Planet of the Apes

Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape! This is one of the most famous lines in Science Fiction history, and it's also the first words ever spoken by humans to apes in Planet of the Apes.

The movie begins with Astronaut George Taylor (Charlton Heston) recording a dismal monologue aboard a spaceship with three other astronauts who are in suspended animation. After finishing his monologue, Taylor enters suspended animation with the rest of the crew and settles in for a long journey. Unfortunately for the crew, their journey is cut short when the spaceship crash lands on an unknown planet. As a result of the crash, only three of the astronauts survive. The lone women astronaut is killed when her suspended animation chamber is damaged.

The astronauts begin to explore the planet and find that not only is it a hospitable environment for humans, but it is apparently inhabited by human like lifeforms. Although they appear human, these creatures can't talk and are not the dominant beings on this planet. That roles is reserved for what appear to be apes, who hunt and kill the humans. During one of their hunts, the apes capture Taylor and take him back to their civilization where they turn him over to two ape scientists, Zira (Kim Hunter) and Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) who study the humans and perform "scientific experiments" on them.

Taylor, who's throat was injured when he was captured, is unable to speak and he is grouped in captivity with the rest of the planet's human beings. But soon Zira notices that there is something different about Taylor and she takes a liking to him and even gives him a pet name -- Bright Eyes. Eventually Taylor's throat heals and he is able to speak again. This convinces Zira that he is different from the rest of the people and she attempts to convince the rest of the apes that Taylor should be spared.

Not knowing what to do with a human that can talk, the apes, led by head scientist Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans), decide that Taylor should be killed. Zira and Corneilus know this is wrong and they break him out of the ape prison in an attempt to hide him in the forbidden zone and save his life.

Planet of the Apes is a perfect example of the phrase "The Whole is Greater than the Sum of the Parts". Taken on their own, most of the parts of the movie are ok, but certainly not great. The acting is, at best, mediocre. While nobody stands out as being "bad", there isn't any one single performance that jumps out as being above the rest. Charlton Heston, while providing some star power to the film, tends to go a little bit over the top while portraying Taylor. The rest of the cast (mostly playing apes) bring just enough acting skill to the film to carry the story along, but nothing more.

The special effects are also nothing to write home about. Perfectly acceptable for this movie, they provide just enough to paint a picture for the film, but as with the acting, nothing more. I'm sure even in 1968, nobody walked out of theaters after seeing this movie exclaiming "Wow! You've got to see the special effects in Planet of the Apes!"

But, as I said before, The Whole is Definitely Greater than the Sum of the Parts. There is just something about this movie that works. I don't know if it's the perfect ape makeup (which is the one "part" of the film that is exceptional), or the underlying theme that attacks the idea of human superiority, or even the excellent screenplay written by Rod Serling and the perfect ending. The plot twist at the end of the movie (which I won't reveal here in case there is somebody who still doesn't know what it is!) is brilliant and completely changes the whole meaning of the film -- not only for the viewer, but for George Taylor as well. It is even rumored that Pierre Boulle, author of the Planet of the Apes novel, has said that he wished he had thought of the Serling ending -- the ending in the book was very different than the movie.

At first glance it may appear to be some cheesy Science Fiction movie about Apes that can talk, but Planet of the Apes is much more than that. If you can get past some of the less than stellar individual parts of the film, there is a message here that transcends the genre that is still relevant even today.

More Planet of the Apes Movie Reviews

Movie Review of Planet of the Apes by James Berardinelli
Planet of the Apes Movie Review and Information Page at The Internet Movie Database