Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, the Wild Man Raised by Apes, has proven surprisingly enduring since the author introduced him in 1912. There were silent film adaptations of the series before MGM bought the rights in 1931 for $40,000 and made 12 feature films starring Johnny Weissmuller in the title role. When Weissmuller left the series to play intrepid hunter Jungle Jim for Paramount, other actors attempted to take his place. Alas, none of them could match Weissmuller’s athleticism and iconic pidgin speech (“I Tarzan, you Jane”), which left the character in danger of fading from view by the 1970s.
Burroughs’ books have always been popular and appropriate for young readers, so it made perfect sense for Filmation to release the animated children’s film “Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle” for CBS in 1976. Voiced by the legendary Robert Ridgely (two decades removed from becoming Colonel James in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights”), the show aired for four seasons, giving a new generation a traditional Tarzan and providing MGM with an opportunity to bring back the Lord of the Jungle. monkeys on the big screen.
Although MGM no longer owned the film rights to Tarzan, they were legally allowed to remake 1932’s “Tarzan the Ape Man” because they had remade it in 1959. Nonetheless, that project ticked off Warner Bros., which had acquired the rights to the hero and was developing a big-budget adventure with A-list screenwriter Robert Towne.
The Burroughs estate was more than ticked off. When they learned that director John Derek’s new version of “Tarzan: The Ape Man” was to be an R-rated erotic showcase for his glamorous wife and sex symbol Bo Derek (a big-screen sensation after Blake Edwards’ “10”), they alleged copyright infringement and sought to bar the studio from releasing the film in 1981. How did that work out for them?
The Burroughs estate was no match for Bo Derek
Efforts by the Burroughs estate to block the release of Derek’s “Tarzan the Ape Man” failed. MGM opened the film in the United States on August 7, 1981 and watched with pleasure as it grossed $37 million against an $8 million budget. While domestic critics (with the exception of Roger Ebert) tore the film apart as mindless, amateurishly made trash, it was critic-proof. Moviegoers flocked to Derek’s abomination to see his stunning wife cavorting naked with muscular Miles O’Keefe as the title character. They got what they paid for with ultra-dark interests.
The Burroughs estate was not finished. They filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which, much to their dismay, reaffirmed that MGM had “the right to create and write an original story, using ‘Tarzan’ as one of the characters.”
Ultimately, the Burroughs estate’s fears proved unfounded. Although Warner Bros. The Burroughs-approved “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan: Lord of the Apes” was a box office disappointment (grossing $46 million against a $30 million budget), the film received mostly good reviews and three Academy Award nominations (a disgruntled Towne had his name removed from the film, allowing his dog, Vazak, to get the nod). 15 years later, Disney would release the hit animated film “Tarzan.” In 2016, Warner Bros. failed commercially again with “The Legend of Tarzan,” but the character is too indelible a part of American pop culture to disappear forever.
