The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan the Ape Man / Escapes / and His Mate / Finds a Son / Secret Treasure / New York Adventure)

Amazon.com

Many actors have slipped on a loincloth and swung from a jungle vine, but nobody reached the treetops of Tarzania quite like Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic swimmer. And Tarzan's greatest Jane was Maureen O'Sullivan, who moved into T's treehouse for six films at MGM, all collected in this splendid boxed set. It is possible to find these films hokey... but only if you have absolutely no feeling for the magic of early-sound pictures, or no joy in the gee-whiz, Saturday-matinee wonder of Tarzan's prelapsarian lifestyle. To say nothing of the surprisingly overt running theme of (implied) hot jungle sex.

Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932), made with the blessings of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, establishes the basics of the series (and uses extra Africa footage MGM had compiled for Trader Horn). There'd been many Tarzans before, but Weissmuller's buff bod and innocent charm won over audiences. Tarzan and His Mate is generally considered the best of the lot; it is also the sexiest, especially after the restoration of a hotsy-totsy nude swimming scene. The formula still works in Tarzan Escapes, which brings Jane's cousins out for a visit to the Mutia Escarpment, with its elephant-powered elevator for Tarzan's pad. (Always keep in mind that this is Africa of kiddie imagination, not the real deal.)

Tarzan Finds a Son! introduces Johnny Sheffield as Boy, and stirs up the nest. Things were getting rote by the time of Tarzan's Secret Treasure, and the jungle is left behind entirely for Tarzan's New York Adventure, which has some fun stunts. Also included in the boxed set is the documentary Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle, which is a fine overview not just of the MGM Tarzan series but of its predecessors (though it does not mention the fact that Weissmuller went on to crank out more Tarzan pictures at RKO). It does delve into the mystery of just what the heck "ungawa" means. --Robert Horton

Description

TARZAN THE APE MAN TARZAN AND HIS MATE TARZAN ESCAPES TARZAN FINDS A SON! TARZAN'S SECRET TREASURE TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE

Customer Reviews:

D McLaughlin.......2007-08-23

The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan the Ape Man / Escapes / and His Mate / Finds a Son / Secret Treasure / New York Adventure)
I have truely enjoyed these DVD's. The quality is excellent and great packaging.

Escartment.......2007-06-20

The kids were silent!
Totaly into seeing Tarzan, Jane and Boy.
We got it for ourself, ended up being a hit.
These first six are the ultimate Tarzan.
Jane gets better in each one.
Cheata is a riot!
Put it up on a bedsheet using a projector at the campground, had a croud show up.
JW is Tarzan like SC is 007

Tarzan Collection.......2007-05-13

I love the Tarzan collection, it takes me back to when I was a kid and was watching them for the first time. The quality of the films are excellent. From the first "umgawa" to the last "Tarzan yell", they are truly a joy to watch. I'm so glad I purchased them and have them on disc to sit down and watch anytime I want. I also urge people that don't know, to research Johnny Weissmuller,and see what a great athlete he really was. Thanks Amazon, for offering such a great collection!!!!

Tarzan the Ape Man.......2007-04-12

I brought this for my mom, she love Johnny Weissmuller. My mom feels that no one did it better then him being Tarzan. We she received the movies I became her favorite Child!

The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan the Ape Man / Escapes / and His Mate / Finds a Son / Secret Treasure /.......2007-04-11

Arrived in good condition.

Average customer rating:

Jungle fever for Bo!
Make Camp...
Me Trazan, You, lousey movie
Great to look at Bo Derek
Pale reflection of the 1932 Original

Tarzan, The Ape Man
Starring: Bo Derek , Richard Harris , John Phillip Law , Miles O'Keeffe , and Akushula Selayah
Director: John Derek
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001NBLZ4
Release Date: 2004-06-08

Description

The Tarzan story from Jane's point of view. Jane Parker (Bo Derek) visits her father (Richard Harris) 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.

DVD Features:
Documentary
Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews:

Jungle fever for Bo!.......2007-08-13

One need only look at the cover of this DVD to see what the story is really about. It's not Tarzan, but Jane. Bo Derek is the #1 selling point of the film, and she is basically the only reason anyone should bother buying this DVD. Bo Derek is certainly the sexiest Jane ever. However, she is not the best Jane ever. That distinction belongs to Andie McDowell in Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan. As such, the whole story is centered around her and her attempts to reconcile with her estranged father (Richard Harris).

There is possibly the least about Tarzan in this film of any Tarzan movie ever made. He is simply a wild man in the jungle and nothing more. He barely does anything other than wrestle a snake (for what seemed like 1/2 hour) and wrestle a macho native. There is no characterization whatsoever; nobody ever asks where he came from or what he's doing in Africa. It seems that nobody even cares! The Tarzan depicted in this film is a far cry from the Tarzan of the novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In the novels Tarzan is highly intelligent and cunning, while in this flick he is basically an ignorant brute & nothing more. I will say that one thing they DID get right was his physique. A buffed-up Miles O'Keefe fills that aspect nicely.

If you are looking for a Tarzan movie that remotely resembles the vision of Edgar Rice Burroughs, this is not the avenue to go. The late Richard Harris was a great actor, but even he is not enough to drag this film into the realm of respectability. As is the case with most John Derek films, the movie plods along at a snail-like pace. In the end (and this is an unfortunate thing to say about a Tarzan movie), the single biggest reason this flick is worth a look is to see Bo Derek au-natural in Africa. Basically, the whole movie seems to be a side-trip to see Bo topless. That's not an altogether bad thing, but.....

Make Camp..........2007-07-29

When Bo Derek emerged from Blake Edwards's hit 10 as a cornrow-sporting sex symbol, she and her Svengali-like mentor John Derek--who'd been, at one time, a wooden movie pinup himself--decided that together they'd "create" Bo's subsequent starring vehicles. This collaboration resulted in a trio of Bad Movies To Love, including the 1981 Tarzan, the Ape Man. "Produced" by Bo and "directed and photographed" by John, Tarzan reduced Edgar Rice Burrough's far-from-classic work to the level of a magazine spread on a Playboy bunny in the, er, bush.

Richard Harris, an explorer in deepest, darkest Africa, is expecting the next boat to deliver a cannon, but instead he receives bombshell Bo, playing his long-estranged daughter. Her thespian skills had not improved one whit since her first Bad Movie with Harris, Orca, but blank-eyed Bo clearly hadn't a clue. "You first-class b--tard," she says to Harris, mistakenly believing that the dreamy, "I've-just-had-the-most-fabulous-orgasm" look on her face could possibly be interpreted as anger. Bo's utter ineptitude is made all the funnier by Harris's response, which is to ham it up to the skies--and beyond. When Bo leaves his welcoming party, Harris says to his mongrels, "She didn't find me a pretty sight. Do you think I--overdressed?" We fully expect one of the dogs to reply, "No, you--overacted."

Bo takes command of this soft-core extravaganza by doing what she's best at: stripping off her Banana Republic-style wardrobe to swim--well, perhaps "bob" is the more accurate term--in that ocean surf rarely seen in films set in the middle of the Dark Continent. Bo in the buff brings around Miles O'Keeffe, a very buffed Tarzan, and just when it seems that this comely pair might turn the movie into a hard-core porn flick--which would've been a big improvement--Harris literally runs into the frame, screaming at his safari aide (Bad Movie vet John Phillip Law), "Make camp, make camp, make camp!" It's hard to imagine how the flick could be any campier. One night, hearing Tarzan's patented yell, Harris bellows back, "Shut up, you boring son of a ...!"--the very thing that the Dereks should have told Harris. Bo instead calls Harris a "b--tard" again, prompting this reply: "I am. I wallow in me. I indulge myself 100 percent. Take my advice, dear, do the same thing." As if the notoriously self-indulgent Dereks weren't already way, way past the 100 percent mark!

After O'Keeffe saves Bo from a riotous slow-mo encounter with a rubber snake, his unconscious body gets carried away on the tusks of an obliging elephant as Bo, panting with lust, follows along. Grimacing while picking at her teeth (apparently to suggest that she's thinking), Bo eyes O'Keeffe's physique and says, "I've never touched a man before..."--a howler that's topped when these two go swimming. "I feel like I'm reading this in a book," Bo exults, as if she could read. "I don't know whether to laugh or cry or just turn to the next page!" It all ends, as we'd hoped it would, with local savages forcing a nude Bo down on all fours. "They're washing me," she cries, in one of our most favorite Bad Movie lines ever, "just like a horse!" O'Keeffe rescues her--but it was too late to save her career.

Me Trazan, You, lousey movie.......2007-07-20

I had never seen any of John Derek's movies before just recently and wasn't familiar with his work. After seeing this, I understood what his movies were all about : putting his beautiful woman on a pedastal, make her an object of desire, and sort of indirectly taunt the audience saying "This woman is with ME". He did that with Ursula Andress, Linda Evans, and finally Bo Derek. Substancewise, this movie leaves much to be desired (and I'm not talking about THAT desire).

Bo plays Jane, who comes to Africa to visit her father on an anthropology trip. Here she encounters Tarzan in the brush, they have a few meetings here and there which are building to the inevitable. She is kidnapped by natives and rescued by Tarzan, then leaves civilization to be with the Ape Man in the jungle.

Hmmm ... I guess you just had to be there. Personally I can't imagine someone going off into the jungle to live among the creatures no matter how hot the guy is (whose communication skills are just a bunch of grunts). Then again, this is one of those fantasy situations. For the men it's just about Bo. For the women, it's about a handsome stranger who takes you off to live in his palace (or jungle) like a somewhat fractured fairy tale. Fantasies, however, are just that. Fantasies. They don't last long. It's eye candy. You're better off looking at still photos on the Internet.

Great to look at Bo Derek.......2006-11-11

This movie will never be considered a classic but if you are a Bo Derek fan this will satisfy your craving for eye candy.

Pale reflection of the 1932 Original.......2006-09-23

I saw this movie on T.V. a few years ago, and since then I have bought the original Tarzan MGM movies. This version is a pale reflection of the 1932 film. There is no smouldering chemistry between Bo Derek and Miles O'Keeffe. Her character moves from being an overly confident heiress to a bumbling, blushing little schoolgirl who is in a tizzy over Tarzan's "Innocent/Natural/Virgin" state. Her father, James Parker (Richard Harris) is portrayed as an outspoken, vulgar,sex crazed expatriate obsessed with the elephants' graveyard and any female he can find. O'Keeffe's gives a "wooden" performance as Tarzan.Three Chimpanzees and a lone Orangutan follows the "Lord of the Apes". If you are looking for a great performance by legends in the business, check out the b/w originals which for all their flaws, have lasted for decades. If you just want to gape at Bo Derek half naked, this is the movie for you.

Average customer rating:

2/3rds of the Best of Bo

Tarzan, the Ape Man / "10"
Starring: Dudley Moore , Julie Andrews , Bo Derek , Robert Webber , and Dee Wallace (II)
Director: Blake Edwards , and John Derek
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000BPL2HE
Release Date: 2006-01-31

Description

Comedy and the happiness of pursuit rate a 10 when Dudley Moore plays a hormonally driven vacationer on the trail of young beauty Bo Derek. Blake Edwards (The Pink Panther) guides this rambunctious tale of one man's midlife crisis that includes a side-splittingly hilarious seduction scene set to composer Maurice Ravel's Bolero. Romance is part of the adventure when Derek is the jungle Jane and Miles O'Keefe is the jungle beau of Tarzan the Ape Man. Highlights include the Ape Man freeing Jane from a python's squeeze and rescuing her from kidnapping primitives who've covered her with white body paint.

Customer Reviews:

2/3rds of the Best of Bo.......2006-01-05

If you grew up in the early 80s, it was hard to ignore Bo Derek. She was everywhere. On talk shows, posters and magazines - and mostly unclothed. These two films represent her true arrival on the scene. She had made a minor splash as the gal who gets her leg bit off by "Orca," but who can rememeber a pretty woman in the wake of a Killer Whale rampage? But who can forget Bo bouncing on the beach with her hair in beads? "10" was one of those films that you conspired to sneak into at the multiplex. And it was the reason some of us put up with irritating guys so we could get a second shot of seeing it on HBO (or was it Showtime?). Bo was hot and the rest of the movie was there for the old people.

Tarzan, The Ape Man was Bo's attempt to turn her star power into cinematic gold. She wasn't merely going to be an actress, she would produce "Tarzan, The Ape Man" along with her husband John directing. And it's not that bad of a Tarzan film - with the great John Phillip Law (Danger Diabolik) and Richard Harris along with Miles O'Keeffe as the Ape Man. And in order to keep people sitting in the theater until the last frame of the film runs through the projector, Bo remains topless for the end credits - don't cut this DVD off early.

The only other DVD that you need to truly lust for Bo's glory days is "Bolero."

I wouldn't recommend these films to someone who doesn't have a lust for Bo. But the price of this double feature is just right for me to put it on my guilty pleasure shelf - and I do have one.

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