Tarzan and the Great River ** (1967, Mike Henry, Jan Murray, Manuel Padilla Jr) – Classic Movie Review 8076

Tarzan and the Great River (1967) is directed briskly and very competently by Robert Day. It is the penultimate of the five Tarzan movies he made in the Sixties.

The great river is the Amazon and Mike Henry is Tarzan, up to his loincloth in deep water in Brazil, where a tribal cult is destroying villages and turning the natives into slaves, in this lively, low-budget, late entry in the series based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s characters.

Also in the cast are Jan Murray as Captain Sam Bishop, Manuel Padilla Jr as Pepe, Diana Millay as Dr Ann Philips, Rafer Johnson as Barcuna and Paulo Gracindo as Professor.

Notably, it is all filmed on location in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro Zoo, Parque Lage and Tijuca Forest.

Tarzan and the Great River is directed by Robert Day, runs 88 minutes, is made by Allfin AG, Banner Productions, Paramount Pictures, is released by Paramount, is written by Bob Barbash (screenplay and story) and Lewis Reed (story), is shot by Irving Lipman, is produced by Sy Weintraub and Steve Shagan, and is scored by William Loose.

Unfortunately during filming, Dinky the chimp playing Cheeta bit the jaw of Mike Henry, who had to have 20 stitches. Dinky was put down and, after immediately completing Tarzan and the Jungle Boy, Henry sued the producers over this incident and other alleged unsafe working conditions on his three Tarzan films. There was an out of court settlement for an undisclosed amount.

It follows Tarzan Goes to India (1962) and Tarzan’s Three Challenges (1963) with Jock Mahoney and Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966) with Mike Henry.

It is followed by Tarzan’s Jungle Rebellion (1967), a spinoff from the Ron Ely TV series, and Mike Henry’s last Tarzan movie, Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968).

Robert Day died on 17 March 2017, aged 94. His finest day is his very first film, The Green Man (1956).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8076

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