A film that is perhaps only notable for a bizarre scene in which a nude Bo Derek (opens in a new tab) nurses a small chimpanzee (see the scene (opens in a new tab), NSFW, obviously), Tarzan the Ape Man (opens in a new tab) was an attempt to tell the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs story (opens in a new tab) from the point of view of Jane, rather than the titular hero.

Directed by Bo’s husband John Derek (opens in a new tab) (this was one of four collaborations between the pair) the production was reportedly (opens in a new tab) sued by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate for containing too much erotic content. The estate apparently failed in their bid to prevent the release of the film but succeeded in having over three minutes of footage excised from the theatrical release.

According to the film’s Wikipedia page (opens in a new tab), the film was quite a success at the US box office (taking over $36 million), despite being critically mauled and winning six Golden Raspberry Awards (opens in a new tab).

Bo Derek featured in an issue of Playboy magazine (opens in a new tab) around the release of the film and I have the advance one sheet for this film advertising the fact.

The artist responsible for the artwork on this one sheet is Olivia De Berardinis (opens in a new tab), known simply as Olivia, an American artist who is famed for her paintings of women in a pinup or ‘cheesecake’ style. Born in California, Olivia spent most of her youth on the East Coast, attending the New York School of Visual Arts (opens in a new tab) from 1967 to 1970. By 1975 she was taking on commercial work, which included illustrations for novel covers, periodicals, advertisements and movie posters. She’s perhaps best know for the paintings she did for adult magazines, including most famously for Playboy. She had a regular slot in the magazine since 2004, often accompanied by a Hugh Hefner caption. She now resides in Malibu, California and continues to work and sell her previous paintings to fans. One of the other movie posters she worked on was for the 1981 romantic sexploitation comedy Babe (opens in a new tab).

The original trailer is on YouTube (opens in a new tab).