Tarzan e o Grande Rio

The Amazon basin, home to crocs, hippos, lions, cheetahs, and secretary birds. LOL

If anyone complained about using the factually WRONG stock footage, the producer must have replied, "They don't know, and they won't care".

Well, the original Tarzan books had tigers in Africa, so at least they were as ignorant as he started out.

Proof that the "Tarzan" character works best in an African setting, circa 1890s to 1930s, can be found in this mildly enjoyable but undeniably juvenile movie. It tries to "update" and "re-imagine" Tarzan by sending him on a jetliner to Brazil where he arrives wearing a suit and tie. This immediately raises questions. Where does he buy his suits? How does he pay for them? Does he have on a loincloth underneath or does he prefer Jockey-brand briefs?

Tarzan soon dons his customary garb and goes off on an adventure where he's involved in the usual vine-swinging, lion-wrestling, blonde-rescuing, villain-bashing, and giving out that Tarzan yell. Much of this action is padded out with wildlife footage which carelessly confuses African with South American zoology.

What limits this "Tarzan" is not the character's built-in incongruity but rather the kiddie-matinee nonsense which reverses past efforts to make this series more appealing to adults. Thus we have the cloyingly-cute kid, the chimp shenanigans, the corny dialog, the stereotyped cast members, etc.

On the plus side is tall, dark, handsome Mike Henry -- perhaps the only Tarzan with hair on his pecs. Though visually he's almost ideal, with a body by Michelangelo, he has a flat personality and only a minimum of acting ability, but these faults tend to fade away whenever he swings into action.

It is some years since I saw this film but I still remember it vividly.I rate it much higher than all the other Tarzan films from the late forties to the present day.Mike Henry is adequate as Tarzan and Manuel Padilla Jr. is very natural in his role(he was later to play a similar role as Jai in the "Tarzan" television series of the sixties.)The supporting cast are fine too and the scenery is magnificent.Best of all however is the casting of Diana Millay as Ann.Combining beauty and brains this talented actress makes the lovely doctor she plays one of the most memorable heroines in any "Tarzan" film.

Mike Henry returns for another Tarzan adventure. Barcuna is a ruthless tribe leader who attacks and destroys villages, and takes young men as slaves so he can continue his reign of terror. Barcuna claims to own the jungle, and is feared by the tribesmen.

Tarzan is called upon to track down Barcuna, and stop him. He hitches a ride on the river with Captain Sam Bishop and a young orphan kid, Pepe, whom Sam looks after. Sam is to deliver medical supplies to Dr Anne Philips, who treats the natives. I enjoyed the bond that formed between Tarzan, and Sam and Pepe.

There's plenty of action and adventure in true Tarzan style. I've said this before and I'll say it again: Mike Henry is still the best cast actor to portray Tarzan. He is the epitome of a hunk with that muscled body and big stature, and does the famous character justice.

The nature setting allows for some stunning views, and the final fight scene between Tarzan and Barcuna on a bridge was quite thrilling, actually.

Would I watch it again? Well, even if just to drool over Mike Henry, yes!

The previous years' TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD had the jungle-traipsing hero in a suit with a handgun, competing with the James Bond franchise and, in TARZAN AND THE GREAT RIVER, supposedly taking place in the Amazon instead of Africa, they're back to the jungle: although there is one rudimentary scene with Mike Henry's muscular yet monotone Tarzan wearing civilian clothes...

Mostly though, the story's centered so much on a maverick boat captain... played by game-show-host Jan Murray with child-actor Manuel Padilla Jr his first-mate sidekick... that GREAT RIVER is more like an attempt to spinoff another franchise from Tarzan... who mostly stands around giving both the captain and kid advice on growing up...

Meanwhile the token ingenue's pretty blonde Diana Millay as a doctor whose syringe scares the natives even more than the villain, played by black British actor Rafer Johnson, who supposedly cursed them to sickness...

So it's all down to one finale fight against Tarzan in a terrific looking exterior location of bamboo bridges built along a mountainside: which should have happened a lot sooner, and for much longer.