Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

John Guillermin

Writers:

Edgar Rice Burroughs (characters)
Les Crutchfield (story)

Release Date:

8 July 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Plot:

Four British villains raid a settlement to obtain explosives for use in a diamond mine. In doing so they nearly destroy the settlement...

Plot Keywords:

Tarzan | Bare Chested Male | Jungle | Sequel | Wilderness

Cast

Gordon Scott	...	Tarzan
Anthony Quayle	...	Slade
Sara Shane	...	Angie
Niall MacGinnis	...	Kruger
Sean Connery	...	O'Bannion
Al Mulock	...	Dino
Scilla Gabel	...	Toni

Runtime:

USA:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:(Banned) (1959) | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Company:

Solar Film Productions

Trivia:

This was the first film for producer Sy Weintraub. He would make Tarzan adventures, including the popular television series, throughout the 1960's.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Grindhouse (2007)

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure

Most Tarzan fans will recall the lousy, poorly acted black and white films of Johnny Weismuller and Lex Barker....there were lots of grunts, elephants, nasty villains and wild out of control natives. Saw one, pretty much saw them all kind of thing. Then after producer Sol Lesser sold the Tarzan rights to producer Sy Weintraub the series got serious. In 1955 a bulging muscleman named Gordon Scott took over the role of Tarzan. His first Tarzan was a dud called "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle", another 1940s, early 50s style Tarzan with the typical bad guys, elephants and natives getting restless. Weintraub had a vision of a much more intelligent Tarzan. A man who could think, reason, and not grunt or say 2-3 word sentences for a whole film. Scott after four average to poor Tarzan films got a top notch script with excellent actors/villains for TGA. Story concerns Tarzan tracking down 5 mean, nasty villains who had murdered several people stealing dynamite needed to blow up a diamond mine they intended to plunder. Scott is very likable and very well adjusted to the role of an intelligent Tarzan. He thinks, makes smart comments and is all business as he decides to wipe out the bad guys. Thrown in for some good mixture are two very beautiful ladies, one a villain, a gorgeous Italian lady named Scilla Gabel and an aviatrix lost on a trip from England named Angie, played by noted British model Sara Shane. Shane soon crashes her plane as she tries to dive bomb Tarzan with some fancy plane maneuvers. Scott rescues her and tries hard throughout the whole film not to show his feelings of affection for her. A torchy kissing scene with Tarzan and Shane is taken out of the final cut. Along the way Scott wipes out each villain one by one until his final showdown with the villain leader, Anthony Quayle. A superb final minutes of the film show Tarzan periously dueling Quayle on the edge of a mountain top with a nasty 100 ft. drop. Quayle gives Tarzan all he can handle and the fighting scenes at the finish are very well photographed and acted out.....Scott is exhausted as he dumps Quayle over the edge and gives out the famous Tarzan yell in triumph. This Tarzan tale is far and away the best with a very tight knit script and no wasted minutes....you will be kept on the edge of your seat throughout the film as Tarzan closes in on his enemies while serenading Shane. At the end Shane departs and Tarzan returns to his realm. Scott is handsome and muscular to the extreme in this film. Followed up by the equally good "Tarzan the Magnificent" with Scott. Don't miss either film if you are a Tarzan fan. Scott to me by far the best Tarzan ever and the most muscular.