Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan
by Hugh Hudson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Andie Mac Dowell, Christopher Lambert, Ian Holm, Ralph RichardsonDirector: Hugh Hudson
Brand: Warner Brothers
Producer: Hugh Hudson
Producer: Stanley S. Canter
Writer: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Writer: Robert Towne
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 137 minutes
Published: 2004-06-01
DVD Release Date: 2004-06-08
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan
Movie Review: A new Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Elmo Lincoln had the distinction of playing the first Tarzan in 1918, and Johnny Weissmuller played the first talking Tarzan in 1932 in "Tarzan the Ape Man", the first of 12 films to star Weissmuller. Buster Crabbe played him in 1935 in a 12 part series called "Tarzan the Fearless" and Bruce Bennett did the same in 1937 under the title "The New Adventures of Tarzan". Lex Barker succeeded him from 1949 to 1953 (5 films) and Gordon Scott followed Baxter from 1955 to 1960 (6 films). Nearly a dozen other actors played Tarzan at some point, but the most unique performance is from Christopher Lambert in "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" (1984).
Lambert is best known for his "Highlander" films (1986, 1991, 1994, 2000). Though born on Long Island, he moved to Switzerland at the age of 2. His first few films were French, and "Greystoke" was his first English film. He made a number of other English speaking films (e.g., "The Sicilian" in 1987, "Mortal Combat" in 1995) but most of his subsequent work has been foreign, primarily French. He won the Cesar Award (French Oscar) in 1986 for "Subway", a Luc Besson film.
The film features Ralph Richardson, Iam Holm, and Andie MacDowell as Jane.
Ralph Richardson was nominated for an Oscar for his work in this film, his only other Oscar nomination having occurred 35 years earlier for "The Heiress" (1949). He won the Best Supporting Actor from the NY Film critics for this film and "The Sound Barrier" (1952), and won Best Actor at Cannes for "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1962). Richardson made more than 50 films between 1933 and 1985. I remember him best in "Time Bandits" (1981) as the Supreme Bandit. Richardson plays Tarzan's grandfather. He died shortly after filming and the movie was dedicated to him. The NY Times praised his performance and said he "dominates the film."
The great character actor Ian Holm is the man who discovers Greystoke, tutors him, and brings him back to "civilization." Holms appeared in more than 100 films. He was nominated for an Oscar for his role as the coach in "Chariots of Fire" (1981), and received 6 BAFTA nominations, winning twice ("Chariots of Fire" and "The Bofors Gun"). He's probably most famous as Bilbo Baggins in the "Lord of the Rings" films, but I think his performance in "Greystoke" is his best.
Andie MacDowell made her film debut in "Greystoke" and has gone on to make nearly 50 films, garnering Golden Globe nominations for her work in "Sex, Lies, and Videotapes" (1989), "Green Card" (1990), "Short Cuts" (1993), and "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (1994). She won a Saturn Award for "Groundhog Day" opposite Bill Murray. Because the producers of Greystoke thought her southern accent didn't fit her English background, they dubbed in Glenn Close.
The film is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel and the first part is true to the original while the second half goes off on a tangent that Burroughs probably would have approved of. The original idea of Tarzan came from the "wild boy" literature that was popular in the 19th Century, and Burroughs specifically acknowledged the influence of Rudyard Kipling's "Mowgli" from "The Jungle Book" (1894). This concept was a reaction to the problems of industrialization and praises the "simple life", and the second half of the film focuses on this conflict.
The great writer Robert Towne wrote the screenplay. Towne was nominated 5 times for an Oscar, winning for "Chinatown" in 1975. Among his other notable films are "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967), "Shampoo" (1975), "Personal Best" (1982), "The Firm" (1993) and "Mission Impossible" (1996, 2000). He was originally supposed to direct the film, was fired, and then requested that his dog's, P.H.Vazak, receive screen credit for writing. To his dismay, P.H.Vazak was nominated for an Oscar.
The beautiful photography is by John Alcott, the Oscar winning photographer of "Barry Lyndon" (1975), one of the dullest but most beautifully filmed movies of all time. Alcott's credits also include "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), "The Shining" (1980), and "No Way Out" (1987).
Hugh Hudson directs. Best known for his first film, the award winning "Chariots of Fire" (1981), Hudson's career would never reach those heights again. His subsequent films include "I Dreamed of Africa" (2000), "My Life so Far" (1999), and "Revolution" (1985). Hudson brought several actors from "Chariots" to "Greystoke" including Ian Holm, Ian Charleson, Cheryl Campbell (plays Tarzan's mother), Nigel Davenport, and Richard Griffiths.
The music from John Scott and the Royal Philharmonic is exquisite, supplementing the wonderful photography and great locations. In addition to his work in films ("Die Hard", "Man on Fire", "Living Planet") Scott worked with performers as diverse as the Beatles, Tom Jones, Nelson Riddle, and Ravi Shankar.
The NY Times called the film "the season's most unexpected, most invigorating surprise" and correctly observed that it "isn't in competition with its predecessors. It's a different order of fiction entirely."
The film is terrific, especially the first half, that differs in tone from the second half. There are many memorable scenes, including the departure of Holm, the courtship of Jane, a dinner in which Lambert imitates the sounds of different beasts, Richardson's romp down the stairs, and Tarzan's encounter with his adopted ape father.
Summary of Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan
An infant raised to manhood among savage apes, living by his wits and the law of the jungle, returns to society to claim his inheritance of humanity and privilege. This collision of "wild" and "civilized" worlds is the extraordinary saga of Tarzan, chronicled in Edgar Rice Burroughs' popular book series. Starring: Christopher Lambert, Andie MacDowell, Ian HolmOne of those legendary missed opportunities, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes is a movie that should have been great but wound up the victim of conflicting egos and wrong-headed choices. Based on a screenplay by Robert Towne (who took his name off it when he wasn't allowed to direct) and directed by Hugh Hudson (riding high on the basis of Chariots of Fire), the film tried to rethink the Tarzan legend of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and boy, did it have to: By casting French-accented Christopher Lambert as Tarzan, the filmmakers had to transform his white-hunter mentor Ian Holm into a Frenchman to explain those inflections in Tarzan's monosyllabic speech. The film has some amazing jungle footage and a truly touching relationship between Tarzan and the apes--but it gets pretty silly when Tarzan gets to London and hooks up with Sir Ralph Richardson, as his grandfather. -?Marshall Fine
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