# Tarzan swinging on vines **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2014, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313 "2014-09-23T06:10:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/1 "2014-09-23T06:10:08Z")
I don’t think ERB had Tarzan doing much vine swinging in the books, but he got around that way a lot in the old Johnny Weissmuller movies. But seriously, conditions would have to be just right in order to actually get anywhere by swinging on vines. I seem to recall a few times when he extended his swing time by grabbing another vine and continuing on. But isn’t all of this vine swinging totally absurd? The vines would have to grow at an angle to the ground- you’re not going to get much swinging out of a vertical vine. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/2 "2014-09-23T06:51:17Z")
Maybe his minions arranged the vines ahead of time so they’d be in the right place when Tarzan needed them. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/3 "2014-09-23T06:54:03Z")
Yea and in the novel Frankenstein’s monster is educated and sophisticated, more like Roy Batty in Blade Runner than the GRRR ARGGH monster he is in the movies. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/4 "2014-09-23T07:06:37Z")
I haven’t watched most of the Weismuller Tarzan movies in a long time (used to _love_ them), but I remember at least one of them having a rather long distance shot of big T swinging through the trees on what are obviously trapeze bars. Even to an eleven year-old numbskull it was a little insulting. My memory being what it is, I’m not positive it was a Weismuller film-- I guess it might have been one of the Lex Barker imitations. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/5 "2014-09-23T13:01:26Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I haven’t watched most of the Weismuller Tarzan movies in a long time (used to _love_ them), but I remember at least one of them having a rather long distance shot of big T swinging through the trees on what are obviously trapeze bars. Even to an eleven year-old numbskull it was a little insulting. > My memory being what it is, I’m not positive it was a Weismuller film-- I guess it might have been one of the Lex Barker imitations. There were some swings that didn’t use trapeze bars or other aids. Sometimes real vines were used. The triple vine swing was the peak of the art form, I believe it was done by Weismuller but I’d have to check. It was attempted by Ron Ely at the beginning of the TVarzan series, and he injured himself badly, cutting down on a lot of his stunts and requiring frequent re-use of film. Several of Weismuller’s stunts were resused in his own and other’s movies, not just vine swinging. The books didn’t portray him swinging on vines all the time, it described more of the motions used by monkeys and apes moving through branches and grasping vines that hung more horizontally in the jungle forest, in addition to lots of running on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/6 "2014-09-23T13:23:56Z")
At least in “the woods” I had access to as a kid in Alabama there was never a vine that had the ropelike appearance and suppleness of the ones Weissmuller always had access to. Even so, we kids would use whatever we had to try the Tarzan tricks we saw, but with only random success. As often as not the goddamn vine would come crashing down in mid-swing and we’d fall and cuss and go practice throwing knives or something else. We did discover that it was more effective just to hang a rope (or several of them) if we wanted to try the vine-to-vine transfer. We made that work enough to realize the movies were fake! We did get the yodel-yell-holler down pretty well though. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/7 "2014-09-23T13:53:27Z")
Watching gibbons playing at the zoo, I certainly see where they got the idea. However as others have pointed out it doesn’t work well when using as a method of travel. Watching _American Ninja Warrior_ shows how difficult it is to transfer your weight from one rope/vine to the next. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/8 "2014-09-23T13:59:46Z")
Oh, for Pete’s sake– I used to live near Ocala, FL. Tourist attraction called Silver Springs is there. Several Tarzan movies were filmed there (Sea Hunt, too.) When you take one of the tours, the guide tells you **vines grow from the ground up and if Weismuller tried swinging from vines he would have landed on his loincloth** (their spiel). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/9 "2014-09-23T14:08:14Z")
He’s free as the breeze He’s always at ease He lives in the jungle and hangs by his knees As he swings through the trees Without a trapeze In his B V.D.s. – [“Gitarzan”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=293Irm-vxtE), Ray Stevens ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/10 "2014-09-23T14:08:54Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > …and go practice throwing knives… At each other? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/11 "2014-09-23T14:11:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The books didn’t portray him swinging on vines all the time, it described more of the motions used by monkeys and apes moving through branches and grasping vines that hung more horizontally in the jungle forest, in addition to lots of running on the ground. The vine swinging thing was created for the movies. This was discussed in one of Cecil’s [columns](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2620/could-a-human-swing-through-the-jungle-on-vines). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/12 "2014-09-23T14:29:38Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > At each other? 😃 Sort of, on occasion. Remember [Mumblety-peg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumblety-peg) ? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/13 "2014-09-23T14:42:30Z")
[And don’t hold the knife in your mouth when diving in rivers.](http://static.flickr.com/127/317356974_ea9f228228_b.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/14 "2014-09-23T16:02:54Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Oh, for Pete’s sake– > > I used to live near Ocala, FL. Tourist attraction called Silver Springs is there. Several Tarzan movies were filmed there (Sea Hunt, too.) When you take one of the tours, the guide tells you **vines grow from the ground up and if Weismuller tried swinging from vines he would have landed on his loincloth** (their spiel). Not to mention that he’d have to watch out for that tree. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/15 "2014-09-23T16:33:21Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Not to mention that he’d have to watch out for that tree. +1 😃 > [@running\_coach](#): > > [And don’t hold the knife in your mouth when diving in rivers.](http://static.flickr.com/127/317356974_ea9f228228_b.jpg) Thanks, haven’t seen that cartoon in 25(?) years. Always good to get back into the classics. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/16 "2014-09-23T16:47:14Z")
Can’t miss a chance to show off a rare word. The term for this type of locomotion is _brachiation_. You’re welcome. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/17 "2014-09-23T16:47:40Z")
I’m still trying to figure out how Spiderman gets that whole webslinging thing to work in NYC. You’d have to figure that after a while he’d be just dangling there saying “Could someone give me a push please?” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/18 "2014-09-23T16:56:02Z")
^ Plus, since he’s been doing this for 50 years, NYC should look like the final shot in _[Kingdom Of The Spiders](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fhorrorfanzine.com%2Fkingdom-of-the-spiders%2F&h=0&w=0&tbnid=iGH0erFf0Loc_M&zoom=1&tbnh=198&tbnw=255&docid=ijFfumSO6DRYMM&tbm=isch&ei=pqUhVNuMBYTM8QH0rIHQCw&ved=0CAQQsCUoAA)_. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/19 "2014-09-23T17:07:44Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > ^ Plus, since he’s been doing this for 50 years, NYC should look like the final shot in _[Kingdom Of The Spiders](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fhorrorfanzine.com%2Fkingdom-of-the-spiders%2F&h=0&w=0&tbnid=iGH0erFf0Loc_M&zoom=1&tbnh=198&tbnw=255&docid=ijFfumSO6DRYMM&tbm=isch&ei=pqUhVNuMBYTM8QH0rIHQCw&ved=0CAQQsCUoAA)_. Spider-Man’s webbing evaporates in about an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313/20 "2014-09-23T17:08:26Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > Watching _American Ninja Warrior_ shows how difficult it is to transfer your weight from one rope/vine to the next. For _mortals_. Tarzan’s a god. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarzan-swinging-on-vines/699313.md?page=2)