leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (10/10/85)
SHEENA, QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This was reputedly a VERY bad film. In
fact, it isn't too much worse than some of the better Tarzan
films. Tanya Roberts is much better than she was in A VIEW
TO A KILL, but is out-acted by at least three of the plastic
pelicans.
Tarzan films and Tarzan-inspired films have been a mainstay of cinema
since the silent days. Back in the 40's, a Johnny Weismuller Tarzan film
was a welcome entry for the bottom half of a double bill. These days double
bills are rare, and Tarzan-esque films are even rarer. Jungle films really
don't have the drawing power to make it on their own. A prime example is
SHEENA, QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE, last year's smash flop.
The story, based on an old comic book heroine, concerns a little blond
girl whose parents are killed on a scientific expedition to Zamboolie
territory. The Zamboolies raise the girl they rename Sheena to live among
the African animals and to control them telepathically. She sleeps with a
Teddy Boa, she has lions for friends, she jiggles on the back of a speeding
zebra, she even somehow keeps the mosquitos from attacking her bountiful
exposed flesh which also never seems to sunburn or even tan. She becomes
SHEENA, QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE. I take it that is an honorary title (like
"Protector of Mexico"), since she spends her time either in sparse forest or
on the veldt. (I guess "Queen of the Veldt" doesn't really hack it as a
title.)
SHEENA has its problems as a film. First there's Tanya Roberts in the
title role. Roberts, let's face it, is no Laurence Olivier. Still they
would be about equally convincing in the title role. There are definite
script problems including too much comic relief from not enough drama. But
SHEENA could have been a lot worse. For one thing, if I had to choose a
director for the film I probably would have picked just whom the producers
did, John Guillerman. He has had a long and mixed career, including films
like the 1976 KING KONG and THE TOWERING INFERNO, but he also directed two
of the best Tarzan films, TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE (1959) (considered by
Tarzan fans as second only to GREYSTOKE as the best Tarzan film) and TARZAN
GOES TO INDIA (1962). Guillerman's expertise nearly saves the film in the
first half. In that half there is little wrong with the film that couldn't
be cured by replacing Tanya Roberts with Gordon Scott and making him Tarzan
instead. I guess that means it is a reasonable tale of African political
intrigue on the level that you'd find in a good Tarzan film.
The problem is that even the best Tarzan film of the pre-GREYSTOKE
style is just not spectacular enough to make it at the box-office and would
look silly today. Nobody is making films for the bottom half of double
bills and few decent films are made for Saturday children's matinees. Even
as a Tarzan film with a good Tarzan, this film wouldn't have made it. With
Tanya Roberts, there's no chance. Give this one a low 0 on the -4 to +4
scale.
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper