Empire Magazine Greatest Movies List - #350: Planet of the Apes

The movie with the iconic ending where Charlton Heston damns them to hell, the original “Planet of the Apes” (1968) was one of the first science-fiction franchises of the second half of the 20^th century. It started with one movie featuring talking apes and then spawned four sequels, two TV series, a Tim Burton remake and then a re-energized prequel with the ever-versatile James Franco. Not bad for a film with a very Z-movie concept and a Twilight Zone ending.

Seeing the original Franklin J. Schaffner version for the first time was like seeing a dusty old blueprint for a building I had seen many times before. I had seen the Tim Burton remake while living in Peru, and while there I also saw one of the sequels, “Escape from the Planet of the Apes,” on TV. Unfortunately, I had also already seen the big twist ending of the original movie when the American Film Institute did one of their specials on great movies. They should really stop giving the ending away when they re-examine a film like that. Still, when the film played on TV in 2011 I thought I might as well watch it since the prequel was coming out in a few weeks. Actually the night before Freida Pinto was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to talk about “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” so it all fitted quite nicely.

The original story, whether or not it will end up being integrated in the new franchise, dealt with three astronauts who are lost in space. George Taylor (Heston) notices the time difference between their place in space and Earth is of several thousand light years, meaning if they were to ever make it back home, everyone they know would be long gone. He accepts this graciously as he is a cynic who never had any love for the world he left behind. Landon (Robert Gunner) the second crewman is a believer in their exploration mission and rejects Taylor’s bleak view. When the ship crash-lands on an unknown planet, he plants a tiny American flag on a beach, eliciting raucous laughter from Taylor. The third crewman Dodge (Jeff Burton) gets a lot less development being the only black character in a 1960s film. In fact, when the apes show up he is the first one to be killed.

The apparition of the intelligent apes is a slow reveal, preceded by the three astronauts exploring what appears to be a deserted landscape. Yet there are disquieting signs something is amiss, as they find strange figures posted in the wilderness like a warning sign. They should have listened. After encountering a group of primitive human beings, the astronauts are hunted by horse riding apes who ensnare them with nets like wild animals.

In a world where apes are the intelligent species and humans are held in cages, Taylor ends up in zoo to be studied by scientists Zira (Kim Hunter) and Cornelius (Roddy McDowall). Impressed by his intelligence, they are even more shocked when Taylor escapes and roars the iconic line “Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!” This sends deep repercussions in the apes’ belief system. To them the idea that a human could be intelligent contradicts everything they ever thought to be true. Their outrage reminded me of the reaction religious fundamentalists have when confronted by the theory of evolution.

The film’s primary antagonist is Dr Zaius (Maurice Evans) a true believer in the idea that only apes were ever the dominant species. He does everything he can to ensure Taylor is silenced, as though he as something to hide. Yet once Taylor gets his hands on a gun, he manages to get the upper hand and go after whatever deep dark secret Zaius is hiding. The way a gun gives Taylor power over his jailers possibly heralds Heston’s love of firearms.

The original “Planet of the Apes” touched on some deep issues such as evolution, science, belief and religion. Heston gives a strong performance throughout, despite having to spend most of the movie dressed like Tarzan. A lot of credit must also go to the makeup by John Chambers and all the actors who had to endure it. In the most recent entry of the Apes franchise, actors like Andy Serkis had to wear motion-capture suits in a studio to play the apes, but back in the 60s actors were buried under layers of makeup and had to perform in the hot sun while riding horses. It may look dated today, but it should still be recognized as brilliant work.

As for that twist ending, it’s still a mind-blowing moment, even if you know it’s coming.

Empire Magazine (2008) Greatest Movies List - #147: Notorious

Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (1946) has many of the master director’s signature elements: spies, lies, a handsome leading man, a domineering mother, and of course a MacGuffin. As it is set after World War II the villains are logically former Nazis, but the plot is so tense in many scenes that it remains an effective thriller to this day. It also bears a huge influence on John Woo’s Mission Impossible 2 , which retains plot elements and similar dialogue, but of course has more explosions than all of Hitchcock’s films put together. Notorious is so well-made it can be studies in film classes, which is exactly what I did while taking a course on Hollywood Cinema 1930-1960 during the summer of 2009 at the University of British Columbia. As this is Hitchcock we are talking about here, there are subtler things to analyze than explosions in Notorious , no offense to the skills of Mr. John Woo. Famously there is a kissing scene between stars Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman that seemingly las...

Empire Magazine (2008) Greatest Movies List - #91: Return of the Jedi

If you want someone to give you death stares, tell a die-hard Star Wars fan the original trilogy is not perfect. I am however going to take a risk and write that if there is one major flaw with Return of the Jedi (1983) is a lack of imagination when it comes to the central plot. After the good guys blow up the Death Star in the first movie, the bad guys are almost done building a brand new one, which of course needs to be destroyed again in more or less the same way. Richard Marquand may be directing this time, but it was still George Lucas writing. Plot hole aside, as a kid you can’t help but have fun as the good guys join forces with a tribe of living teddy bears to get the job done. Like many people in their early 30s, I was introduced to the first Star Wars trilogy by my parents who had recorded the movies, commercials included, when they were showing one night on TV. Upon first viewing, a few things stick out in the mind of a young boy watching Return of the Jedi such as:...

Empire Magazine (2008) Greatest Movies List - #85: Blue Velvet

Exactly how do you describe a David Lynch movie? He is one of the few directors whose style is so distinctive that his last name has become an adjective. According to Urban Dictionary, the definition of Lynchian is: “having the same balance between the macabre and the mundane found in the works of filmmaker David Lynch.” To see a prime example of that adjective film lovers need look no further than Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), which does indeed begin in the mundane before slowly sinking in macabre violence. My first introduction to the world of David Lynch was through his ground breaking, but unfortunately interrupted, early 1990s TV series Twin Peaks . This was one of the first television shows to grab viewers with a series-long mystery: who killed Laura Palmer? A mix of soap opera, police procedural, and the supernatural, it is a unique show that showed the darkness hidden in suburbia and remains influential to this day. Featuring Kyle MacLachlan as an FBI investigator with a l...

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