Tarzan’s Peril (1951)

Tarzan’s Peril (1951)

[5] Lex Barker's third outing in the loincloth has him caught up with gunrunners, warring tribes, and even a man-eating jungle plant. The script is more scatter-shot than usual, but Barker seems more comfortable in the role than before, playing Tarzan as…
Tarzan’s Savage Fury (1952)

Tarzan’s Savage Fury (1952)

[5] Tarzan is tricked into guiding smugglers to a village of dangerous natives who guard a secret stash of diamonds in Tarzan's Savage Fury. Lex Barker's penultimate swing in the loincloth is the first to dabble with the Greystoke lineage and the…
The Way Back (2010)

The Way Back (2010)

[6] There's no director I admire more than Peter Weir (Fearless, Mosquito Coast), even if his latest film left me a tad underwhelmed. The Way Back is about a group of men who escape a Russian labor camp during WWII and risk…
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

[6] Marlon Brando plays Fletcher Christian and Trevor Howard takes on the mantle of the sadistic Captain Bligh in this remake from director Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front). The bloated run time (three hours) doesn't help the movie, and…
The Bounty (1984)

The Bounty (1984)

[6] This Dino DeLaurentiis production of the infamous tale of mutiny welcomes more shades of gray into the characters of Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian than the 1935 original film, though I wouldn't say it's a better film overall. Bligh and Christian…
Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953)

Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953)

[5] Lex Barker ends his five-film tenure as Tarzan with a bit of a whimper in Tarzan and the She-Devil. The plot focuses around ivory poachers, lead by Raymond Burr and icy-cool Monique van Vooren, who enslave a peaceful native tribe to…
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

[7] Mel Gibson returns as the iconic Mad Max, joined by Tina Turner in a fun, villainous role. But the third film in the series is also the weakest, first signaled by the PG-13 rating, a ridiculous attempt to make a hard-edged…
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

[5] This belated sequel gets by, for the most part, on good will and fond memories of the previous three installments. It's light on memorable action scenes and heavy on silliness (the CGI mokeys and gophers are really, really hard to shake).…
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)

[8] Director Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire) delivers an emotionally compelling adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' vine-swinging legend. The first half of the movie, depicting Tarzan's childhood up through his discovery by an Austrian explorer (Ian Holm), outshines the last, but the…
Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962)

Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962)

[7] Richard Beymer (West Side Story) stars as Ernest Hemingway's alter-ego, a young man who comes of age by traveling the country and serving in the military during the early 1900s. With beautiful scenery of rural Michigan and Franz Waxman's wistful score,…