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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 6370
Released: June 8, 2004 |
| Our Price: $6.88 |
| Used Price: $6.99 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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 Holm
Description of Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan:
One 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
Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan Reviews:
Greystoke, the Legend of Tarzan 
2008-07-20 - I suppose one of the "themes" to this film, was that love has no limits, and anyone can be a father, or mother, but not anyone can be a Daddy and Mommy. And that family dosn't necessariy mean "blood," but means that wherever there is love, and support, respect and kindness..that can be a real family. Christopher Lambert certainly made a sexy Tarzan, made me wonder about the "animal" in all of us. Also, the theme of using animals for testing whatever, the cruelty of it. How human beings can be so clueless and so smug, in dealing with other species of living beings. Also, that animals aren't just "animals", they are living beings with feelings and emotions, and are capable of love. Sure, it's "just" a movie, but even in movies, I believe certain truths are put out there. This film is a little hokey in some parts, but I loved it.
Outstanding history
2008-03-08 - Wow, I was mesmerized with this movie - have seen it more than once, and my kids did too. Andie McDowell is wonderful anyway, then add the other great actors and the historical flavor - then the moral and ethical issues each character is dealing with. Wow.
Great film, not for family viewing though 
2008-02-24 - I think this has to be one of the best "retellings" of the Tarzan phenomenon. I just recently saw this movie for the first time, and I think the scenes were great, and the photography was out of this world. However, I do not think this is a film that would be great for the entire family to see.
This film was made back in 1983, then released in 1984. At that time, other movies were beginning to make their mark as going "over the line". Movies such as "Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom" and "Gremlins" were two films that caused a new MPAA rating to come along, which today we know as PG-13. This movie, I think, was another one that caused the creation of the PG-13 rating. If this movie had been made today, it definitely would have received this rating, I am sure. I found the nude scenes a little disturbing, being today, putting under age actors completely nude in a film would be unheard of. Then, watching this with the family would be a little uncomfortable as well. The scene where young Tarzan urinates on the ape was a little too much as well.
With that said, I still think the movie was great entertainment, and it's too bad this didn't rejuvenate the series into occasional movies, like the old Weissmuller films. But, I guess those days are over.
Still, a well made film, and Ralph Richardson's last screen performance is great!
True to the books
2007-08-13 - As a kid, I used to read the Edgar Rice Burroughs TARZAN novels - and loved them! Of all the Tarzan movies I've seen, this one comes the closest to Burrough's vision of the character. It is tragic that so many people associate Tarzan with the much-parodied (and fabricated) "Me Tarzan, you Jane." This infamous line is not to be found in the books.
It may come as a surprise to many, but the Tarzan in the novels is HIGHLY intelligent, cunning, multi-lingual and has had much experience in what we call "civilization." He chooses to go back to the jungle, not because he is against civilization. Rather, he is simply bored with it.
In this movie, they do a good job of showing an English nobleman who was raised in the jungle attempting to adapt & fit into his "rightful place" in English / Scottish society. This sets this film apart from most any other Tarzan movie, and they give it a serious look.
The one issue I have with the film is with the casting of Christopher Lambert to play Tarzan / Lord Greystoke. Lambert is a fine actor, which is why I have mixed feelings about bringing this issue up. The problem is, in the books Tarzan is always described as being this large, hulking, very muscular guy. Lambert is simply not a big guy, and he's not particularly buffed up. On the upside, he does do a terrific job of portraying an English Lord who was raised in the jungle, and still has the jungle in his savage heart.
The lovely Andie McDowell is wonderful as a cultured, kind Jane who does her best to integrate the jungle man into his unfamiliar surroundings. Of course, Andie has always been one of my favorite actresses, so I'm pretty much a fan of anything she does!
This is a very different Tarzan movie than what most are accustomed to. If you're looking for a movie that all takes place in the jungles of Africa, this is not the one to get. It is a pyschological journey of a man who was literally raised by apes (in fact, the word Tarzan means "white ape") who is thrown into the midst of humankind & does not quite know how to respond. The film is also unique in that I don't believe "Tarzan" is ever mentioned; he is only known as John Clayton; Lord Greystoke. This is the truest form of Greystoke's story every told in cinema.
A classic---almost
2007-06-13 - When I first viewed this film, I was taken by the fabulous performance of the Tarzan character. The first 2/3 of the film is wonderful and the viewer can identify with the "human" qualities of the apes----just like the boy Tarzan did. But the last third of the movie is a bit too much, particularly the scenes at the British Museum. At that point the movie became too contrived and unbelievable. But the scenery and the acting are wonderful.
