A review of Charlton Heston's 1968 Sci-Fi Classic film, Planet of the Apes. 4.5/5
A group of four astronauts leaves a badly deteriorating Earth in search of a new beginning in a different time and place. Their spaceship lands in the year 3978 A.D. with the lone female astronaut dead. The remaining three astronauts venture out into the new world and, after a few days of travelling across a desert, they come across a group of humans. Suddenly, everyone is attacked by a group of intelligent ape-men. Several humans and all three astronauts are captured, taken prisoner, and split up.
The focus is on George Taylor (Charlton Heston) as he fights his captors. He befriends a friendly female chimpanzee scientist, Zira, who finds him curious because, unlike all other humans, he can speak and write. She somewhat believes his story about time travel so she and her mate, Cornelius, who are both considered heretics for their controversial ideas about humans, help Taylor to escape. Meanwhile, Dr. Zaius, an orangutan leader of the apes, knows about the planet's terrible, long forgotten past and does not want Taylor or anyone to uncover it. He will stop and nothing to keep the secret. Taylor uncovers the awful truth!
This is a masterpiece of sci-fi cinema that has and does still invoke our curiosity with its post-apocalyptic and twisted evolutionary story. While seen as just a twisted sci-fi action movie, starring the action hero star of the day, Charlton Heston, it is also a profound social commentary on society using apes and archaic humans in place of our human inhabitants.
"Planet of the Apes" is based on the novel by Pierre Boulle, "La Planète des singes." It spawned four sequels and one remake with a cameo by Heston. The screenplay for "Planet of the Apes" is written by Michael Wilson and, interestingly enough, Rod Serling. Their writing and the film's direction by Franklin J. Schaffner really packs a punch without overdoing it, which would have made it too unbelievable.
The story is very intriguing, as it asks the ever-popular question, "what if..?" In this cause, what if man travels far into the future and nothing is as it once was? What if evolution came full circle and now apes have evolved into our masters? This, accompanied by the post-apocalyptic aspect, provides us with a ton of entertaining and thought-provoking ideas. It is about time travel, which can be a confusing concept, but it should not too bad here for most viewers.
"Planet of the Apes" is not hard to follow. It is part action, part social commentary, and part sci-fi, so it offers something for everyone. Viewers can focus on any or all of the separate aspects without much difficulty. The film is directed in such a way that it all blends together almost effortlessly. It is so entertaining and fast-paced that we do not realize that we are tackling much more than just a simple action movie.
The acting is terrific. This helps make this bizarre story almost believable. Charlton Heston steals the show, as George Taylor. He is his usual self with great, emotional acting, which is sometimes over-the-top, but which also serves its purpose. The veteran, Roddy McDowall, offers a calmer but no less riveting performance as Cornelius. Kim Hunter creates a compassionate and loving character as Zira. In addition, Maurice Evans puts in a solid performance as the political, historian, Dr. Zaius. The supporting cast is excellent.
Some say that the SFX and costumes used to create the apes is awfully cheesy and unrealistic. Others think they are well done. They do look pretty good but not perfect. For the 60s, the effects were very good. By today's standards, they still hold up well enough but it is no match for the Tim Burton remake. All in all, the 60s effects did the job sufficiently well.
The mediocre costumes are overshadowed by the action and daunting, bleak look at what could happen to our planet in the future. It also shows us how history repeats itself in the most peculiar ways and how the world's prejudices and class structure always remain.
The music adds to the stressful, fast-paced atmosphere with fast-moving music. It is good that the music director did not resort to the cheesy 60s music used in so many of Charlton Heston's action movies of the day.
"Planet of the Apes" is a classic sci-fi film that should be seen by every sci-fi. It is a great action and sci-fi film with commentary on a dystopic society. The ending is a definite jaw-dropper created as only Rod Serling could. It alone is a good reason to watch it.
