Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)

the audience applauded

Absolutely Fantastic

Absolutely brilliant

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Probably the most serious and realistic adaptation of Tarzan I've seen. The first act is great. The harshness and grittiness in the tone was a great way to set the mood. The second half is good and has some better moments, but it doesn't hold up as well as the first half and leaves the film a little anticlimactic.The development and exploration of John/Tarzan's character is well thought out and the performance was really believable. Ian Holm is fantastic in the film as his friend and the journey they make together should have been explored more. Going into the film i expected to see a film where Tarzan defends his animal friends from evil humans in the jungle, but I got a very grounded and simple film about a man trying to adapt into a life he naturally wasn't raised for. The duality and having to choose between the two lives is an interesting concept, but it leaves it unresolved in my opinion.There are some very dramatic and sad moments here too. The bond between the apes and the man is felt more than the bond between humans sometimes. The apes have their cheesy moments, but there's also really strong and emotional moments too. The detail in the costumes switches around a bit. The best compliment to the ape costumes I can give is that the eyes where done so well that I actually thought those were real ape ayes.There are even some scenes that deal with the human beings desire to kill and rip apart other animals, like dissecting, hunting and chaining them up. Seeing those things from Tarzan's perspective was a bit haunting and heartbreaking and you feel the conflict.Some great performances, great first half, gritty & grounded moments are all strong points, but it loses steam in the second half and drags on a bit for too long and leaves you feeling unresolved. The film also lacked more tension and intensity towards the end which would have picked the whole thing up and made up for the calmer moments. I like calmer films, but it really builds up to something exciting to happen, and it never does.Still, it's probably the best adaptation of Tarzan I've seen and the one who truly makes you feel the tragedy of this truly sad and haunting tale. It ain't as light as you might expect.

I saw this when I was 19 in the theaters when it came out in 1984, and have again many many times since. There are very few movies that are touchstones of my life and this is one of them. They gave it a realistic look with special effects unmatched at the time. This movie still holds up to this day, as all great movies do. It is the undoubted best Tarzan movie ever made. It is still strange to me why the first Tarzan book was never made except for this one. Interesting to know that this was Andie Macdowell's first film. Her beauty still holds up, 33 years later. Her daughter is an actress now. That kind of stuff freaks me out, as most of us don't want to confront age. This film is timeless though. Its a travesty that it only has 3 stars here on IMDb, considering the academy awards it was nominated for, and the great acting performances, including Sir Ralph Richardson's last performance before he passed away. It is clearly Lambert's best performance before or since. And Andie Macdowell is well, Andie Macdowell. This film evokes a sense of wonder, that very few films can. When I am feeling a little lost, I plug in and watch this film. It lifts your spirits. It makes you feel that your time hasn't passed you by, and that there is hope for the future. At least it has for me, from age 19 to 51. I have seen reviews where people have called it slow and boring. Then obviously they don't want a normal progressive story line. They should go to action and other genre, and not bother putting in their less than 2 cents worth. Tarzan decides to make a decision at the end, that few of us except the truly great ever can make. We should all be so lucky.

As a kid, this film hit me like a ton of bricks. With all it's powerful emotions and tense moments, it was a bit much for an 11yr- old. Still, it seems to hold that power for older audiences."Greystoke:The Legend of Tarzan" stays pretty true to Burroughs work. The film is really divided into two segments. The first takes place in the jungle, and the second takes place in a more civilized(or so it seems) world of Victorian Mansions.The first half is unbelievably gripping. Emotional, Scary, and Adventurous. The second half is more a powerful drama, but for me the second-half is not only a bit under-rated, but quite deep and disturbing.Christopher Lambert of "Highlander" fame is excellent throughout - easily his best work.This is a tough watch for any animal lover. A tough watch in general. I think THAt is actually skewing the score here a bit. It's a good movie, not great, good, but I think it's considerably better than the score here. One of those films that you enjoy, but don't want to turn around and watch it again.It could be even better. There's a few moments in the second half that were a bit redundant, and that could've perhaps shaved about 10 minutes off of this and helped overall. BUT, I left this review simply because it's a bit better than 6.3 might lead you to believe. If you haven't seen it - do.69/100 A good forgotten adventure/drama from the 80's. The best Tarzan film - though that ain't sayin' much.You might like this if you liked: PLatoon(better), Rise of the Planet of the Apes(slightly better or even), or Project X(slightly below this).

Upon release mixed notices greeted this attempt to get to the crux of Edgar Rice Burroughs' jungle man creation, The Lord of the Apes, Tarzan. It's a bold movie in many ways, one of those occasions when a fondly thought of character from days of yore is given the serious make - over treatment. Which as film history tells us is often very tricky.Plot trajectory has a lost child of the British aristocracy reared by apes in the African jungle after his parents were shipwrecked there. Feral but wonderfully skilled with it, the child becomes a feral man of some substance but is discovered by explorers and returned to Britain and his ancestral home. Lord Greystoke becomes his title, but his loyalties, confusion and emotions continue to pull him in two directions.The story as written obviously becomes a two-parter. The first part is the best as Greystoke is born into the jungle and we are up close and personal with the ape community. The action is very well marshalled, the effects work of a high quality, and the realisation of the situational dynamics is superb. Not forgetting, either, some mighty emotional thumps as the dangers of mother nature's creatures tugs away at the old heart strings, the rules and brutality of the jungle given weighty filmic thrust.Shifting gear to the "jungle man in aristocracy Britain" thread, the pace slows down considerably as Greystoke dons a tux and gets the hots for Miss Jane Potter. It's this section of film that proves problematic. Narrative is bogged down by philosophical brain farts, further compounded by Andie MacDowell's (Jane) voice being dubbed by Glenn Close and the fake noises coming out of Christopher Lambert's (Greystoke) mouth, they are both very disconcerting issues. Thankfully Ralph Richardson (in his last film before he passed away) is on hand as Grandfather Greystoke to give the pic a warm and tender center.Tech credits are a mixed bag, with John Alcott's photography impressive on both continents and Rick Baker & Paul Engelen's makeup work is from the high end. Sadly, John Scott's musical score is not nearly epic enough, while director Hugh Hudson is guilty as charged when it comes to not keeping seamless the transitional change over from jungle to mainland, more so as the great Ian Holm gets short shrift here. What a waste!Yet it's a film that's easy to warm too. Stirring and touching in equal measure, it has enough qualities to off-set the flaws. 7/10