''Tarzan in Manhattan'' is a 1989

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

. Joe Lara portrays

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

, and Kim Crosby appears as

Jane Porter Jane Porter (3 December 1775 – 24 May 1850) was an English historical novelist, dramatist and literary figure. Her bestselling novels, ''Thaddeus of Warsaw'' (1803) and ''The Scottish Chiefs'' (1810) are seen as among the earliest historical ...

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

and

Jan-Michael Vincent Jan-Michael Vincent (July 15, 1944 – February 10, 2019) was an American actor known for portraying helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke in the TV series ''Airwolf'' (1984–1987) and the protagonist, Matt Johnson, in the 1978 film ''Big W ...

co-star. The telefilm was produced by Max A. Keller, Micheline H. Keller and Gina Scheerer, written by

Anna Sandor Anna Sandor is a Hungarian-born Canadian/American film and television screenwriter.Tom McMahon, "A marriage made for TV". ''Windsor Star'', December 20, 1986. Sandor began her career as an actress, becoming a writer in her mid-twenties. Her films ...

and William Gough (based on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs), and directed by

Michael Schultz Michael Schultz (born November 10, 1938) is an American director and producer of theater, film and television. Life and career Schultz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of an African-American mother Katherine Frances Leslie (1917-1995) ...

. It aired on April 15, 1989.

Plot

Tarzan leaves

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and goes to present-day

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to seek vengeance for the murder of his Ape mother Kala, and to rescue

Cheeta Cheeta (sometimes billed as Cheetah, Cheta, and Chita) is a chimpanzee character that appeared in numerous Hollywood Tarzan films of the 1930s–1960s, as well as the 1966–1968 television series, as the ape sidekick of the title character, Tarza ...

who was taken by hunters working for B. B. Brightmore (Jan-Michael Vincent) and his Brightmore Foundation. Soon Tarzan discovers this supposed

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

organization is conducting illegal tests on animal brains in an effort to transfer the thoughts and knowledge of one creature to another, and he sets out to rescue the animals and expose Brightmore. He is aided by Jane Porter (a cab driver, played by Kim Crosby) and her father, Archimedes "Archie" Porter (Tony Curtis), a retired

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

, now the head of his own security agency. With Brightmore's operations shut down, Jane joins her father's security agency, and both talk Tarzan into coming on board at minimum wage, but with all the bananas Cheeta can eat.

Cast

* Joe Lara as Tarzan * Kim Crosby as

, reluctant ally of Tarzan *

as Archimedes "Archie" Porter, Jane's father *

as B. B. Brightmore, villain who kidnaps animals for illicit research *

Joe Seneca Joe Seneca (January 14, 1919 – August 15, 1996) was an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for Willie Brown in ''Crossroads'' (1986), Dr. Meadows in ''The Blob'' (1988), and Dr. Hanes in ''The Cosby Show''. Life and care ...

as Joseph, African storekeeper, mentor and friend to Tarzan *Sloan Fischer as Some Man

Production

Joe Lara also later starred in '' Tarzan: The Epic Adventures'', an otherwise unrelated interpretation of the character.

Soundtrack

Warren Zevon Warren William Zevon (; January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician. Zevon's most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", " Lawyers, Guns and Money", and " Roland the Headless Th ...

's '' Leave My Monkey Alone'' plays on the soundtrack as Tarzan's plane flies over prominent New York landmarks. Also, Grace Jones's ''

Pull Up to the Bumper "Pull Up to the Bumper" is a 1981 song by Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released as the third single from her fifth album, '' Nightclubbing'' (1981). Sonically, it is an uptempo electro- disco, post-punk, dance-pop and reggae-disco song with ...

'' plays on the soundtrack in Jane's taxicab.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarzan In Manhattan 1989 films 1989 television films 1989 action films 1980s adventure films 1989 fantasy films CBS network films Films set in New York City Tarzan films Television shows based on American novels Films directed by Michael Schultz Films scored by Charles Fox