Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle
Encyclopedia
Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle is a 1975 adult-oriented French
/Belgian
animated film directed by cartoonist Picha
and Boris Szulzinger
. The film was the first foreign-animated film to receive both an X rating and wide distribution in the United States
.
This film is also known as Jungle Burger in the United Kingdom
.
- "Bush Country". The evil, bald, and multi-breasted Queen Bazonga, who resides in a blimp
, inside a cave shaped like a women's legs spread open revealing her vagina
, plans to conquer the earth. But before she can do that, she wishes to have a full set of hair so people can take her seriously. Her two-headed assissant, The Charles Of The Pits, suggest a "scalp transplant", an experiment where someone else's hair is transplanted to another person's head. Bazonga demands that she wants the hair of June, the maid of Shame, ruler of the jungle. Bazonga sends out her penis
soldiers to kidnap June. Meanwhile, that night, June kicks out Shame from their home after another night of unsuccessful sex
. She ends up sleeping with Flicka, Shame's monkey pal. The next morning, Bazonga's soldiers barge in and kidnap June, but only after they have an orgy
with her. Shame hears June's screams and comes to her rescue, but he is too late. Shame eventually decides to save his mate and immediately sets out on his quest with Flicka.
As he swings through the jungle, a plane
crashes in a giant mud pit, containing a crew of four explorers set out to find Shame. The crew include the eccentric Professor Cedric Addlepate, the ditzy Stella Starlet, the grumbling Brutish (who only wants to find Shame for fame), and his assissant Short, a nervous black man. As the crew wander through the jungle, they eventually find Shame. But before they can get acquainted, Brutish and Short step in to take Shame back to the plane, leaving the Professor to be eaten alive by savage monkeys known as "Molar Men" while Stella is tied up to a tree. The Molar Men catch up with Brutish and Short and eat them both. They free Shame from the cage, but only to try and eat him. Shame gets saved by a beer-guzzling frat boy named Craig Baker, who flies on a carpet run by a flock of birds. After a lengthly conversation with Shame, Craig gets drunk and falls off the carpet. Shame also falls off, but is saved by Flicka.
Shame and Flicka eventually make it to Bazonga's lair. Flicka is told to stay behind while Shame go gets June. Unfortunately, he's caught Bazonga's soldiers while they were on a practice drill. Shame is taken to Bazonga, who tries to convince Shame to join her side and rule the world with her. Shame says he only wants June, which enrages Bazonga. Shame runs off to find June, who is about to receive the scalp transplant from the bickering Charles Of The Pits. Bazonga's soldiers try to stop Shame, which results in the blimp moving and main generator
exploding, which sends the place on fire. Bazonga can't escape from the fire in her office. Shame sees this and saves her by igniting the Emergency Fire Alarm, which sends out more of Bazonga's soldiers to cover themselves in condoms and dive inside Bazonga's vagina until she explodes. One of the heads on the Charles Of The Pits kills the other while in a heated conversation. Shocked by this, the other head sets June free. They try to escape, but the Charles Of The Pits gets killed by acid
semen
shooting all over the place.
Shame eventually finds June, who keeps bickering to Shame while they find a way to escape the blimp, as it drills it's way out of the cave and flies all around the jungle. The two find an emergency two-seated parachute
, and spring out of the blimp, which finally crashes onto Bazonga's cave, destroying it forever. As June kisses Shame for his bravery, they both spot Stella Starlet, who becomes the leader of the Molar Men, and plans to conquer Hollywood.
, and the film was finished by September 1975. The following year, the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs
sued the producer of Tarzoon and 20th Century Fox
, the film's distributor in France
, for alleged plagiarism. The estate lost the case after the French court determined the film was a legitimate parody.
In 1978, the film was imported into the United States by International Harmony and Stuart S. Shapiro. Shapiro recalls telling customs
that the film was a work in progress and it would be edited to be suitable for theatrical release in the U.S. He did not remember any problems bringing the film into the country. The distributor encountered problems finding theaters willing to show the X rated version of the film. The film ended up making a profit in San Francisco, but was largely unsuccessful in other towns.
Eventually, the film was reedited and dubbed. After several changes, the distributor persuaded the MPAA to change the film's rating to an R. The R rated version of the film featured new dialogue performed by American actors and comedians such as John Belushi
, Adolph Caesar
, Brian Doyle-Murray
, Judy Graubart
, Bill Murray
and Johnny Weissmuller Jr.
The Burroughs estate filed another lawsuit demanding that the name of the film be changed when their lawyer found a New York State statute covering disillusion of trademark. They argued that Tarzan
was a wholesome trademark and that the current product degraded the character's name. A judge agreed. The suit was filed three weeks into the film's New York run. The title was shortened to Shame of the Jungle, and the "Tarzoon" character name was altered by cutting the name out of the soundtrack negative and splicing it back into the soundtrack upside down. According to Shapiro, the film did not do as well at the box office, because audiences were attracted to the "Tarzoon" name.
of The New York Times
said that the film was an "unsuccessful attempt to parody the life and adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan." Tam Allen in The Village Voice
called the film "an uncomfortably accurate reflection of that civic eyesore known as toilet art," and compared it unfavorably to Fritz the Cat
and Dirty Duck
. Playboy
praised the film's artwork, but felt that the film became "monotonous after a good start — still, in the off-the-wall category, the most literate prurient and amusing challenge to community standards since Fritz the Cat." The film was submitted into the Oscars for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
, but wasn't in the nominations list.http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/academy-ignores-animation-for-best-foreign-film.html
The film was banned by the New Zealand
Board of Censors in 1980.
in the UK by Lace DVD on 31 January 2011. Currently there are no plans to release it in North America.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
/Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
animated film directed by cartoonist Picha
Picha
Jean-Paul "monda" Walravens is a cartoonist and film director. He was born in Brussels, Belgium.-Biography:Jean-Paul Walravens, quickly fascinated by drawing, performs his studies at the Institute of Fine Arts Saint-Luc...
and Boris Szulzinger
Boris Szulzinger
[[Category:Year of birth missing [[Category:Living people]][[Category:Belgian film directors]][[fr:Boris Szulzinger]][[is:Boris Szulzinger]]...
. The film was the first foreign-animated film to receive both an X rating and wide distribution in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
This film is also known as Jungle Burger in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Plot
The film takes place in the deepest part of AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
- "Bush Country". The evil, bald, and multi-breasted Queen Bazonga, who resides in a blimp
Blimp
A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is a floating airship without an internal supporting framework or keel. A non-rigid airship differs from a semi-rigid airship and a rigid airship in that it does not have any rigid structure, neither a complete framework nor a partial keel, to help the airbag...
, inside a cave shaped like a women's legs spread open revealing her vagina
Vagina
The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...
, plans to conquer the earth. But before she can do that, she wishes to have a full set of hair so people can take her seriously. Her two-headed assissant, The Charles Of The Pits, suggest a "scalp transplant", an experiment where someone else's hair is transplanted to another person's head. Bazonga demands that she wants the hair of June, the maid of Shame, ruler of the jungle. Bazonga sends out her penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
soldiers to kidnap June. Meanwhile, that night, June kicks out Shame from their home after another night of unsuccessful sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
. She ends up sleeping with Flicka, Shame's monkey pal. The next morning, Bazonga's soldiers barge in and kidnap June, but only after they have an orgy
Orgy
In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....
with her. Shame hears June's screams and comes to her rescue, but he is too late. Shame eventually decides to save his mate and immediately sets out on his quest with Flicka.
As he swings through the jungle, a plane
Plane
-Physical objects:* Aeroplane or airplane, a fixed-wing aircraft* Plane , a woodworking tool to smooth surfaces* Platanus, a genus of trees with the common name "plane"* Acer pseudoplatanus, a tree species sometimes called "plane"...
crashes in a giant mud pit, containing a crew of four explorers set out to find Shame. The crew include the eccentric Professor Cedric Addlepate, the ditzy Stella Starlet, the grumbling Brutish (who only wants to find Shame for fame), and his assissant Short, a nervous black man. As the crew wander through the jungle, they eventually find Shame. But before they can get acquainted, Brutish and Short step in to take Shame back to the plane, leaving the Professor to be eaten alive by savage monkeys known as "Molar Men" while Stella is tied up to a tree. The Molar Men catch up with Brutish and Short and eat them both. They free Shame from the cage, but only to try and eat him. Shame gets saved by a beer-guzzling frat boy named Craig Baker, who flies on a carpet run by a flock of birds. After a lengthly conversation with Shame, Craig gets drunk and falls off the carpet. Shame also falls off, but is saved by Flicka.
Shame and Flicka eventually make it to Bazonga's lair. Flicka is told to stay behind while Shame go gets June. Unfortunately, he's caught Bazonga's soldiers while they were on a practice drill. Shame is taken to Bazonga, who tries to convince Shame to join her side and rule the world with her. Shame says he only wants June, which enrages Bazonga. Shame runs off to find June, who is about to receive the scalp transplant from the bickering Charles Of The Pits. Bazonga's soldiers try to stop Shame, which results in the blimp moving and main generator
Generator
Generator may refer to:* Electrical generator* Engine-generator, an electrical generator, but with its own engine.* Generator , any of several closely related usages in mathematics.Computing:...
exploding, which sends the place on fire. Bazonga can't escape from the fire in her office. Shame sees this and saves her by igniting the Emergency Fire Alarm, which sends out more of Bazonga's soldiers to cover themselves in condoms and dive inside Bazonga's vagina until she explodes. One of the heads on the Charles Of The Pits kills the other while in a heated conversation. Shocked by this, the other head sets June free. They try to escape, but the Charles Of The Pits gets killed by acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
semen
Semen
Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that may contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...
shooting all over the place.
Shame eventually finds June, who keeps bickering to Shame while they find a way to escape the blimp, as it drills it's way out of the cave and flies all around the jungle. The two find an emergency two-seated parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
, and spring out of the blimp, which finally crashes onto Bazonga's cave, destroying it forever. As June kisses Shame for his bravery, they both spot Stella Starlet, who becomes the leader of the Molar Men, and plans to conquer Hollywood.
Production
A 15-minute pilot was shown at the 1974 Cannes Film FestivalCannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, and the film was finished by September 1975. The following year, the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
sued the producer of Tarzoon and 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, the film's distributor in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, for alleged plagiarism. The estate lost the case after the French court determined the film was a legitimate parody.
In 1978, the film was imported into the United States by International Harmony and Stuart S. Shapiro. Shapiro recalls telling customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
that the film was a work in progress and it would be edited to be suitable for theatrical release in the U.S. He did not remember any problems bringing the film into the country. The distributor encountered problems finding theaters willing to show the X rated version of the film. The film ended up making a profit in San Francisco, but was largely unsuccessful in other towns.
Eventually, the film was reedited and dubbed. After several changes, the distributor persuaded the MPAA to change the film's rating to an R. The R rated version of the film featured new dialogue performed by American actors and comedians such as John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
, Adolph Caesar
Adolph Caesar
Adolph Caesar was an American actor.-Biography:Born in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, he is best remembered for his role in director Norman Jewison's film, A Soldier's Story for which he received a nomination for "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" from both the Academy Awards and the...
, Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day...
, Judy Graubart
Judy Graubart
Esther Judith "Judy" Graubart is an American actress and comedienne. She is best remembered for being a regular cast member of The Electric Company, the revolutionary children's show from the 1970s produced by the Children's Television Workshop...
, Bill Murray
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
and Johnny Weissmuller Jr.
Johnny Weissmuller Jr.
Johnny Weissmuller, Jr. was an American actor and longshoreman. He also authored a book about his father, the five-time Olympic Games gold medalist Johnny Weissmuller, who achieved additional fame playing the title role in the Tarzan movies of the 1930s and 1940s.Weissmuller's mother was Beryl...
The Burroughs estate filed another lawsuit demanding that the name of the film be changed when their lawyer found a New York State statute covering disillusion of trademark. They argued that Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
was a wholesome trademark and that the current product degraded the character's name. A judge agreed. The suit was filed three weeks into the film's New York run. The title was shortened to Shame of the Jungle, and the "Tarzoon" character name was altered by cutting the name out of the soundtrack negative and splicing it back into the soundtrack upside down. According to Shapiro, the film did not do as well at the box office, because audiences were attracted to the "Tarzoon" name.
Response
The R rated version of the film received negative reviews. Vincent CanbyVincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said that the film was an "unsuccessful attempt to parody the life and adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan." Tam Allen in The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
called the film "an uncomfortably accurate reflection of that civic eyesore known as toilet art," and compared it unfavorably to Fritz the Cat
Fritz the Cat (film)
Fritz the Cat is a 1972 American animated comedy film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi as his feature film debut. Based on the comic strip of the same name by Robert Crumb, the film was the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States...
and Dirty Duck
Dirty Duck (film)
Down and Dirty Duck, promoted under the abbreviated title Dirty Duck, is a 1974 American adult-oriented animated film directed by Charles Swenson and starring Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan as the voices of a strait-laced blue collar worker named Willard and an unnamed duck, among other characters...
. Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
praised the film's artwork, but felt that the film became "monotonous after a good start — still, in the off-the-wall category, the most literate prurient and amusing challenge to community standards since Fritz the Cat." The film was submitted into the Oscars for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, but wasn't in the nominations list.http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/academy-ignores-animation-for-best-foreign-film.html
The film was banned by the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Board of Censors in 1980.
Release
The film was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the UK by Lace DVD on 31 January 2011. Currently there are no plans to release it in North America.
Original French Version
- Georges Aminel - Shame
- Arlette Thomas - June
- Paule Emanuele - Queen Bazonga
- Claude Bertrand - Chief M'Bulu
- Pierre TrabaudPierre TrabaudPierre Trabaud was a French film actor. He appeared in 30 films between 1945 and 1989.-Selected filmography:* Antoine and Antoinette * Rendezvous in July * ...Sans laisser d'adresse...
- Charles Of The Pits #1 - Roger CarelRoger CarelRoger Bancharel, better known by his stage name, Roger Carel, is a French actor and voice talent, best known for his recurring film roles as Asterix or the French voice of Star Wars C3PO and the French voice of Winnie the Pooh...
- Charles Of The Pits #2 - Guy Piérauld - Professor Cedric Addlepate
English Version
- Johnny Weissmuller, Jr. - Shame
- Pat Bright - Queen Bazonga
- Emily PragerEmily Prager- Life and work :Prager grew up in Texas, Taiwan, and Greenwich Village, NY. She is a graduate of The Brearley School, Barnard College and has a Masters Degree in Education...
- June - John BelushiJohn BelushiJohn Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
- Craig Baker - Brian Doyle-MurrayBrian Doyle-MurrayBrian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day...
- Charles Of The Pits #1 - Andrew DuncanAndrew DuncanSir Andrew Rae Duncan, GBE was a British businessman who was brought into government during the Second World War, serving twice as both President of the Board of Trade and Minister of Supply....
- Charles Of The Pits #2 - Christopher GuestChristopher GuestChristopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest , better known as Christopher Guest, is an American screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that...
- Chief M'Bulu / Short / Nurse - Judy GraubartJudy GraubartEsther Judith "Judy" Graubart is an American actress and comedienne. She is best remembered for being a regular cast member of The Electric Company, the revolutionary children's show from the 1970s produced by the Children's Television Workshop...
- Stella Starlet - Adolph CaesarAdolph CaesarAdolph Caesar was an American actor.-Biography:Born in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, he is best remembered for his role in director Norman Jewison's film, A Soldier's Story for which he received a nomination for "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" from both the Academy Awards and the...
- Brutish - Guy Sorel - Cedric Addlepate
- Bill MurrayBill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
- Reporter - Bob Perry - Narrator
- Deya Ment - Additional Voices
- John BaddeleyJohn Baddeley (actor)Edward John Baddeley is a British actor. Apart from his work in the theatre in the provinces and the West End, he is also notable for his work with the BBC and as voice-over artist...
- Additional Voices