Sheena * (1984, Tanya Roberts, Ted Wass, Donovan Scott) – Classic Movie Review 7628

Director John Guillermin’s 1984 lady in a loincloth comic book adventure Sheena suffers from an achingly poor screenplay by David Newman and Lorenzo Semple Jr, and it is deadly dull because no one seems to be in touch with the tongue-in-cheek humour it needs to work successfully.

Tanya Roberts is merely decorative as Sheena the African jungle girl who flees and gets TV producer Vic Casey (Ted Wass) to help her to prove that her mystical witch stepmother Shaman (Elizabeth of Toro) is innocent of a frame-up for the murder of a political leader.

It helps that it is an expensive production ($26 million), with pretty Metrocolor cinematography by Pasqualino de Santis on Kenyan locations, and both the natural views and Roberts in the buff when Sheena is shown nude bathing make the movie look good.

The story by David Newman and Leslie Stevens and screenplay are based on Jerry Iger and Will Eisner’s cartoon strip Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

Also in the cast are Donovan Scott, France Zobda, Trevor Thomas, Clifton Jones, John Forgeham, Errol John, Sylvester Williams, Bob Sherman, Michael Shannon, and Nancy Paul.

The PG-rated UK theatrical release was cut by 14 seconds to edit out the stabbing of a man’s throat with a spear and a shot of a man on fire. The 1986 15-rated UK video version is cut only for a shot of a zebra being tripped over. The TV print further removes some nudity and violence to make it suitable for family audiences.

In September 2017 it was announced that a Sheena, Queen of the Jungle reboot is on its way.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7628

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