Release year: 1968
The players: Director: Franklin J. Schaffner, Writers: Michael Wilson, Rod Sterlin, Cast: Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowall, Maurice Evans, Linda Harrison
The plot: An astronaut from Earth crashes on a strange planet where apes are the more supreme beings and humans are hunted, experimented on and traded as slaves.
Modern thoughts on a classic movie: The original “Planet of the Apes” is very dated. It screams “1968” to the modern viewer, but the film possesses several elements that keep the dated quality from overtaking the experience entirely.
The makeup is quite good for the time - so good in fact that it received an honorary Academy Award when a makeup category didn’t exist yet. It may seem comical at first, but it does not hinder the film in any way. Viewers soon tend to forget that a real person is underneath all that fur. The set design is a bit dull, but a majority of the production budget went to makeup, so this is entirely understandable. These things must be taken into consideration after all.
The story, as a whole, is certainly intriguing enough. Though it tends to drag in parts, it's fairly well-paced for a film in which not a lot of action takes place. And the iconic twist ending speaks volumes about human society, and can be interpreted on several levels.
Supporting actors Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter turn in fantastic performances as two apes trying to help the astronaut escape, because they see something special about him. In fact, their characters Cornelius and Zira are the easiest to relate to and feel for. This also lead to the movie's real problem: Charlton Heston.
Heston kills this film. His acting is so over the top and one-dimensional, and his character comes across as a self-righteous jerk. All the actors adorned with ape suits are by far more fascinating than Heston’s leading man. And if you fail to care about your hero, caring about the movie as a whole isn't that easy either. It will forever remain a mystery what they could have achieved with a better actor in the lead.
The final word: Though the movie is very dated and Heston’s acting is abysmal, a modern viewer can still survive it much more easily than the unforgivable remake Tim Burton unleashed on unsuspecting audiences 33 years later, but that’s another story. When choosing the lesser of two evils, the original “Planet of the Apes” is the way to go.
Article by Rachel Thuro