Tarzan And The Valley Of Gold

Smack dab in the middle of Bondmania — it was released the year after THUNDERBALL — came TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD, which is never quite as thrilling as its title. Screenwriter Clair Huffaker, better known for westerns like THE WAR WAGON and THE COMANCHEROS, put together some decent pulp ideas for producer Sy Weintraub, and there’s no denying the novel impact of the film’s opening. Tarzan (Mike Henry) arrives in Mexico City wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase — you don’t see that every day. He enters a bullfighting ring, where he is attacked by a sniper, whom the jungle king kills with a giant Coca-Cola bottle. That’s the real thing, punk!

Tarzan, who hadn’t been seen on screen in Africa since 1960’s TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, is in Mexico at the request of his old friend Ruiz, but he doesn’t know why. Before Tarzan can find out, Ruiz and everyone else in his house is murdered by the devious Augustus Vinero (David Opatoshu), who kidnaps the lone survivor, a young boy named Ramel (Manuel Padilla Jr., who became Ron Ely’s sidekick in the TARZAN TV series that premiered on NBC a few months later).

Ramel’s value is his knowledge of the legendary Valley of Gold, which Vinero wants for his own bad self. Turning down the offer of troops from the Mexican government, Tarzan barges after Vinero’s parties armed with just a knife, a leopard, a lion, and a chimpanzee. Despite Tarzan finally stripping down to the loincloth we’re so familiar with, Huffaker’s plot is firmly in spy territory. Vinero exterminates his enemies by gifting them with explosive jewelry, and the delectable Nancy Kovack (JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS) would fit right in with the Bond Girls of the era.

Henry, a former NFL star, replaced stuntman Jock Mahoney, who did a good job in his two MGM films, but was significantly older and trimmer than most screen Tarzans. Henry is a weak actor, but he’s buff and more like the bodybuilder physique that Gordon Scott brought to the role. Henry made three Tarzan films for Weintraub in 1965, but he hated the experience of filming in Mexico and (in the latter two films) Brazil and later sued Weintraub.

Director Robert Day made four Tarzan features, as well as an episode of the Ely television series (Henry turned down the series). VALLEY OF GOLD isn’t up to the high standards of his TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, partially because a more formidable villain than Opatoshu was needed. Tarzan and Vinaro never even lay eyes on each other, which is baffling, though Tarzan squares off with big, bald henchman Mr. Train (Don Megowan). Van Alexander’s jazz score is, again, more appropriate for a spy film than a jungle adventure.

American International Pictures handled the one-off release, which was supported by a novelization of Huffaker’s screenplay penned by noted fantasy author Fritz Leiber. It was the first time the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate had authorized a Tarzan novel written by an outside author, and it’s quite good.

Tarzan's Three Challenges

At age 42, stuntman/actor Jock Mahoney became the oldest man to play Tarzan for the first time when producer Sy Weintraub hired him to star in 1962’s TARZAN GOES TO INDIA. The film was a hit, and everyone involved, including the studio (MGM), was eager to make the next one. Set to film in Thailand under the direction of Robert Day, who helmed the excellent TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT (Mahoney played the heavy opposite Gordon Scott’s Tarzan), TARZAN’S THREE CHALLENGES is the film that almost killed Jocko. Ironic that one of Hollywood’s premier stuntmen — who never suffered a serious injury on the set, despite the brawls, falls, and crashes — was almost taken down by tiny germs.

Because Day more or less shot TARZAN’S THREE CHALLENGES in sequence, Mahoney’s drastic weight loss during production from 220 pounds to 175 is obvious. The star contracted dysentery (apparently by swallowing water while shooting an ambush scene on a polluted river) with his body temperature occasionally reaching 105 degrees. He finally collapsed after finishing a rigorous fight scene with co-star Woody Strode (SPARTACUS) and might have died without the aid of Strode, who carried Mahoney to an ice-filled bathtub, and a physician who pumped the actor full of antibiotics.

Needless to say, TARZAN’S THREE CHALLENGES was the final Tarzan film for the then-44-year-old actor, whose career never recovered from the health scare (it was 18 months before he got his full strength back). The bright side is that this film is quite good with plenty of well developed action (despite his condition, Mahoney insisted on performing his own stunts, as always), gorgeous scenery, and the ever-intimidating Strode in a dual role.

Despite the title, the three challenges have little to do with the plot, but Tarzan must complete them successfully before taking possession of a little boy named Kashi (Ricky Der), the chosen successor to the throne of his country. The dying leader, Tarim (Strode in “Asian” makeup), sends for Tarzan to retrieve Kashi and escort him across dangerous terrain to Tarim’s city. Unfortunately, Tarim’s brother Khan (Strode at his most badassedness) believes his young son Nari (Robert Hu) should be the next leader and sets out with his men to stop Tarzan and kill Kashi.

A harrowing fire sequence satiates action fans during the first half, but the film’s show-stopper is the afore-mentioned fight to the death between Tarzan and Khan. Did I mention Mahoney and Strode battle with swords on a large net suspended over barrels of boiling oil? TARZAN’S THREE CHALLENGES was Mahoney’s swan song as the jungle king, but he also guest-starred in three episodes of Ron Ely’s TARZAN television series, including an excellent turn as a whip-wielding colonel in the two-part “The Deadly Silence,” which later was released to theaters as TARZAN’S DEADLY SILENCE.

Tarzan Goes To India

Former stuntman Jock Mahoney, who played western hero Yancy Derringer on television and main heavy Coy Banton opposite Gordon Scott in TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, stepped into Scott’s loincloth for this exciting adventure shot in India. Also back to keep some semblance of continuity were producer Sy Weintraub and director John Guillermin (KING KONG), who had earlier helmed TARZAN’S GREATEST ADVENTURE.

Mahoney is leaner, more agile, and—at age 42—older than earlier screen Tarzans. I think he’s miscast as the Jungle King, but his natural charm and athleticism, as well as the stellar work turned in by Guillermin and the picturesque locations, more than balance it out. Jocko gets on our good side right after the credits by leaping out of a biplane into a lake—what an entrance! A Tarzan who can do his own stunts is a real boon to the movie, although shots of Mahoney fighting a stuffed leopard look just as phony as they did in 1932.

There is a human villain—Leo Gordon’s Bryce, a sadistic engineer who could care less about the lives of humans and animals—but it’s nice to have a plot based around a rescue, rather than crime. And a rescue of animals too, as Tarzan is summoned from Africa to rescue three hundred elephants trapped in a valley that will soon be flooded by the new dam being built by O’Hara (Mark Dana) and Bryce.

As mentioned above, Mahoney is lither than previous Tarzans, which takes getting used to. On the other hand, his physical dexterity allowed Guillermin to put him right into the action, so when you see Tarzan dodging a rogue elephant or getting caught in a noose trap, you can see it’s Mahoney. Weintraub’s decision to shoot completely on location on rather large sets packed with hundreds of extras (and elephants) gives the film a visual scale that makes every frame a joy to look at. Mahoney played Tarzan only twice and also guest-starred in two episodes of Ron Ely’s TARZAN TV series.

Great TV Episodes: The Deadly Silence

TARZAN
“The Deadly Silence”
October 28 & November 4, 1966
NBC
Writer: Lee Erwin and Jack H. Robinson (Part I); John Considine and Tim Considine (Part II)
Director: Robert L. Friend (Part I); Lawrence Dobkin (Part II)

Sy Weintraub deserves credit for bringing adults back to Tarzan.

Before the Production Code went into effect, Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan were a Tarzan and Jane that you knew were definitely getting it on when MGM’s cameras were pointed the other way. They steamed up the screen in TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932) and the way-ahead-of-its-time TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1933), films that poured on as much sex and sadism as the studio thought it could get by with.

But as time went by, and MGM sold off the cinema rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories and characters to RKO, Tarzan became just another matinee hero like Roy Rogers and Flash Gordon, catering to kiddie audiences that enjoyed the buffoonish comic relief of Cheeta the chimp as much as the cheap sets, stock villains, and serial-type action. Always a consistent moneymaker, the Tarzan series even survived the loss of Weissmuller, who jumped to Columbia to make Jungle Jim programmers. Lex Barker took over as the Jungle King in five tepid adventures, and then hotel lifeguard Gordon Scott, a bodybuilder with no acting credits, swung into Barker’s loincloth for a couple more.

Even though Tarzan movies had become more juvenile, some of them were still entertaining, since the character and premise are so strong, it’s difficult to completely mess it up. But the films were becoming repetitive, and it seemed that something needed to be done to get audiences thrilled again about seeing Tarzan on the big screen.

Sy Weintraub had the answer. When he bought the screen rights from Sol Lesser, he seized on the idea of making Tarzan for mature audiences again. The result was 1959’s TARZAN’S GREATEST ADVENTURE, a tough, intelligent action picture for adults pitting a nasty gang of diamond thieves, including Anthony Quayle and a pre-007 Sean Connery, against Tarzan, still played by Scott, who was now allowed to be the silver screen’s first fully articulate Tarzan. No more “Me Tarzan.” Burroughs’ original concept of an Ape Man who was educated in civilization was finally being played on film.

Scott next starred in another terrific adventure, TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, before going to Europe to make movies. Legendary stuntman Jock Mahoney, who played Yancy Derringer on television, as well as the main heavy in TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, was tagged by Weintraub to play a slightly older and leaner King of the Jungle in two films.

Then television came calling. Weintraub served as executive producer of TARZAN, which premiered on NBC on September 8, 1966 (the same night as STAR TREK). His new leading man was Ron Ely, a lanky Texan who had bounced around television for years, including the co-lead in the shortlived THE AQUANAUTS. Handsome, athletic, and brave enough to tackle most of his own stunts, Ely was a natural Tarzan, and his square-jawed likeability and sense of fair play made him popular with both kids and adults.

Facing tough competition on Friday night against THE WILD WILD WEST on CBS and THE GREEN HORNET on ABC—both fantasy series competing for the same young viewers—TARZAN went to South America in search of natural production values no other network series could equal (except I SPY, which filmed all over the world). Weintraub took Ely and his crew to Brazil, where he could capture jungle terrain, roaring rivers, waterfalls, and animal life that couldn’t be duplicated on a Burbank backlot.

Unfortunately, after five months of production in Brazil, TARZAN could only complete five one-hour episodes, thanks to torrential rains that interrupted filming, crude shooting conditions, and Ely’s penchant to get hurt on the job while doing stunts (he performed one episode wearing a sling after he fell several feet from a swinging vine—footage captured on-camera and used in the episode).

TARZAN relocated to Mexico with Leon Benson (SEA HUNT) replacing Jon Epstein (THE RAT PATROL) and Don Brinkley (MEDICAL CENTER) as producer. Not only did Mexico offer similar terrain as Brazil, but the move also allowed TARZAN to film interiors at Churubusco Studios to help speed production along. Benson produced only five episodes there, but one happened to be a two-parter that also provided Ely with perhaps his finest hour(s) as Tarzan.

Aired early in TARZAN’s first season, “The Deadly Silence” benefits mightily from a terrific guest cast, particularly none other than Jock Mahoney, who had already appeared in one of the Brazil episodes, as one of the jungle king’s most intimidating and sadistic rivals. Lee Erwin (FLIPPER) and Jack H. Robinson (HOGAN’S HEROES) wrote Part I, which plops Mahoney’s The Colonel into an African village that he holds in sway with his bullwhip and total lack of morality. The Colonel and his two men storm into villages and demand all their grain and cattle. Communities that don’t pay up are burned to the ground. By the time Tarzan catches up to the Colonel, he is holding hostage a village led by Metusa (Robert DoQui, later in NASHVILLE, COFFY, and ROBOCOP), who fears the Colonel will do to his people what he has already done to Metusa’s father and brother. Despite pleas from his wife Ruana (Nichelle Nichols, who filmed this before joining the cast of STAR TREK as Lieutenant Uhura) and from Tarzan, Metusa refuses to fight back against the Colonel.

Even though the Colonel is only one man, Mahoney’s performance sells the idea that an entire tribe would be hesitant to rise up against him. A veteran of two wars who claims to know “a thousand ways to kill a man,” including a two-finger jab that supposedly brought down a sumo wrestler, the Colonel is a sadist and a sociopath, played by Mahoney without a hint of camp. Dressed in a blue suit with a red shirt collar that makes him stand out among the browns and the greens of Mexico, Mahoney was one of the few actors doing television at the time who could conceivably be a physical match for Ron Ely, who never appeared wearing anything more than a tiny loincloth.

Tarzan does manage to capture the Colonel after a fracas decently directed by Robert L. Friend (RAWHIDE), but victory is shortlived after the killer escapes on his way to jail with the aid of Sgt. Marshak, who served under the Colonel in wartime and remains loyal to him. Marshak is another casting coup: the great Woody Strode, who had not only guest-starred in a previous TARZAN episode, but played a memorable villain opposite Mahoney in the fun TARZAN’S THREE CHALLENGES. So Weintraub and Benson not only assembled two great guest stars in Strode and Mahoney, but also men with ties to the Tarzan franchise.

Part I ends on an anxious cliffhanger with Tarzan left deaf after being bombarded while underwater by grenades tossed by the Colonel and Marshak. The scene where Tarzan desperately claps his hands together and is unable to hear the sound is played by Ely with the perfect level of panic and fear—two emotions we aren’t accustomed to seeing in our jungle king, not to mention the lead in a 1960s action/adventure TV show. Some scenes are sloppily directed by Friend—for instance, the noticeably wobbly rubber spear tips and explosions that blow several inches away from where the grenades are tossed—but he and Ely nail this one.

It’s unusual for each half of a two-parter to carry different writer and director credits, but Lawrence Dobkin (STAR TREK’s “Charlie X”), a busy actor as well as director, sat in Friend’s chair for “The Deadly Silence, Part II.” Interestingly, the teleplay is credited to brothers John and Tim Considine, both better known as actors who had previously penned a script for COMBAT! and two for MY THREE SONS, on which younger brother Tim was starring as Fred MacMurray’s oldest son Mike Douglas.

Part II is basically a riff on THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME with the Colonel, Marshak, and a second confederate named Chico (Gregory Acosta) chasing a hearing-impaired Tarzan through the jungle. Sparks fly among them after Chico is killed in quicksand and the Colonel orders a hesitant Marshak to leave behind Jai (Manuel Padilla Jr.), Tarzan’s young friend who is wounded by a ricocheting bullet. Marshak, who has followed the Colonel unblinkingly through one war and who-knows-how-many killings, feels a tinge of conscience about leaving an unconscious Jai to be eaten by animals, but reluctantly acquiesces to the Colonel’s commands.

Dobkin was a good choice to handle an episode that’s mostly action, and he really earned his stripes with a knockdown dragout fight between Mahoney and Strode, two of the most physical actors ever to work in Hollywood. Comfortable with one another from their on-screen skirmishes in TARZAN’S THREE CHALLENGES, the two men really go at it, though it is something of a disappointment that Tarzan isn’t allowed to finish off the villain himself.

More than three years later, audiences got the chance to pay admission to see the episode again when National General Pictures released TARZAN’S DEADLY SILENCE to theaters with a G rating—a not-uncommon practice of the day. DEADLY SILENCE was one of four Tarzan “features” to star Ely, although I believe only DEADLY SILENCE and TARZAN’S JUNGLE REBELLION (comprised of the two-part episode “The Blue Stone of Heaven”) played in American theaters.

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