Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Hugh Hudson

Writers:

Edgar Rice Burroughs (novel)
Robert Towne (writer) ...

Release Date:

30 March 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A shipping disaster in the 19th Century has stranded a man and woman in the wilds of Africa. The lady is pregnant...

Plot Keywords:

Ape | Africa | Stranded | Civilization | Shipwreck

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Ralph Richardson	...	The Sixth Earl of Greystoke
Ian Holm	...	Capitaine Phillippe D'Arnot
James Fox	...	Lord Charles Esker
Christopher Lambert	...	John Clayton / Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
Andie MacDowell	...	Miss Jane Porter
Cheryl Campbell	...	Lady Alice Clayton
Ian Charleson	...	Jeffson Brown
Nigel Davenport	...	Major Jack Downing
Nicholas Farrell	...	Sir Hugh Belcher
Paul Geoffrey	...	Lord John 'Jack' Clayton
Richard Griffiths	...	Captain Billings
Hilton McRae	...	Willy
David Suchet	...	Buller
John Wells	...	Sir Evelyn Blount
Ravinder	...	Dean

Runtime:

143 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:10 | Canada:A (Ontario) | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:K-8 | France:U | Norway:11 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bimbia, Southwest Province, Cameroon

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

This was Christopher Lambert's first English-speaking role.

Goofs:

Factual errors: If gone unstimulated, the cognitive and speech centers of the brain will deaden. After a certain age, Tarzan wouldn't have been able to say more than a few words, let alone learn two entire languages.

Quotes:

Capitaine Phillippe D'Arnot: This is not the world John. Just the edge of it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Crocodile Dundee (1986)

Soundtrack:

Symphony no. 1 in Ab major, op. 55

I HAVE SEEN ALL THE VERSIONS. THIS ONE WOULD DO BURROUGHS PROUD!

I have lived long enough to have seen all the Tarzan movies from Elmo Lincoln to Chris Lambert, and believe me, this one was like watching the pages of ERB's novel come to life on the screen. Rarely does Hollywood stick to a novel when they adapt it for film, but this one did. And all the former comments failed to applaud the primate sequences for their realistic performances. The sequences where Graystoke takes his ape mother, later Lord Greystoke and ape father's hand on his head to try and see if their is still life in them, was a primitive act of real Gorillas that was in the original novel - but never used in the other Tarzan films. A wonderful film and a very good performance by Sir Ralph Richardson, which was his final one.

Babe Hardy