John T. Ryan FOR THE SECOND film in a row, our Jungle Lord both leaves Africa to be a Globe Trotting troubleshooter and also enters the film in an aircraft. In the previous outing, TARZAN GOES TO India (Aflin A.G., MGM. 1962), he dives into a river from the small plane. With no flowing body of water handy, the Apeman goes it the common sense route; making use of a parachute.WE SOON LEARN that this unnamed land (somewhwhere in the region referred to as Indochina *)is in trouble due to political and religious treachery. The trouble from a jealous brother, who is a pretender to both the throne; as well as his coveting the position of religious leader (apparently being a Budist nation with a Dali Lama like Holy Man in charge(.TARZAN PROMISES THE dying King that he will protect the young heir to the throne from the evil brother, Khan, who will stop at nothing to ensure that the line of succession will pass to Kahn's son, who is the rightful heir's cousin. Understand? INCIDENTALLY, BOTH THE infirm King and this warrior guy, Khan, are capably portrayed by former Decathalon Champ and Football End from UCLA and the Los Aneles Rams, Mr. Woody Strode.BUT IN MUCH the same manner as the character of Darth Vader was brought to the screen in a sort of 'Tag Team' method; using two actors to cerate one character. In STAR WARS(Lucas Films Ltd., 20th Cetury-Fox, 1977), it was 6' 7" former Weightlifter/Bodybuilder, David Prowse, who gave Vader his imposing physical presence; while James Earl Jones gave us the benefit of his fine, deep and richly voiced tones.IN THIS OUTING,TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES (Banner Productions, MGM, 1963), most of the voices are dubbed over the words spoken by the multitude of mainly native Asian actors on location where the filming was done, in Malaysia and Thailand. The voices that appear in the final, on-screen product have an overall British tone and accent (not that we're suggesting that most residents of the U.K. wear overalls).ANOTHER DISTINCTIVE ATTRIBUTE of the movie is the very crisp and distinctive presence of the sound effects used in the sound track. The general expression of action for the ear seems to be at least somewhat exaggerated; often could be classified as highly or even extremely over stated. That is not to imply that this treatment of sound is too extreme; for it all adds up to being proper and even equal proportions, when all components are assembled.THE VISUALS ARE very good, even breathtaking at times. The great and expansive tropical outdoors are shown to fine advantage; all of which gives us a truly authentic jungle in which to send all of our suspension of disbelief. Cdertainly, no jungle picture has had better "sets" on which to film. Without having to consciously say or think it, we know that this movie wasn't done on a Hollywood Studio's back lot.ALL OF THESE previously mentioned elements add up to give us the thesis that appears in the Summary Box above these written paragraphs. The intensity of sound, the crisp editing of action sequences together with the dubbed speech, all add up to a movie which is very much like that which was coming out of Italy and Spain from such filmmakers such as Sergio Leone and Bruno Bozetto.WE BELIEVE THAT this was indeed no accident; for "Hollywood" is and has long been famous for doing one things. That is following trends and fads. Many would say that this is stealing, plagiarizing and not very honest or original.OF COURSE, ON the other hand, they** say that, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!" THIS WAS FOLLOWED-UP with TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD*** (Banner Productions, American International Pictures, 1967); which brought us a nearly perfect Tarzan physical specimen in ex L.A. Rams Linebacker, Mike Henry. THREE CHALLENGES was Jock Mahoney's farewell to the loincloth.NOTE: * Indochina = Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma (?).NOTE: ** That is, whoever "they" are.NOTE: *** Speaking of following trends, just watch the opening of the VALLEY OF GOLD to see how much the very popular JAMES BOND 007 Series had grown and shed its influence over the movies.

wes-connors In a far eastern country, dying chieftain Woody Strode (as Tarim) wants pre-teen son Ricky Der (as Kashi) to take over as successor, but Mr. Strode's wicked brother Kahn (the main role played by Strode) has other plans. From Africa, jungle king Jock Mahoney (as Tarzan) is summoned to sort out the mess. "Tarzan's Three Challenges" was the better of Mr. Mahoney's two outings as Tarzan. He was an older Tarzan, and reportedly quite sick for a couple of scenes, but remains tough. The Thailand location is used well by director Robert Day and the crew. Mahoney's strength test, the raging fire, and a sustained pace keep it above average. There are several suspenseful sequences, topped by a grand finale featuring Mahoney and Strode dueling on a giant net.****** Tarzan's Three Challenges (6/63) Robert Day ~ Jock Mahoney, Woody Strode, Ricky Der, Earl Cameron

lemon_magic I actually count this as a "7" as a genre movie (as opposed to the serious "A" list stuff that gets the Oscar nominations every year) because it has a lot of heart, some pretty good casting and performances (you gotta love Woody Strode when he plays a heavy), and a lot of nice touches in the screenplay. (I especially enjoyed the "test of wisdom" challenge, where Tarzan gives a very clever and witty answer to the monks' puzzler.) As a kid I was a bit taken back by how skinny the "new" Tarzan seemed to be compared to the beefcake idols who preceded him, but knowing that poor Jock Mahoney was dealing with dysentery and dengue fever during the shooting of the film explains a lot. Even so, "Tarzan" was still lithe and agile looking, and the character seemed to have a wisdom and wit that was missing from previous movies (Lex Barker was great, but his character was still somewhat pre-verbal.) This made for an interesting change in the movie. Normally Tarzan is the primal Alpha Male in a Tarzan movie, and the outcome is never really in doubt. However,it was obvious from the beginning that for all his sinew and courage and resourcefulness, Tarzan might be outmatched this time by the Woody Strode character. It made for a genuinely suspenseful climax when the two finally locked horns. Or swords, or whatever.In short, for what it was "Three Challenges" was a fine movie. I'd love to see it again some time soon.

zardoz-13 Call it "Tarzan Goes to Thailand!" In his second outing as the invincible Lord of the Jungle, sinewy Jock Mahoney ventures off to Asia at the request of a country's critically ill leader, the dying Khan (Woody Strode), strewn on his death bed, to escort his rightful heir, Prince Kashi (Rocky Der), from a religious monastery high up in the hills through miles of jungle to the capital city for his inauguration. Cho San, Prince's Nursemaid (Tsu Kobayashi)is pretty a good shot with a rifle when raiders almost abduct Kashi. Naturally, Woody Strode with a mustache has a son that could sit on the throne so he has plans to eliminate the so-called chosen one. We learn that Khan's son fears him and refuses to assume the throne. Ultimately, Khan challenges Kashi to a test of strength and Kashi asks Tarzan to represent in this trial by combat. There is a huge fire in the jungle that nearly kills the little boy as he prays to his god.Later, Tarzan and his chief nemesis Woody Strode battle it out with sabers while balancing on a rope net above vault of boiling oil. Well, it looked like oil. Guess who dies? Jock Mahoney makes a tanned, taciturn Tarzan who is quite agile whether he be strung up between two water buffalo and stretched in opposite directions or doing a bungee cord jump before most of us knew they existed off a bridge into a narrow river. When he arrives at the monastery, he has to submit to tests at the hands of the monks. They explain that as a test of strength, he must neutralize the tug of two buffalo for five strokes of the gong. Earlier, he had fired several arrows into a bouncing ball. The scenery is exotic. The sight of be-jeweled elephants marching at the head of grand processions, and thousand girls performing a dance of the candles adds to the spectacle of "Tarzan's Three Challenges." Woody Strode sounds dubbed in the style of a treacherous Italian movie villain as he performs in a dual role as the dying Khan and his brother Khan. The Chosen one picks up a cute little elephant along the way that he calls Hungry who steals the show. Guess who replaced Cheetah? This is one darn cute little fellow. They could have launched a series out of this small elephant. Woody Strode makes a worthwhile villain and Tarzan is virtuous as usual with Jock swinging on vines through the jungle. During the fire, a villain who had infiltrated the ranks of Tarzan and his followers dies a flaming death. Nevertheless, an above-average, old-fashioned Tarzan movie lensed in Thailand. Think of it as a glimpse at Asia before Vietnam erupted. Robert Day does a good job of storytelling and juggles suspense and tension rather well in some scenes, particularly the net fight and the burning temple.