Planet Of The Apes (1968)
Long
before Star Wars, this was the ultimate sci-fi movie. A world turned upside down where apes ruled the roost and
humans were used for medical experiments . . .
 The movie spawned
four sequels, a TV series, a cartoon and hundreds of comics,
magazines, toys and action figures.
As his spaceship enters the year 2673AD, Commander George
Taylor (pictured at right) sits at the control panel and
pontificates about the world he has left behind.
Then he smokes a cigar and hits up a hypodermic full of
something (ahem!) and asks the flight recorder; "Does Man,
that marvel of the universe . . . still make war against his
brother? keep his neighbour's children starving?".
This is seriously deep stuff!.
Then he checks on his fellow astronauts (Dodge, Landon and
female astronaut, Lieutenant Stewart) to make sure they are
sleeping soundly in suspended animation (especially the
good-looking Stewart who is to be their "new eve") and
then puts himself into suspended animation.
Shortly thereafter, the spacecraft plummets through a planet's
atmosphere, hurtling towards the ground at lightning speed - the
auto pilot has gone wacky! Luckily the craft crashes into a lake
but only half submerges . . .
The Suspended Animation capsules slide open and Taylor awakes.
"You alright?" he asks the others. Stewart doesn't
answer . . . Her capsule had an air leak and she's snuffed it in
her sleep!
Dodge. Landon & Taylor leave the sinking craft quick sharp,
taking to the lake in their standard issue yellow, inflatable
life-raft, taking what supplies they can carry. They are relieved
to note that the air on this planet is ok and they can breathe
(otherwise it would be a very short film!) .
As they exit the spaceship, Taylor has a quick look at the
Earth Time read-out on the control panel. It reads 3978. The
spacecraft sinks and Taylor states the obvious; "OK, we're
here to stay".
He explains where they are; "we're some 320 light years
from Earth on an un-named planet in orbit around a star in the
constellation of Orion. Is that close enough for you?"
Landon cannot accept that two thousand years have passed since
they left Earth. He has no faith in Hasslein's Theory and although
Taylor maintains that the ship's Earth clock substantiates the
theory, Landon maintains; "It's still just a theory".
The three astronauts walk for miles across the desert, through
"thunder and lightning with no rain" and avalanches of
huge boulders. Taylor and Landon do not get on at all well. Landon
is an idealist all-American boy ("the golden boy of the class
of '72") and Taylor is a gritty realist who revels in rubbing
Landon's face in the truth.
At one stage, Landon declares that he's prepared to die. Taylor
replies (laughing); "well doesn't that make you misty?"
and follows with "there's a life size bronze statue of you
standing out there somewhere - sure it's probably turned green by
now and nobody can read the name plate, but never let it be said
we forget our heroes".
The trio take heart when they find a solitary plant in the
middle of the desert. With their supplies running low they are
naturally more than a little interested in finding water. But the
landscape is pure Arizona and the discovery of the plant is a
monumental occasion.
Trekking onwards they are oblivious to the unidentified figures
scurrying along the top of the ridge, following their progress.
They still believe they are completely alone, until . . . rounding
a corner in the desert (are there any corners in the desert ??)
the three Earthlings see a line of scarecrows along the top of the
ridge. They are a warning of some kind, but of what?
The trio waste no time finding out (such inquiring minds)
because in the distance they hear running water and Taylor says;
"To Hell with the scarecrows!"
They run like men possessed to the water and dive in
butt-naked. Following some gratuitous shots of Charlton Heston's
bum, Landon discovers a footprint on the shore.
Shortly thereafter they also discover their clothes have been
pinched! They give chase and find all their scientific supplies
have been destroyed and their clothes shredded prompting the
observant comment; "They didn't leave much, did they?"
But who has done this?
In a field of tall maize the trio discover the culprits are a
group of mute, feral humans. Taylor takes particular notice of one
particular female (who we are later to discover is called
"Nova"). When Landon comments that the three "got
off at the wrong stop", Taylor replies; "look on the
bright side. If this is the best they've got around here, in six
months we'll be running this planet".
In a classic case of speaking too soon, suddenly the feral
humans take flight, running in a panic-stricken state. The
astronauts have no idea why but feel it's probably a good idea to
follow them since their fear seems so great.
What follows is one of the classic moments in cinema history.
The music, camera angles and high maize set a scene of total
confusion and panic. Wooden poles appear above the maize, beating
the tall plants flat. Horses hoofs rumble across the fields but
still we do not see who the hunters are. .
Until a horn sounds and the camera zooms in on a gorilla on
horseback, dressed in military uniform and brandishing a rifle.
A frantic chase scene follows. In the midst of the
panic-stricken and directionless ferals, the astronauts are
separated and mingle with the primitive humans. It seems that
whichever way the humans turn, the gorillas are waiting, armed
with beating poles, nets and rifles.
Taylor pauses to help Nova and eludes two mounted gorillas with
a net. Landon is clubbed in the head and falls off a cliff into a
very shallow river. Dodge, who is dressed in the bright yellow
remnants of their life raft (which nobody seems to notice) is
captured in a net along with some ferals, manages to escape and
runs all of ten feet before being shot dead by a mounted gorilla.
Taylor fares a little better but he too is eventually shot through
the throat and lapses into unconsciousness.
The humans are taken back to the gorilla's hunting camp where
they are strung up like trophies while the gorilla's pose with
piles of dead humans for photographs. The humans who are still
alive (including Taylor and Nova) are thrown into the cages on
horse-drawn wagons and transported to Ape City.
Back at Ape City, Taylor is taken to the veterinary laboratory
and given a blood transfusion by kindly chimpanzee vet, Dr Zira
and her staff. Coming to, he is pleased to see Nova is on the
operating table next to him but doesn't seem taken aback at the
fact the apes can talk.
He does seem slightly perturbed when he overhears Zira saying
to one of her staff; "The foundations of scientific brain
surgery are being laid right here".
Taylor is unable to speak due to his throat injury, but does
his utmost to communicate with Zira. She calls Taylor "Bright
Eyes" and senses there is something different about
him.
As an animal psychologist she is intrigued by this
"animal" who seems a cut above the average feral . . .
The staff believe Taylor keeps pretending he can talk and that
nothing more than mimicry is at play here; "You know what
they say, 'Human see - Human do'"
Taylor tries to steal Zira's notepad just as Dr Zaius arrives.
Zaius is an old orangutan with the ominous title of "Minister
of Science and Chief Defender of the Faith". He is curious
about the unusual human but is not impressed, saying; "yes
it's amusing - a man acting like an ape".
Zira wonders out loud how Taylor would score on a "Hopkins
Manual Dexterity test". Taylor understands and moves his hand
in the correct manner.
Zaius refuses to be impressed by Zira's behavioural studies and
cautions her against suggesting that apes can learn anything from
a study of man, adding; "The sooner man is exterminated the
better - It's a question of simian survival". Zira gives
"Bright Eyes" a present - She moves Nova into the cage
with Taylor. Nova is uncomfortable with the strange man but
follows him around dutifully anyway.
Later in the exercise yard, Zira is visited by her chimpanzee
archaeologist fiancé Cornelius. Zira shows Taylor to Cornelius,
hoping he will share her interest in his actions but Cornelius too
is unimpressed. Taylor writes a message in the dirt but Zira and
Cornelius are distracted by the sudden arrival of Dr Zaius and do
not see the writing.
Nova does see the writing though and rubs it out with her
hands. Taylor subsequently gets into a fight with a primitive man
and is forcibly removed from the cage. He is injured when a
gorilla burns him with a flaming torch while trying to restrain
him.
Sending Cornelius and Zira away, Zaius walks past the cage,
chatting to a gorilla soldier, and notices the remnants of
Taylor's message scrawled in the dirt - I CAN WRITE. Zaius pokes
his walking cane through the bars of the cage and obliterates the
writing. He is, after all, Chief Defender of the Faith.
Back in the cages at the laboratory, Zira apologises to
"bright eyes" for the way he was treated. She is already
developing a special bond with this unusual human. In desperation,
Taylor grabs Zira through the bars of his cage and wrestles her
notepad and pencil from her.
Julius, the sadistic gorilla jailer, rushes into Taylor's cage
and clubs him, retrieving the notepad . . . but Taylor has had
time to scrawl a quick note:
Zira is dumbstruck. Eventually she turns to Julius and
instructs him; "get me a collar and leash. I'm taking him out
of here". Once he is gone, Zira beckons Taylor over to her
and says; "you wouldn't hurt me, would you, Taylor?". A
momentous occasion for both of them . . .
Taylor is taken back to Cornelius's house where he writes his
little heart out, filling page after page of notepaper with the
tale of where he is from and how he arrived on the planet of the
apes.
Despite the evidence to the contrary, Cornelius maintains;
"It's a stunt - human's can't write". Cornelius also has
trouble believing Taylor could have flown to their planet, denying
the possibility of flight at all. Taylor proves his point with a
simple demonstration. He folds a paper airplane and throws it. To
the amazement of the chimps, it flies across the room. Cornelius
and Zira are speechless.
Taylor points out on a map where his spacecraft crashed and the
route that he, Dodge and Landon took until they were captured.
Cornelius scoffs once more at the story; "no creature can
survive in the Forbidden Zone. I know, I've been there, I've seen
it".
It transpires that Cornelius has a theory that apes evolved
from a lower order of primates, possibly man. He has found
evidence on earlier archaeological digs to the Forbidden Zone.
Perhaps, Zira muses, Taylor may be the missing link.
Dr Zaius (always around when you don't want him!) arrives
unexpectedly once more, accompanied by Dr Maxwell (another
Orangutan), the Commissioner for Animal Affairs. Zaius and Maxwell
chastise Zira for having Taylor in a house and order him returned
immediately to the compound.
Zaius picks up the paper plane and asks what it is. Zira says
it is a toy which "floats on the air". Zaius claims it
to be nonsense and destroys it (which you would expect from the
Minister of Science, right?!)
Taylor is returned to his cage at the laboratory. Later he
overhears two gorilla soldiers telling Julius they will be taking
Taylor to the vet later to have him gelded. The order has come
from Dr Zaius himself. When Julius enters the cage to put a leash
on Taylor he is overpowered and Taylor escapes.
He runs wildly through the streets of Ape City, Scaring women
and children chimpanzees and disrupting a gorilla funeral service
in the church.
Several gorillas join the chase but Taylor manages to evade
them each time, eventually seeking refuge in the natural history
museum which is full of displays of stuffed and mounted humans!
While running through the museum Taylor is stunned to discover his
colleague Dodge, stuffed and mounted (with artificial glass eyes).
Returning outside, Taylor is eventually captured in a net and
suspended a few feet above the ground. The gorillas move in to
secure him and it is at this precise moment (as Taylor surfs the
net . . . sorry!) that he regains the use of his voice and utters
the memorable line;
"Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape"!
Now that Taylor can speak once more, he won't shut up. Back at
the laboratory he talks at every opportunity but since Nova is the
only person in the cages with him, the conversation is not
stimulating. Nova is actually distressed that Taylor can talk and
tries to get him to stop by putting her hand over his mouth. This
prompts his comment of defeat; "Me Tarzan, you Jane".
Julius arrives with the gorillas who take Nova away. Taylor
fights them while Julius turns a water hose on him. He is finally
able to abuse the sadistic jailer who tells Taylor; "Shut up
you freak!". Taylor declares; "This is a mad house! A
Mad House!". Now he doesn't even have Nova who he says
"may not be as smart as Stewart, but you're the only girl in
town"
The gorillas return and take Taylor away in a collar and leash.
He is taken to a courtroom where he is met by Cornelius and Zira
who tell him to "be clever, be quiet". There is to be a
tribunal heard by three Orangutans including Dr Zaius and Dr
Maximus. The state is represented by Dr Honorius, Deputy Minister
of Justice, and Cornelius and Zira are to have the opportunity to
present their case regarding Taylor.
 Dr Zaius says "It is scientific heresy which is on trial
here". Taylor tries to defend himself but is silenced. Dr
Honorius claims that Zira performed experiments on Taylor and
produced a speaking monster.
Taylor tells the hearing that he is an explorer in space from a
different solar system. The Orangutans believe it is a joke as the
man's claim that he had two intelligent companions when he arrived
could not be verified.
The apes have re-assembled all the humans caught with Taylor
and ask the astronaut to identify his companion. Taylor finds
Landon but seeing the scar on his temple, screams at Zaius;
"you cut up his brain, you bloody baboon!". Returning to
the courtroom, Zira and Cornelius assert their theories of
evolution.
The Orangutans assume the "hear no evil, see no evil,
speak no evil" positions and indict the chimps for contempt
and scientific heresy. The hearing is over and Taylor is taken to
Dr Zaius' chambers.
Zaius asks Taylor where he is really from in order to save
himself. He believes the man to be a mutant from the Forbidden
Zone. Zaius fears there are more like Taylor either in, or beyond,
the Forbidden Zone.
Back at the lab, Julius is visited by a young chimp (Zira's
nephew, Lucius) who claims to have orders to transfer Taylor to
the zoo as the "anti-vivisectionist society are up in
arms" about the mistreatment of the human. Together, Lucius
and Taylor kill Julius and make good their escape. Against Zira's
instructions, Taylor also takes Nova.
Meeting up with Cornelius and Zira, the group venture to
Cornelius's old diggings in the Forbidden Zone to try and prove
their theories and clear their name. Now they are all fugitives.
The Forbidden Zone is a prohibited desert. Throughout the 1200
years of ape history the region has been out of bounds to all
apes, according to the sacred scrolls of the supreme ape deity,
the Law Giver.
Arriving at the old archaeological digs in a cave by the sea,
the group of fugitives discover they have been followed by Zaius
and a group of gorillas. Taylor trains his gun on Dr Zaius and
forces the gorillas to withdraw.
Taylor takes Zaius into the cave to try and find something
which will prove that intelligent humans once roamed this
planet.
Cornelius shows them artefacts that prove the older remains
show a more advanced culture with tools still unknown to the
apes.
 They
also find a human doll but Zaius debunks the theory saying that
even his grand-daughter plays with human dolls.
Taylor finds many human artefacts but Zaius offers alternate
descriptions of each item. Suddenly, the doll (which Nova has been
playing with) cries; "Mama . . .Mama". They have their
proof!
Unfortunately at that very moment, gun shots sound from outside
as the gorillas return.
Taylor feigns injury in order to capture Dr Zaius and has him
order the gorillas away.
Taylor ties Dr Zaius up and demands a horse, food, water and
ammunition from the gorillas otherwise he will kill the Minister
of Science. Zira and Cornelius are upset at the treatment Taylor
is showing Zaius and Taylor reminds them that he had been treated
this way by all of them.
The human claims that Zaius has always known about the history
of humans on the planet. Zaius says that all he knows about man
was written long ago, set down by the Law Giver. He makes
Cornelius read the 6th verse of the 29th scroll of the Law Giver's
writings:
Taylor says his farewells to everyone. He asks Zira and
Cornelius to come with him but they claim they will not go to jail
now as they have proved they were not committing heresy.
Taylor asks Zira if he can kiss her goodbye. She consents, even
though she finds him ugly. Zaius says he has awaited Taylor's
coming all his life and dreaded it.
Taylor and Nova leave. Dr Zaius orders the cave sealed and
tells Zira and Cornelius they will still stand trial for heresy.
Julius says; "Dr Zaius, this is inexcusable. Why must
knowledge stand still? What about the future?". Zaius says he
may just have saved it for them.
 Zira asks; "What will he find out there, Doctor?".
Zaius replies; "His destiny!"
Taylor and Nova ride along the shoreline, content and happy to
be away from the apes and on their search for the truth.
Meanwhile, the gorillas seal Cornelius's cave with a giant
explosion. Some distance down the beach we observe Taylor and Nova
from the viewpoint of a large structure. Taylor dismounts and
drops to his knees in the water.
The camera pulls back to reveal the shattered remains of the
Statue of Liberty. Taylor is home. He has been home all along.
"Damn you! . . . God damn you all to Hell!"
TRIVIA NOTE
The first word ever spoken by an ape in the series of five
movies (in the original film, Planet of the Apes) is
"smile."
|
