Planet of the Apes (1968)

Star Rating: 3
Length of Film: 112 minutes
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly, Linda Harrison,Robert Gunner, Lou Wagner, Woodrow Parfrey, Jeff Burton, Buck Kartalian, Norman Burton, Wright King, & Paul Lambert
Oscar: John Chambert (honorary award- makeup)
Oscar Nominations: Morton Haack (costume), Jerry Goldsmith (music)




Planet of the Apes is one of the most interesting and creative sci-fiction movie I have ever watched. It's disappointing that the plot is based off Pierre Boulle's novel La Planete des singes, because I would have given a huge applause to the screen writers who thought up this story. The special effects and makeup were impressive for 1968. John Chambers, the make up artist, had a budget of $1,000,000!

The movie starts out with Taylor (Charlton Heston), Landon (Robert Gunner), Dodge (Jeff Burton), and Stewart (Dianne Stanley) on a space ship flying light years away. The ship crashes, and their clear, coffin like bed cover opens up and the 3 men wake up, they look at Stewart, and she's dead all shriveled up.

The three men escape from the sinking space ship on a life raft. The funny thing is, Landon and Taylor were paddling while the black man just sat there; ironic! With only 3 days of food, they started backpacking through the rocks, finding no life form, until they found this one teeny tiny plant, that they end uprooting (stupid). They find plants, and a body of water that they end up skinny dipping in (YOU SEE ALL 3 ACTORS BUTTS!) They hear noises and their clothes disappear, it is a group of humans dressed in loincloths.

They were attacked by apes on horses, shooting, netting and attacking these humans. They were killing them for sport, or enslaving them. Dodge didn't make it, and Landon and Taylor were enslaved, separately. Taylor and a slave girl Nova, were put in cages and under the care of animal psychologist, Zira (Kim Hunter).

Before and After shot of Kim Hunter

Taylor, getting shot in the neck, was unable to talk...making him look and act like all the other humans. Zira, became very attached to Taylor, nicknamed Bright Eyes, that she wanted Bright Eye to mate with a female, Nova.

Blah...blah, blah. Taylor heals and can talk. Zira and her archeologist fiance, Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) team up and help Taylor, even though it's being difficult since there's no proof that anything that is coming out of Taylor's mouth is true.

The greatest part in the movie is when Taylor and Nova are riding on a horse, and they stumble upon the fallen Statue of Liberty. It just opens the door to so many questions. The land where the apes live, was it once New York? Or was the statue of liberty moved or did it travel by water and land by the shore? The questions are endless...