Science fiction and fantasy are two of my favorite literary genres.  Unfortunately, I am often disappointed with how those genres are presented on film.  In particular, I find that many science fiction films deliver specular special effects but fail when it comes to capturing the imagination and nuance that makes the genre so interesting.  There are always exceptions and Planet of the Apes is one of them.  The film does not need to rely on special effects, gadgets or technology because it is about a bleak future where those things have disappeared.

Planet of the Apes begins when three astronauts crash land on a planet.  Through some mechanism that is not explained, they have traveled through both space and time and are at an undetermined location several thousand years after they have left Earth.  The planet appears barren and devoid of life until they discover a jungle paradise and, shortly thereafter, primitive humans.  They are about to try communicating with the humans when a horn sounds and the humans are attacked.

The attackers are apes.  Apes that are riding horses, carrying guns and dressed as humans.  In the ensuing chaos, one of the astronauts is killed and the other two are wounded to varying degrees.  The story focus now shifts to one of the astronauts, Taylor (Charlton Heston), who has been captured after being wounded with a gunshot to his throat.  Chimp scientist Zira (Kim Hunter) sees something unusual in Taylor as he seems to be trying to speak.  Eventually, she finds out he can read and write and, later, his throat heals to the point that he blurts out to one of his gorilla captors, “Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!” 

In an effort to cover up the fact that humans are indeed capable of thought and speech, Taylor is put on trial so that he can be lobotomized and castrated.  By defending him, Zira and her fiancée Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) are caught up in the proceedings.  Cornelius just happens to have some heretical ideas about the origins of both apes and humans.  Before they can be found guilty, the three escape and flee to the same barren landscape, The Forbidden Zone, where the movie began, in order to search for answers sought by both Taylor and Cornelius. 

Planet of the Apes is everything that makes great science fiction.  Space travel, time travel and alien landscapes and life forms are all classic elements of the genre.  The best science fiction builds a story around those elements that is a commentary on human society or a warning to humans about how we could screw things and create a devastating future for ourselves.

Planet of the Apes offers both the commentary and the warning.  Ape society is a commentary on human society as Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Orangutans each occupy a pre-determined role based on their genus.  Gorillas are mindless brutes and serve as soldiers.  Chimps are smart and nerdy but are considered by other apes as a bit frivolous.  They are scientists who spend time researching but cannot be trusted to make the right decisions.  That role is left to the Orangutans who are the religious and political leaders.  Humans are considered animals, hunted for sport or used for scientific study.  Notably, the apes don’t make any distinctions between the races of humans.  We all provide the same sport when hunted and we all look the same on the dissection table.  Of course, the ending is the warning.  It turns out that this upside-down mess is one of our own making.

Science fiction has never been a favorite of movie critics but Planet of the Apes was widely acclaimed at the time.  Critics applauded the film’s imagination and called it everything from entertaining to a grand adventure.  Others noted the humor in the film with Pauline Kael of the New Yorker calling it “an enormous many-layered joke on the hero and the audience, and part of the joke is casting Charlton Heston as the hero.”  Indeed, Planet of the Apes largely works because of Charlton Heston.  Heston had played some of Hollywood’s greatest heroes but, in Planet of the Apes, he spends much of the film in survival mode.  His powerful physique and commanding voice, perhaps representing American power or the arrogance of humanity in general, mean nothing in the crazy world he is thrust into.  Heston, who never seemed to take himself too seriously, was perfectly cast and was superb in this role.

The film won earned John Chambers an honorary Oscar for Outstanding Make-Up Achievement.  It also earned nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Music, Original Score.  While it did not win in the latter category, the film’s score has come to be regarded as one of the greatest in film history and very innovative for its time.  Jerry Goldsmith used percussion in interesting ways in addition to 12-tone music to create an eerie and unsettling setting for the planet.

Planet of the Apes was enormously successful at the time and the concept has been successful ever since.  It was the third highest grossing film of 1968 and, along with the year’s highest grossing film, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), proved that science fiction had significant box office appeal.  The original film spawned several sequels including Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) and a television series also called Planet of the Apes, which ran on CBS in the fall of 1974.  All of the sequels followed on or explored the origins of the original film and most of them included at least some of the original stars.  The film was remade in 2001 by filmmaker Tim Burton as Planet of the Apes (2001).  Ten years later the series was rebooted with Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), which starts at the beginning and tries to explain how apes made their great leap in intelligence and replaced humans as the dominant animal on earth.

In 2001, Planet of the Apes was among the 25 films inducted into the National Film Registry.  It also appears on several of the AFI 100 Years lists, including the Thrills list at #59, the Movie Quotes list at #66, and the Film Scores list at #18.