I recently watched this original version of "The Planet of the Apes" for the first time since seeing it at a drive-in theater back in 1968. First I was amazed at how much of the film I had forgotten. Actually, most of what I remembered was the (then) shocking ending. What I was impressed with this time around was what an intelligent and well-scripted film this was (and still is). Like any good science fiction, this film provides an interesting commentary on the human condition. One the one hand you have the Minister of Science and Defender of the Faith debunking and destroying an archeological dig, because it is contrary to the faith of the Apes, but on the other hand in his reading from the sacred scrolls you hear the accurate description of the destructive (dare I say "sinful?") nature of humans. I've been pondering this segment of the film quite a bit over the past few days. Like others, I think Charlton Heston is in fine form here. It's easy to picture him as president of the National Rifle Association after seeing this film. I still prefer Heston in "Ben Hur" and "the Ten Commandments," but that probably reflects my personal interest in the stories that are told there. As one Academy Award film-maker recently said upon receiving his lifetime achievement Oscar (I think it was Norman Jewison), "Find a story that needs to be told and tell it." This version of "The Planet of the Apes" certainly tells a good story, and tells it well.

Since most people have seen the original 1968 "Planet of the Apes" (multiple times, I might add) this review is not so much intent on introducing the film to new viewers but rather provoking people to re-discover it, as I did recently.

THE PLOT: George Taylor and two other astronauts experience some type of time warp in space and crashland on a distant planet over 2000 years in the future. They soon discover that highly evolved apes rule the planet while humans are disdained "animals."

WHAT WORKS: First of all, Charlton Heston is outstanding as the disillusioned humanity-hating Taylor. Taylor is brilliantly put in the ironic position of representing humankind to the apes. Although I love Heston in other films like "Ben-Hur" and "The Ten Commandments," I believe Taylor is his best role and performance. Heston was, incidentally, 43 years old at the time of filming. He's utterly captivating in the role and charismatic in an anti-hero sense.

The first 35 minutes of the film involve the crashland, the search over the wastelands, the discovery of primitive humans and, finally, the potent cornfield revelation of the intelligent rulers of the planet. This segment is one of my favorite parts of the film. The desert wastelands are awe-inspiring and one can't help but enjoy Taylor's amusingly pessimistic antics. This part of the film is highly mysterious in nature. Where ARE they? Why are there so few signs of life? Did Taylor hate humanity so much that he was literally willing to escape his home world? Who made the strange X-shaped scarecrows? Why can't the primitive "cavemen" speak? Who planted the crops of corn?

When the story shifts to the ape city the film takes on an entirely different vibe.Read more ›

20th Century Fox released the film previously on DVD by itself and in a box set with the rest of the Apes films plus a bonus DVD of extras. Now, for those who just want the first (and best) film of the series and all of the extras, Fox has released an excellent two-DVD special edition of Planet of the Apes to celebrate its 35th anniversary.
The DVD's extras get off to a shaky start with the two lackluster audio commentaries. The first is by legendary composer, Jerry Goldsmith, and the second by actors Roddy McDowall, Natalie Trundy, Kim Hunter and make-up artist John Chambers. Both commentaries could benefit from some extensive editing. There is way too much dead air that one has to sit through to get to the few interesting tidbits of information. The DVD producers should have edited down these commentaries to only the scenes in the movie that are actually commented on, like with the audio tracks on the Glengarry Glen Ross and The Right Stuff DVDs.
The text commentary by Eric Greene, author of Planet of the Apes as American Myth, redeems things by cramming a ton of interesting factoids on the screen in the form of subtitles. It's scary when the text commentary is better than both audio commentaries combined.
The second DVD contains the bulk of the extra material. The first section, "Exploring the Apes," contains a comprehensive, two-hour documentary entitled, "Behind the Planet of the Apes." Hosted by Roddy McDowall, it takes a look at the entire Apes saga from the films to the cartoon and TV series with an emphasis on the first (and best) film. Fans of the Apes films will be delighted to see all the major players from the films back for new interviews done exclusively for this documentary.
Also included in this section is the make-up test reel with Edward G.Read more ›

This is a review of the quality of the Planet of the Apes [Blu-ray. The video looks good for a film as aged as this, but is not even close to stunning. The high def transfer in some cases actually serves to accentuate problems you might not have noticed otherwise. I saw more than a few soft scenes where they looked unfocused. Grain was never too obtrusive, but the colors were uneven through a good portion of the film. Some scenes were rich and vivid, and others washed out. My biggest problem is the sound. They present the sound here as a DTS 5.1 mix, and a mono mix. I chose DTS and was sorely dissapointed. My subwoofer never kicked on. That means that there was never an instance when there was a frequency lower than about 85hz. This made for a very shallow sounding mix. Adding to that, the surround speakers never seemed to register anything, and you've got what sounded to me like a mono mix anyway. All of the sound seemed to come from my center channel. To me, digitally remastering a film soundtrack at this level means accentuating the lower registries by adding lower frequencies, and placing atmospheric and musical elements in the surround channels. If you don't plan on doing that, what's the use of calling it a DTS 5.1 mix? Anyway, this is by far the best transfer I've ever seen of the film, but don't be looking for anything more than a slightly better than average transfer, and a glorified mono track.