Tarzan, The Ape Man
Brief Synopsis
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James Parker is in Africa looking for a mythical white ape when his wife dies. He is joined by his estranged daughter, Jane. Together, they learn this white ape is Tarzan, a man who was raised by apes in the jungle. Parker continues to hunt Tarzan, but now with the purpose of bringing him back to England, dead or alive. Tarzan responds to the situation by kidnapping Jane, and the two are fascinated by each other. When natives take Jane with the intent of sacrificing her, Tarzan springs into action.
Cast & Crew
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John Derek
Director
Bo Derek
Jane
Miles O'keeffe
Tarzan
John Phillip Law
Holt
Akushula Selayah
Africa
Richard Harris
Parker
Film Details
Also Known As
Tarzan - apmannen, Tarzan, The Ape Man
MPAA Rating
Genre
Action
Adventure
Drama
Historical
Romance
Release Date
1981
Production Company
Gentle Jungle; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.; Modern Film Effects
Distribution Company
Cic Productions; United Artists Films
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 52m
Synopsis
James Parker is in Africa, looking for a mythical "white ape" when his wife dies and he is joined by his estranged daughter, Jane. Together, they learn that this white ape is Tarzan, a man who was raised by apes in the jungle. Parker continues to hunt Tarzan, but now with the purpose of bringing him back to England, dead or alive. Tarzan responds to the situation by kidnapping Jane, and the two are fascinated by each other. When natives take Jane with the intent of sacrificing her, Tarzan springs into action.
Director
John Derek
Director
Cast
Bo Derek
Jane
Miles O'keeffe
Tarzan
John Phillip Law
Holt
Akushula Selayah
Africa
Richard Harris
Parker
Steve Strong
Ivory King
Crew
Pamela Bentkowski
Sound Editor
Perry Botkin Jr.
Music
Allan Bromberg
Sound Editor
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Characters As Source Material
Joe Campassi
Animal Trainer
Daniel Allen Carlin
Music Consultant
Jack Cheap
Sound Editor
Eva Chun
Executive In Charge Of Production
David B Cohn
Sound Editor
Kerry Collins
Production Assistant
Norma Collins
Hairstyles
Armando Contreras
Key Grip
Gini Cook
Sound Editor
Bo Derek
Producer
John Derek
Director Of Photography
John Derek
Dp/Cinematographer
Wolfgang Dickmann
Art Direction
Patricia Edwards
Costumes
William G Gage
Animal Trainer
Robert W Glass
Sound Rerecording Mixer
Gary Goddard
Screenwriter
James Harbert
Original Music
Bobbie Johnson
Supervisor
Linda Kemp
Script Supervisor
Robert Knudson
Sound Rerecording Mixer
Michael Lally
1st Assistant Director
James B Ling
Editor
Don Macdougall
Sound Rerecording Mixer
Jock Mahoney
Stunt Coordinator
David J Mcmillan
Animal Trainer
James L Michaelson
Title Artist
Jak Oliver
Unit Production Manager
Jak Oliver
1st Assistant Director
Allan Placko
Technical Advisor (Mountain Climbing)
William Randall
Sound Recording Mixer
Paul "sled" Reynolds
Chief Animal Trainer
Tess Reynolds
Animal Trainer
Alan Roderick-jones
Art Direction
Tom Rowe
Screenwriter
Chandran Rutham
Production Coordinator
Tom Shaw
Unit Manager
Tom Shaw
Unit Manager
Curt Sobel
Music Editor
Bill Stafford
Original Music
J A Vincent
Art Direction Assistant
Warner Waarnasiri
2nd Assistant Director
Don Warner
Sound Editor Supervisor
Edward A. Warschilka
Assistant Editor
Robert Waxman
Sound Editor
Film Details
Also Known As
Tarzan - apmannen, Tarzan, The Ape Man
MPAA Rating
Genre
Action
Adventure
Drama
Historical
Romance
Release Date
1981
Production Company
Gentle Jungle; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.; Modern Film Effects
Distribution Company
Cic Productions; United Artists Films
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 52m
Articles
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981)
James Parker is in Africa, looking for a mythical "white ape" when his wife dies and he is joined by his estranged daughter, Jane. Together, they learn that this white ape is Tarzan, a man who was raised by apes in the jungle. Parker continues to hunt Tarzan, but now with the purpose of bringing him back to England, dead or alive. Tarzan responds to the situation by kidnapping Jane, and the two are fascinated by each other. When natives take Jane with the intent of sacrificing her, Tarzan springs into action.
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981)
James Parker is in Africa, looking for a mythical "white ape" when his wife dies and he is joined by his estranged daughter, Jane. Together, they learn that this white ape is Tarzan, a man who was raised by apes in the jungle. Parker continues to hunt Tarzan, but now with the purpose of bringing him back to England, dead or alive. Tarzan responds to the situation by kidnapping Jane, and the two are fascinated by each other. When natives take Jane with the intent of sacrificing her, Tarzan springs into action.
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981 version) - Tarzan, the Ape Man - The Bo Derek Version
If you're looking for clarification on the Derek phenomenon, you'll get no help from Warner Bros.' DVD release of 1981's Tarzan the Ape Man, which was directed by Bo's obviously clueless Svengali-like husband, John Derek. This is one lousy, awful, terrible movie, a compendium of half-baked nonsense that's about as inexplicable an act of star power - it was made as Bo's strategic follow-up to 10 - as you'll ever see. But get the popcorn ready, it may still be worth watching. "So bad, it's good" fans will find waaaaaay more than enough to crow about by the time it's over, and everyone else will sit slack-jawed at the unrelenting inappropriateness of virtually every aspect of its production.
Bo plays "Jane," in the sense that that's what everybody calls her. As the movie begins, Jane rides a steamship up an African river, where she meets up with her estranged, totally-nuts explorer father (Richard Harris, hamming it up like there's no tomorrow.) Dear old Dad may or may not have eyes for his own daughter, not that it matters in the long run. Harris basically just drags Bo's moist body through the jungle, where, after about 45 meandering minutes, she takes her clothes off completely, gets frightened by a lion, and meets Tarzan (Miles O'Keefe), a buff monkey-man who looks like he stepped out of a Chippendales floor show. O'Keefe, it should be noted, gets off lucky, since Tarzan is basically mute and doesn't have to recite any of the wretched dialogue.
Jane will teach Tarzan, a dim bulb, how to grope her breasts. Not long after that, a bunch of natives will strip Jane naked (again), then paint her white. Then Dad will loudly recite "Humpty Dumpty" while tied to a post and dying from an exceptionally unpleasant stomach wound. The end.
I hope I didn't ruin anything for you.
The Dereks certainly couldn't be accused of aiming too high. The sole point of Tarzan the Ape Man is finding ways for Bo to show off her tight little body and heroically perky breasts. The party line for most actresses is that they'll do nudity only if it's integral to the plot. This may be the only time in movie history that a name actress participated in something resembling a plot because it was integral to the nudity.
You can't really blame Bo for any of this, since she was no less a product than a tub of Crisco is. But husband John's directorial technique is so amateurish it's astonishing that a major studio actually allowed him to think he knew what he was doing.
Honestly, you won't believe this one: scenes drag on for days; minor bits of information are belabored while important action takes place just beyond the edge of the frame; slow-motion - which apparently denotes "art" - is utilized at random. Then there's O'Keefe's legendary battle with a giant rubber snake. Derek constructs it out of slow-mo lap-dissolves that make it look like a particularly ineffective love scene, and it just goes on and on and on. Audiences at the time were known to burst out laughing for at least half its duration. That is, if they weren't laughing already.
Warner Bros. hasn't wasted their time getting fancy with the DVD. The print is clean, and the soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1. There aren't any behind-the-scenes documentaries, since they would have consisted mostly of people pouring water on Bo while she practices arching her back.
For more information about Tarzan, the Ape Man, visit Warner Video. To order Tarzan, the Ape Man, go to TCM Shopping.
by Paul Tatara
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981 version) - Tarzan, the Ape Man - The Bo Derek Version
If you weren't old enough to know what was going on at the time, it's pretty
hard to fathom the early-80's popularity of Bo Derek, a dull-eyed wisp of
flesh who catapulted to mega-stardom when she appeared as the object of
Dudley Moore's lust in the hit comedy, 10. Actually, even back in
the day it was difficult to understand what all the fuss was about, given
that Derek generated frothing mass-adulation simply by batting her eyelashes
and bounding down the beach in a bathing suit. It's not like she invented
the concept, and it wasn't long before people caught on that you could get
the same thing for free on network TV, virtually every night of the
week.
If you're looking for clarification on the Derek phenomenon, you'll get no
help from Warner Bros.' DVD release of 1981's Tarzan the Ape Man,
which was directed by Bo's obviously clueless Svengali-like husband, John
Derek. This is one lousy, awful, terrible movie, a compendium of half-baked
nonsense that's about as inexplicable an act of star power - it was made as
Bo's strategic follow-up to 10 - as you'll ever see. But get the
popcorn ready, it may still be worth watching. "So bad, it's good" fans
will find waaaaaay more than enough to crow about by the time it's over, and
everyone else will sit slack-jawed at the unrelenting inappropriateness of
virtually every aspect of its production.
Bo plays "Jane," in the sense that that's what everybody calls her. As the
movie begins, Jane rides a steamship up an African river, where she meets up
with her estranged, totally-nuts explorer father (Richard Harris, hamming it
up like there's no tomorrow.) Dear old Dad may or may not have eyes for his
own daughter, not that it matters in the long run. Harris basically just
drags Bo's moist body through the jungle, where, after about 45 meandering
minutes, she takes her clothes off completely, gets frightened by a lion,
and meets Tarzan (Miles O'Keefe), a buff monkey-man who looks like he
stepped out of a Chippendales floor show. O'Keefe, it should be noted, gets
off lucky, since Tarzan is basically mute and doesn't have to recite any of
the wretched dialogue.
Jane will teach Tarzan, a dim bulb, how to grope her breasts. Not long
after that, a bunch of natives will strip Jane naked (again), then paint her
white. Then Dad will loudly recite "Humpty Dumpty" while tied to a post and
dying from an exceptionally unpleasant stomach wound. The end.
I hope I didn't ruin anything for you.
The Dereks certainly couldn't be accused of aiming too high. The sole point
of Tarzan the Ape Man is finding ways for Bo to show off her tight
little body and heroically perky breasts. The party line for most actresses
is that they'll do nudity only if it's integral to the plot. This may be
the only time in movie history that a name actress participated in something
resembling a plot because it was integral to the nudity.
You can't really blame Bo for any of this, since she was no less a product
than a tub of Crisco is. But husband John's directorial technique is so
amateurish it's astonishing that a major studio actually allowed him to
think he knew what he was doing.
Honestly, you won't believe this one: scenes drag on for days; minor bits
of information are belabored while important action takes place just beyond
the edge of the frame; slow-motion - which apparently denotes "art" - is
utilized at random. Then there's O'Keefe's legendary battle with a giant
rubber snake. Derek constructs it out of slow-mo lap-dissolves that make it
look like a particularly ineffective love scene, and it just goes on and on
and on. Audiences at the time were known to burst out laughing for at least
half its duration. That is, if they weren't laughing already.
Warner Bros. hasn't wasted their time getting fancy with the DVD. The print
is clean, and the soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1.
There aren't any behind-the-scenes documentaries, since they would have
consisted mostly of people pouring water on Bo while she practices arching
her back.
For more information about Tarzan, the Ape Man, visit Warner Video. To order Tarzan, the Ape Man, go to
TCM Shopping.
by Paul Tatara
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States July 1981
Released in United States Summer July 24, 1981
Released in United States July 1981
Released in United States Summer July 24, 1981
