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Planet Of The Apes [1968]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

The original Planet of the Apes is that rarity of the genre: a science fiction film that has dated not one bit: its intelligent script, frightening costuming, and savagely effective conclusion (which needs no big-budget special effects to augment its impact) remain both potent and relevant. When Colonel George Taylor (the fabulous Charlton Heston) crash lands his spacecraft on what seems to be an unfamiliar planet, he is captured and held prisoner by a dominant race of rational, articulate apes. However, the ape community is riven with internal dissension, centred in no small part on its policy toward humans, who, on this planet, are treated as mindless animals. Befriended and ultimately assisted by the more liberal simians, Taylor escapes--only to find a more terrifying obstacle confronting his return home. Heavy-handed object lessons abound--the ubiquity of generational warfare, the inflexibility of dogma, the cruelty of prejudice--and the didactic finger prints of The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling are very much in evidence here. But director Franklin Schaffner has a dark, pop-apocalyptic sci-fi vision all of his own, helped along by Jerry Goldsmith's terrifyingly avant-garde score. And time has not dulled the monumental emotional imp act of the film's climactic payoff shot. --Miles Bethany, Amazon.com

Editorial
DVD Description

DVD Special Features:

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 anamorphic 16:9
Sound: 5.1 Surround
Photo Gallery
Original Theatrical Trailers
Language: English
Subtitles: Hard of hearing English, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hebrew, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish

Editorial
Synopsis

Complex sociological themes run through this science-fiction classic about three astronauts marooned on a planet where highly intelligent apes rule and humans are slaves.The astronauts suddenly find themselves part of a devalued species, trapped and imprisoned by the simians. But one, the defiant Taylor (Charlton Heston), manages to break out and, aided by a pair of compassionate chimps, makes his escape to an uninhabited section of land. However, during the trek he makes a very unsettling discovery about the planet.
The film, based on the novel by Pierre Boulle with a screenplay co-written by Rod Serling, led to four sequels, a TV series, and remake in 2001 by Tim Burton. "Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!"

The movie's surprise ending is not as surprising as the book
Review date: 2008-08-24 Rating: 6 out of 10

Astronauts are sent to a distant plane and crash. They find a barren wasteland and look for a place to survive. They fond more than the bargain for when the tables are turned and Apes rule the day.
Will they make friends or be sliced and diced?
Can the ever get back?
What would you do?

Now after that radical statement I know different media calls for different handling of the story. And most movies do not live up to the book. However some exceed the book. Surprise this is the "don't live up to the book" one. If you thought that the movie was insightful, surprising and shocking the first time you saw it. Then you defiantly have lower expectations than the reader does. Especially with such a botched ending; the ending changed the whole purpose and mystery of the story.

I did like the idea of having a movie where the woman was not talking all the time. (Just kidding) And the makeup for the simians was excellent. I suppose if you haven't read the book that this would be a pleasant time passer.

See Roddy McDowall again in "Lord Love A Duck" (1966) where he monkeys around with Tuesday Weld.


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Reviews


Classic Sci Fi Film
Review date: 2008-06-28 Rating: 8 out of 10

"Planet of the Apes" was made over 40 years old and as a result it has a somewhat dated feel to it. However it has still much to recommend it. Charlton Heston is excellent as the time traveller from Earth who lands on a planet ruled by walking ,talking ape like creatures who hunt humans for sport and generally treat them like scumbags. He gets captured by these creatures before escaping thus avoiding likely castration and a lobotomy. The truth of the ape run planet is revealed in a dramatic ,iconic closing sequence. "Planet of the Apes" of course relies on the discredited theory of evolution as its foundation but is there anyone left who seriously believes that the human race has evolved from apes and that walking ,talking apes such as those seen in this film could evolve from present day simians ?

Film + Documentary + Price = *****
Review date: 2008-04-12 Rating: 10 out of 10

One of the previous reviewers is being a little uncharitable in saying there are no extras in this excellent DVD set. Sure on the main 5 film discs there are very few extras. However disc 6 contains an superb 2 hour+ documentary on the making of the films. So may there be no extras but there is an extra disc!

The first film is a classic. Both entertaining adventure story and classic Sci-fi rolled into one. Watching the documentary you will see film critics reading in social messages about race and the political times in the US in 1968. However quite a few other people (including the producer) say there was no attempt to put messages into the film! Whatever your view on this the performances of the cast and the make-up are quite superb. Remember the make-up is all for real - no CGI in the 1960's.

The later films do decline in quality and their budgets were progressivly reduced as the films went by. The first and second sequels (Heston appears briefly at the start and end of the first) are both decent. The last two are pretty poor.

As a set though, and at the right price (search around 'cause this is available ridiculously cheap at the moment) this is worth it for the first film and documentary alone.

Birth of a franchise
Review date: 2007-10-07 Rating: 10 out of 10

"Planet of the Apes" is fantastic entertainment. A crew of astronauts crash on an unfamiliar planet, only to discover it's ruled by talking apes. The apes hunt the local mute humans and use them for scientific experimentation. When Charlton Heston (one of the astronauts)is captured, he impresses kind chimpanzee scientists Zira and Cornelius becasue of his ability for speech, but the other apes are not amused; their religion dictates that apes, not humans, are God's chosen. The movie's famous twist ending not only deepens the meaning of everything that's come before; and gives great reason for sequels.

A good collection, but not as good as it could have been
Review date: 2007-02-07 Rating: 8 out of 10

Franklin J. Schaffner's original Planet of the Apes is in a class of its own - superb, serious filmmaking with an incredibly strong script which manages to encompass everything from the creationist/evolutionist debate to the Hollywood blacklist (all five films feature heavy presences from blacklist victims both in front of and behind the cameras). And John Chambers' make-up is still quite miraculous, convincingly simian while still retaining much of the identity of the players underneath the masks. Unfortunately, the edition in this 6-disc boxed set misses the excellent extras from the later 2-disc DVD edition.

Unlike the Star Trek films, this is one franchise where the odd `numbered' films are better than the `evens.' Beneath the Planet of the Apes suffers heavily from the loss of writers Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, and perhaps more so from Schaffner's replacement with talented but often uninspired journeyman Ted Post. The first half hour is a rushed recap of the first film, with Charlton Heston-lite James Franciscus taking the lead to little effect. There are interesting jabs at Vietnam era America - peace protesting chimps, militaristic rabble rousing gorillas - and civil rights - Thomas Gomez's prayer is actually a KKK blessing - but it lacks the wit, character or detail of its predecessor. Heston's insistence on no more sequels (or so he thought) also adds a somewhat needlessly nihilistic ending.

Much better by far is Escape From the Planet of the Apes, which is when Paul Dehn really took over the series by proxy and created the mythology which would see it through to the short-lived TV series. Roddy McDowall may get top billing, but it's actually Kim Hunter who easily dominates the film, and it's a wonderfully imaginative and witty inversion of the original. Funky score by Jerry Goldsmith too, a million miles from his savage primitive work on the original but still recognizably the same musical universe.

The quality drops again with Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Despite some interesting plays on slavery and race relations - the final carnage is based closely on the Watts riots - it's mildly uninvolving, not helped by a poor DVD transfer that makes the scenes shot in Century City even duller than they were meant to be. Don Murray's hysterical overacting doesn't help - at times the film cuts away from him to inanimate objects as if embarrassed to linger on his performance.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes is easily the least ambitious, toning down the violence for what the producers admitted was just `a kid's film.' Yet on its own terms its extremely well made, often dryly amusing and particularly well shot, with J. Lee Thompson showing a good eye for the Scope frame that's almost completely absent in [i]Conquest[/i]. It's a shame that Dehn's much, much darker take - in which Caesar's attempts to build a world where apes and men can live in peace leads to his murder and the birth of the hardline regime of the original film - was abandoned, but it's a surprisingly enjoyable movie in a cowboys and Indians, or rather, apes and mutants kind of way. And where else can you see John Landis playing horsey for a young ape? Unfortunately, the version in this boxed set is quite heavily cut - for the unncut version you need to pick up the 2006 DVD reissue on NTSC.

Aside from the poor Conquest, the 2.35:1 widescreen transfers are good but not outstanding, with extras limited to the excellent two-hour documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes and the original trailers for the films.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Maurice Evans
Charlton Heston
James Whitmore
Kim Hunter
Roddy McDowall

Creators:
Charlton Heston (Primary Contributor)
Roddy McDowall (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036004107
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2001-10-08
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 108 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1968-04-03
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: Hebrew (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)

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