Planet of the Apes
1968 Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Synopsis
Somewhere in the Universe, there must be something better than man!
Taylor and two other astronauts come out of deep hibernation to find that their ship has crashed. Escaping with little more than clothes they find that they have landed on a planet where men are pre-lingual and uncivilized while apes have learned speech and technology. Taylor is captured and taken to the city of the apes after damaging his throat so that he is silent and cannot communicate with the apes.
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I probably should've seen this a long time ago but it wouldn't matter too much as this film apparently forgot to age and even in 2013 is a fascinating piece of cinema. Featuring meticulous set and costume design, groundbreaking make-up, a Heston performance the likes of which only he could deliver in that manner of his and a compelling story Planet of the Apes defines the word classic. From the ominous opening one can tell that, although it's definitely partly about the sheer sense of scale, it has a lot more to offer than the ape costume. Like with most great Sci-Fi it transports the audience to a world that may share similarities with ours but is at its core…
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Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!
-George TaylorThe most remarkable thing here is that a 1960s film about talking apes still holds up almost 45 years later. Some people might scoff that the makeup isn't THAT good, but it IS good enough that the movie has no problem sucking you in and you no longer think about the actor under the makeup, you only see the characters on the screen.
What really makes this film work though is that it can be enjoyed on many different levels. You can turn your brain off and just enjoy it for it's campy fun obviously. You have humans treated like animals being hunted down by talking apes, what's…
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Can't wait for the musical....
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I'm going to doc this half a star because it's got its pokey parts and my love of Heston's performance varies from scene to scene. But my deep love for this film is now well into its third decade and I still find its absolute pessimism about humanity bracing. Also: talking apes.
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Had no idea it was this good. Holds up extremely well. The apes look great, the locations look magnificent, Charlton Heston looks wonderfully dirty and harrowed and the film is more than well-paced. And even though I knew what it would end with it still worked. Awesome.
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Charlton Heston in a loincloth hardly constitutes intelligent sci-fi does it?
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Viewed on Blu-ray
I remember watching this film for the first time and knowing the ending. Because of that I didn't really enjoy it. I was just waiting for "damned dirty ape" line and the final scene.
This time around I paid a closer attention to the social commentary on war, race relations, class, religion and science.
That alone makes this a classic. -
Much better than I was anticipating. For some reason I had it in my head this was a bad film that had aged terribly. Damn was I wrong. Like Rise of the Apes, this works as entertainment and as a thought-piece. It isn't as genius as Rise and isn't as relevant today, but it still asks decent questions.
Are the rest in the original series worth watching?
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Silly prosthetic masks. Aerial shot similar to one in John Carter!
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you blew it all up, earth
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You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!
You cut up his brain, you bloody baboon!
Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!
It's a madhouse! A madhouse!
Oh, and also there's a pretty entertaining movie in there. Who would have known. -
I probably should've seen this a long time ago but it wouldn't matter too much as this film apparently forgot to age and even in 2013 is a fascinating piece of cinema. Featuring meticulous set and costume design, groundbreaking make-up, a Heston performance the likes of which only he could deliver in that manner of his and a compelling story Planet of the Apes defines the word classic. From the ominous opening one can tell that, although it's definitely partly about the sheer sense of scale, it has a lot more to offer than the ape costume. Like with most great Sci-Fi it transports the audience to a world that may share similarities with ours but is at its core…
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Anticipation for this was huge. One of my favorite film s of all time!