Following the book in 1963, Planet of the Apes, the movie, was released in 1968.
Characters/Actors:
Charlton Heston as George Tayler
Roddy McDowell as Cornelius
Kim Hunter as Zira
Linda Harrison as Nova
George Taylor and the other 2 astronauts have been in deep space and when they wake up to their crash landing, 20 centuries have passed. The year is 3978!
They come to a waterfall and are skinny dipping when their clothes are taken. They see other humans who are mute and have no clothes. Gorillas come by, dressed, on horses and catch Taylor in a net:
At this point in the movie the apes take a selfie (they were ahead of their time!). A comment is made by the apes, “Humans see, humans do”. LOL At one point, a gorilla grabs Taylor and he says, “Take you paws off me you damn dirty ape!” The gorilla responds, “Shut up you freak!” (Love it!)
Zira puts Nova in Taylor’s cage, she sniffs him and they become a couple, of sorts. Taylor writes a message to Zira, “My name is Taylor.” She is shocked that a human can write! Zira and Cornelius (chimps are the smartest of the apes in this movie), read his notes and talk to him. Eventually they believe in him and want to help him, at risk to their own lives by going against the orangutans 9 (the officials).
Taylor goes to a court hearing about his future:
And much to my amusement, the orangutan actors ad libbed this scene,
See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil:
Cornelius and Zira help Taylor escape and they go to the Forbidden Zone. The chimps don’t know why it is forbidden and Taylor wants to find out.
As Taylor says goodbye to Zira, he wants to kiss her and she says, “Ok, but you’re so damn ugly.”
Dr. Zaius tells Taylor, “Don’t look. You may not like what you find…” He goes into the cave of artifacts anyway and what do you think he finds?? A human doll that says, “Mama!”. Also found, a man’s skeleton and eye glasses! Man was here first! The orangutans kept this a secret! The head orangutan, Dr. Zaius says to Taylor, “I have always known about man. Beware the beast, man! Shun him!”
He asks, “Why didn’t man survive if he’s so superior?” Hmmmmmm……
There is a gunfight and Dr. Z lets Taylor and Nova go.
He seals the cave to destroy the evidence. So Taylor and Nova get on a horse and go see what they can find, how to get home, anything…. and what do they come across?
“OMG! I’m back home. All the time….you maniacs! God damn you all to hell!” (There were 3 different endings, different from the book, but Charlton Heston’s favorite won).
The End
Check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjcpRHuPjOI
Original Ending:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VGlR_GgasA
Some very interesting tidbits:
- Roddy McDowell would often drive home in his make up, freaking people out on the freeway in L. A.
- The extras were not allowed to take off the make up between takes so their food had to be liquefied. Straw please!
- Kim Hunter’s facial ape prosthetics were so claustrophobic to her that she took a Valium every day.
- The lead make up artist, John Chambers, went to the L. A. Zoo to study ape facial expressions. A half million dollars was spent on the make up and there were 80 make up artists on set.
- Nova/Linda Harrison, had an affair with the married producer during the filming. She was pregnant with his child and had to carefully conceal herself toward the end. He ended up divorcing his wife.
- The final scene was shot at Malibu Beach in California. The Statue of Liberty was an optical effect.
- The author, Pierre Boulle, thought this was his worst novel!. He was upset at the ending of the movie but later warmed up to it.
So there you have it! Up next, a short review of the immediate sequels!
Book and Movie Therapy 