Former stunt man and "Range Rider" TV star Jock Mahoney makes a rather scrawny ape man in "Tarzan Goes to India." Apparently, producer Sy Weintraub felt like Tarzan should no longer be as brawny as Gordon Scott so he replaced Scott with Mahoney. Earlier, Mahoney had portrayed a villain opposite Scott in the 1960 production of "Tarzan the Magnificent." Actually, Weintraub flip-flopped on his attitude about the ideal Tarzan physique. After the lean mean Mahoney turned in his loincloth following "Tarzan's Three Challenges" in 1963, Weintraub hired muscular Mike Henry to replace him. A former Pittsburgh Steeler, Henry boasted a spectacular physique, too. Ron Ely took over the role for the NBC-TV series after Henry turned down the part and Ely resembled Mahoney more than either Scott or Henry. Happily, the one thing that neither Weintraub nor director John Guillerin changed was the way that Tarzan delivered his dialogue. In "Tarzan Goes to India," our barefoot protagonist speaks in English and usually in complete sentences.
This time around the resourceful Lord of the Jungle flies into India where a huge hydro-electric dam is under construction to end a drought as well as provide jobs. The chief problem is 300 elephants are at stake. You see, once construction is completed on the dam, the jungle behind the dam will be inundated and those elephants will drown. The price of progress and economic prosperity is high. Bringing electricity to the backwaters has to have an impact on either somebody or someplace and the elephants are the victims. To exacerbate tensions, the elephants are being led by a wild rogue elephant, and Tarzan has to kill that troublemaker. Somehow, this part of the plot got left on the editing room floor. Meantime, the villagers behind the dam are fleeting, too. Tarzan encounters another elephant that attacks the work camp, but this elephant has been dispatched to attack the camp by a youth, Jia the Elephant Boy (Jia), who Tarzan later befriends. Guillerin stages an okay elephant stampede, but the drama is like the Mahoney Tarzan, it is a little on the lean side.
Director John Guillermin has to monkey with the camera speed during the elephant attacks. As the dam construction foreman, veteran heavy Leo Gordon makes a solid villain for about 55 minutes before he meets his match. He abducts Jia, tries to ambush Tarzan in a three-way crossfire, and takes shots at a bull elephant. The elephant puts an end to him. Tarzan braves his share of dangers. He tangles with a cobra, a leopard, and the trigger-happy villains. Jock Mahoney has his moments, but not enough of them. He looks at home in the wilderness and he cuts a pretty impressive figure when he climbs aboard an elephant and rides the beast through the jungle. The shift in setting from Africa to India is a splendid change of pace and lenser Paul Beeson of "Mosquito Squadron" and "To Sir, With Love" captures the immense, rugged scenery.
This time around the resourceful Lord of the Jungle flies into India where a huge hydro-electric dam is under construction to end a drought as well as provide jobs. The chief problem is 300 elephants are at stake. You see, once construction is completed on the dam, the jungle behind the dam will be inundated and those elephants will drown. The price of progress and economic prosperity is high. Bringing electricity to the backwaters has to have an impact on either somebody or someplace and the elephants are the victims. To exacerbate tensions, the elephants are being led by a wild rogue elephant, and Tarzan has to kill that troublemaker. Somehow, this part of the plot got left on the editing room floor. Meantime, the villagers behind the dam are fleeting, too. Tarzan encounters another elephant that attacks the work camp, but this elephant has been dispatched to attack the camp by a youth, Jia the Elephant Boy (Jia), who Tarzan later befriends. Guillerin stages an okay elephant stampede, but the drama is like the Mahoney Tarzan, it is a little on the lean side.
Director John Guillermin has to monkey with the camera speed during the elephant attacks. As the dam construction foreman, veteran heavy Leo Gordon makes a solid villain for about 55 minutes before he meets his match. He abducts Jia, tries to ambush Tarzan in a three-way crossfire, and takes shots at a bull elephant. The elephant puts an end to him. Tarzan braves his share of dangers. He tangles with a cobra, a leopard, and the trigger-happy villains. Jock Mahoney has his moments, but not enough of them. He looks at home in the wilderness and he cuts a pretty impressive figure when he climbs aboard an elephant and rides the beast through the jungle. The shift in setting from Africa to India is a splendid change of pace and lenser Paul Beeson of "Mosquito Squadron" and "To Sir, With Love" captures the immense, rugged scenery.