Allow me a moment to wipe the drool from my mouth, what with Mike Henry being such a delicious piece of prime beef! Even if the film was no good, it would still have been worth the watch. I could easily pause the movie and just stare at his great physique. He is also the first hairy chested Tarzan - and oh-so-yummy! Fortunately, I enjoyed the movie as a whole.
In this film, Tarzan is a civilized man who is educated and very well spoken. There is no Jane, hence no "Me Tarzan, you Jane." In fact, there is no romantic interest whatsoever. On the contrary, Tarzan is trying to get away from the only female character in the film!
Ok, but let's start at the beginning. The film opens with a father and his young son running into trouble in white waters. The father is washed away and we can safely assume he drowned, leaving the boy stranded in the wilderness.
Six years later, a journalist, Myrna, and her assistant, Ken, travels to the jungle to meet with Tarzan hoping to find the boy. Meanwhile, the Chief of the Secunda tribe is ill and his two sons, Buhara and Nagambi, are in a contest to determine who will be the next Chief. Buhara is Tarzan's friend and agrees to help locating the boy, while Nagambi is the film's antagonist and wants the boy killed.
'Tarzan and the Jungle Boy' delivers non-stop action and adventure, and is also a story of rivalry and jealousy. Mike Henry makes a credible hero, but I found the character a bit too well educated to be a jungle man. Unfortunately I did not find Steve Bond believable at all as the young boy, Erik, but I think the casting was too blame. He was too small and skinny for the character, and it wasn't believable - especially when he was helping an injured Buhara.
'Tarzan and the Jungle Boy' didn't really feel like a Tarzan movie, but it was still a good enough adventure film.
