Tarzan was a homo pedo !?
Who knew ?
I know it looks bad. But is there any real evidence for this?
shareI think it falls into what TV Tropes might call "Memetic Molester" territory. There was kind of an "Eric, do you like movies about gladiators?" feel to it. An IMDB review even lampshades it a little:
" You'd think that Tarzan would have to slowly win the boy's trust and perhaps even "tame" him and establish his position as the alpha male. But no. Within minutes of first meeting man and boy are happily laughing and playing together in a lake. It's as if they have known each other for years. Eric is completely comfortable being held in Tarzan mighty arms. Keep in mind both man and boy are practically naked. After climbing out of the lake Eric admits that he has been lonely and wishes he had someone to talk with at night. He asks Tarzan to stay with him and keep him company. Geez this kid is probably safer in the jungle then he would be in any big city. Someone seriously needs to sit this kid down and explain to him that he needs to be careful around strange men dressed in loincloths!"
A lot of it just comes down to the writing, I think... I think the review is spot on that it would have better served both if their relationship was more gradually developed over time
But do you really think that within the plot of this movie, off camera, Tarzan was a pederast?
I think the OP was probably just trying to make some kind of weird joke I doubt it was meant to be serious -- I think at the time it would have been completely innocent but nowadays I doubt they would have done it this way. It's male bonding basically. But, even the title of the movie sounds risque by today's standards tbh
BTW while we're on the subject if you watched the movie, was that really Mike Henry who did the frontward somersault into the water or was that a stunt double
That was a more innocent time. People now have dirty minds.
Lol. Sorry, I didn't watch the movie. The board popped up so I commented.
But I found this:
Henry appears to do many of his own stunts, and demonstrates that he is one of the most tough and supple Tarzans of all time.share
https://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1962.html
Yeah, I had a separate thread about it he seemed like he was in good shape but not that nimble to do a flip like that, especially considering he was apparently sick for most of the filming.
https://www.tokyvideo.com/video/tarzan-and-the-jungle-boy-1968 (at 1:17:57)
If it's really him that's damn impressive lol
Like I said, I may have seen the film years ago, but I'm not sure if I'm up to watching the whole movie any time soon. Lol.
I'm curious though about the mother leopard watching the father give the leopard cub to his little boy and then taking off down the river. I was waiting for her to pounce!
Do you think there is some symbolism there? I mean he stole the leopard's cub and met his ultimate demise, only to leave his son an orphan to be raised by Tarzan.
Oh should Eric have been so lucky to have been raised by Tarzan lol - he even asks Tarzan "will you stay with me" and Tarzan tells him he should go back to civilization. I'd be like hell nah I'm going with you LOL
shareYeah, Tarzan would be one helluva dad.
Didn't Tarzan call him "Boy"?
And where does Jane come in?
That was the Johnny Weismuller version with Johnny Sheffield in the old 1930's/40's Tarzan films-- The Mike Henry version called him by his real name because he was sent into find the kid and bring him back. There really is a scene that unintentionally sounds like it could have been parodied in Airplane with the "Joey do you like movies about gladiators" thing only it's after they get through swimming he seemingly out of nowhere asks the kid "Eric, have you ever been on a merry go round or a rollercoaster?" Which was being asked of the kid to convince him to come back to America to live as an ordinary kid but it unintentionally comes off as creepy by today's standards lol
shareLol. Nothing pedo-ish about striking up a conversation with a kid. This is the problem with the current climate in our society. There's nothing wrong with conversations between adults and children.
shareAgain I think the only reason I see it through that lens is because of the Airplane joke - if you watch the scene you'll see what I mean. Kind of like parody displacement or something or tainted perception. They just come off as similar - mind you this convo takes place directly after he and the kid engage in like male bonding - Again harmless at the time
shareI'm a little confused now about the plot though. Did the kid live with Tarzan before the rescuers came looking for him? Or did Tarzan help them find the kid?
shareNo what happened was Aliza Gur is a photojournalist trying to find the kid and bring him back to the states after finding an image of the kid in aerial shots she was doing of the area (apparently the father's body had been found years earlier). She basically nags Tarzan into guiding her and her partner through the jungle and he relents until he learns Eric is in a forbidden part of the jungle. He tells her not to follow and that he'll go alone but she refuses to listen and follows him and gets half of the search party killed in the process. Tarzan comes across Eric and male bonding ensues and that's pretty much the extent of their relationship aside from resolving the plotline of the two feuding tribal brothers. Mike Henry and Steve Bond had pretty good chemistry though so its a shame they didn't squeeze at least a couple more films out of them
shareHahaha. There's more depth to this Tarzan flick than one would expect!!!
So Tarzan did not rescue the boy and did not teach him to survive in the jungle like the earlier films.
So who rescued the boy after his father died in the river? Who taught him to survive in the jungle?
Suspension of disbelief - just like with Tarzan himself, kid is just raised by the animals - in this case a leopard and a chimpanzee. Although he seems to have some minimal contact with members of the tribe in the forbidden jungle, which makes a person wonder why he's so starved for human contact that he'd act the way he does around Tarzan. Again to watch their scenes in the film itself its male bonding basically - and done in a jungle Tarzan's been forbidden to enter at that lol
shareWe've all heard stories of children raised by animals. It does happen.
https://www.treehugger.com/children-who-were-raised-by-animals-4869172
Like most people I've seen plenty of different Tarzan flicks in my life. The plot of this one is a little different from what I remember. I'm pretty sure Tarzan raised most the "Boys" himself. This kid was actually raised by wild animals before Tarzan found him.
I need to watch this one!
Yeah here's the link again: https://www.tokyvideo.com/video/tarzan-and-the-jungle-boy-1968
Good watch