Planet Of The Apes (1968)

WARNING

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

IF YOU WISH TO AVOID SPOILERS THEN DON'T READ THE BITS WRITTEN IN RED.

OTHER THAN THIS BIT, OBVIOUSLY.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Jesus motherfucking Christ I am so awesome. Over the next seven days, not only will you get your usual, undeserved review but also an extra six reviews leading up to it. As a sort of celebration of the release of Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes I have decided to bring you reviews of every 'Ape' movie to have come before it. Honestly I don't know why I treat you so well. So sit back, take me for granted and have a gander at the first review of the week, 1968's Planet Of The Apes.

Planet Of The Apes has become revered within the world of modern cinema. It set a high precedent for mainstream science fiction and paved the way for the likes of Star Wars, Superman and the Star Trek motion pictures. From the films settings to the films script Planet Of The Apes has become a part of todays society, often being quoted or referenced to in everything from TV shows to advertising campaigns. To say the Planet Of The Apes was an important cinematic release would be a gargantuan understatement.

Based on a french novel of the same name Planet Of The Apes tells the story of Taylor, a modern day astronaut who, along with his crew crash land on an unknown planet in the year 3978. Three members of the crew survive, only having aged 18 months due to time dilation after travelling at near light speeds for 2006 years. Together they set off to explore, discovering that super intelligent apes rule over the planet and use human beings for scientific experimentation.

As plots go it doesn't hold up to too much heavy scrutiny, but anyone with a half active retarded braincell will be able to work out that Planet Of The Apes has bigger, more important things on its mind. Themes of animal cruelty, close mindedness, organised religion and social classes are all about as subtle as Michael Bays directorial technique and are explored at great length during the film. Not to say that the film is incapable of subtlety, for those who really want to see it, Planet Of The Apes also works as a commentary on the American governments policies in Vietnam and as rather strong anti nuclear statement, two themes which were very much relevant in 1968.

As far as writing goes the movie is very strong. Like all films of the era, Planet Of The Apes is not what you would call fast paced, not that this is a bad thing. The dialogue in the film is strong, to the point and services the themes of the script well without getting the the way or becoming distracting. The action-adventure balance is as close to perfect as you could wish for and the twist ending is delivered incredibly well, something which I would have enjoyed much more had the ending not been played to me so many times in other forms over the years.

The cast is great. Charlton Heston plays the part well, doing a decent job of conveying the danger his character is in which in turn helps the audience accept the absurdity of what is going on. What also works well is his rather odd speech pattern, adding a unique twist to the films script which is what has made the film so quotable since its release. Not bad for a guy who was only hired in order to have a famous name in the credits.

The most notable other cast member is perhaps the most important when it comes to the franchise, Roddy McDowall. McDowall reprised his role of Cornelius in four of the five sequels and does a really good job here despite the heavy makeup. Also worth looking out for is Pierre Boulle's work as the corrupt Ape scientist Dr. Zaius, the films emotionally flawed, secretive villain.

In terms of direction an awful lot has been done with very little. A relatively unknown name at the time Franlin J. Schaffner had something which many of todays directors don't. He had the ability to open a film up and make it appear much grander in scale than it was in reality. Planet Of The Apes looks and feels like an epic despite only having a handful of sets and very few actors. If this film were to be made today (which it wouldn't be) the only directors I can think of that could pull it off are the Coen Brothers and Ridley Scott, give it a few more decades and the art of pulling off epic to this scale without the use of costly special effects and extensive outdoor sets will be a lost art. Sad fact and a testament to how well this film was directed.

Another important aspect of the film is its score. An early piece of work by Gerry Goldsmith, the score behind Planet Of The Apes is like nothing else I've ever heard before or since. The sound is made up with a mixture of traditional orchestral score and odd sounding household objects such as metal mixing bowls. The end result is on the whole a successful endeavour. There were, it has to be said, one or two moments where the score stood out a little too much and called attention to itself but thankfully these were few and far between. Clearly a lot of thought went into the score and on the whole it benefits from it.

With all of that being said the film does suffer on account of its age. Being a product of the 60's the sets have a look about them that reminded me of the kind of decor seen in your average Flinstones episode. This isn't helped by overly harsh lighting and an abundance of yellow gels which give every set that 'early episode of Star Trek' feel. I feel somewhat dirty criticising a film for not ageing well but it's my job to watch films and sound like a wanky arsehole, therefore I have no choice.

On the whole I was rather impressed with Planet Of The Apes. It has a solid, simple structure, good casting, talented direction and enough underlying themes to keep my impressive brain occupied. As a contribution to the world of film its significance is undeniable and very much deserved. I would be happy to recommend it to any fan of film or science fiction.

Planet Of The Apes gets...

4 out of 5