FILM NOTES
In the early '80s MGM once again exercised its option to remake Tarzan the Ape Man. This Bo Derek version of the "Tarzan" legend is a remake of the MGM version of 1932, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, which also had been remade in 1958 with Denny Miller.
The film gets off to a good start by featuring the Weissmuller Tarzan yell over top of the usual MGM lion opening. Also shown is also a fine piece of Frank Frazetta female art. Although this is a remake and used some elements of the 1932 original, it takes many of these plot elements to the extreme. Shot over eight weeks in Sri Lanka and the Seychelles Islands the film unfortunately proves to be little more than a vehicle for Bo Derek. Directed and photographed by her husband, John Derek, the story is told from Jane's perspective. Bo Derek rose to fame in motion pictures for being extremely beautiful and extremely naked -- and both qualities are on ample display in Tarzan the Ape Man. While her acting performance may not have attracted much attention, her nude scenes did, and the movie received an R rating, much to the dismay of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. The script does little more than to provide a succession of reasons to show off Ms. Derek's physical assets.
Although Tarzan, played by Miles O'Keefe, gets first billing in the title he doesn't show up in the movie until it's half over and his role amounts to little more than a mere sex object. O'Keeffe is one of the best-looking Tarzans ever to appear on the screen, although he has little opportunity to display any acting ability since he has no dialogue. Nor is there any explanation of who his Tarzan character is or how he came to be in this jungle.
Richard Harris' role as Jane's father, James Parker, makes up for this lack of dialogue as he chews up the scenery and blathers on constantly whenever he appears on camera. Parker had abandoned his wife and Jane many years before to explore far-off, exotic places. Now that her mother has died, Jane seeks out her irresponsible father. After finding him in Africa she joins him in his search for the fabled elephants' graveyard. They are accompanied by photographer Henry Holt, played by John Phillip Law, as well as by a party of native bearers.
As the safari trudges along in their search, the beautiful scenery of Sri Lanka and Seychelles is juxtaposed with the appealing lead actors. There are long periods of tedious walk and talk before the silent Tarzan makes his appearance in time to join Jane and a lion on the shore of an inland sea. He then returns with the intention of dragging her into the jungle, and later to save her from a large snake and the diabolical leader of a savage African tribe. The lame action in these sequences is "enhanced" by the use of many dissolves and annoying stop- or slow-motion effects. The action sequences really are just used as filler between the many scenes of Bo Derek appearing topless, nude, or in clinging wet clothes.
Despite the controversy over the film's rating, there are no sex scenes - or even real love scenes - in the movie. The production has many flaws but the $6 million movie grossed over $36 million, making it the most financially successful Tarzan movie at the time.
CREDITS FROM IMDB
Director: John Derek
Producer: Bo Derek
Writers: Tom Rowe (screenplay) and Edgar Rice Burroughs (characters)
Actors:
Bo Derek: Jane Parker
Richard Harris: James Parker
John Phillip Law: Harry Holt
Miles O'Keeffe: Tarzan
Akushula Selayah: Africa
Steve Strong: Ivory King
Maxime Philoe: Riano
Leonard Bailey: Feathers
Wilfrid Hyde-White: Club Member
Laurie Main: Club Member
Harold Ayer: Club Member
Stunts: Jock Mahoney - stunt coordinator (as Jack O'Mahoney)
Runtime: 107 min ~ Colour: Metrocolor ~ Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Filming Locations: Seychelles and Sri Lanka
Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)Plot: The Tarzan story from Jane's point of view. Jane Parker visits her father in Africa where she joins him on an expedition. A couple of brief encounters with Tarzan establish a (sexual) bond between her and Tarzan. When the expedition is captured by savages, Tarzan comes to the rescue.
Awards: Golden Raspberry Awards ~ The Razzies
Won: Worst Actress (Bo Derek) Tied with Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest (1981).
Nominated: Worst Picture | Worst Screenplay (Tom Rowe Gary Goddard) | Worst Actor (Richard Harris) | Worst Director (John Derek) | Worst New Star (Miles O'Keeffe)
TRIVIA
- Stunt coordinator for the film was Jock Mahoney who had starred in two Tarzan movies in the 1960s.
- John Derek suffered a heart attack in May 1998 and after two unsuccessful surgeries was taken off life support with wife Bo's consent. He was 71. His remains were cremated.
- Bo Derek was born Mary Cathleen Collins in Long Beach, California on November 20, 1956 and is of Irish, German, Dutch and Welsh descent.
- Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. sued the producers over the name of the film, as Derek's role and physique seemed to overshadow the focus on Tarzan himself.
- Bo has the dubious honour of winning three Golden Raspberry Worst Actress Awards for Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981), Bolero (1984) and Ghosts Can't Do It (1990), and was nominated in 2000 as the "Worst Actress of the Century".
- John Derek directed his second wife Ursula Andress in two movies and third wife Linda Evans in one.
- John Derek directed two hit music videos for Shania Twain, "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" and "Any Man of Mine".
- Bo turned down a role in the film King Kong in (1976), making her first on screen performance in 1977's Orca: the Killer Whale, in which her character's leg was bitten off when the whale attacked her home on a pier.
- Bo's Measurements: 32-22-32 (at age 16 as Mary Collins), 35-23 1/2-35 1/2 (while filming "10"), 37C-22-34 (in 1983), 38-22-36 (as reported in 1985), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).
- Bo did fund raising work for President George W. Bush during the 2000 election.
- Bo was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2004.
- Bo was one of four children. Her father, Paul Collins, was a boat salesman and a Hobie Cat executive. Her mother, Norma Collins, was a hair and make-up artist, hairdresser to Ann-Margret.
- Bo is a horse enthusiast, animal rights activist and supporter of the Republican Party.
- Bo and husband, John Derek, formed "Svengali Productions".
- "Glorifying violence is terrible. Simulating sex is nothing - it's something so impersonal really." ~ Bo Derek
- "I found my love when I was 17-years-old and my love is one hundred percent honest. We've never had any ugly, rocky things to overcome." ~ Bo Derek
- Bo was blacklisted by Hollywood at the age of 22, for refusing to be on the cover of Time magazine
GALLERY
I: Bo and Tarzan
GALLERY
II: All of Bo
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