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#308 - Planet of the Apes
Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968
A group of astronauts crash-land on an unfamiliar planet to discover a world where intelligent apes are the dominant species and treat humans as livestock.
Planet of the Apes managed to make it onto my first Top 100 but it didn't crack the list the second time around. Despite that, it's still a very solid piece of sci-fi that seems to benefit from being dated more so than be hindered by it. Of course, the twist ending has become such common knowledge to the point that not only do covers for the movie's DVDs feature the film's final image, but there have been not one but two modern-day prequels whose existence explicitly spoils said ending. The beauty of this particular film is that it is more than able to withstand its ultimate reveal. I don't even need to specify what it is in this particular review - no, this is more about the rest of the film. The plot is some pretty standard speculative fiction - what if humans weren't a dominant species on a planet? This results in a serious culture shock for the human protagonist (Charlton Heston) as circumstances conspire to make him no different to the mute, barely-sentient humans that are given next to no respect by the ape population or their quasi-medieval society save by certain budding scholars.
All the best sci-fi finds something interesting to say beyond telling a fascinating story, and that is part of why Planet of the Apes' dated nature actually makes it more of a classic rather than render it an embarrassing relic. There's an obvious anti-creationist tract at work here as various ape scholars dismiss the existence of intelligent humans on religious grounds, but it's interesting to see a civil rights allegory at work as the privileged sub-group unapologetically denigrates a supposedly inferior group (that is only inferior because of a long history of social manipulation - but of course, that is inferred by the ending). That also involves picking apart some of the more noticeable aspects of that metaphor such as the fact that the humans in this film are predominantly white, as well as the fact that Heston's character has no problem embarking on a relationship with a human woman that doesn't appear to have much in the way of sapience. In any case, the ape make-up is solid (in the wise words of Bernard Black, you really believe that monkeys can have meetings) and there are good performances underneath it all, especially from Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall as the apes most sympathetic to Heston's plight and also Maurice Evans as memorably crusty antagonist Dr. Zaius (Dr. Zaius, Dr. Zaius...). The film keeps rolling along at just the right pace to fill out its running time, though it does run out of steam a bit during the last twenty minutes. Despite all those flaws, they are minor problems with a piece of sci-fi that definitely earns its iconic status, no matter how much it spoils itself in the process.
Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968
A group of astronauts crash-land on an unfamiliar planet to discover a world where intelligent apes are the dominant species and treat humans as livestock.
Planet of the Apes managed to make it onto my first Top 100 but it didn't crack the list the second time around. Despite that, it's still a very solid piece of sci-fi that seems to benefit from being dated more so than be hindered by it. Of course, the twist ending has become such common knowledge to the point that not only do covers for the movie's DVDs feature the film's final image, but there have been not one but two modern-day prequels whose existence explicitly spoils said ending. The beauty of this particular film is that it is more than able to withstand its ultimate reveal. I don't even need to specify what it is in this particular review - no, this is more about the rest of the film. The plot is some pretty standard speculative fiction - what if humans weren't a dominant species on a planet? This results in a serious culture shock for the human protagonist (Charlton Heston) as circumstances conspire to make him no different to the mute, barely-sentient humans that are given next to no respect by the ape population or their quasi-medieval society save by certain budding scholars.
All the best sci-fi finds something interesting to say beyond telling a fascinating story, and that is part of why Planet of the Apes' dated nature actually makes it more of a classic rather than render it an embarrassing relic. There's an obvious anti-creationist tract at work here as various ape scholars dismiss the existence of intelligent humans on religious grounds, but it's interesting to see a civil rights allegory at work as the privileged sub-group unapologetically denigrates a supposedly inferior group (that is only inferior because of a long history of social manipulation - but of course, that is inferred by the ending). That also involves picking apart some of the more noticeable aspects of that metaphor such as the fact that the humans in this film are predominantly white, as well as the fact that Heston's character has no problem embarking on a relationship with a human woman that doesn't appear to have much in the way of sapience. In any case, the ape make-up is solid (in the wise words of Bernard Black, you really believe that monkeys can have meetings) and there are good performances underneath it all, especially from Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall as the apes most sympathetic to Heston's plight and also Maurice Evans as memorably crusty antagonist Dr. Zaius (Dr. Zaius, Dr. Zaius...). The film keeps rolling along at just the right pace to fill out its running time, though it does run out of steam a bit during the last twenty minutes. Despite all those flaws, they are minor problems with a piece of sci-fi that definitely earns its iconic status, no matter how much it spoils itself in the process.