Planet of the Apes (1968 film)
| Planet of the Apes | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Franklin J. Schaffner Arthur P. Jacobs (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Arthur P. Jacobs |
| Written by | Screenplay: Michael Wilson Rod Serling Novel: Pierre Boulle |
| Starring | Charlton Heston Roddy McDowall Kim Hunter Maurice Evans James Whitmore James Daly Linda Harrison |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Leon Shamroy |
| Editing by | Hugh S. Fowler |
| Studio | APJAC Productions |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | February 8, 1968 |
| Running time | 112 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$5,800,000 |
| Gross revenue | US$32,589,624 |
| Followed by | Beneath the Planet of the Apes |
Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and based on the novel La planète des singes by Pierre Boulle, released in 1963. The film stars Charlton Heston and features Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison. It was released by 20th Century Fox.
The film tells the story of an astronaut crew who crash land on a strange planet in the distant future. Although the planet appears desolate at first, the surviving crew members stumble upon a society in which apes have evolved into creatures with human-like intelligence and speech. The apes have assumed the role of the dominant species and humans have been subjugated into slavery.
The script was originally written by Rod Serling but had many rewrites before eventually being made.[1] Changes included character names and a more primitive ape society, instead of the more expensive idea of having futuristic buildings and advanced technology.[2] J. Lee Thompson and Blake Edwards were approached to direct the film but the film's producer Arthur P. Jacobs, upon the advice of Charlton Heston, chose Franklin J. Schaffner to direct the film. Filming took place between May-August 1967, mostly in California and Arizona however the opening scene was shot at Lake Powell, Utah. The film's budget was around $5,800,000.
Planet of the Apes was released on February 8, 1968 in the United States and was a commercial success, gaining $32,589,624 at the international box office. The film was ground-breaking for its prosthetic makeup techniques by artist John Chambers,[3] and was well received by critics and audiences, launching a film franchise,[4] including four sequels, as well as a short lived television show, animated series, comic books, various merchandising, and eventually a remake in 2001 and a new film to be released in 2011. Roddy McDowall, in particular, had a long-running relationship with the Apes series, appearing in the original series of five films (one only via stock footage from an earlier film), and also in the television series.
In 2001, Planet of the Apes was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Contents |
Plot
In 1971, Astronauts Taylor (Heston), Landon (Robert Gunner), Stewart (Dianne Stanley), and Dodge (Jeff Burton) are in deep hibernation when their spaceship crash-lands in a lake on an unknown planet in the year 3978 A.D. after a 2006-year voyage at near-light speed (during which the crew ages only 18 months due to time dilation). The planet has no moon and the clouds at night are luminous. The astronauts awaken to find that Stewart has died in space due to an air leak, her body in decomposition and that their ship is sinking. They use an inflatable raft to reach shore. Once there, Dodge performs a soil test and pronounces the soil incapable of sustaining life. Taylor suggests they are on a planet in the constellation of Orion some 320 light years from Earth but admits he is not sure.
The three astronauts set off through the desert, finding first a single plant and then others. They find an oasis at the edge of the desert where they decide to go swimming, ignoring strange 'scarecrows'. While they are swimming, their clothes are stolen. Pursuing the thieves, the astronauts find their clothes in shreds and the perpetrators — a group of mute, primitive humans — contentedly raiding a cornfield. Suddenly, gorillas on horseback charge through the cornfield, brandishing firearms, snares, and nets, which they use to capture whatever humans they can and kill those they cannot. While fleeing, Dodge is killed, Landon is bashed in the head and knocked unconscious, and Taylor is shot in the throat. The gorillas take Taylor to "Ape City," where his life is saved by two chimpanzee scientists,"animal" psychologist Zira (Hunter) and surgeon Galen. Upon awakening, Taylor—now housed in a cage with a girl whom he later calls Nova (Harrison), who was captured on the same hunt—discovers that his throat wound has rendered him temporarily mute.
Taylor discovers that the apes, who can talk, are in control and are divided into a strict class system: the gorillas as police, military, and hunters; the orangutans as administrators, politicians and lawyers; and the chimpanzees as intellectuals and scientists. Humans, who cannot talk, are considered feral vermin and are hunted and either killed outright, enslaved for manual labor or used for scientific experimentation.
Zira and her fiancé, Cornelius, an archaeologist, take an interest in Taylor after he tries to communicate by mouthing words. While Cornelius and Zira are talking to their boss, an orangutan named Dr. Zaius (Evans), Taylor writes in the dirt and attempts to call Cornelius and Zira's attention to it. Nova runs her hands over it, to which Taylor pulls her away, but when a primitive man ruins it as well Taylor kicks him away. This angers the man, and he attacks Taylor. A gorilla comes in with a torch and burns Taylor, but only Zaius sees Taylor's writing. Realizing that Taylor is intelligent, he destroys the writing with his cane. Eventually, Taylor steals paper from Zira when she comes close to his cage and uses it to write messages to her. Zira and Cornelius are convinced that Taylor is intelligent; upon learning of this, Zaius orders that Taylor be castrated.
Taylor manages to escape before the procedure can be carried out and flees through Ape City, which he discovers to be an architecturally primitive version of 20th Century Earth. During his flight, he finds himself in a museum, where Dodge's corpse has been taxidermied and put on display. Shortly thereafter, Taylor is recaptured by gorillas; finding that his throat has healed, he angrily addresses them, shouting, in what has become one of the most memorable film lines, "Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!"
When back in his cell, Nova is then transferred to a cell across from Taylor's cell as the warden Julius (Buck Kartalian) sprays Taylor with water. The shocked apes hold a tribunal to determine Taylor's origins (in a parody of the Scopes "Monkey" Trial) run by the President of the Assembly (James Whitmore), Dr. Zaius, and Dr. Maximus (Woodrow Parfrey) with Dr. Honorious (James Daly) as the prosecution. Taylor tells of his two comrades and explains that one was killed and the other lost. At this point the court produces Landon, who has been subjected to a primitive lobotomy that has rendered him catatonic.
After the tribunal, Dr. Zaius holds a private meeting with Taylor, where he threatens to lobotomise him if he doesn't lie about where he came from. With help from Zira's socially-rebellious nephew Lucius (Lou Wagner), Zira and Cornelius intervene early the next morning and "kidnap" Taylor and Nova, taking them to "The Forbidden Zone," a region outside of Ape City. Cornelius explains that no one knows why it is called The Forbidden Zone; it is merely an ancient taboo and has remained quarantined for centuries. Some years earlier, Cornelius had been digging near the zone and found artifacts of a previous generation that were not simian, thereby postulating his theory. Upon arriving, the party travels down a river that flows into a nearby sea, but they are intercepted by Dr. Zaius and his men. Taylor threatens to shoot him, but Zaius complies and the party goes inside the cave. Cornelius shows them the remnants of a technologically advanced human society buried in the cliff by the sea, which he discovered a year earlier while on his archaeological expedition. The tell-tale artifact turns out to be a human doll, which Nova begins playing with, but all of a sudden, the doll "cries," much to the shock of everyone. Taylor angrily confronts Zaius, imploring why an ape would make a human doll that talks. The truth is revealed that the apes' world was, at one time, controlled by humans, but at some point in history, apes developed sentience and the roles of apes and humans were inverted, with apes becoming the dominant species and man becoming the apes' household pets, and later becoming animals living in the wild, incapable of speech.
Dr. Zaius soon admits that he has always known about man and the fact that human civilization existed long before apes ruled the planet. He explains that The Forbidden Zone was once "a paradise," but man's destructive tendencies caused it to be annihilated thousands of years earlier. Zaius agrees to exile Taylor and Nova. Taylor can't help but question why it is called "the Forbidden Zone." It then becomes apparent that there is one discovery to be made, as Zaius implies that somewhere within the zone lies something that completely reveals the truth (that human civilization reigned before). To protect the dignity and identity of the ape civilization, this area was considered "forbidden" so that no one would discover what lies in it. Zaius advises Taylor not to look for it because he will not like what he finds. When asked by Zira, "What will he find out there, Doctor?", Zaius replies: "his destiny." Once Taylor and Nova have ridden away on horseback, Dr. Zaius has the gorillas lay explosives and destroy the evidence of the human society. It is implied that Dr. Zaius doesn't go after Taylor because Taylor had spared his life when he could have easily killed Zaius, or that Dr. Zaius figured out that since Taylor didn't come from a jungle on the other side of the Forbidden Zone, he would die in the desert anyway.
After an unspecified time spent following the shoreline, Taylor and Nova finally do discover the truth that Dr. Zaius warned them about; Taylor stops the horse and dismounts, staring up in disbelief at an object not quite clear to the viewer yet. He begins approaching the object before descending into a fit of rage and screaming: "We finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you. God damn you all to hell!" The picture zooms out to reveal the charred remnants of the Statue of Liberty, half-submerged in the shoreline, revealing that the planet he was on was actually Earth the whole time, and that the paradise that became The Forbidden Zone was once New York City.
Production
In the late 1960s, most studios were not convinced that this film was a feasible production. One script that came close to being made was written by Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, though it was finally rejected for a number of reasons. A prime concern was cost, as the technologically advanced ape society portrayed by Serling's script would have involved expensive sets, props and special effects. Serling's script was rewritten and the ape society made more primitive as a way of reducing costs.
However his stylized twist ending (a trademark from his Twilight Zone days) was retained, leading to one of the most famous movie endings of all time. The exact location and state of decay of the Statue of Liberty (as seen in the 1998 documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes)[5] changed over several storyboards. One version depicted the statue buried up to its nose in the middle of a jungle while another depicted the statue in pieces.
To convince the Fox Studio that a Planet of the Apes film could be made, the producers shot a brief test scene using early versions of the ape makeup. Charlton Heston appeared as an early version of Taylor (named Thomas, as he was in Rod Serling-penned drafts of the script), Edward G. Robinson appeared as Zaius, while then-unknown actors James Brolin and Linda Harrison played Cornelius and Zira. Harrison, who was the girlfriend of the head of the studio at the time, later played Nova in the 1968 film and its first sequel, and had a cameo in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes more than 30 years later (as did Heston). This test footage is included on several DVD releases of the film, as well as the documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes. Dr. Zaius was originally to have been played by Robinson, but he backed out due to the heavy make-up, and long sessions to apply it, that were required. (Robinson later made his final film, Soylent Green (1973), opposite his one-time Ten Commandments (1956) co-star Heston).
John Chambers had actually tested the ape makeup some time earlier, in the TV series Lost in Space (1965-1968) (another 20th Century Fox production at the time). In one episode,[6] Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) and Major West are imprisoned along with an ape-like alien. Harris was offered a role in Planet of the Apes but, like Edward G. Robinson, turned it down due to the complexities of makeup.
Filming began on May 21, 1967, and ended on August 10, 1967. Most of the early scenes of a desert-like terrain were shot in northern Arizona near the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River, Lake Powell,[7] Glen Canyon[7] and other locations near Page, Arizona[8] Most scenes of the ape village, interiors and exteriors, were filmed on the Fox Ranch[9] in Malibu Creek State Park, northwest of Los Angeles, essentially the backlot of 20th Century Fox. The concluding beach scenes were filmed on a stretch of California seacoast between Malibu and Oxnard with cliffs that towered 130 feet above the shore. Reaching the beach on foot was virtually impossible, so cast, crew, film equipment, and even horses had to be lowered in by helicopter.[10] The remains of the Statue of Liberty were shot in a secluded cove on the far eastern end of Westward Beach, between Zuma Beach and Point Dume in Malibu.[11] As noted in the documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes,[5] the special effect shot of the half-buried statue was achieved by seamlessly blending a matte painting with existing cliffs.
Reaction
Critical reception
Planet of the Apes was well received by critics and is widely regarded as one of the best films of 1968.[12][13][14] The film holds an 89% "Certified Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 44 reviews.[15] In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[16]
Academy Awards
| Award | Person | |
| Honorary Award for Outstanding Makeup Achievement | John Chambers | |
| Nominations | ||
| Best Costume Design | Morton Haack | |
| Best Score | Jerry Goldsmith | |
Planet of the Apes won an honorary Academy Award for John Chambers for his outstanding make-up achievement. It was nominated for Best Costume Design (Morton Haack)[17] and Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical). The score is known for its avant-garde compositional techniques, as well as the use of unusual percussion instruments and extended performance techniques. The film was eligible for nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1968, but failed to make the final list of five films.[18][19]
Other awards
The movie is on several of the American Film Institute's lists but did not make the top 100 movies either time. However, the musical score by Jerry Goldsmith was picked as the 18th best film score in American Cinema according to AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.[20] Also according to the American Film Institute, it contains the 66th best movie line: "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!"[21] The film is also ranked at #59 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills list.[22]
In 2001, Planet of the Apes was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[23]
Sequels
Planet of the Apes was followed by four sequels:
- Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
- Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
- Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
- Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
and two short-lived television series:
- Planet of the Apes (1974)
- Return to the Planet of the Apes (animated) (1975)
The movie was "reimagined" in 2001 by director Tim Burton.[24]
Director Rupert Wyatt is currently working on Rise of the Apes[25], scheduled for release in 2011.[26]
Marvel Comics produced full comic book adaptations of all the films, a number of original stories in the Apes universe, including Terror on the Planet of the Apes, Future History Chronicles and others. Mailbu Comics also produced several Planet of the Apes titles, including Planet of the Apes and Ape Nation.
Parody
Along with lampooning elements from such iconic science fiction television and movie franchises as Star Wars, Star Trek and Alien, the 1987 Mel Brooks sci-fi parody movie Spaceballs took aim at the ending of the 1968 Planet of the Apes movie. The upper sections (the head and right arm) of the antagonists' "Mega-Maid" space vessel, after it is mistakenly destroyed through its own self-destruct system, land on a beach in a manner that resembles the Statue of Liberty from the "Apes" movie, with the two horseback-riding simians that spot Dark Helmet, President Skroob and Colonel Sandurz emerging from the statue's "nose", bemoaning the presence of the Spaceballs on their world.
A musical based on the Planet of the Apes is featured in the Simpsons episode A Fish Called Selma.
Notes
- ↑ "30 Years Later: Rod Serling's Settling the Debate over Who Wrote What, and When". www.rodserling.com. http://www.rodserling.com/pota.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ↑ "Those Damned Dirty Apes!". www.mediacircus.net. http://www.mediacircus.net/pota.html. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ↑ Biography for John Chambers (I) IMDb.com, August 4, 2007
- ↑ "Planet of the Apes (1968) A Film Review by James Berardinelli". www.reelviews.net. http://www.reelviews.net/movies/p/planet_apes68.html. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Behind the Planet of the Apes" (1998) (TV)
- ↑ "Lost in Space" Junkyard of Space (1968)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Planet of the Apes Revisited, p. 61
- ↑ Planet of the Apes Revisited, p. 59
- ↑ Planet of the Apes Revisited, p. 68
- ↑ Planet of the Apes Revisited, P. 79
- ↑ Final shot location at Westward Beach, Malibu at movie-locations.com
- ↑ "The Greatest Films of 1968". AMC Filmsite.org. http://www.filmsite.org/1968.html. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- ↑ "The Best Movies of 1968 by Rank". Films101.com. http://www.films101.com/y1968r.htm. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- ↑ "Most Popular Feature Films Released in 1968". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/year/1968. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Planet of the Apes Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1016397-planet_of_the_apes/. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- ↑ "Empire's The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Empire Magazine. http://www.empireonline.com/500/28.asp. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- ↑ Morton Haack at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Wiley, Mason; Bona, Damien (1986). MacColl, Gail. ed. Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 768.
- ↑ The 5 nominated films for Best Picture of 1968 were Funny Girl, The Lion in Winter, Oliver!, Rachel, Rachel, and Romeo and Julet. The winner was Oliver!.
- ↑ "AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores". afi.com. http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/scores25.pdf?docID=222. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- ↑ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes". afi.com. http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/quotes100.pdf?docID=242. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- ↑ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills". afi.com. http://www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents/pdf/thrills100.pdf. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- ↑ "Planet of the Apes: Award Wins and Nominations". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063442/awards. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- ↑ "Planet of the Apes (2001)". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133152/. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
- ↑ "Rise of the Apes". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1318514. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
- ↑ "Rise of the Apes Gets Release Date, Director & CGI Chimps". screenrant.com. http://screenrant.com/rise-of-the-apes-release-date-director-niall-58779/. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
External links
- Planet of the Apes at the Internet Movie Database
- Planet of the Apes at Allmovie
- Planet of the Apes at Rotten Tomatoes
- Planet of the Apes at Box Office Mojo
- Planet of the Apes Script
- The Forbidden Zone Large Fan site with information on the films, TV shows, comics, and more.
- Review and analysis of the Apes series
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