It's 1910. Jane Parker (Bo Derek) travels to Africa to join his estranged father James Parker (Richard Harris) and his expedition. He had left her mother when she was young. Harry Holt is his assistant and 'Africa' is his native girlfriend. Jane encounters Tarzan and the Lion on the beach. Later, she is taken by him from the caravan. Eventually, everybody is captured by native savages and Tazan comes to the rescue.This is bad. The writing is clunky and slow as heck. There is limited action in most of the movie and it is almost always done poorly. It is so bad that there is no tension anywhere. Bo Derek is a voluptuous sex statue but she's a bad actress. The problem is that this depends on her to do some actual dramatic acting. She is a great prop, but she can't shoulder a whole movie herself. Richard Harris has his presence but he can't save this. There are some select animals from the local zoo. The lion actually made a charge at the lead actors which is probably the movie's biggest shocking moment. This is a very thin boring weakly-written soft-core porn version of Tarzan.

The one thing that Tarzan and Jane have in common in this movie is that neither wears underwear. Tarzan is presumed by that loin cloth, but Bo Derek makes sure the audience knows it...no bra, wet see thru clothing, and sometimes totally nude, but certain parts still hid. Director John Derek had a great canvas with Bo to put on screen. She is simply stunning, and one of the most stunning actresses in movie history. That said, the movies she made were mainly stupid, including this one. Bo's style of making Jane innocent is sort of fun to watch, but this is a film that is best watched at home, where you can fast-forward through Richard Harris' parts, and much of the rest of it. This film is only for the Bo Derek-body watchers. She delivers in that respect. Only lately has Bo started making pretty decent films. But this film highlights her top-achievement in the 1980's - the bra-less wet-look, displayed in a way that makes it look oh, so natural.

Sure it's an 80s movie, but it still has the technical process of the 60s and 70s- plus the shameless over use of slow-mo during all the actions scenes- which would have perked up the movie. There is hardly any new direction in this movie, meaning the actors were told to just play the character how they are written, which fits into every single version ever made of Tarzan - they don't do anything new.Basically the (male)writers watched and copied every annoying film were there's an annoying damsel in distress who appears inadequate at everything apart from pretending to be virginal while playing hard to get and getting into Tarzan's pants. Plus despite all the woman has been through she still manages to keep all her make-up on, didn't know they had waterproof mascara in those days.....Tarzan again is a hairless ape- there's no such thing as facial hair in the jungle it seems.The father was the best part of the movie apart from when he's made to say erotic things which are later copied by the daughter after all it is an erotic film made by men and for men.

Muscular man-ape in the jungles of Africa is hunted by an opportunistic expedition team; the comely daughter of the team's leader finds him first. Much-ballyhooed version of the Tarzan tale has an OK production, but is crippled by the single-handedly worst direction of a film I have ever seen. John Derek is bereft of inspiration beyond cheesy slow-motion action shots and peek-a-boo glimpses of wife Bo Derek's unclothed body; he has about as much talent behind the camera as Ed Wood. Trying for tongue-in-cheek sexuality, the Dereks lack finesse, snappy timing, and taste. They have a sense of self-parody and bravura abandonment (they do throw caution to the winds), but after a promising opening it all goes to hell. Miles O'Keeffe (who possibly had marbles in his mouth the entire time) has the title role, but plays third fiddle to John Derek's ego and Bo Derek's sense of self-importance. * from ****