Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science-fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, loosely based on the 1963 novel by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly, and Linda Harrison. In the film, an astronaut crew crash-lands 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 are mute primitives wearing animal skins. The outline Planet of the Apes script, originally written by Serling, underwent many rewrites before filming eventually began. Directors J. Lee Thompson and Blake Edwards were approached, but the film's producer Arthur P. Jacobs, upon the recommendation of Heston, chose Franklin J. Schaffner to direct the film. The script portrayed an ape society less advanced—and therefore less expensive to depict—than that of the original novel. Filming took place between May 21 and August 10, 1967, in California, Utah, and Arizona, with desert sequences shot in and around Lake Powell, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The film's final "closed" cost was $5.8 million. Planet of the Apes premiered on February 8, 1968, at the Capitol Theatre in New York City, and was released in the United States on April 3, by 20th Century-Fox. The film was a box-office hit, earning a lifetime domestic gross of $33.3 million. It was groundbreaking for its prosthetic makeup techniques by artist John Chambers and was well received by audiences and critics, being nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Original Score at the 41st Academy Awards, and winning an honorary Academy Award for Chambers. 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". Planet of the Apes' success launched a franchise, including four sequels, as well as a television series, animated series, comic books, and various merchandising. In particular, Roddy McDowall had a long-running relationship with the franchise, appearing in four of the original five films (he was absent from the second film, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, in which he was replaced by David Watson in the role of Cornelius) and also in the television series. The original film series was followed by Tim Burton's remake of the same name in 2001 and a reboot series, which began with Rise of the Planet of the Apes in 2011.
Plot
Astronauts Taylor, Landon, and Dodge awaken from deep hibernation when their spacecraft crashes into a lake on an unknown planet after a near-light-speed space voyage. Before they abandon their sinking vessel, Taylor, the mission commander, reads the year on the ship's chronometer as 3978 – approximately two millennia after their departure. The three astronauts have been in hibernation pods and have aged slightly less than one year. A fourth astronaut, Stewart, is found to be dead, having aged rapidly after her hibernation pod was compromised. The men travel through a desolate wasteland before coming across an oasis inhabited by primitive, mute humans. Soon after, armed gorillas raid a cornfield where the humans are gathering food. Taylor is shot in the throat as the others and they are captured. Dodge is killed, and Landon is captured in the chaos. Taylor is taken to Ape City where his life is saved by two chimpanzees, animal psychologist Zira and surgeon Galen, though his throat injury renders him temporarily mute. Taylor is placed with a captive woman, whom he later names Nova. He observes an advanced theocratic society of talking apes with a strict caste system; gorillas are the enforcers and laborers, orangutans oversee government and religion, and intellectual chimpanzees are mostly scientists and doctors. The apes consider the primitive humans as vermin to be hunted and either killed outright, enslaved, or used in scientific experiments. Taylor convinces Zira and her fiancé, Cornelius, that he is as intelligent as they are, but Dr. Zaius, their orangutan superior, arranges for Taylor to be castrated against Zira's protests. Taylor escapes and finds Dodge's taxidermied corpse on display in a museum. He is soon recaptured and regains his voice, which alarms the apes. A hearing is convened to determine Taylor's origins. Taylor mentions his two crewmates, learning that Landon was lobotomized and rendered catatonic. Believing he is from an unknown human tribe beyond their borders, Zaius threatens to castrate and lobotomize Taylor if he does not reveal his origins. With help from Zira's nephew Lucius, Zira and Cornelius free Taylor and Nova and take them to the Forbidden Zone, a taboo region outside Ape City, where Taylor's ship crashed. To clear their heresy charges, Cornelius and Zira are intent on gathering proof of an earlier nonsimian civilization, which Cornelius had discovered a year earlier; Taylor focuses on proving he comes from a different planet. When the group arrives at the cave, Cornelius is intercepted by Zaius and his soldiers. Taylor holds them off by threatening to shoot Zaius, who agrees to enter the cave to disprove their theories. Inside, Cornelius displays remnants of a technologically advanced human society antedating simian history, including a talking human doll. Zaius admits he has always known about the ancient human civilization. Taylor wants to search for answers. After Taylor and Nova are allowed to leave, Zaius seals off the cave to destroy the evidence, charging Zira and Cornelius with heresy.
Taylor and Nova follow the shoreline on horseback. Eventually, they discover the remnants of the Statue of Liberty, revealing that this supposedly alien planet is Earth, long after a nuclear war. Taylor falls to his knees in despair, cursing humanity for destroying the world.
Cast
Production
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
