MovieChat Forums > Tarzan the Magnificent (1960) Discussion > Simply put, this & "Greatest Adventure" ...

Simply put, this & "Greatest Adventure" are THE best Tarzan movies ever!


Few people today would pick Gordon Scott if they were voting best Tarzans ever.
Most likely Johnny Weissmuller would win the popularity contest.

But once you start comparing films, dialog, and co-stars the 2 above would win
hands down. Each film features the following:

1. Each one features an element of ruthlessness & brutal, swift death
that others do not. And, BTW, which was a big part of the novels.

2. Dialog is crisp and to the point. The "Macho" element rules here.

3. The few women are every bit as tough as the men: Another book aspect.

4. The Co-Stars are superb and some went on to be Stars themselves.

5. They portray Bad Guys as they are: Desperate, Scheming, & Treacherous.

6. In These jungles women are hot and the men are pumped. No wonder these
jungles are so steamy!<wink>

7. Pacing is swift and steady, building to a climax brutal & final.

I'm old enough to have seen both of these at first run in the movies.
I saw them with my Pop and we were both thrilled by these gutsy flicks.
I got my first DVD's as bootlegs, basically TV rips. Nowadays I'm glad
I could replace those with the official-issue DVDs. If you're reading
this debating whether you too should shell out the coin for either of
these two I can't recommend them highly enough. No, they're not Hamlet.
But then Hamlet wouldn't last five minutes in Tarzan's jungles.

My only regret is that other posters have told me that the rights to
these two films are hopelessly entangled and so remakes are likely to
never happen. A crying shame. These are two of the best.


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[deleted]

First of all, why do you "regret" that these films will never be remade if you love them so much?

Could you imagine someone saying, "I love Casablanca. I've seen Casablanca 14 times. Nothing beats Casablanca. I sure hope they remake it!"

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I too saw this film when I was very young 12
Very Violent film for that era as was the next one with Scott.
One great thing or maybe 2 that came out of that were Sean Connery and Anthony Quayle

on location with SUPERMAN I,& OTHER STARS
http://www.vbphoto.biz/

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IMO, both movies are thinly plotted and give Tarzan virtually no credit for his jungle expertise. Three white men with guns on Tarzan's trail? If he wanted them dead, in the books they'd have died without any of of them ever having seen him.

In "the Magnificent', the excuse about building the dam made my roll my eyes.

I've seen every Tarzan film, forlornly hoping each time that one would match the Tarzan in the novels. It's never happened. Weissmuller's Tarzan was probably the closest "in the jungle", but then they had him speaking like a cave man, instead of the "book Tarzan" who is fluent in several languages.

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