and this impacted everything going forward or not but there are many scenes where it's obvious the actor isn't in the best shape. Strode is pretty fun as the bad guy but the screenplay really doesn't leave him too much to do except be mean and act tough. The rest of the supporting cast fit their roles nicely even if no one really sticks out. The title refers to three challenges that Tarzan must go through and these here are certainly the highlights. One of the best moments happens during the strength challenge when Tarzan's arms are attached to two bull pulling in the opposite direction. Another very good scene happens at the end when Tarzan and the brother must battle to see who will get the throne. Having a kid as a side kick was certainly due to this film being aimed at children but I didn't mind this too much. I only wish the screenplay had added a tad bit more of a story or at least thrown in a few more interesting characters. This isn't a totally worthless film but I don't see anyone except Tarzan junkies eating this thing up.

In a far eastern country, dying chieftain Woody Strode (as Tarim) wants pre-teen son Ricky Der (as Kashi) to take over as successor, but Mr. Strode's wicked brother Kahn (the main role played by Strode) has other plans. From Africa, jungle king Jock Mahoney (as Tarzan) is summoned to sort out the mess. "Tarzan's Three Challenges" was the better of Mr. Mahoney's two outings as Tarzan. He was an older Tarzan, and reportedly quite sick for a couple of scenes, but remains tough. The Thailand location is used well by director Robert Day and the crew. Mahoney's strength test, the raging fire, and a sustained pace keep it above average. There are several suspenseful sequences, topped by a grand finale featuring Mahoney and Strode dueling on a giant net.

****** Tarzan's Three Challenges (6/63) Robert Day ~ Jock Mahoney, Woody Strode, Ricky Der, Earl Cameron

Although this film was shot in Thailand, the small inaccessible kingdom where the action of the film takes place looks more like a Tibetian type culture. Jock Mahoney plays Tarzan for the second and last time in Tarzan's Three Challenges. And the title is a misnomer, the heir to the kingdom has three challenges, Tarzan is his champion in the fourth which is a kind of medieval wager of battle.

Woody Strode is both the old and dying king and his younger ambitious brother. A young child played by Ricky Der is named the heir probably in a process similar to how the Dalai Lama is chosen. The brother who is a warrior and has trained his son to be the same thinks the time has come for a warrior to lead in this modern age and the hell with traditions of pacifism.

Tarzan comes to this kingdom to aid young Master Der on his journey to claim his rights. And of course Strode the warrior tries to stop him as the king Strode dies. When Der completes his three challenges Strode does the wager of battle thing that involves barrels of hot oil. Quite a good challenge as Tarzan is the only guy around who would have chance against Strode.

Actually Strode the warrior does make some rather valid points about moving into the 20th century. Even the Dalai Lama in exile has come to grips with modernity in some ways.

Tarzan's Three Challenges holds up very well for today's audiences, these films shot on location are so much better than those shot on the back lot of RKO back in the day.