Ron Ely’s TARZAN episode 1-EYES OF THE LION and 2-THE ULTIMATE WEAPON

 

Ron Ely’s TARZAN episode 1-EYES OF THE LION and 2-THE ULTIMATE WEAPON

 

“Tarzan, you must be the only marriage counselor who lives in a tree.”   

 

The first five episodes shot were filmed in Brazil. The waterfalls (Iguazu Falls with 275 drops and a height of 210 feet) seen in the credits and in the first two episodes were at the Argentina/Brazil border. It took five and a half months to film these five episodes. Because of that, the show moved to Mexico. An episode was filmed in London in 1967. Episodes in 1967 filmed in Guatemala and Mozambique.

 

I have to admit that Ron was never my favorite TARZAN but the show was a favorite. Indeed, Ron was in my top three TARZANs. Johnny Weissmuller was dad’s and thus mine; his TARZAN call was used in all the other productions but it was he who made this call up and out. I also like Mike Henry because he looked so good and as Tarzan was a believable athletic Tarzan. Over time, I read about and realized Ely’s Tarzan was as close to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original vision in his books.

 

There’s something about Tarzan in movies and especially TV shows that is freeing. I don’t know what it is but it’s probably a combination of living in nature, outdoor location scenes and shoots, wearing as little clothing as possible, getting along with most animals and shunning contemporary and possibly ancient society ideals. Tarzan is freeing, done well or not. THIS is well done, despite what reviewers like the awful Cleveland Amory wrote about it. I also LOVE the character of Jai, who was also, sadly, put down unfairly in the reviews.

 

Unfortunately, we learn nothing about Jai at all in the opening two episodes (or later?). He’s simply there in this waterside dock town and he wears a shirt and shorts as any kid there would and possibly sandals and/or no shoes. He has no background and seemingly no parents. He’s not really Tarzan’s kid yet or sidekick but more hanging around with Jason Flood, an old guy photographer and looked over by Rao, a game warden (but he really shares few if any scenes with Jai in the first episode). Both Jason and Raul are fairly boring characters to be honest and neither last long.

 

Both of these episodes have a long opening. The narration goes on about Tarzan’s past, raised by apes and returned to England and then he, of his own accord, returns to the jungle. I can’t recall if Africa is mentioned at all. This takes 1 minute and 25 seconds. THEN, there is an opening credits sequence with the first of three of the series’ theme tunes (all three are excellent). This entire opening takes 2 min and 17 seconds, about. It’s quite well done. It also features a very young Steve Bond (who will go on to star in GENERAL HOSPITAL in the 1980s) as young boy Tarzan. These opening sequences with Bond and a leopard are from TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY (Tarzan actor Mike Henry’s best movie).

 

Ely was hurt several times during the series and this can be read about in TARZAN OF THE MOVIES by Gabe Essoe (and I’m sure on line at the Burroughs site). He did ALL his own stunts and later, directed an episode about a hurricane.

 

These first two episodes are, admittedly, a bit clunky, but entertaining. They are both sort of…leisurely. The visuals are gorgeous and it was worth going to Brazil to film them. The show looks better than most movies, even by today’s standards. The plots are tight, even if the filming isn’t. It feels as if there is a lot of filler. The soundtrack is really great. Tarzan chases Cheetah a lot in both episodes. So does Jai, who, in THE ULIMATE WEAPON, interferes, unwittingly, with Peter’s desire to kill someone for his father’s death.

 

In that episode, Peter Haines is the son of Jim Haines, a man who wanted to pay for Peter’s medical bills (he had jungle fever) by taking up illegal activities with one scum named Walker Sully who wants to kill elephants for profit. Sully also employs someone named Sandos or something? Sandos’s every line looks and sounds dubbed for some reason. He puts a trap up for Tarzan, using a deadly snake, that Tarzan later saves Peter from and tosses the snake without killing it. It turns out that Jim tried to shoot game warden Hoby Wallington in the back when Hoby warned him about capturing Sully soon. Tarzan saved Hoby, who was shot but not fatally. In a fight with Jim, Tarzan seems to accidentally knock him over a cliff and Jim is killed. Later, Sully, who can’t be trusted, claims that the elephant herd stamped over Jim’s body but there’s no evidence of that.

 

Predictably, Peter wants revenge but he knows something is wrong. Jai chasing Cheetah prevents him and later Tarzan stops him. Ely proves himself in the acting chops in this scene as he pulls the gun from Peter and knocks him against the wall, demanding he open the door to his returned new wife, Kathy. We’re not told but it feels as if Tarzan had the elephants block Kathy’s riverboat exit so he could talk her into returning. Peter could never see his father through the jokes and good guy. Jim did seem conflicted. Hoby tells Tarzan, laughably, “Tarzan, you must be the only marriage counselor who lives in a tree.”    

 

BTW, Hoby is played by former Tarzan Jock Mahoney. Mahoney played in TARZAN GOES TO INDIA and TARZAN’S THREE CHALLENGES, both good movies but his Tarzan never felt right to be honest. In addition, the 60s movies and this show, to be fair, never felt like they were totally based in Africa, though this TV show improves that feeling in later episodes. Jock will return in the two part THE DEADLY SILENCE parts one and two as one of the show’s best villains, the Colonel.

 

Another really creepy thing is that in THE ULTIMATE WEAPON, Jai has this thing about seeing Hoby’s bullet wound. I guess the writer felt that little boys would be fascinated by a wound and want to see it. If Jai did it once, it would be okay but he does some four times and talks about it again to Peter. I love the character of Jai but this makes him come off as creepy. His theme music here is cute, though as are his scenes of him mocking Peter kissing Kathy by him kissing Cheetah.

 

I also don’t get the feel of the dock town. I even saw telephone poles. Is this outpost somewhere Tarzan is associated with? Does Jai live there? Is Jason Flood, seen in both first episodes, watching over Jai? Where was Rao (the wonderful Rockne Tarkington), the game warden in the first episode. Is the outpost in THE ULTIMATE WEAPON the same outpost as in THE EYES OF THE LION?

 

The plot of EYES OF THE LION is intriguing. A blind girl, who we do not find out is blind right away in an interesting twist, has a kind red maned Seeing Eye lion and as ludicrous as that sounds, it really is well presented and it really works. Another red maned lion has maimed Oringa and later, kills Oringa’s father when the father goes out looking for vengeance. I’m not sure if it killed anyone else but the feeling is that it must be dealt with. The two lions are probably from the same liter, with only a dark spot on the girl Nara (Nora)’s lion Sultan. Predictably the two lions fight but unpredictably Sultan survives, even though he loses. Tarzan has to fight and kill the other lion, sadly. This might be the fight that had Ely bitten on the forehead. The same lion bites his thigh later. Maybe the animal was trying to tell the makers of the show something.

 

Not sure what Nara’s history is. I believe her parents were killed when their riverboat exploded and she was raised by two natives of the land (which land? Is this supposed to be Africa?) but those two were killed in a tribal war (and yes, those happened even as far up in time as the 1990s). This girl has no luck. The same explosion that killed her parents made her go blind so the adoptive father taught her lion to be a sort of Seeing Eye lion. She feels she can live alone but Tarzan shows her she has to trust someone and be with people. When Sultan needs to recover, she had to trust Rao and the village. Not sure what nationality Ned Romero is supposed to be with his face seemingly tanned up or made up to look darker but it seems slightly…I don’t know, dated. Or offensive. He starts a fire to kill the lion, endangering humans and other animals alike. It kills him and no one seems to mention it later at all.

 

Strangely, the next episode, opens with a fire, too. The same fire? Sully, the scum, mentions that the elephant herd is being driven toward the waterfalls…where Tarzan is just moseying around…doing nothing in particular. This idea is forgotten it seems and…well, the herd just moves. Not down the waterfall, thankfully. Did Tarzan’s call divert them? I think that was the idea. Similarly, later on, in the big finale fight, it seems important that the plunger not be plunged down to set off the explosives Sully wanted hidden but has a plunger out in the open…but then Cheetah, of all, plunges it down and the elephants are quite okay. I can’t recall if Tarzan called them away again but I don’t think he had time. Turning his back, thanks to liability Cheetah, Tarzan is nearly shot by Sully but Peter saves him.

 

Of note is Tall Boy, a tall man who seems to be an aide to Rao.

I also strongly suspect for the very first episode, Ron wore blue contact lenses and had his hair dyed much darker to look black. This is not evident in the second episode. 

 

 

Both episodes are clunky at worst (taking their time and with a bit of filler but nice filler) but entertaining and visually stunning at best. They are worth seeing again.

 

…and Ron Ely is a great Tarzan.