Word: tarzans
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GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES Directed by Hugh Hudson Screenplay by P.H. Vazak and Michael Austin
Grab a vine, give a yell and prepare to take a leap of faith: they have gone and made an utterly serious Tarzan movie and, believe it or not, it is rather good. Indeed, much of Greystoke is very good, a tender, thoughtful and pictorially beautiful working out of the themes that were implicit in Edgar Rice Burroughs' original conception, but which over 70 years of life in the Hollywood jungle have been choked off by the riotous, unchecked growth of weedy invention and seedy, B-picture convention...
...relief as well. All of that was admittedly fun, as if the cast of a suburban sitcom had been dropped down in the African hinterlands, told to undress and act natural. But Burroughs, that dauntlessly prolific pop fictioneer, had something more important on his mind when he dreamed up Tarzan: nothing less than the creation of a mythic figure who would encapsulate the Edwardian age's anguish over the way the virtues of the primitive life were being trampled by the irresistible march of industrialism and imperialism. It is this figure that Hugh Hudson, director of Chariots of Fire...
DIED. Johnny Weissmuller, 79, record-setting swimmer (five Olympic gold medals) turned cinematic Tarzan (twelve movies); in Acapulco, Mexico. "They gave me a G-string," he claimed of his MGM bosses, "and said, 'Can you climb a tree?'" Weissmuller, the archetypal Hollywood hunk, led an extravagantly untidy personal life highlighted by five failed marriages and a portfolio of foolish business ventures...
Customs in costumes are also changing. While traditional devils, ghosts and vampires are still popular, many adult outfits are bewitching in another sense: harem robes, Tarzan loincloths, geisha girls, samurai swordsmen, plus Dolly Parton, Carmen Miranda and Lady Godiva. This year's revelers will also be garbed as Mr. T, E.T., gruesome beasts from Return of the Jedi, punk rockers, hot dogs, sandwiches, trash bags, schools of fish, brilliantly plumed birds, six-packs of beer, and, if a Denver pair repeats its act, a couple in bed, including the bed. A New York City family will masquerade as Britain...