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Author	Topic: Bruce Bennett, the ultimate Tarzan

John C Winfrey Standard Userer	Bennett played in some of the really fake Tarzan films of the '30s. Tarzan and the Green Goddess and the other one I have seen that is so lousy too. This fine character actor made many good films after this. In these films he was listed under the other name back then. His yell for Tarzan was particularly funny and I laughed each time I heard it when I was kid. All the stuffed animals he threw around in those films and the box for a machine gun showed that no expense was spared in them. One story(don't know if true or not) was that after one of the films was completed in Central America(Guatelmala or Honduras, wherever it was filmed) the company ran out of money, so some of the actors and crew had to get back to the U.S. on their own. Bennett supposedly worked his way back on an old steamer. Maybe one of you can shed some light on this? Anyway, these films are great. Super especially the non-stop fights and when he shoots 100 natives with the machine gun box and all fall down at once. Great film. Take care.
posted 07-20-2000 08:23 PM PT (US)

John C Winfrey Standard Userer	The name was Herman Brix back then.
posted 07-20-2000 08:25 PM PT (US)

Boris Standard Userer	Wow, John. You've gone too far back for me. My favorite Tarzan was Jock Mahoney!
posted 07-20-2000 08:37 PM PT (US)

joan hue Standard Userer	Hey John, so glad to see a post about Tarzan movies. I’ve always had a hate/love relationship with Tarzan flicks. I adored the Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan novels. (If anyone thinks these books are an easy read, he/she hasn’t read them.) I’ve watched almost all of the Tarzan movies, but I’ve always been frustrated with the movie adaptations. I would love to see a realistic adaptation of Tarzan of the Apes. The 1984 Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan tried, but I thought C. Lambert was a wimpy Tarzan. (Great John Scott score, however.) Johnny Weissmuller’s first movie, Tarzan of the Apes, was about the best in his series, but it still didn’t mirror the first two novels. I guess he was my favorite Tarzan before his waistline expanded. Also, I liked Lex Barker’s Tarzan. John, I have seen the Herman Brix Tarzan movies on AMC. You're right. Bad yell. Same with the Buster Crabbe's screeching. I was really surprised to see that Dimitri Tiomkin scored Tarzan and the Mermaids. Have to give that one a fresh listen. Truly wish that Hollywood would authentically film the first two novels. Haven’t got a clue whom I would cast as Tarzan and Jane. (I know it wouldn’t be Bo Derek.) Basil Poledouris would definitely score it. NP Classic Cinema
posted 07-20-2000 11:19 PM PT (US)

John C Winfrey Standard Userer	Yes, Joan. I have enjoyed many of the same Tarzan films you mentioned. Kind of interesting. Jock Mahoney is a favorite of mine also. I met him and chatted for a moment in 1963 at the old Downtown Drive-In in Ft. Worth when he was touring promoting Tarzan Goes to India or Tarzan's Three Challenges. I asked him how he liked playing with the Three Stooges. He said he would rather not talk about that. Best, John.
posted 07-21-2000 05:28 AM PT (US)

PeterD Standard Userer	I've always been fond of two of the Gordon Scott Tarzan movies, probably because I saw them as a kid in the theaters -- "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" (with a pre-Bond Sean Connery as a villain) and "Tarzan the Magnificent" (in which Jock Mahoney, before taking over the Tarzan role, played one of the bad guys!).
posted 07-23-2000 01:34 AM PT (US)

John C Winfrey Standard Userer	I like the Gordon Scott ones also. Jock was good as the villain in that one. He also played villain in a later one with Mike Henry. He had a whip in that one. He really liked the Tarzan films, didn't he? By the way did you ever see The Tramplers with Scott, Joseph Cotton and Jim Mitchum? Really lousy western made in Spain or someplace over there from around 1964. Really rotten film. Had some good music in it though. Best, John.
posted 07-23-2000 04:09 PM PT (US)

logied Standard Userer	Ate alot of popcorn with Les Barker as Tarzan. As a Wildlife lover I have to laugh at the many animal goofs that I didn,t know then, Elephants for example. In some of the early movies they glued large ears on Indian Elephants to make them look like African Elephants. In some pictures they didn,t even do that. Tigers in Africa, or people in the jungle looking at plains Zebras and animals, fun stuff.
posted 07-23-2000 06:51 PM PT (US)

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