Derek herself though, in her first leading role, is mostly convincing as Jane, though her go-to emotive acting gestures is touching her lips, which she does time and time and time again. It’s a prolonged, grope-y sequence in slow-motion that in today’s climate, is even more uncomfortable. That allowed for giving a familiar story a new perspective, that of Jane rather than Tarzan.Ĭontroversial at the time for its nudity and sexual situations, it also drew heat for its depiction of the blonde-haired naked Derek being bathed by black women and then again as they paint her white. With Tarzan, The Derek’s had full control over direction and story (even after the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate unsuccessfully sued them). After a dream sequence in the 1979 comedy 10, in which she runs in slow motion down a beach in a flimsy flesh-colored bathing suit, she became an international sex symbol, something her husband had been working hard to ensure for most the 1970s. 1979)Īt the time of filming, Bo Derek was a bonafide sensation. Convinced Tarzan is the greatest prize to plunder and one to stuff on his wall, he is determined to find him. Of course, when she arrives, she learns he is actually hunting the mythological 100ft tall White Ape, a legend he finds amusing as it terrifies the locals.

Playing an independent woman in a time when women “we’re for men’s pleasure, not their own,” she is an adventurer who has come to the jungles of Africa in search of her father ( Richard Harris), on an expedition to exploit the riches of the continent. In John Derek‘s Tarzan, The Ape Man, a remake of sorts of the 1932 film of the same name, Tarzan takes a back seat in his own story as the focus shifts to the lovely Jane, played by Bo Derek, wife of the director. 5 Real Reasons Why ‘The Mummy’ Actually Failed

Tarzan the ape man 1981 nude scene