# Movie reviews and false advertising

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-reviews-and-false-advertising/997542>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Tags:** movies\
**Created:** [February 14, 2024, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-reviews-and-false-advertising/997542 "2024-02-14T05:48:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-reviews-and-false-advertising/997542/21 "2024-02-15T01:36:36Z")

</div>

> [@XOldiesJock](#):
>
> Since Roger Ebert’s demise, it’s been difficult finding a critic whose opinion I respect.

I just checked, and Gene Shalit is still kicking at 97.

(No idea if he’s still offering movie reviews, though)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-reviews-and-false-advertising/997542/22 "2024-02-15T18:22:47Z")

</div>

It’s not false advertising, in the sense that it doesn’t falsify the review, as many examples in this thread do. But it sure as heck gave a false impression.

When the abysmal 1981 movie **Tarzan, the Ape Man** , starring Bo Derek came out, it garnered only one good major review – Roger Ebert’s. They took out a full page ad in several newspapers to run it, uncut.

Of course, that ignored all the other reviews that rightly panned the film. The titular Tarzan barely appears in the movie, which is centered on Jane, played by Ms. Derek. Directed by her husband John.

They wanted my one-time (welll, two-time) co-acrtor Erland van Lidthe de Jeude to be in this movie, playing the big bald geek that Tarzan fights, but Erland was tired of being stereotyped as a Big Bald Geek, and refused. He went on to play Dynamo in **The Running Man** (and to finally sing with his own voice in a major movie).

The movie scores a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The iMDB reviews are pretty devastating (one calling it "arguably the wiorst movie ever made)

> **[Tarzan the Ape Man (1981) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083170/reviews)**
>
> Tarzan the Ape Man (1981) on IMDb: Movies, TV, Celebs, and more...

[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1020897-tarzan\_the\_ape\_man](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1020897-tarzan_the_ape_man)

> **[Tarzan, The Ape Man movie review (1981) | Roger Ebert](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/tarzan-the-ape-man-1981)**
>
> “Tarzan, The Ape Man” is “The Blue Lagoon” with elephants. Of

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-reviews-and-false-advertising/997542/23 "2024-02-15T20:04:44Z")

</div>

I think media in general is notorious for misquoting/cherry picking quotes to support what they want to say. Doesn’t matter if it’s a movie review, or an article about MBA grads (I was actually quoted out of context myself 20 years ago).

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-reviews-and-false-advertising/997542.md?page=1)