Hit Me With Your Best Shot: "Tarzan the Ape Man"

In Hit Me With Your Best Shot, we look at a predetermined movie, and choose what we think of as its best shot. We're taking a break next week (change of plans) but please consider joining us on Wednesday, June 1st for Moulin Rouge! You have two whole weeks to pick a shot. That'll be a theme week right here at the blog "Spectacular! Spectacular!" 10th anniversary (5/30-6/03).

This week's film is TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932) which kicked off the most popular stretch of this enduring franchise. (You know some reboot has to be just around the corner). In this particular outing that famous jungle swinger (Johnny Weismuller) sweeps sexy Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan Centennial!) right off her feet and into the air (and water) until she's flat on her back in his tree house. I'm speaking literally. Jane is kind of a slut.

I mean that in the nicest way. She Jane! Respect must be paid.

But even Jane's own father is all-too aware of her sexual allure. In what has to be one of the weirdest introductory father/daughter scenes in film history, she changes in front of him and when he tries to look away, she scolds him with multiple flirtatious "darlings".

You don't often hear about Tarzan in discussions of "Pre-Code" movies,

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TwitVid Jake Gylllenhaal and Pee Wee Herman. tee hee.
Cinesnatch runs down that Streep Tease show in LA for you. It sounds fun. I especially love the idea of a one-man conversation between multiple Meryl characters. Hopefully I'll get to see it next time I'm in LA. Whenever that is...
Business Spectactor Speaking of Meryl Streep, this is how you know someone's cinema achievements (of any sort)  have totally entered the realm of the popular mythic, when they're brought up in totally non-cinema related ways. Streep as defense of aging executives! Haha
Awards Daily I keep meaning to link up to this article on astrology and Oscar. Super interesting chart if you're into signs, baby. And it's all about Aries apparently.
The House Next Door Gregg Araki's new muse Thomas Dekker.
Twitch has a piece on how the PG-13 rating killed the films it was meant to protect, the films aimed at very young teenagers.
Senses of Cinema here's an interesting piece on Leo McCarey, his 1937 Oscar win and his preference for his drama Make Way For Tomorrow over his indisputable screwball classic The Awful Truth. I haven't seen Make Way... but I've never though artists were the best judge of their own art.
Rants of a Diva has an Oscar winning dream.
Serious Film has great advice for screenwriters of romantic comedies.
Capital New York. A fine review of Certified Copy starring Juliette Binoche though I'd urge you to see the movie first before reading it. It's a must-see film but one of the most beautiful things about it is the sense of evolving surprise as the film keeps shifting. So maybe read no reviews at all until afterwards. Then you'll want to read them all.

Finally La Daily Musto shares the news that that Barbra Streisand version of Gypsy that we were all excited / worried / shocked about has been cancelled already. Just as we'd gotten used to the idea. Apparently Stephen Sondheim is to blame. So here is Babs singing one of her best songs about nostalgia for what once was or what could have been.

Take it away Babs.

I love the guy bouncing up and down in the audience as she starts (notice him to the far right?). Babs fans were very excitable from the very start!

Last Minute Oscar Linkage

Serious Film 3 wishes for the ceremony aside from wins
Wild Lines roots for a movie they weren't rooting for. "I take it all back" interesting post
<--- James Franco Oscar Morning footage. Adorable.
THR six things to watch for tonight.
Wesley Morris if you suffer for your art (Natalie Portman) you end up celebrated for it. In depth piece about the perceptions of screen acting changing. Liz Taylor, today's birthday girl, even gets a casaul shout out.
NPR good informative listen as Andy Trudeau runs down the nominees for Best Score. Did you know that How To Train Your Dragon uses a penny whistle and a dulcimer at the same time in its score? I did not.
Bohemea Best thing about the Spirit Awards? John Hawkes and Dale Dickey (Winter's Bone)
IndieWire Melissa Leo has a breast tattoo. #thingswedidntknow
Sunset Gun "Bette Davis Defines... Oscar" Love this.

And if you're just tuning in, YES, we will be live-blogging the Oscars tonight. See you at 6 PM EST. It's also the last couple hours to vote on the readers choice "should" wins so get clicking through the categories.