And that movie came before Marvel trademarked the word.
Don’t forget the effect of an early book and movie series franchise that continues to this day - Tarzan of the Apes. Tarzan was King of the Jungle, but his battles with Great Apes and gorillas were highlighted. Also, his allegiance of the apes was used frequently in the movies to provide Tarzan with an escape from dire straits. Just as ape like animals are fearsome they can be accepted as heroes by an audience. It’s no surprise to me that an ape like animal was chosen as the companion to space ship captain in some old science fiction movie. Of course the use of apes as characters in any kind of movies provides the benefit of using humans in hairy costumes in those roles, although the chimps collectively known as Cheetah were put to use in Tarzan films. I suppose they were paid less than human actors, and took direction about as well.
Aside from Aladdin and its sequels/remake/etc., there haven’t been many recent films of the “Arabian Nights” variety.
Yes, I caught A Dandy in Aspic last year on TMC, and it was a mole hunt, in a sense. It was very much of its time (late 60s), but I really liked it. Great performance by Laurence Harvey. I don’t know why it’s not better known/appreciated.
Kind of surprising. There were lots of them in the 1930s and 1940s, and about half a dozen came out in the early 1960s-1970s.
RElatively recently there was Prince of Persia and the animated Sinbad of the Seven Seas, but those were a long time ago, now.
I feel like Chuck Norris’ Missing in Action (1984) sort of set the tone for the lone action hero movies, specifically the gun-toting kind.
Nearly all the following ones of the 80s and after follow MIA’s basic template in that sense; Commando, the Rambo franchise, Stallone’s Cobra, the Transporter movies, and so forth.
Is that a cross between Harry Potter and Happy Gilmore?
I blame the Iranian revolution from 1979 on and especially 9/11 for souring the American public on all things Islamic.