You damn dirty ape!!
What can I say about these movies that hasn't already been said.
I have always loved these films since the first time I had the pleasure to watch them and as a yearly tradition, I re-watch them in a marathon each year on New Year's Day.
I have always loved these films since the first time I had the pleasure to watch them and as a yearly tradition, I re-watch them in a marathon each year on New Year's Day.
So to start this review off I'm going to go into a little bit of back story on the making of the first one and finally reviewing each one... So please bare with me.
The book that started it all
The movie we know has Planet of the Apes start life as a novel titled "La Planète des singes" by Pierre Boulle the novel published in 1963 is wildly different from the finished movie based on it (check it out, it's a good read). The film rights came into the possession of Arthur P. Jacobs who hired Rod Serling (Yep..Mr. Twilight Zone himself) to write the original script. Serling's script was almost made "though it was finally rejected for a number of reasons. A prime concern was cost, as the technologically advanced ape society portrayed by Serling's script would have involved expensive sets, props and special effects". Writer Michael Wilson was brought in to rewrite it but keeping Serling's original twist ending. The production test footage shows a wildly different apes makeup than what make it on the screen and a little known fact is the producers originally wanted to hire Edward G. Robinson to play Dr. Zaius, James Brolin to play Cornelius & Linda Harrison (Nova) to play as Zira. Robinson declined to play a role beyond the test footage do to the time it took to put the makeup on. Brolin for what ever reason what replaced by Roddy McDowell and the rest is history...
DePatie-Freleng (Pink Panther Cartoons) animated series.. Interesting to note, while the Movies dumbed the apes down for sake of budget, the animated series advanced them for the same issue.. It's easier and cheaper to animated a car than a galloping horse
Mego toy (personal note so need to invest in some of these lol)
Planet of the Apes is a film series juggernaut with five original films, a TV series,a Cartoon series...not to mention a hugely popular line of Mego toys (still very popular today), comics, books, several film remakes, and countless other forms of merchandise.
One of the many comics published over the years (need to get some of these too lol)
Lunch boxes (like I have to explain.. Lol )
Production still from the TV Series Starring Roddy McDowell
This films place in pop culture and in the American culture in general is cemented, other films should be so lucky in the level of popularity this franchise has maintained. But I'm getting a head of myself and without further a due I present my marathon review of all five original movies....
Film Poster for the first one
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Directed by : Franklin J. Schaffner
Written By: Rod Serling & Michael Wilson
Starring: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell and Linda Harrison.
Plot: Four astronauts crash land on a planet dominated by highly evolved apes and mankind is primitive people unable to speak. Used for lab rats, the Astronauts are attacked and captured by the apes earlier on with Taylor (Heston) being the only one to survive being lobotomized by his ape host. The movie comes to a twist ending when it's revealed they've been on earth the whole time.
Review: This movie where do I even start??. Get your paws off me, You damn dirty ape!!. Probably one of the most iconic lines in movie history and ranks right up there with the twist ending devised by Rod Serling... Nothing Can really be said beyond this other then " Go Watch it!!!" Lol
Directed by : Franklin J. Schaffner
Written By: Rod Serling & Michael Wilson
Starring: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell and Linda Harrison.
Plot: Four astronauts crash land on a planet dominated by highly evolved apes and mankind is primitive people unable to speak. Used for lab rats, the Astronauts are attacked and captured by the apes earlier on with Taylor (Heston) being the only one to survive being lobotomized by his ape host. The movie comes to a twist ending when it's revealed they've been on earth the whole time.
Review: This movie where do I even start??. Get your paws off me, You damn dirty ape!!. Probably one of the most iconic lines in movie history and ranks right up there with the twist ending devised by Rod Serling... Nothing Can really be said beyond this other then " Go Watch it!!!" Lol
Poster for the 2nd
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
Directed by : Ted Post
Written By: Paul Dehn
Starring: James Franciscus, Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter, Linda Harrison
Plot : another spacecraft crashes on the planet ruled by apes, carrying astronaut Brent who searches for Taylor and discovers an underground city inhabited by mutated humans with psychic powers.
Review: again another classic movie and a mighty interesting one.. They attempted to end the franchise with this installment but the apes wouldn't be held down!!. Heston has a very short amount of screen time and is "replaced" by Franciscus as the hero. The adding of the radiation mutants playing off of Heston in the final scenes is in a way is sort funny when you think about him playing a similar dynamic the following year in "The Omega Man"(1971). Otherwise this is a great installment though not on par with the original it does help expand upon the universe.
Directed by : Ted Post
Written By: Paul Dehn
Starring: James Franciscus, Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter, Linda Harrison
Plot : another spacecraft crashes on the planet ruled by apes, carrying astronaut Brent who searches for Taylor and discovers an underground city inhabited by mutated humans with psychic powers.
Review: again another classic movie and a mighty interesting one.. They attempted to end the franchise with this installment but the apes wouldn't be held down!!. Heston has a very short amount of screen time and is "replaced" by Franciscus as the hero. The adding of the radiation mutants playing off of Heston in the final scenes is in a way is sort funny when you think about him playing a similar dynamic the following year in "The Omega Man"(1971). Otherwise this is a great installment though not on par with the original it does help expand upon the universe.
Poster for the 3rd
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
Directed by : Don Taylor
Written By: Paul Dehn
Starring: Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter and Bradford Dillman
Plot: Just before the planet's destruction in the last installment, Cornelius and Zira escape in space ship and is transported back in time through the time warp.
Review: This installments is a very interesting one and in allot of ways could be seen as a allegory for the civil rights movements (albeit a few years late), it also show the bigotry that can be breed from illrational fear.. highly recommend this one as well.
Directed by : Don Taylor
Written By: Paul Dehn
Starring: Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter and Bradford Dillman
Plot: Just before the planet's destruction in the last installment, Cornelius and Zira escape in space ship and is transported back in time through the time warp.
Review: This installments is a very interesting one and in allot of ways could be seen as a allegory for the civil rights movements (albeit a few years late), it also show the bigotry that can be breed from illrational fear.. highly recommend this one as well.
Poster for the 4th
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Directed by : J. Lee Thompson
Written By: Paul Dehn
Starring: Roddy McDowell, Don Murray and Ricardo Montalban
Plot: Following Caesar (Cornelius and Zira's son) in 1983, a disease killed the world's cats and dogs, leaving humans with no pets. To replace them, humans began keeping apes as household pets. Realizing the apes' capacity to learn and adapt, humans train them to perform household tasks. By 1991, American culture is based on ape slave labor.
Review: Again tackling harsh social issues this movies turns a retrospective eye on our own past.
Directed by : J. Lee Thompson
Written By: Paul Dehn
Starring: Roddy McDowell, Don Murray and Ricardo Montalban
Plot: Following Caesar (Cornelius and Zira's son) in 1983, a disease killed the world's cats and dogs, leaving humans with no pets. To replace them, humans began keeping apes as household pets. Realizing the apes' capacity to learn and adapt, humans train them to perform household tasks. By 1991, American culture is based on ape slave labor.
Review: Again tackling harsh social issues this movies turns a retrospective eye on our own past.
Poster for the 5th
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
Directed by : J. Lee Thompson
Written By: Paul Dehn
Starring: Roddy McDowell, Ricardo Montalban and John Houston
Plot: Narrated in wraparound by the Lawgiver (John Huston)..this sequel follows the ape leader, Caesar, at least twelve years after he led the revolution in the previous film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. In this post-nuclear society, Caesar tries to cultivate peace between the apes and the surviving humans.
Review: this final entire while the weakess of the lot, serves to bridge the prequel/sequel elements into one cohesive yet tragic continuity.
Directed by : J. Lee Thompson
Written By: Paul Dehn
Starring: Roddy McDowell, Ricardo Montalban and John Houston
Plot: Narrated in wraparound by the Lawgiver (John Huston)..this sequel follows the ape leader, Caesar, at least twelve years after he led the revolution in the previous film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. In this post-nuclear society, Caesar tries to cultivate peace between the apes and the surviving humans.
Review: this final entire while the weakess of the lot, serves to bridge the prequel/sequel elements into one cohesive yet tragic continuity.
See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil (tongue and cheek joke in the first flick)
Over all these movies are something I would recommend to anyone that loves scifi and those looking for a great nostalgia trip. And I also recommend both the TV series and the Animated series to further expand the universe.. I don't recommend the Tim Burton remake but will recommend " Rise of the Planet of the Apes" albeit it's a completely different movie and has nothing to do with the originals save for the title.
Tim Burton remake... Shivers lol
Current remake (James Franco stars)
For a great source of info and some awesome freebies check out this site ( http://pota.goatley.com/ )
Another Poster for first flick
That's it for this edition of the train wreck, as always I'm your mad conductor and I'll see you on the next stop.
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