I watched the first Planet of the Apes movie last night for the first time in probably about 30 years. I missed the first few minutes, coming in where the spaceship was sinking in the lake and the three surviving astronauts were trying to salvage some supplies.
Some impressions: surprisingly talky for what was considered an action movie but I guess that was the style back then. I didn’t mind the dialogue though as the script explored themes such as McCarthyism and the battle between science and religion. Deeper than most action movies these days.
The stunt work was pretty impressive considering it all had to be done by actual humans (no CGI). It really makes a difference in the film.
The overall “look” of the film was great, they clearly spent a fortune in 1968 dollars and it shows in the sets, costumes, makeup and production design.
The character of Lucius (Zira’s nephew) was a little bit too obnoxious as a shout out to the late 60s youth culture.
The famous atonal music in the soundtrack didn’t sound anywhere near as weird and jarring as I remembered. My musical background has clearly greatly expanded since I was 8 years old!
Heston was hammy in parts but overall good. Maurice Evans was great as Dr. Zaius, as was Kim Hunter as Zira. I was surprised how little Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) had to do in the plot, I guess he was more prominent in some of the later films. Also I was surprised to find that this was the last movie Robert Gunner, who played Landon the lobotomized astronaut, ever made!
I watched this recently with my kids, who enjoyed it more than I thought they would. The ending was a surprise for them, although they recognized the final scene from the parodies they’ve seen of it in cartoons.
I had forgotten about Heston’s sermonizing and over-acting, and the opening scene on the spaceship was totally unfamiliar to me, since this is one of those movies that I used to see a lot on TV but rarely watched from beginning to end.
I saw it again recently too, though I’ve seen it enough in the decades to remember the major points.
From the very beginning to the failed hibernation chamber death to the crash to the water to the desert to the “we are REALLY fucked and whats the point anyway?” to where they meet other humans but the jig isnt up yet is a pretty good intro to any sci fi movie.
Then the fracking blaring trumpets/horns and those “damn dirty apes” come along and ruin it all
My best guess was with his knowledge of how deadly the Forbidden Zone was he figured they would be dead within a few days anyway. Also he needed to get rid of Taylor and he knew Taylor would never willingly come back to the ape society so he may as well just let him go.
I agree though it looked like the ape soldiers could have killed Zaius and Nova right at the end.
On July 4, 1974, a theater here in town played all five Apes movies in a row. The fifth one hadn’t been out long. You paid for one ticket and sat in the theater all day!
I was born well after Planet of the Apes came out and didn´t see it until just a year or two ago. I really liked it a lot. One thing I thought though was that the Statue of Liberty really wasn´t the big twist. The apes were speaking english for crying out loud. Didn´t Charleston notice that? The big (and better if you ask me) twist was this monologue:
Cornelius: [reading from the sacred scrolls of the apes] Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil’s pawn. Alone among God’s primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother’s land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death.
The apes were the good guys all along! They were only enslaving the humans to prevent them from destroying the earth again. Brilliant.
Isn’t the Statue of Liberty out on an island or something? Unless there was massive global cooling, dramatically extending the shoreline of the eastern seaboard, Taylor and Nova shouldn’t’ve been able to ride up to the remains.
It’s on a island, yes, but in a very shallow bay. Geography changes over the millennia - continents shift, rivers dry up, land rises and vanishes. Alaska was once connected to Asia; Britain was once connected to Europe. I wouldn’t be surprised to see he Statue on dry land in a few thousand years.
The deepest part of that area is only about 60 feet. Not an outrageous amount of sea level drop for 2000 or so years, so being connected by land is actually one of few real plausible scientific points in the movie.
I’d be pretty surprised to see the statue anywhere in a few thousand years. It’s relatively thin copper over a steel framework. Left to the elements, there wouldn’t be anything recognizable left after a couple centuries, tops. I always thought Mt. Rushmore would make a better monument for the big reveal. Although even there, after several millenia of erosion, I’m not sure how well Abe and the boys would hold up.
