PLANET OF THE APES (1968)
Director: Franklin Schaffner
Genre: Sci-Fi
THE MOVIE
Few movies have had the legacy and made the social impact of the classic 1968 science fiction movie, Planet of the Apes. Like another 1968 science fiction movie that featured ape creatures, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes was from those heady days when science fiction films were about Big Ideas and using the trappings of the genre to make a philosophical or socio-political commentary about the world. It was produced before a time when the genre became a playground for action and special effects. Compare it to its very inferior 2001 remake, which was about nothing and had nothing to say. Many essays and papers have been written about the movie and its subtext. In fact, an entire book has been written about the movie and its sequels and how they serve as a commentary on 1960’s America: Eric Green’s very interesting, Planet of the Apes as American Myth: Race, Politics, and Popular Culture.
The movie is also a pop cultural landmark and even people who have never seen Planet of the Apes can be found referencing or quoting it. The movie starred the late Charlton Heston, who chewed out some memorable lines such as “Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!” and “It’s a mad house! A mad house!” The term “Planet of the Apes” has come to be a short hand for any kind of situation in which the expected social order has been reversed. Perhaps the movie is most famous for its shocking twist ending, which has since become one of the most iconic moments in the history of cinema.Planet of the Apes is very loosely based on the French novel of the same name and written by Pierre Boule as a sort of Swiftian satire on human society. The book was adapted by Rod Serling of the beloved TV show, The Twilight Zone. As he often did with his show, Serling infused Planet of the Apes with subtextual social commentary, profound irony, and surprising plot twists. The other writer to have worked on the script for Planet of the Apes was Michael Wilson, who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy era and who no doubt added his bitterly anti-establishment sentiments in the depiction the ape society.
Apes was also one of the first movies to spin off into a real multimedia franchise. The movie was followed by four sequels and later both an animated and a live action TV series. Because of the series’ popularity with children, Planet of the Apes was one of the first movies to feature a line of action figures and other products, paving the way for the merchandising bonanza that followed the Star Wars movies.
Planet of the Apes is the tale of a misanthropic astronaut named Taylor, who is the leader of an expedition to a distant planet. The details of the expedition and its intent are a little murky but Taylor travels with three astronaut companions. It is implied that the four astronauts were to colonize a distant planet. However, while they are in hibernation, their ship crash lands on a mysterious planet where the Taylor and the two other survivors encounter a race of primitive, mute human beings. No sooner are Taylor and the others ready to divvy up the planet for themselves, when they are attacked by a hunting party of apes who talk and ride horses. Taylor is injured in the attack and he is captured and caged like an animal.
As stated above, Charlton Heston portrays Taylor in a bit of casting that is weird but perfect. At the time, Heston was a movie star well known for his heroic roles and was almost a symbol traditional blond-haired, blue-eyed American manhood. In Apes, he plays an edgy antisocial character who is literally stripped, beaten, and humiliated. I’ve often wondered why the famously conservative actor (he was the spokesperson for the NRA) was attracted to this script with its clearly left-wing subtext.
Taylor is befriended by a pair of chimpanzee scientists (Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowell) who discover that he has the ability to speak, which no human has demonstrated on the Planet of the Apes. We also learn that the ape society is stratified into three classes: the gorillas serve as the workers and the military, the chimps are the scientists and intellectuals, and the fair-haired orangutans are the political and religious leaders. It doesn’t seem that individual apes can break out of these social roles.
Taylor and his chimp friends are brought before an ape council lead by the shady Dr. Zaius. Taylor’s ability to speak and his demonstrated intelligence threaten the ape society and he is sentenced to castration and lobotomy before he escapes and explores the “Forbidden Zone” where the chimpanzees have discovered proof of an advanced pre-simian civilization. At the end of the movie, the true history of the Planet of the Apes is revealed.THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS
Sorry Mr. Heston, but the real star of Planet of the Apes is the incredibly expressive make-up created by John Chambers. Over forty years later, this make-up still holds up and manages to create the illusion of talking ape characters while still allowing the actor’s performance to be expressed naturally on camera and never once looking silly. Foam appliqués over the mouth and brow give the characteristic simian look to the face. The only drawback to this is that the ape teeth are actually built into the flexible foam mouthpiece and can move in an unnatural way during speech.
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT
“You maniacs! You blew it all to hell!”
DVD AVAILABILITY
The Apes movies have been fortunate to have received a lot of home video love over the years. Of course, Planet of the Apes is available on its own, but I suggest you take a look at the some of the boxed sets which are very nice. On DVD, the most recent one is the Legacy Collection. If you have a Bluray player, check out the 40th Anniversary Collection, which can frequently be bought on Amazon for fairly cheap. The video transfer is amazing considering the movie’s age and Planet of the Apes has never looked better. The set includes the great documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes, which is interactive on the Bluray. The Bluray set also includes a beautifully illustrated book about the series and the very rarely seen extended cut of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. It’s really a fantastic set and if you are a fan of these movies, you should definitely pick it up.
SEQUELS
This movie was immediately followed by the sub-par (no pun intended) Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and the surprisingly good Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and two others.
TRAILER
...my all time favorite Simpsons moment
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