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• This pretty dismal
entry in the series was the pilot for a proposed TV program.
It is not surprising that it was not viable because the
fish-out-of water elements of the ape man adjusting to big city
life would have worn pretty thin quite rapidly. It had
all been done before, with a lot more class and humour, in MGM's
Tarzan's New York Adventure
(1942). Playing Tarzan was 26-year-old ex-photographic
model Joe Lara, who, according to publicity, was chosen ahead
of three hundred other applicants. Veteran actor Tony
Curtis appears to be having a lot of fun in the hammy role of
Archimedes Porter (Archie), a private investigator. The
biggest ask for seasoned Tarzan fans was portraying Jane as
a wisecracking, intellectual (she has a college degree in computers)
New York cab driver. It is interesting to note that the
names of the Executive Producers of this fiasco - Max &
Micheline Keller - also appear on the equally diabolical 1991
Tarzan
TV series with Wolf Larson and the only-slightly-better Tarzan's
Epic Adventures TV series of 1996, also with Lara. The
common element of all three? Those God-awful knee-high
boots! (Fury) |
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APE CRY
• To hear the ape cry used in this
film click on the image at right
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PLOT - Note: Spoiler warning
• Tarzan is devastated when he finds that Kala, his ape
mother, has been killed by a hunter's bullet and his anger grows
when he also learns that Cheta has been abducted by poachers.
An address on a matchbook leads him to New York where
he befriends Jane, a cab driver, but Jane's father, who runs
a detective agency, thinks he is weird (above). A phone
number inside the matchbook leads to the Brightmore Foundation
run by wealthy playboy, William Brightmore. At a fancy
dress party the elegantly-dressed Jane distracts Brightmore
while Tarzan investigates the millionaire's laboratories. He
discovers that many animals, including Cheta, are held captive
and are being killed for gene experiments by an international
criminal ring. Tarzan is trapped in Brightmore's grounds
and is used as prey in a hunt, with Brightmore the deadly pursuer
(right). Tarzan uses flaming arrows to defeat Brightmore
and hands him over to the police. Jane's romantic
advances persuade Tarzan to stay on in NY. |
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| MOVING PICTURES |
| Click on the image below
to see a montage of scenes from this film: |
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SOURCES
• Kings
of the Jungle by David Fury, 1994, McFarland Classics
PHOTOS
• The French poster for this film was pilfered from an eBay auction
item
• Both photos are screenshots from my DVD of this film
• The video clip of the montage of scenes from this film was
uploaded to Youtube by me specifically to embed in this web page
LYNX
• A Joe
Lara filmography at IMDb (Internet Movie Datbase)
CAPTURE
• Bag yourself a copy of this
film on DVD at Amazon.com
or eBay
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TARZAN®
is the property of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Tarzana CA.
This independent, fan-based analysis of the Tarzan material is copyright
© 2002-2008 Paul Wickham
This page was updated April 2008
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