Tarzan, o Magnífico

Along with 'Tarzan's Greatest Adventure', I rate this one as the best Tarzan movie of all times. Both of them are quite an improvement over the black&whites from the 30's and 40's (yes, Johnny Weissmuller was a hell of a Tarzan himself, no doubt, and did great movies, but times have changed quite a bit). Tarzan is an adult character now, aiming adult audiences, in these last two Gordon Scott's appearances. He is articulate, and as straight as he can be. No Janes, no Boys, no funny chimps around. This is a bloody, violent, dark, adult movie. This is a violent, dark new Tarzan. I only regret this wonderful new bias - and the mighty, definitive, impressive Tarzan Gordon Scott was - had no continuity. Later on, we were back to the tired lightweight Tarzans, oh-hum adventures, and here are our good friends, the chimps, goofing around again. Pity.

After seeing "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" in 1959 I thought Gordon Scott had made the best Tarzan film ever.....one year later "Tarzan the Magnificent" comes along and it is nearly as good, just a tad not as good as TGA.....Scott, a bulging musclemen and very handsome makes a great Tarzan, and the old cornshuck scripts and groans were taken out of his vocabulary again and he is a thinking, intelligent ape man hell bent on righting the wrongs of the notorious Banton gang....as in "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" Scott is after a gang of cuthroats and killers again and wont settle the score until they are all captured or killed. Producer Sy Weintraub assembled another top notch cast of veterans like Jock Mahoney and John Carradine as superb villains and some other newcomers too......a couple of nice looking women are again in the mix ala TGA.......This time instead of doing the chasing of villains as he did in TGA, Tarzan is chased and followed by the murderous Banton gang, hell bent on getting back their brother (played by Jock Mahoney) who has been captured by Tarzan and has Tarzan wanting to give him to the authorities in a settlement a few miles away. Problem is Tarzan must escort a group of mixed up civilians who do not know the ways and treacheries of the jungle terrain. Tarzan is constantly trying to stay ahead of the Banton gang and yet is slowed to a crawl by his civilian misfits. Then Mahoney creates ultimate friction by wooing and stealing one of the group's wife.....Tarzan has his hands full at this point!! In the end Scott must fight the remainder of the Banton gang and wipe them all out ala TGA.....in the end he delivers Mahoney to the proper authorities and Scott returns to his jungle realm. All in all this is another great Weintraub production of an intelligent Tarzan and Scott rises to the role in superb fashion. He is definitely the best Tarzan ever in my opinion. Very sadly this was Scott's last Tarzan film and the thing that has perplexed me is why Weintraub after the amazing success of TGA and T the Magnificent did not want Scott to make more of these great Tarzan movies. Very sadly a skinny, underweight Jock Mahoney became the next Tarzan and he is no Scott......nowhere near as handsome either. Scott at this point joined his good friend Steve Reeves and made a slew of the very popular sword and sandal Hercules type films in Italy during most of the 60s......Scott finished up his film career with a good Italian western "The Tramplers" made in 1966.....

I'm writing this a few days after Gordon Scott's life has come to an end, so this review is a tribute to his life and career , especially his characterization as Tarzan, which many consider the best ever brought to the screen. Gordon Scott had a great screen presence as well as underrated acting abilities, and we really need more of his films released on DVD.

"Tarzan the Magnificent" is his last Tarzan film, I think, and it was released in 1960, right after "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" which I consider the best Tarzan film ever made. This film is not as good as that one, though it comes close, therefore coming in as the second best Tarzan film ever made. In any case, Gordon Scott again does a fantastic job portraying the ape man. I think he was the only one who convinced me that physically he could take on lions and crocodiles as well as Sean Connery.

The plot of this movie is basically the same as "Greatest Adventure." Tarzan pursues and battles a gang of jungle crooks. (What the hell are backwoods moonshiners doing in Africa anyway?) Here there is a psychological angle as well as slam bang action. The location photography is great too. The ending is a little too similar to the last outing, but hard hitting just the same.

Gordon, wherever you are, thanks for the great entertainment!

Tarzan the Magnificent (1960)

*** (out of 4)

Tarzan (Gordon Scott) must try and escort criminal Coy Banton (Jock Mahoney) and a group of people through the jungle to try and turn him over to authorities. Not only is Tarzan forced to drag these people through the dangerous jungle but he also has to deal with Banton's crazy father (John Carradine) and brothers who plan on getting him back. This was the sixth and final time that Scott would play Tarzan and this is clearly the best of his pictures and I'd probably say that overall this is the best Tarzan film since TARZAN AND HIS MATE. This film pretty much has everything you'd hope for in a Tarzan movie and that includes action, drama, a strong story, a terrific setting, great villains and of course of strong Tarzan. Scott was clearly in charge here as he delivers a wonderful performance as the ape man. There's no question that his physical ability was fine for the role but he also managed to make Tarzan a human and pull off the actual performance. As was the case in the previous film, this one here features a terrific supporting cast. Mahoney, who would take over the role of Tarzan in the next film, is perfect as the bad guy. What's so great about Mahoney is the way he really doesn't say much but instead you can see his evil thoughts simply by looking into his eyes. The two large men are perfectly matched against one another and especially the end sequence, which ranks among one of the best fight scenes of the series. Carradine is terrific as always playing the cold-blooded father and we also get strong support from Betta St. John, Lionel Jeffries, Alexandra Stewart and Earl Cameron. The final line from the opening credits lets viewers know that this film was shot in Africa and the on location shooting certainly helped build up some terrific atmosphere. The jungle looks really good and the various wild life really helps bring this film to life. The entire film is pretty much a chase sequence because we have Tarzan trying to get these people through the jungle with one issue coming up after another and on top of all of this he has to deal with the crazy family following. The action scenes are extremely well done and I'd say they're some of the most suspenseful of the series. This is especially true during a scene where Tarzan and Coy fall into some quicksand and must struggle to get out. TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT is without question one of the best films in the series and even those non-fans should be able to enjoy this one.

Although more a western than a typical Tarzan movie, this film has a good plot and is more violent than others. Gordon Scott plays a too stolid, clean and modern Tarzan fighting against a more rude and violent than usual heavy family (father John Carradine and his four sons). John Carradine and Jock Mahoney steal the show as the two main villains. As a mere curiosity, although in this Tarzan movie did not appear the famous Tarzan yell for the first time, in Spanish dubbed version it did! Also, in Spanish dubbed version, to avoid infidelity, censors decided to convert mr. and mrs. Dexter into father and daughter, leading to a rather peculiar situation. They did also changed black chief's wife illness from pregnancy to appendicitis, giving as post surgical result...a baby. There are nice shots of Africa (filmed on location) and a final good fight in the falls. All and all a nice and entertainment movie.