Tarzan the Magnificent (1960)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Robert Day

Writers:

Edgar Rice Burroughs (character)
Robert Day (writer)

Release Date:

31 March 1961 (Finland)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

The Greatest of Them All!

Plot:

Tarzan must escort his prisoner Coy Banton out of the jungle to the authorities. The boat is blown up by Coy's father and brothers...

Plot Keywords:

Tarzan | Beautiful Woman | Sequel | Character Name In Title

Cast

Gordon Scott	...	Tarzan
Jock Mahoney	...	Coy Banton
Betta St. John	...	Fay Ames
John Carradine	...	Abel Banton
Lionel Jeffries	...	Ames
Alexandra Stewart	...	Laurie
Earl Cameron	...	Tate
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell	...	Conway (as Charles Tingwell)
Al Mulock	...	Martin Banton
Gary Cockrell	...	Johnny Banton
Ron MacDonnell	...	Ethan Banton
Harry Baird	...	Warrior Leader
Christopher Carlos	...	Native Chief
John Sullivan	...	Wyntors
Ewen Solon	...	Dexter

Runtime:

USA:82 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1960-1961) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:12 (1972)

Filming Locations:

Kenya

Company:

Solar Film Productions

Trivia:

First Tarzan movie with sound that didn't feature the ape-call. Despite protests from fans, the producers decided it had been ridiculed too often to remain effective.

Movie Connections:

Follows Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955)

Tarzan the Magnificent

After seeing "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" in 1959 I thought Gordon Scott had made the best Tarzan film ever.....one year later "Tarzan the Magnificent" comes along and it is nearly as good, just a tad not as good as TGA.....Scott, a bulging musclemen and very handsome makes a great Tarzan, and the old cornshuck scripts and groans were taken out of his vocabulary again and he is a thinking, intelligent ape man hell bent on righting the wrongs of the notorious Banton gang....as in "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" Scott is after a gang of cuthroats and killers again and wont settle the score until they are all captured or killed. Producer Sy Weintraub assembled another top notch cast of veterans like Jock Mahoney and John Carradine as superb villains and some other newcomers too......a couple of nice looking women are again in the mix ala TGA.......This time instead of doing the chasing of villains as he did in TGA, Tarzan is chased and followed by the murderous Banton gang, hell bent on getting back their brother (played by Jock Mahoney) who has been captured by Tarzan and has Tarzan wanting to give him to the authorities in a settlement a few miles away. Problem is Tarzan must escort a group of mixed up civilians who do not know the ways and treacheries of the jungle terrain. Tarzan is constantly trying to stay ahead of the Banton gang and yet is slowed to a crawl by his civilian misfits. Then Mahoney creates ultimate friction by wooing and stealing one of the group's wife.....Tarzan has his hands full at this point!! In the end Scott must fight the remainder of the Banton gang and wipe them all out ala TGA.....in the end he delivers Mahoney to the proper authorities and Scott returns to his jungle realm. All in all this is another great Weintraub production of an intelligent Tarzan and Scott rises to the role in superb fashion. He is definitely the best Tarzan ever in my opinion. Very sadly this was Scott's last Tarzan film and the thing that has perplexed me is why Weintraub after the amazing success of TGA and T the Magnificent did not want Scott to make more of these great Tarzan movies. Very sadly a skinny, underweight Jock Mahoney became the next Tarzan and he is no Scott......nowhere near as handsome either. Scott at this point joined his good friend Steve Reeves and made a slew of the very popular sword and sandal Hercules type films in Italy during most of the 60s......Scott finished up his film career with a good Italian western "The Tramplers" made in 1966.....