Planet Of The Apes 1968 – Retro Review
The ’60s was a decade of beginnings for a burgeoning Science Fiction film and television genre. Yet to witness the domination the genre would have over the box office brought on by Star Wars, Alien and E.T. Swinging 60’s sci-fi felt to be in an adolescent stage of experimentation and creativity.
To debut in this decade were Star Trek, Dr Who, The Outer Limits, Lost in Space, The Jetsons, The Thunderbirds and Astro-boy, and that’s just on the small screen. In the theatres there were Fahrenheit 451 and The Time Machine, of course, both adaptations of Bradbury and Wells’ novels. La Jetée and Alphaville are also, two deeply influential and experimental French films. And of course, Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001; A Space Odyssey. In 1968 Planet of the Apes was released and added to this already impressive pantheon.
Loosely Based on Pierre Boulle’s French novel of the same name, Planet of the Apes was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner who would shortly after go on to win an Oscar for his efforts in the WW2 bio-pic, Patton. The original screenplay was penned by Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame. I feel you can see Serling’s fingerprints over the entire film.
Even though his screenplay was later re-written by Michael Wilson, Planet of the Apes could be mistaken for a feature-length Twilight Zone trip. Wilson was brought on board to scale back the screenplay due to budgetary concerns and he seems to have achieved his goal tastefully, with his re-imagining of the Apes’ world as more of a stone-age, primitive culture than the futuristic ape-topia that was originally envisioned by Boulle and Serling.
Michael Wilson is one of the unsung heroes of the Classic Hollywood era, due to being put on the blacklist in the 1950s and struggling to find work. That being said, if you haven’t heard of his name, you’ve heard of his work. Aside from Apes, which I consider to be his magnum opus, this man also wrote The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Ché! It’s no wonder Apes was such a success with the talent it had behind it, however, I don’t think we’d be talking about this film today if it wasn’t for one man, John Chambers.
Chambers was the mind behind the ape prosthetics. It’s a toss-up of what his most culturally relevant work is though, the prosthetics from Planet of the Apes or Spock’s wee ears from Star Trek. Honestly, without nailing the look of the Apes, there’s no film. In this key aesthetic element, hangs the balance of the picture’s success or failure. It’s truly impressive how good of a job Chambers did, coupled with the actors’ performance you do get lost in this post-apocalyptic jungle world.
The recent reboot of the series decided to use CGI and motion capture technology to render the apes digitally in our real world, and although this also looks astounding, I have to say I prefer the original Chambers prosthetics look. I think it’s more iconic and leaves a lasting impression of classic 50’s and 60’s sci-fi serials and action/adventure comics in your mind.
Of course, the star of the show is the machismo Charlton Heston, one of Hollywood’s great leading men playing the astronaut, Taylor. It’s the apes though, in my opinion, that truly steal the show; Roddy McDowell as Cornelius, Kim Hunter as Dr Zira and the wonderful Maurice Evans as Dr Zaius. Dr Zaius might just be one of the most underrated villains in cinema history, but that’s an argument for another day.
How these three actors were able to show such expression through so many pounds of make-up is a testament to their talent and proof of their commitment to this film. Evans as Dr. Zaius in particular is just wonderful to watch, and such a well-written character also.
Initially, the audience views Zaius as a bigot and a religious zealot, but as we iron out the wrinkles of the plot, underneath Zaius’s piousness we find someone controlled by their fear, someone who is trying to do everything in his power, however misguided, to protect his loved ones from danger.
Maurice Evans expresses this to the audience with such subtlety, it’s just fantastic. It’s the scenes that Dr Zaius and Taylor share that I enjoy the most as the two men. The two mammals, both come to see each other without bias, over time of course.
Two thousand years in the future, three astronauts crash land on a strange planet. They discover that the rulers of this planet are a species of intelligent apes, while the humans of the planet are more like mute animals. One of the astronauts, Taylor, is captured by the apes and while imprisoned he tries to attest his innocence in a culture that has a rigid bias toward humans.
This is a timeless story, it’s a fish-out-of-water tale with a high-concept sci-fi premise. Possibly due to Serling’s influence on the script, Apes smuggles inside its entertaining and engaging story, a rather cutting commentary on race relations as well as a cautionary tale about the prescient fear of nuclear fallout. These two pillars of Apes’ subtext are what I think elevates the 68′ film above the alter of Boulle’s original novel.
Although timeless, there is one thing that ages the film and that is the character (if you could call her that) of Nova. She’s Taylor’s love interest in the film and little more than that. Nova, like the rest of the humans on the planet, is unable to speak, so she spends the whole film doe-eyed and mute. Today the character of Nova just reads as some sort of late 60’s misogynistic fantasy of the ideal woman: beautiful, in need of care and protection and without a voice or opinions of her own.
I’ve not spoken yet about the action in the film as there isn’t much, but what there is, is exhilarating, kinetic and has clear intent. The most outstanding action sequence is the human hunt; the audience is lulled into a false sense of security when Taylor and his co-pilot Dodge stumble upon a primitive herd of humans.
It’s an indicator that the two men’s situation isn’t completely hopeless, but this doesn’t last long as we see the apes for the first time, clothed, on horseback and with weapons. The apes attack the herd of humans systematically, as though they were cattle. Dodge is murdered and Taylor is wounded in his neck which makes him mute for the whole second act of the film. I just love the energy this scene has and the casual approach to its direction.
The bulk of the film is spent in Ape City, where Taylor tries to express his intelligence to Cornelius and Zira, the two Chimp scientists who are sympathetic to his captivity. They seem to be on the side of logic and reason, meanwhile, Dr Zaius is a pious reactionary who sees no way but his own.
Planet of the Apes has a runtime just shy of two hours and not a minute is wasted. The story is fast-paced, each scene moves the plot along, builds out the world of the film, fulfils in fleshing out a character or delves into the rich themes the story offers.
The ending of Planet of the Apes is probably the second most iconic twist in Sci-fi history behind Empire Strikes Back’s “Luke, I am Your Father”. I won’t be discussing it here, on the off-chance that the one person who doesn’t know the ending is reading this, also because there’s not much I can say, it’s iconic, harrowing, shocking, exciting, jaw-dropping…a perfect ending.
Planet of the Apes has four sequels; it was rebooted in 2001 with Planet of the Apes (2001), and then again in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which currently has two sequels itself and a third on its way in May.
This franchise shows no signs of stopping and there’s already no shortage of ape-related content out there, but despite all of these sequels and reboots, I still think that the original Planet of the Apes is the best in the series. It’s truly one of the great sci-fi films, not just of its decade but of all time and it’ll always be remembered as such.
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