Although Derek flatters himself that he's orchestrating a soft core romantic idyll, the tease produces a slow burn. The gimmick of this 'Tarzan' is the casting of Bo, the pin-up sensation of Blake Edwards' '10,' in the role of Jane. By the time the audiences files out in disillusioned silence, it's apparent that Derek is more of a reverse Svengali with nothing at all to feel smug about. Derek affects a very jocular tone as the picture begins: The sound of Tarzan's yell is substituted for the roar of MGM's Leo, and we're shown an elaborate title card, illustrated with a fleshy caricature of Bo for Svengali Productions, the Dereks' film company. Derek not only devalues one of MGM's vintage properties but also reduces his meal ticket from instant bombshell to instant dud. There's no excuse for any version of 'Tarzan' to be a stupefying bore.

Denying people the forms of amusement, notably erotic amusement, that the publicity suggests, Derek exposes a truly dangerous ineptitude. Unfortunately, all too many paying customers will remember being suckered into the Derek remake of 'Tarzan,' which shortchanges every feature susceptible moviegoers must assume they'll find: tongue-in-cheek romance, exotic high adventure and generous scrutiny of Bo in the buff.

The slightest familiarity with his pathetic directing and her teensy-weensy acting range would have precluded any other possibility. The John and Bo Derek travesty of 'Tarzan, the Ape Man,' now at area theaters, figured to be an extended Amateur Night in the jungle.

Tarzan the ape man 1932