Greystoke, la légende de Tarzan

GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES (1984) ***1/2 Christopher Lambert, Ian Holm, Ralph Richardson, James Fox, Andie McDowall. Incredibly realized adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic tale of an orphaned infant raised by apes in the deepest darkest jungles of Northern Africa that eschews the old Johnny Weissmuller route ("Me Tarzan, You Jane") and instead captures the essence of the story of the man who would be the next Earl of Greystoke Estate of Scotland who cannot escape the upbringing by primates no matter how hard established (and snobbish) society dictates what is proper. Exquisitely breathtaking cinematography by John Alcott and make up artist/genius Rick Baker's ape creations are indeed a wonder to behold (the apes are the most empathetic I believe since his "King Kong" sympathetic figure). Richardson (in his last screen role) received a Best Supporting Actor nomination as the grandfather of John Clayton (Tarzan), gives a memorable performance. McDowall in her screen debut has her voice dubbed by Glenn Close thanks to director Hugh Hudson's supposed distaste for her unmistakably anachoristic Southern accent (as well as his rewrite of screenwriter Robert Towne's script that promptly led to Towne removing his moniker for the pseudonym of P.H. Vazak, which incidently is the name of his pet sheepdog(!) )

What a masterpiece! Filmed in Cameroon, with stuntspeople, gymnasts, and circus performers in ridiculously lifelike ape suits, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes is a beautiful, sentimental drama that shows the differences and similarities between civilization and the animal kingdom.

This two-and-a-half hour epic from director Hugh Hudson starts before the titular character's birth. His parents, nobles from England, get shipwrecked along the African coast, and while they survive long enough to build a treehouse, write a diary, and have a child, the die shortly after the baby's birth. Coincidentally, a female ape has just lost her baby, and when she sees the abandoned human infant, her mothering instincts kick in. All the deaths are pretty violent and graphic, so you'll want to stick to the cartoon for the kiddies, but it is a very interesting backstory to see the transition from a proper English castle to the wilderness.

All the actors who play Tarzan, Danny Potts, Eric Langlois, and finally Christopher Lambert, are pitch-perfect in their performances. I don't know how they managed to get through their scenes without laughing, but perhaps they got all their giggles out during rehearsal. All three have an enormous amount of physical acting to do, from vine-swinging to tree climbing to lifting, throwing, and fighting. All three have to pretend they're hairless apes, imitating the use of their limbs, their posture, the different tones and noises of their language, and their facial expressions. Accomplishing all that, without laughing and without making the audience laugh, is quite a feat. Christopher Lambert has to add in an entire transformation to his performance of learning how to speak and act like a civilized person, which, to his character, is a completely different species.

Ian Holm, a Belgian zoologist, also gets shipwrecked in the same wilderness, and while he nearly dies, he meets up with Christopher Lambert, who saves his life. In turn, he teaches him the ways of being a human. The greatest flaw of the movie is Chris's lack of a beard after living his entire life in the jungle. When Ian teaches him his first word, "razor," then shaves him, there's nothing to shave! Besides that, the rest of the movie is very good. Ian's performance is so convincing, if I'd never seen him before, I would have thought his French accent was real! Ironically, if you keep your eyes open, you'll get to see David Suchet, famous for his portrayal of Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, in a couple of scenes with Ian in the first half of the movie.

Andie MacDowell made her film debut in Greystoke as Jane, but all her lines were tragically dubbed over by Glenn Close, so it'll seem a little jarring to watch the famously Southern Andie speaking in a British accent. Even though the first portion of the film is very close to the original novel, the plot differs during the second half. Christophe returns to England to meet Andie, rather than meeting her while she's on safari in the jungle, as in the classic "Me Tarzan, you Jane" scene. In the novel, Jane is supposed to be a Southern American, but the director felt that dialect wouldn't fit with the rest of the movie. Andie may not sound like herself, but she certainly looks like herself. She's positively gorgeous, and she gets to wear some beautiful gowns!

All in all, this is a very good movie. You might need your Kleenexes, because parts of it are pretty sad from an animal lover's perspective and a sociologist's perspective. You'll be treated to beautiful scenery, both indoor and outdoor, wonderful performances, and Ralph Richardson's final film. Check this out if you like the Tarzan story and want to see a lush, dramatic adaptation.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. There are a few aerial camera swirls in the jungle and it will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence, nudity, and upsetting scenes involving animals and children, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

I, unlike a lot of you unkind movie reviewers, actually liked the movie. The movie was slow? That it wasn't. If it was, I would have sent it back to Amazon.Com. All of Tarzan's actions in the movie HAD to take place. Like the love scene. You'd be stupid to think that Tarzan would turn into a Romeo and just make love to Jane..duh..he's half ape peoples! If you're in the mood for a beautiful movie, don't listen to the no-brainers, see it, you'll love Greystoke! I first saw it in Theaters when I was 11, and I loved it then & I still love it now. All the actors in the movie did a great job..the jungle scenes are beautiful, and the original score is a masterpiece. 9 out of 10

If you are looking for a modern film version of Buster Crabbe or Johnny Weismuller's overcoming the machinations of unscrupulous, white safari guides or cunning, black tribesmen, while saving the animal kingdom, this is NOT the movie for you. This is a recounting of the Tarzan "legend" from its beginning in intelligent, adult terms. It is beautifully filmed and faithful to the Edgar Rice Burroughs stories.

Tarzan is no action hero, but a man torn between two worlds - the natural and the civilized. In a stunning performance, Christopher Lambert portrays this angst with absolute realism. If he slips up just once the cat will be out of the bag: the audience (especially the adult audience targeted by the film) will laugh, and the film will completely lose its grip. It will plummet into the cheesy depths. But Lambert never lets that happen. (Forget what you may think of him in other movies; when I saw this film at the theater on its original release, I thought he deserved an academy award.)

The supporting cast is uniformly excellent, as other commentators have noted. I disagree with most of them in that I didn't find anything wrong with Andie McDowell's performance. I wouldn't have nominated her for an academy award - the role is undemanding - but she is completely up to it, such as it is. I don't know why her voice was overdubbed, either.

The cinematography of the African segment of the tale is absolutely beautiful. It captures both the beauty of the African wilderness and the exotic expectation it holds in the collective imagination of those who have never been there. The scenery is lush and exotic, and the colors are vivid.

But this is also a "period" film, and the cinematography also magnificently depicts Victorian England - the countryside, the city and the interiors. The costumes are outstanding. The soundtrack is beautiful without being overwhelming or obtrusive.

There are some disturbing scenes - especially for animal lovers - but no more disturbing than a few scenes in Dances with Wolves. This is an excellent film about the conflict between civilization and nature, personified in the young Lord Greystoke, convincingly portrayed by Christopher Lambert.

SPOILERS Edgar Rice Burroughs's famous character was adapted thousand of times for the screen til one's thirst is quenched, notably during the thirties and the forties by Hollywood. Its productors made Tarzan one of the most successful cinema characters. Several years later, Hugh Hudson decided to make a more ambitious version of the monkey-man and it's a more natural, more wild and more down-to-earth Tarzan that he gives away here. Hudson skilfully avoids the clichés that you usually grant to Tarzan such as his famous scream or his friendly pet, Cheetah. Not only, are we far from the designed and invented character made by Hollwood but we are also far from the film set used to make his stories. The movie was partly made in Africa (more precisely in Cameroon). The movie introduces two obvious parts: the first one which takes place in the jungle where Tarzan lives among his adoptive friends, the apes and considers himself as their lord. But he ignores his real origins. The second one in England where Tarzan discovers the English society. Ian Holm epitomizes the link between the two parts and Hudson avoids all that could make the movie falls into the ridiculous thanks to a clever screenplay. Indeed, Holm teaches Lambert basic rules of manners so as to behave correctly in the English society and the result works. Moreover, in the second part, no-one ever laughs at Tarzan and he's even really appreciated. As far as the end is concerned well it's a both bitter and happy end. Happy because Tarzan comes back to the jungle and meets again his adoptive close relatives. But bitter too, because this homecoming means that the Greystoke line won't be ensured and is condemned to disappear... Christophe Lambert finds here, his first (and last?) great role. Sadly, he'll never equal the achievement of his performance in this movie and he'll play in poor and insipide action movies. Nevertheless, as I said previously, a clever screenplay, a performance of a rare quality, some impressive natural sceneries (both the jungle and the English country and we get a gorgeous movie. It's also an excellent rereading from a popular novel. So why is it only rated barely (6/10)?