Le roi de la jungle

I'm a big Tarzan fan and use to like to see all the "B" Tarzan films made during the 1960s. My two favorite actors were Mike Henry and Ron Ely. This film is the Spanish version of the King of the Jungle and stars fan-favorite Steve Hawkes. Hawkes has a nice screen personality and is built well, however, it's not enough to save this second rate or make it 3rd rate rip-off of the typical Tarzan adventure movies.

There are some nice views of the local area, and a few attractive women in supporting roles, but aside from that, the film is a bore. The dubbed version is at least bearable, yet laughable. The Spanish version is lousy, as the acting is campy and the dialog childish. I'd skip this mess and rent a vintage Tarzan film from the 1940s.

This ¨Tarzan En La Gruta Del Oro¨ is a regular Tarzan movie with emotion , adventures , tough battles between the young Amazons and the evil prospectors , underwater fights , quicksands , rapid streams and marvelous outdoors . It deals with group of nasty men are looking for the location of a valuable grotto , ¨The Golden cave¨, a secret cave whose place only knows the Queen of the Amazon women . The Amazons are threatened and the Queen , then , relies on Tarzán (Steve Hawkes , and he didn't speak Spanish language , being dubbed) the position of the ostentous cave . Meanwhile , Tarzan saves the daughter (Kitty Swan) of the Queen from some cruel natives . As Tarzan helps the Amazons defeat two hunters (Jesús Puente , Luis Marin) who wish to take over a sacred gold treasure from the women's tribe . Later on , Tarzan is wounded but he is saved by an old prospector (Antonio Casas) , while his daughter (Krista Nell) attempts to find her father . Soon after , an African tribe along with the band of villains decide to attack the Amazons and discover the lavish cave in a hard entry by swimming underwater . But Tarzan doesn't take kindly the threat and executes against the evil-doers an extreme lesson .

In the film there are silly nasties , gorgeous Amazon girls dressed in in prehistorical furs , drunk Garimpeiros , extensive views of the Central America jungle, and many other things . The movie is dubiously faithful to Edgar Rice Borroughs story . It contains noisy action , sensational adventures , many angry natives , ominous white hunters , several enjoyable underwater scenes starred by Steve Hawkes and Kitty Swam , as well as wonderful outdoors from Surinam , Spain and Florida . Embarrassing and kiddie screenplay by Santiago Moncada , a known as well as prolific novelist , Screenwriter and playwright who wrote ¨La Campana Del Infierno¨ , ¨Corrupción De Chris Miller¨ and ¨Gorilas a Todo Ritmo¨ also starred by another peculiar Tarzan .

The film is lousily performed by Steve Hawkes , born in Eastern Europe , the Croatian Steve Hawkes (aka Hucks) emigrated to America as a teenager to pursue an acting career , citing Johnny Weissmuller as a childhood influence , though his career had sparse glory . He played a Tarzan-type role in a series of Spanish-language movies , as this one and ¨Tarzan Y El Arco Iris¨ (this one filmed on location in Colombia , Florida , Spain) , both of them shot by horror expert Manuel Caño (The swamp of the ravens , Voodoo Black Exorcist) . In Spain his character was referred to as "Tarzan" , but when they were released in English-language territories they directly avoided mentioning the Tarzan name , instead referring to Hawkes' character as ¨Zak¨ or "Zan" to avoid copyright foes . In 1971 he played the lead in the much-loved exploitation movie Blood Freak (1972) , in which he turns into a monster turkey . In the mid-'70s he was badly burned -along with his mate Kitty Swam- in an on-set accident (shooting Tarzan Y Arco Iris) , putting an end to his failed acting career and staying in Florida . Now completely retired , he runs an animal sanctuary out of Miami , a menagerie with a lot of wildlife ; however , being recently closed for a getaway of a dangerous Bengal tiger . This apocryphal Tarzan dressed in leopard , including a rocker lookalike style , long sideburns , like a bouncer and a special image belonging more a gay magazine than a Tarzan movie . Here the producers took the production budget and fled . Rating : 4.5/10 . Average Tarzan movie , though , subsequently , become a ¨Cult movie¨ for some Frikis aficionados to these kinds of weird products .

I watched this movie when I was a kid. I've been in love with it ever since, and today I find it even better for each time I view it.

This is a personal favorite, and I rate it higher than any other adventure movie I've seen. Steve Hawkes is the best and coolest Tarzan ever, Kitty Swan the best jungle queen, Marcello Giombini the best composer (how I wish I could come across the original soundtrack of this one) and Manuel Caño is my favorite Spanish director.

When I was a kid - I liked this one a whole lot more than other more classic Tarzan-movies, and my opinion today is the same (only stronger).

Whatever people might say about authorized or unauthorized Tarzans - Steve Hawkes will alway be the #1 Tarzan to me, and this one is without a doubt the very best of his two Tarzan-movies.

If anyone has the Spanish or Portuguese version and wants to sell it to me. Please drop me an e-mail (andreas@brus-online.com). I "only" have the Swedish, Greek and Norwegian prints.