Planet of the Apes (1968)

Planet of the Apes is an American science-fiction film first released in 1968, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.  The film is based on a novel by Pierre Boulle and stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans and James Whitmore.  It has also been released under the title: Monkey Planet.  Our overall rating for this film is: excellent.


Towards the end of the 20th Century, a party of astronauts, led by George Taylor, is sent into space to test Einstein’s theory of time dilation.  Travelling at close to the speed of light, the astronauts will age only 18 months, the duration of their flight, whilst Einstein predicts that 500 years will have elapsed on Earth when they return.  A fault develops in the ship’s control systems and the astronauts apparently land not on Earth but on a planet which is hundreds of light years away.  According to the ship’s instruments, two thousand years have passed since they left Earth.  Their ship damaged beyond repair, the astronauts set out to explore the world that will now be their home.  After crossing a vast expanse of rocky desert, they discover a more fertile area, where primitive-looking humans are raiding a corn field.  Before the astronauts can make contact with these strange people, several gorillas on horseback suddenly appear and begin to attack them.  Taylor watches as one of his fellow astronauts is gunned down, but is himself shot before he can escape.  Captured by the apes, he is taken to their city, where two chimpanzee scientists, Zira and Galen, begin to study him.  Convinced that Taylor is evidence for the missing link between humans and apes, Zira ask her fiancé Cornelius, an archaeologist, to examine him.  The scientists are astonished when the human attempts to communicate with them in their own language and realise that this discovery could overturn the apes’ theory of their ancestry.  Dr Zaius, their superior, is not convinced and threatens to have Zira and Cornelius imprisoned for heresy.  Realising that there is only way to save their reputation, the two scientists abscond with Taylor and head for the Forbidden Zone, which Cornelius believes holds the secret to the link between apes and humans.  Even Taylor is not prepared for what he is about to discover...

As well as being one of the most popular science-fiction films of the 1960s, Planet of the Apes is also one of the most important.  It ushered in a new kind of realistic sci-fi movie, laying the foundation for today’s blockbuster fantasy adventure films.  It offers not only a well-crafted rendition of an exciting story, it also serves as a potent allegory of man’s cruelty to other species and to his own kind.  This is a potent morality tale dressed up as hugely entertaining piece of film escapism, one that makes you see the world in a new light and might even change the way you live.    

Based on the French-language novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle, the film shows us a fantastic yet chillingly plausible version of the future in which man is no longer the dominant species in his world.  The film was such a hit that it was followed by four sequels and two television series (one animated, the other live action), all of which enjoyed similar success.   Before the Star Wars juggernaut came along, Planet of the Apes was the most heavily merchandised sci-fi film ever.  Fans were able to fill their homes (or ape caves) with a plethora of goodies relating to the film: books, comics, toys, action figures, games and, best of all, the Halloween masks.  In spite of its dodgy 2001 remake, the film is still highly regarded today and it entirely justifies its status as a cult classic of its genre.  

The main factor behind the success of the original Planet of the Apes film was the adept realisation of an advanced simian race, which is primarily down to John Chambers’ groundbreaking prosthetic makeup.  The latex ape mask that Chambers perfected (and which won him an honorary Oscar) had first appeared in an episode of the sci-fi TV series Lost in Space.  It is so flexible that the actor wearing it is able to show a wide range of facial expressions and so make it come alive.  The apes range from the gentle, inquiring chimps to the proud orang-utans and the belligerent gorillas – all are convincingly portrayed and all have a nobility about them.  Not for a moment do you see them as men in a mask.     

It helped that behind the ape masks were some very talented actors who were able to make their characters every bit as realistic and complex as the human protagonists.  Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter are especially memorable as the sympathetic chimpanzee scientists Cornelius and Zira.   McDowall is the actor most associated with the Planet of the Apes franchise; he appeared in all of the films and also in the popular 1974 television series.  He is a rare example of an actor who is best known for playing a part in which his own face is not visible to the audience.  

Of course, there is far more to this film than good make-up.   It is intelligently scripted, well-directed and imaginatively photographed.  The interior sets immediately suggest an advanced civilisation that is far removed from our own, whilst the exteriors (particularly those shot in the Grand Canyon) really do transport us to an other world.   Jerry Goldsmith’s eerie modernist music adds to the unsettling otherworldly mood of the film, itself sounding like the product of another civilisation.

Whilst the later films in the series veered towards whimsy and self-parody, this first outing offers a dark and disturbing viewer experience, and not just because of its graphic violence and hard-edged realism.  The main reason why this film is so shocking is because the world it depicts is so frighteningly like our own.  It depicts racial division, suppression of truth by political leaders, exploitation of power by those who are there to enforce law and order, and unpardonable ill-treatment of the lesser species.  This is a film that  holds up a mirror to our own perverse reality, and becomes more meaningful, more disturbing the more times you watch it.    

And as if that was not enough, Planet of the Apes has one of the most iconic sequences in cinema history – the final scene in which Charlton Heston realises what has happened to his world.   Realised with a devastating simplicity that is both lyrical and shocking, the final shot leaves a lasting impression and ties in with one of the big concerns of the time when the film was made, namely where mankind’s technological progress was taking him.   Four decades on, with the shadow of a global environmental disaster hanging over us all, Planet of the Apes has never seemed more relevant.

© James Travers 2009

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