Tarzan And The Valley Of Gold (1966)

Flattens the assassin with a coke bottle? Oh Tarzan, even though you wear a suit for a third of this movie you are still a magnificent jungle bastard. And once they introduce you to the bad guy and his evil giant henchman, you can see where this one is going from down the block. But who cares. It's freakin' TARZAN baby and these are the swingin' sixties.

 

I enjoyed the Mexican travelogue that started the film. They cut in obvious animal footage that doesn't have the same lighting or focus. But that's not to say that the film doesn't use it's budget to the fullest. That it most certainly does.

This is so definitely Mexico and I like that they don't try to hide that fact. Tarzan has come to Central America and it's a whole different jungle now. The use of the Mayan ruins, a cast of thousands and the Valley of Gold is well done on the low budget this movie had.

Did they really have to burn down that sweet hacienda? They pretty much had a low carbon footprint up until this time.

Oh look at Tarzan, riding a horse at high noon without a hat or sleeves in THAT heat? That'll rip the skin right off a Jungle Lord. Look, there is a sombrero - take it. Put it on your head. See now I am distracted by his lack of proper headgear especially since he just spent time digging a hole to bury his dead friend. Without emotion of course because real men don't emote in the jungle, ANY JUNGLE.

"The outfit is casual but practical."

 

I gotta give Henry credit for working with the leopard as he so clearly is. He also cared enough to look good for the role. The way he works with all the animals is impressive. They are movie lions and chimps but they hit their marks everytime. I especially like the shots of Tarzan with the animals running wild and free. At anytime this whole production could have went Zigfried and Roy on them because those cats could have turned on the star at anytime. Lots of shit going on during a movie shoot. Wild animals are unpredictable.

 

I like that the evil guys have no shred of decency. They are so repellent that it's fun to watch them get eaten and beaten especially after what happens to the little dog...but maybe I don't tell you about that. Trust me, you don't want to get attached.

 

Even after a hundred yard swim his hair is perfectly styled 20 seconds later. It's a beautiful thing to see. Henry does some impressive stuntwork and the requisite vine swinging to sell the role. Knowing nothing else that he ever did, I liked his Tarzan.

 

Oh cool, tanks. Can't go wrong with tanks and a big 50 calibre machine gun. It's too bad that they show off the coolest stunt on the poster. It's a sweet bit of business.

 

Did I just watch an ocelot kill a parrot? I think I did.

This was a fun diversion for ninety minutes. Can't go wrong with Tarzan.
 

His most prominent role was as Tarzan in three 1960s movies, Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966), Tarzan and the Great River (1967), and Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968), that were all filmed back-to-back in 1965. Henry turned down the lead of the subsequent Tarzan television series, which then went to actor Ron Ely.

Henry is also best known to movie audiences for playing Jackie Gleason's dim-witted son "Junior" in the Smokey and the Bandit films opposite Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, after portraying a corrupt prison guard (opposite Reynolds) in The Longest Yard.

Another football-playing role was as one of the members of the gang who kidnap "Larry Bronco" (Larry Csonka) in an episode of "The Six Million Dollar Man". Henry also portrayed "Sergeant Kowalski" in The Green Berets, corrupt sheriff "Blue Tom" Hendricks in Rio Lobo, and "Lt. Col. Donald Penobscot" in an episode of the television series M*A*S*H. - Wikipedia