Review 252: Planet of the Apes
Based on the novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle, George Taylor (Charlton Heston), is one of several astronauts on a long, long space mission whose spaceship crash-lands on a remote planet, seemingly devoid of intelligent life. Soon the astronaut learns that this planet is ruled by a race of talking, thinking, reasoning apes who hold court over a complex, multilayered civilization. In this topsy-turvy society, the human beings are grunting, inarticulate primates, penned-up like animals. When ape leader Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans) discovers that the captive Taylor has the power of speech, he reacts in horror and insists that the astronaut be killed. But sympathetic ape scientists Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) and Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter) risk their lives to protect Taylor -- and to discover the secret of their planet's history that Dr. Zaius and his minions guard so jealously.
The plot is fantastic, it has a lot of really thoughtful stuff about how we treat animals and how we think about ourselves and what society would be like if the tables were turned and thats a subject that I think is still relevant today. We as human beings usually consider ourselves as the Earths dominant species right? As a result we think too much about ourselves and we treat animals as though they are a second class species and we abuse and exploit them for our own wants e.g. ducks and geese for Foie Gras. Other times we keep animals such as cats and dogs as pets and treat them really well.
Other themes it deals with are equality, intelligence, warfare and the nature of man.
Equality: All the apes in their society are divided within a cast system: The Apes are hunters and military men, Orangutans are administrators, politicians and lawyers and chimpanzees are intellectuals and scientists. The humans are mealy either slaves or pets, sound familiar?
Intelligence: The apes see themselves as the superior race and mankind has no intelligence or way of helping to shape society.
Warfare: Zaius is resistant to change due to supposed destruction caused by humans when the apes first conquered the planet.
The nature of man: The gorillas see what and take it, they believe in the right of conquest. The Orangutans are intransigent and resistant to change and the chimps are curious and peaceful but they are weak in the sense that they let the other apes make all the decisions.
Director Franklin J. Schaffner's direction is brilliant, the cinematography is beautiful, the locations are amazing (they shot the film in locations such as Horseshoe Bend and Point Dume), the score by Jerry Goldsmith is astonishing, it's well paced, the sound effects are superb, the production design is sensational (the village were the apes have their society is a sight for sore eyes), the costumes are terrific, the make up and prosthetics are outstanding (for their time the apes look so beautiful and realistic and it still holds up even today), the chase scenes are thrilling and exciting and the ending was fantastic.
The acting is superb, Charlton Heston gives on of his best performances here, he is a marooned astronaut who along with his fellow astronauts are out of their depth, they stranded on a supposedly barren planet and they don't know weather it's Earth or wether it's another planet. Once he's captured, he's shot in the neck, he can't speak and he's appalled at how the apes treat humans. He also needs to show the society that he's not unintelligent and can speak as well as escape the village.
His performance for a large part of the film is essentially him comunicating using sign language which Heston does impeccably.
Linda Harrison is wonderful as Nova, a mute human who Taylor grows attached to, she is mute so she can't speak and so she, in a way, learns things through Taylor's guidance and in turn grows attached to him.
Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowell are superb as Zira and Cornelius receptively, they feel compassionate for Taylor and are amazed at his attempts to communicate and attempt to show this to Zaius and his council, but they won't listen to them. We also worry for them because what consequences helping Taylor will have on them.
Maurice Evans is spectacular as Zaius, he is rigid and resistant to change... and for good reason, he has seen what damage humans can do to each other and is afraid to find another intelligent human in fear of more destruction happening.
Planet of the Apes is a classic and must-see sci fi film, 5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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