You really should have a lot more subscribers. You're more knowledgeable and do a more rational, analytical discussion of the movies you watch than most UA-cam reactors, and you watch a broader selection of movies than most UA-camrs. When I saw this in the theater, I overheard somebody at the table behind me in the lunchroom give away the surprise ending, so I don't know what it like to get that big revelation. Even knowing the ending, I was thoroughly engrossed in the movie which I think speaks to how well written it is and shows the movie's rewatch value.
I've known about the surprise ending since the 80s. I saw this movie for the first time last year and the ending still hit like a bomb. It's a perfect example of much buildup and execution matter.
Amen. Shan is so much better than any other film reactor I have seen so far, including some who have massive following. I am hoping that at some point his channel suddenly explodes in followers like it deserves to.
@@peruanoextraviado7489 This will happen sooner or later. Especially if he deserves it. And Shan certainly deserves it, his analysis is better than in professional reviews.
They’ve been spoiling it for years by using the final shot as the box art for home releases so it’s great to see someone surprised by the twist! Heston was also in the sci-fi classics “The Omega Man” and “Soylent Green”.
The symbolism in this movie is par excellent. Fun Fact: Roddy McDowall, an experienced actor, recommended to his companions in makeup that they should frequently add tics, blinks, and assorted facial gestures to add a sense of realism and keep the makeup from a "mask-like" appearance. McDowall reportedly became a merry prankster with the makeup, driving home with his make-up on, and shocking some of the other drivers on the freeway.
Watching this review I had never really picked up on the symbolism of racism and slavery until Shan mentioned the possible social commentary. It is not as overt like it was in District 9 where there it was an overt allegory to apartheid.
The sequels (it's a five-movie series) have their own fascinating timeline and mythology and go ALL over the place. It's pretty fascinating for being almost impossible to predict where the next film will go. Roddy McDowell skips the second film but returns for 3, 4 and 5 and he is the heart and soul of this series. I would DEFINITELY recommend continuing the series.
Sequels were really looked down at back then, and most stars & directors didn't want to do them, because they thought that the original movie told the whole story, and sequels were a cheap low budget knockoffs from the studios trying to make 'cheap quick buck', it wasn't until the Godfathers & Star Wars sequels that things slowly started to change, with bigger budgets better writers, etc.
The cast of this film was filled with a few major actors of the time. - Roddy McDowell (Cornelius) - With the most recognizable voice, Roddy was a child actor turned mature character actor who appeared in tons of films and tv shows. He was the voice of the robot V.I.N.Cent in Disney's 'The Black Hole', appeared with lifelong friend Elizabeth Taylor in 'National Velvet' as well as playing Octavius opposite her as 'Cleopatra', was Peter Vincent in the original horror classic 'Fright Night', and was a beloved figure in Hollywood. His filmography is long, distinguished and spans from the late 1930s to the 1990s. As far as 'Planet of the Apes'...he was Cornelius, then his son Ceasar, and in the short-lived TV series, played Galen. - Kim Hunter (Zira) won the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress playing Stella Kowalski in 'A Streetcar Named Desire', reprising the role she created in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' play opposite Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski. She did a lot of television and films, but only 'The Planet of the Apes' films match the popularity of 'Streetcar'. - Maurice Evans (Dr. Zaius) was an English born and naturalized American actor who did a lot of Shakespeare and films. However, most of his work was not as popular as 'The Planet of the Apes' franchise. - James Whitmore (The President of the Assembly) was basically one of the best character actors around. He had a very long career and did so many things that to call out one is hard. However, he was best known for being a master of playing roles in one-man plays and touring them like 'Will Rogers, U.S.A.' (playing the American humorist and actor), 'Give'Em Hell, Harry!' (as U.S. President Harry S.Truman), and 'Bully' (as U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt). As for Franklin J. Schaffner...This was his first big hit. He only made a handful of films, some of which are still recognizable from the titles. He won tons of awards for his next film after this, 'Patton' (1970) with George C. Scott as General George Patton (it was an Oscar darling when it came out...Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay by Frances Ford Coppola). He also made 'Nicholas and Alexandra' (1971), 'Papillon' (1973) with Steve McQueen & Dustin Hoffman, 'The Boys From Brazil' (1978) with Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, and 'Yes, Giorgio' (1982) starring the legendary opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti in his only movie that was not an opera adapted for the screen. This was one of my favorite film series as a boy. Thanks for doing this one, Shan!
The reason for the apes evolution so quickly is explained in the sequels particularly the third film. Other great Charlton Heston films are ‘Ben Hur’ and ‘The Ten Commandments’.
I just assumed it was many hundreds of thousands of years,there is no way the statue of liberty could have been buried that deep in a short amount of time.
My last comment: I agree with others here that you ought to check out "The Omega Man" and "Soylent Green". Along with Apes, the three comprise Heston's Misanthrope Trilogy, which he did during the turbulent era of the late 60's/early 70's, when science fiction was especially morose and movies were joining it in the general sense of malaise, rebellion, and violence. _Star Trek_ had been cancelled and the future seemed to be full not of shiny ships and hopeful journeys, but of tension, pollution, shortages... it wasn't a good time, frankly.
@@odiumgeneris729 The Ten Commandments is great but it's not as good as Ben Hur. In fact when interviewed Heston said he wasn't pleased with The Ten Commandments as he felt he was too young to really do the part of Moses justice.
SO RARE to find someone who hasn't either seen this film or had the ending ruined at this point, so THANK YOU for providing this reaction/review and proving that this one's still got it (this 5-film series - despite applying the law of diminishing returns with each film going forward - is one of my favorite guilty pleasures, and you should see the other two Matt Reeves reboots if you want some more modern, high-quality ape adventures; skip the Tim Burton/Mark Wahlberg Apes film though; it's worth it for the prosthetics, but WOW did they bend that one over a sink otherwise, lol). Per your request, some other Charleton Heston must-sees: The Big Country (he's more of a co-star with Gregory Peck in the lead, but it's an amazing and unusually thought-provoking western with a rousing score) Touch of Evil (Orson Welles' best film after Citizen Kane, imo) Ben-Hur (most expensive film of its time in 1959 - at $15 million dollars - all of it on screen) Midway (an all-star international cast gives both sides of the battle a fair view, plus one of John Williams' best pre-Jaws scores; Heston's character is fictional, but like Titanic, is set in and around real events and people) The Ten Commandments (regardless of your religious beliefs, or lack thereof - I consider it a religious fantasy film myself - it's simply one of the biggest and best movies EVER MADE. BEHOLD HIS MIGHTY HAND!!!! I'm talking about Cecil B. DeMille, btw, lol). But whatever's next in your queue, looking forward to it as always - thanks!
Hey liked what you said,interesting read. I just wanted to add for all the people that saw the recent ape films before seeing the original it is unfortunate because you would know or have an idea that the character of Taylor was on the planet earth all along.
Other great Charlton Heston movies, which Shan should watch: "Soylent Green", "The Omega Man", "Ben Hur", "The Ten Commandments", and "A Touch of Evil".
Good reaction Shan. I saw this film at the theater in 1974 as a 12-year-old kid. It was shown as part of a matinee marathon of 3 Planet of the Apes films. The original was and still is my favorite. Heston dropping to his knees at the realization of where and when he actually was still stands as one of the great moments in film history.
One of my favorite movies of all time! And Shan, you're right, the movie does delve into social commentary, science vs religion, class separation, etc. Notice that Taylor was defending man while at the beginning criticizing man. He was confronted by Dr Zaius at the end, repeating Taylor's exact criticism of man. The movie is a masterpiece and intelligently written.
@@ShanWatchesMovies "El Cid" is definitely a must see Heston film. If you haven't seen it already, make sure you see the restoration that Martin Scorsese did about 25 years ago. Apparently, "El Cid" was one of Scorsese's favorites from his childhood.
Regarding the evolution of the apes from humans, they make it clear in the sequels that the apes didn't evolve from man, but the apes that already existed rose when humanity fell. I don't know if it was a retcon or if that was their intention from the beginning, but either way, it fixes that plot hole. :) Great video as always.
@Gerald H Easy when the person comments are addressed to hasn't seen the sequel movies yet, Shan managed to avoid knowing about the statue of liberty reveal at the end & that it is in fact earth, so if someone told him about that before he watched this one it would still be a spoiler, It's one thing to spoil a classic movie by accident ( By assuming someone already knows about the film because of it's age ) It's another to talk about details when someone has just said they haven't seen it yet, ( As is the case regarding the sequels ) And people on here are already laying out the most of the plot's of the next four ! 🤔
The original intent was to adapt the novel as closely as possible...except, the studio didn't have the budget for that. In the novel, it's explained how apes slowly became more human-like, until they rebelled. The humans trained themselves to not speak, so as not to upset the masters. This is explored in the sequels, where we see the advanced chimp Caesar rally ape slaves that, in my mind, had been genetically engineered. They looked like their descendants; not like the apes we'd see in a zoo.
This movie was co-written by Rod Serling, who was famous for his " shocking twist endings" on his TV show The Twilight Zone. Which makes the classic last scene so memorable. It was written by a master craftsman writer.
I've read the book and the original ending was much more like the ending of the Tim Burton movie, though even a bit more involved and confusing. In the book, they're undeniably on another planet since it's a planet orbiting the star Betelgeuse which is a red giant star and nothing like our own. Burton got alot of flack for trying too hard to "one up" the original ending, but he was actually closer to the ending from the book. In fact, when Pierre Boulle saw this movie's ending, he said that he wished he'd thought to end it this way himself in the book.
@@RyanPeterson23 Which interview did Pierre Boulle say that? His novel couldn't possibly have finished like that, the ending is a different twist altogether.
You should know that nearly 100% of the finished script was credited to Michael Wilson, not Rod Serling. And this is coming from Rod Serling, he originally didn't feel comfortable taking a writing credit as he felt that it was all Wilson's doing, but the studio wanted to honor Serling and gave him the credit anyway. Serling's script was virtually a 100% faithful adaptation of the novel, but the studio wanted to make the production cheaper so they hired Michael Wilson to do a complete rewrite. And also the entire religious persecution subplot was Wilson's, not Serling's-- Wilson based it on his own experiences being a blacklisted writer. Rod Serling is mostly credited with coming up with the ending of the movie. The ending as written ("damn you all to hell") wasn't written by Serling but the idea is mostly credited to him. Although, in recent years, up to seven people have taken credit for the film's ending, so god knows what's true or not.
The 4th one is my absolute favorite (but with the alternate ending - the one that was originally planned, but had to be changed because of viewers' reaction).
@parallax_616 I think it is important to point out that there never actually was a fact that needed to be explained..... rather...... the "claim" by the chimp doctors that maybe they believe they had an origin was supposed to be just a hypothesis. An unreliable narration type of thing. Not quite as direct as Obi-Wan telling Luke that Vader murdered his father....before we find out he is the father; but a similar "first hypothesis being unreliable" type of thing.
Even ignoring the prequels; the audience would have understood that "forbidden zone" was a nuclear explosion site and that radiation causes mutations. Nowadays we think "nuclear winter", then it was "wiped out cities, hot spots where they were that kill you, plenty of mutations (many positive) around". That was the trope for nuclear war in the 50s.
Shan, while technically the budgets kept getting cut for each successive sequel, they still continue the story with very little break in logic. No one has done reactions to all of them, yet. I love this film series, as well as the TV series that came around a year or two after the 5th movie. You should watch the other 4, as well as the "Behind the Planet of the Apes" documentary. While the point of how the apes evolved so quickly was never really addressed in the original films, the reboot gives some credence to the possibility of it happening much faster through scientific intervention. Also, I can recommend watching the two sequels that reboot spawned. We won't bring up the Tim Burton/Mark Wahlberg version, though.
Yeah, you saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes with Franco, you'd love Dawn and War. It's a wonderful Sci-Fi trilogy - and the original 5 are classics as well. I really love the original, Escape, and Conquest from the first 5. The Burton 2001 movie isn't great, but it's not horrible either - great Rick Baker makeups in it!
It was said that during breaks in the filming, the actors and extras in ape costumes tended to congregate for meals with those of the same species, regardless of the identity underneath. Another trivia bit on the costumes, as you might expect, the ape extras had less detailed prosthetics than the main actors who had to appear to talk as an ape and subject to closeup shots.
"I think this film is alluding to social commentary...." LOL... the whole movie is social commentary ;) Thanks for reviewing this film! And for another Charlton Heston classic: "Soylent Green"
Shan the prequels with Andy Serkis explains why the evolution of the apes occurred in such a short time. You should definitely check them out. I don't want to give away what happens and I hope no other comments do as well. keep up the great reactions and the innovative film choices. that definitely sets your channel apart.
This was a scary movie for a kid, but the toys were great. I had the Planet of the Apes Treehouse play set with figures in 1974. That set is worth some money today.
I had (still have) all the 8-inch action figures, as well as the tree house. My brother had the catapult, which was really cool as it shot those plastic boulders about 10 - 15 feet
This is easily my favorite out of the series. When I first watched it I was expecting it to be cheesy.....but I really got into it really quickly. One thing they did back in the 70's was re-release all 5 films back in theaters. They promoted it with carboard gorilla soldiers pointing like Uncle Sam saying, "Go ape!" I wish they'd do that again.
Still one of the best science fiction movies imo. Impressed the hell out of me, when I was watching it as a child. And no, I wasn't alive, when it came out. Born 1996, but it still impressed me :) Also, I don't think this movie just alludes to social commentary, it very much so has clear critiques of religion and authoritarianism in it.
Yeah the commentary is a little more subtle than what Star Trek was doing around the same time, but still right there on the surface. And it ages well too; the part where they think he's unintelligent because he doesn't know the arbitrary legends and tenets of their insular society is the sort of thing that comes up in academic testing all the time.
Fun trivia: The "oo-oo-oo" ape-like noise in the music is a _quica,_ a Brazilian friction drum composed of a tight drumhead with a stick glued to the inside of the skin so it protrudes into the drum. The player uses a damp rag to rub the stick inside the drum, creating that weird tone that sounds like an ape expressing alarm. You hear it most in "The Hunt", the track that's played during the manhunt that traps Taylor. (There is version of this instrument from northern Europe called a _rommelpot,_ that has the stick glued to the outside of the skin so it sticks up into the air. Even MORE fun to play!)
You’re my favorite when it comes to these movie reactions, Shan. You really give credit to all persons associated with each film. I’m glad that you enjoy the older stuff that a lot of us grew up watching. I think the CGI stuff is over done now days. I love how you try to figure out what’s going on and most of the time you are correct. Keep up the good work. “Let’s Go”.
Hey, Shan! This is a science fiction classic and a remarkable movie! I highly recommend you continue with the series. The closing scene with Taylor devastated on the beach kneeling before a destroyed Statue of Liberty is an ICONIC cinematic image! The film is loosely based on a French novel by Pierre Boulle. The screenplay was co-written by Rod Serling, the creator and writer of the original "Twilight Zone". Taylor's raucously sardonic laughter at the flag planting was an expression of his deep-seated disgust with human constructs and vanity especially in light of how far in the future they were rendering the flag an obsolete relic. While in suspended animation, the ship passes through a TIME WARP in space keeping them in the vicinity of Earth just at a different point in time. Later, the voyage is recreated by the apes to go back in time. Don't overthink the concept because it's just pseudo-science that's not meant to hold up under rigorous scrutiny. It's just credible enough to serve the plot. Similarly, your point about evolution is dealt with in the story when the ape revolution is revealed in a sequel. Simian science is just propaganda perpetuated by orangutans like Zaius. Notice the apes are grouped into three classes: chimpanzees are scientists, gorillas are soldiers and orangutans are administrators. Taylor is one of Heston's signature roles. This is as much a Chuck Heston movie as it is a sci-fi classic! The irony is that Taylor is a cynical misanthrope who loathes humanity even more than the apes do yet his actions kickstart a series of events that give both humankind and apekind a chance to reach their greatest potential. There are four sequels that maintain an internally consistent narrative that loops back on itself. All five films together form a saga. It is an excellent series. The production quality is unfortunately low budget and very clearly stuck in a '70s aesthetic but the five-film saga tells a remarkable story of hope and redemption. The other films are "Beneath the Planet of the Apes", "Escape From the Planet of the Apes", "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" and "Battle For the Planet of the Apes". The modern reboot trilogy of "Rise", "Dawn" and "War For the Planet of the Apes" is a rare modern reboot that equals the classic originals in emotional power. Avoid the dreadful Tim Burton remake at all costs!
It was great watching this with you. What you said at the end about how long evolution takes is why you must do the sequels starting with "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" followed by "Escape the Planet of the Apes", and the two following sequels after that to complete the initial 5 Planet Of The Apes saga. You will see how it all happened. I can tell you this Shan, back in '68 at age 13 I had no idea they were on Earth until the very end and it blew mine and most of our minds back then! Of course the Cold War and the threat of a nuclear holcaust was in full bloom going in to see PotA. All the ads on TV back then for PotA were careful not to spoil the ending. There were a good number of well known actors in PotA such as James Whitmore here 12:31 who played Brookes on The Shawshank Redemption. Enjoyed the reaction vid and keep up the good work! And if you haven't seen Shawshank, it's time you did! I suspect you have already.✌😎
Edward G. Robinson was originally going to be Zaius, but he found it too difficult to endure the make-up. He did help in the proof of concept test footage though.
@@Carandini Thanks for that. I can see why E.G. would not want to endure the make-up. That would be about 5 years before his last movie "Soylent Green" and what a performance! He's one of my very favorite actors and have seen about every movie he's done even less traveled movies like "A Dispatch From Reuters" and "Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet", etc. 👍
Rod Serling was the perfect choice in writing the screenplay since he's the creator & the host of the original 50's-60's TV-show The Twilight Zone, a great anthology series that for the most part always had a great twist at the end.
4:25 I've always believed Heston's character is laughing at that moment because he's certain America will not exist 2000 years into the future so it appears comical to him that this guy still holds on to that notion.
I love this one so much more than the reboots. Yes, the apes look like people in makeup, (which it won an academy award for, by the way...) but the script is so much better. I doubt too many studios would want to touch that whole science vs religion subtext just at the moment. Beneath the Planet of the Apes should be included on any list of best sequels ever. After that, the original franchise goes a little further downhill with each new movie.
Great video Shan. Planet of the Apes is a classic and you were on the right track when you senses the subtle social commentary. The co-writer of the film is Rod Serling, host and creator of The Twilight Zone. And the filmmakers have commented as much afterwards. Though this direction was never spoken aloud during the production. There was an unspoken understanding. By the way, the book the film was based on was originally a French novel from author Pierre Boulle. The author of “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. Charlton Heston has made many classic beloved films. I’m going to recommend though his collaboration with director Orson Welles “Touch of Evil” (1958) It’s a beautifully shot black and white film.
“The Bridge on the River Kwai" which also was made into a classic movie Shan should watch, with Alec Guinness, William Holden, directed by David Lean and, I was surprised to discover when I looked up the year, (1957) co-written by Michael Wilson.
In honor of Charlton Houston you should consider reviewing the Omega Man, which a lot of us consider to be a science-fiction classic. It’s based on the original novel from which I am legend was remade, but it’s by far the superior film. Would love to see your reaction to that one. Keep up the excellent work, have a great day!
Great flick, isn't it? As to the shortness of the "evolutionary" period, remember that this film was made during the era of the "talking apes" experiments, of Washoe and Nim Chimpsky. There was still a hope that apes could be taught to speak like humans, so it wasn't so far-fetched that they would have learned to do so in 2,000 years. (Of course now we know that it's impossible since they don't have the hardware.) The story of how this happened is laid out in the sequels. No spoilers, but one really should watch them in order. The third one is the lightest, with the most humor, and the fourth one is the most intense and politically charged. Personally, I think you can skip the last one but it's good, too.
'Conquest' was the only one that didn't get a G rating and was subjected to censorship to soften Caesar's speech at the end as test audiences in places like Watts got a little too into it for the comfort of authorities.
I may have missed it but I don't think the sequels really explain how the apes evolved into human-sized bipedal forms. I remember something about a disease, and cats and dogs dying, and humans taking apes as pets and then as slaves, but how apes got to be in the form they're depicted in the movies is totally glossed over.
At the time of the movie (and certainly the book) the trope "war->radiation->mutation->rapid evolution" was still active in the minds of the viewers. So this needed no explanation and wouldn't have caused anyone wo wonder.
trivia: during the break from filming the actor staying makeup, all the species sat and ate together-- the chimps with chimps the orangutans with the orangutans.
The film has a shocking twist I did not see coming! I first saw this film on the WB network in 1998, and I was blown away by it! The film won an Honorary Oscar for Best Makeup or something of the similar nature.
Yes, they won it for their groundbreaking ape makeup that allowed the actors to have greater range of expression and movable lips to speak. "2001 A Space Odyssey" used a similar makeup for the Dawn of Man sequences.
Yes,John Chambers (who was portrayed by John Goodman in the movie ARGO),did indeed win a special Oscar,only the second time this happened (the first was for The 7 Faces of Dr Lao).
Planet of the Apes was huge during its time. There were even Marvel comics, I still have them. There were only 12 issues with background information about the making of the movies, which was very unique, because at that time there was no such thing like "Making of..." like nowadays. In the Marvel comics they portrayed the movie plot but they also ventured into different directions. One storyline was a society of apes who life on a huge old-fashioned ship with sails, the size of an aircraft-carrier. Very weird and bizarre vibes. :)
The later movies explain how the evolution of the apes happened. Each adding its own lore to the series. In some ways you can consider this movie and the movie sequel following this as being like the original star wars trilogy. Its not the first movies chronologically but they let you know to some extent how the story inevitably ends.
If you like this film you should watch the original Twilight Zone series from the 60s, they have a lot of endings like that make you really think about things.
Rod Sterling, who was one of the screenwriters of The Planet Of The Apes, was the creator, producer and writer of (the original) The Twilight Zone tv series...
Great review of a classic movie. Another movie with Charlton Heston I could highly recommend is Ben Hur (1959), which is one of my all time favorite movies. Story, acting, sets, costumes, the amount of extras used, stunts, some really epic scenes, overall an amazing film for it's time (and to me still holds up as one of the best films). Ok, keep up the good work and best wishes.
I'm sure I've said this before, but my friend, you have excellent taste in movies. So much variety and quality. Mad respect BTW you were right. It's the American Southwest, primarily Arizona (around the Grand Canyon) and Utah. The final scene was shot on a beach near Malibu, California
Yup, at Lake Powell, on the Arizona/Utah border. Parts were also shot at the Glen Canyon, just downstream of the lake. In fact, where they are in the Forbidden Zone, talking across the cliff at each other, that's Horseshoe Bend behind them and the Colorado River below.
Absolutely watch the rest of the series. Even though the budgets started to fall, the stories kept moving along in very imaginative and epic directions . They explain how the apes evolved so fast later on in the series. Hope you can get around to it. It's no where near as long as the Bond franchise. Cheers.
Glad you enjoyed the film, it's one of my all time favorites. I particularly enjoy how Taylor starts out so cynical about humanity that he leaves Earth to find something better... only to then be put in a position where he's the one that has to actually defend humanity. Dr. Zaius is such a great antagonist too. His actions may make him the villain but, as you recognized, there's enough truth in his words that you can see his point-of-view. While none of the 1970s sequels are quite as good, they're still enjoyable. Charlton Heston also stars in another sci-fi classic from the 1970s Soylent Green. It takes place in the futuristic year of 2022 so might make for a fun reaction this year if you're so inclined.
Charlton Heston… One movie. The 10 Commandments!! What an epic with beautiful colors and cinematography!! Many like Benhur also, some more but for my money is the 10 Commandments not to miss!!!
You have an amazing array of movie reactions. True Romance, Falling Down and A Few Good Men are all amongst my favourite movies and i really enjoyed you're reactions to them and this was another very enjoyable one. Keep up the great work!
Other films with Charlton Heston that are worth a watch (as already mentioned) are: Ben Hur Soylent Green The Ten Commandments If you are interested in classic movies these three are a must watch!
What i found really interesting is that the Ape society did nothing invent on their own. Everything is eiter directly or indirectly adopted by the previous Human civilization. In 2000 years they didn't invent anything.
In the original screenplays the apes had a much more advanced society. It was intentionally made more primitive rationalizing that technology was associated with humans and was part of the reason for their destruction. Without advanced human level tech they wouldn't be tempted to think they could use it better and fall into the same trap.
If I remember correctly a special Academy Award was presented for the ape prosthetics developed for this film. The end of the novel was a little different. Apparently during breaks in filming the various types of "apes" started segregating themselves- Gorillas hung out with gorillas, Chimps had their meals with other chimps, etc. I don't think I've seen a bad Charleton Heston film. You MUST see Ben Hur.
The writing deserves tons of credit. The film is based on a science fiction novel from French author Pierre Boulle (definitely worth reading, it is a classic in the genre) with a script cowritten by the legendary Rod Serling. Serling was most famous for creating classic TV shows The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, but he was also among television's first generations of great writers with others such as Paddy Chayefsky (whi wrote Network). Serling (not Sterling) had a grasp on the human condition that is rarely seen and his scripts remain among some of the best things ever filmed. And that line about "precious cargo" isn't cringy when not viewed with the watered down lens of political correctness. Without the female crew member there is no chance of furthering humanity. That's precious.
Aside from the evolution issue, which they did attempt to explain in the sequels, one of my bigger problems with the film was how Taylor demonstrates flight to the astonished apes with a paper airplane, which _glides_ rather than flies. I find it very difficult to believe that a species who possessed paper, even in such a strict theological society, would never once have noticed that it was capable of gliding briefly when folded a certain way (or just carried on a strong gust of wind). Still a great movie for all the reasons you mentioned and an absolute classic.
@@ShanWatchesMovies The live action series only lasted for one season, I believe. The animated series was part of the Saturday morning lineup of cartoons during the 70s.
@@TwistedSither@Shan Watches Movies It was but when Close Encounters and Star Wars came out TV shows like Buck Rogers and Battle Star Galactica were in favor.
On a sidenote: If you haven´t already seen it: The movie "Twilight Zone" (1983) is also worth watching. It is based on the classic TV series and even features a remake of a classic episode that featured William Shatner (Captain Kirk). The remake of that episode doesn´t feature William Shatner, but Dan Akroyd (Ghostbusters & Blues Brothers) has a small role in it. The movie was (besides others) directed by John Landis (Blues Brothers & American Werewolf) and Joe Dante (Gremlins & The Howling).
There is a evolutionary back story on why the apes were advanced ahead of there time. If you were to watch the rest of the series. These old movies have a warm place in my heart. (The rest of the series run from ok, interesting, intense, weird, campy and fun but this one is a game changer for American cinema in my opinion)
Location shoots were well-established practice by this point in the 1960s, having taken off in the 1950s as one of several ways to make films look different from television programs of the period. The Forbidden Zone was near the recently constructed Glen Canyon Dam/Lake Powell area along the Arizona-Utah border. Ape City was constructed on 20th Century Fox's Fox Ranch property and still stands, now inside a California state park that includes the former studio land--there some YT videos that explore the decaying remains.
When he said "most movies were filmed in studios," I immediately that of all the Westerns filmed in the desert with mesas in the background! Location filming in the 1950s. Sweeping vistas as hordes of savage "indians" chase a fleeing stagecoach!
The choice of the name Galen is ironic - historically, Galen was an ancient Greek physician who believed that blood moved in the body by "centrifugal" forces. It was Harvey who said that the heart pumped it. There was a famous quote "I would rather err with Galen than accept Harvey's truth". Just in the way that the scientists in the movie refuse to accept the truth.
Lighthearted? As a kid.... the dessicated corpse in the spaceship, the dead humans in a pile, the other astronaut is STUFFED with blanked eyes, the remaining astronaut is horrifically lobotomised. All those things are the stuff of terrible nightmares :/
Was waiting for a watch on this. The apes faces was created by John Chambers who was awarded an Oscar. For more on him watch ARGO. The other four sequels are worth watching but suffer from decreasing budgets.
In the grander story the apes didn't simply evolve, they were bred by man for intelligence (originally as pets, but as they became smarter, as servants). If the story were written today I am sure there would be genetic engineering involved to increase their intelligence further. Part of the apes fear of man relates to how "servant" really quickly became "slave." Edit: What I really like is that the "Planet of the Apes" is set in New Jersey if you think about it.
Great reaction. I hope you continue on with the rest of the original franchise...4 more to go. If you DO, you will see how it IS possible for the apes to evolve in such a short time. :)
Great reaction to this sci-fi classic. Jerry Goldsmith started scoring for TV in the 1950's and early 60's. His first film score was in 1957. One of his first major film scores was in 1962 for Lonely Are The Brave with Kirk Douglas and I highly recommend this film. It was also Kirk's personal favorite film.
Awesome! Hope you get to do all of them down the line. It's one of the best sci fi and philosophical movie series ever made. But it's never preachy as it respects the audience to think about it all. The 2nd one added one of the writers who co wrote Goldfinger on board, Paul Dehn. He took over for Rod Sterling and the other writer. And he went hard on examining philosophical issues in each movie but it isn't annoying or obnoxious. Each of the sequels are very fun watches that make you think but entertain and advance the timeline and story well. But be prepared they can hit really, really hard if you aren't expecting it especially the endings/. The third movie, Escape, is probably my favorite of the sequels but they all work real well. My least is the 2nd one, but even it grew on me in the last re-watch. Roddy McDowell acts his heart out in all of them and is a fun lead. Plus you get solid performances from Eric Braden and Claude Adkins as well and they have great chances to shine. Can't wait to see your journey on those.
Brand new Sub. I'm very glad you enjoyed this movie. Saw it myself when I was 10 or 11 years old and has always been one of my all time favorite films. Having been born in 67' it's always great to see how well it aged and seeing a fellow movie buff see it for the first time was very entertaining...loved seeing your reaction at all the many pivotal scenes, including the final climax when seeing the statue of liberty poking out of the sand. Great film, great review. Will be watching for more. Thanks 👍😉
The recent Planet of the Apes trilogy is rather exceptional. The Matt Reeves films get particularly heavy. For some good fun, you should eventually give a watch to Tim Burton's remake from 2001; it's a doozy.
Whilst Burton's version is pretty subpar, it's kinda worth watching solely for the ape makeup/costumes. I'd take those over the cartoon monkeys any day of the week ^^
Useless Trivia: The French author of the original novel had one other book of his that became a well known Hollywood movie. "Bridge On The River Kwai."
I remember thinking at the end I would be so broken to have it confirmed I was home the whole time. Great reaction as always my guy ! Keep them coming.
One of my favourite films , Do invasion of the body snatchers sometime , that's another of my favourites. I think the same director made Papillon , which is a great film.
Long time viewer but first time commenting. You absolutely have my favorite movie reactions because you give great, thoughtful analysis after you watch and it’s fun seeing how your thoughts become sharper the more movies you watch. It’s been fun seeing your knowledge grow and how you apply things to other movies. And thank you for seriously taking when a film was made into account! I’ve seen so many people fail on that and they don’t look at a movie through the lens of when it was made in terms of effects, social commentary, etc.
A classic and a film I always find depressing, for some reason. Be aware the sequels are.... variable. The 3rd one might be worth you looking at as it is has a major change of location (no spoilers) and it is pretty much all character based.
Charlton Heston is an enjoyable actor to watch (he was one of the "action hero" actors of that time period), but his range is limited (he's essentially playing himself in different roles). Even though he doesn't have a lot of dramatic range, he was a good actor and is somehow acceptable in all kinds of roles in spite of himself. Some of the roles he took are almost absurd stretches taken at face value, but they still work more often than not. Like, he's clearly a brash American acting in the role of Moses (Ten Commandments), or when acting in movies like Ben Hur (Roman time period). There is very little attempt for him to play to the part in the way really skilled contemporary actors might... but, because of his charisma and his action chops, it's still extremely enjoyable to watch him in these roles. He has that "everyman" quality that makes it easy to identify with him and makes his struggles and emotional displays hit more on a gut level. I think many people would consider "The Ten Commandments" his signature, but films like Planet of the Apes are also synonymous with Heston because he made several dystopian action films about a messed up future during the 60's/70's (check out the iconic Soylent Green and/or less good The Omega Man as other examples). There are plenty of corny and even good historical/period films by him (examples like El Cid), and there are some surprising character studies like his portrayal of Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel ("The Agony and the Ecstasy") where Heston is honestly outclassed by Rex Harrison (almost as ridiculous as an American playing an Italian but a Englishman playing the Pope), but there are still some merits to that movie too. I would consider essential Charlton Heston films: Ten Commandments Ben Hur Planet of the Apes Soylent Green (not as good as Planet of the Apes imo, but is iconic and permeates pop-culture... there are jokes and references to this movie... don't look for them if you don't want it spoiled)
This is one of the few older excellent Sci-Fi films to have very good and worthwhile modern sequels. Most of the direct sequels back in the day were good as well.
I'd suggest both "Soylent Green" and "Omega Man", as 2 more Heston movies that don't entirely suck.That wasn't a drawing of the statue of Liberty but a fully formed 70 foot tall mock up of the upper part of that statue with scafolding built behind it so the camera man could shoot it from it's perspective towards Heston. There was a friendly chat about who was going to go up in the scaffolding to do the shoot from there and it turned out to be a production designer and someone else. The special edition silver case cover of this movie has hours of behind the scenes and info about the film and even a Roddy Mc Dowell, (Cornelius), short film of the make up prosthetics appplied to himself and other actors on set with the theme music of Goldsmith in the background, excellent watch I recommend for everyone..
I read the original book years ago.It was quite different,with a civilization similar to ours,as opposed to the primitive look of the movies (due to budget).
Are you going to watch the rest of the 70s POTA movies??? They are really good. The whole story is played out from beginning to end, meaning the transition from man ruling to apes
Great review.I say the sequels are worth a watch .For other Charlton Heston films I reccomend Touch of Evil,Omega Man ,Soylent Green,The Big Country ,The Three Muskateers and The Ten Commandments .I must also reccomend the work of Cornelius's actor:Fright Night(!985),Legend of Hell House (!973) ,Man Hunt (1941),Cleopatra (!963),Poseidon Adventure (1972) and That Darn Cat (1965)
What a classic. This one and beneath the planet of the apes are my faves. Both endings are insane.
2 роки тому+1
Shan, _Planets Of The Apes_ is a pentalogy, it requires the five films to know the whole story. There is also a tv series covering events before Taylor's landing.
I remember watching the first two of these movies on television when I was a kid, as well as the television series. In the seventies, when I was a kid watching this, seeing that ending blew my mind. But after so many movies like it over the decades, I can see why it loses that shock.
TIM BURTON also did a remake several years ago starting Mark Wahlberg playing Charlton Heston's character. The beach sequence at end of film was shot at ZUMA BEACH, my favorite in Los Angeles County. Funny trivia, at the South East corner where the Statue of Liberty is shown, you go up a cluster of boulders and it becomes a nude beach with great hiking trails up the cliffs and amazing views of the Pacific Ocean. There are also several caves formed by erosion. There are countless movie and televivion films that have been filmed there.
While it's hardly a classic and it's probably Burton's least-interesting film, there's a lot I really like about it and I think the makeup is best in the franchise on a technical level.
The movie with Nark Wahlberg was just Awful!!!!, Horrible, I rented it and wanted my money back. It was that Awful. I don't recommend watching it. They should just burn it.
You have to watch the whole original movie series ( up to Conquest of the Planet of The Apes ) to see how the evolution was sped up. My favourite part was when he was on trial and they personified “ Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Say No Evil “ when we are close minded to a different truth.
"Take your stinking paws off me you damn, dirty ape!" Classic! Charlton Heston has some of the most iconic lines in movie history.
I also like, "It's a madhouse! A madhouse!"
Dr. Zeus, Dr. Zeus, oh Dr. Zeus!
You really should have a lot more subscribers. You're more knowledgeable and do a more rational, analytical discussion of the movies you watch than most UA-cam reactors, and you watch a broader selection of movies than most UA-camrs.
When I saw this in the theater, I overheard somebody at the table behind me in the lunchroom give away the surprise ending, so I don't know what it like to get that big revelation. Even knowing the ending, I was thoroughly engrossed in the movie which I think speaks to how well written it is and shows the movie's rewatch value.
Thank you so much guys, for the kind words, it really helps me stay motivated :)
I've known about the surprise ending since the 80s. I saw this movie for the first time last year and the ending still hit like a bomb. It's a perfect example of much buildup and execution matter.
Amen. Shan is so much better than any other film reactor I have seen so far, including some who have massive following. I am hoping that at some point his channel suddenly explodes in followers like it deserves to.
@@peruanoextraviado7489 This will happen sooner or later. Especially if he deserves it. And Shan certainly deserves it, his analysis is better than in professional reviews.
@@ShanWatchesMovies "eyes ears and nose" Bless
They’ve been spoiling it for years by using the final shot as the box art for home releases so it’s great to see someone surprised by the twist!
Heston was also in the sci-fi classics “The Omega Man” and “Soylent Green”.
Good movies in their own right!
Yep. Hard to top Heston's Misanthrope Trilogy.
Don’t forget the masterpiece Charlton Heston movies of Ben Hur and Moses.
@@Jjj53214 Ben Hur , could be greatest movie of all time imo.
@@Jjj53214 He plays Moses in the film "The Ten Commandments."
The symbolism in this movie is par excellent.
Fun Fact: Roddy McDowall, an experienced actor, recommended to his companions in makeup that they should frequently add tics, blinks, and assorted facial gestures to add a sense of realism and keep the makeup from a "mask-like" appearance. McDowall reportedly became a merry prankster with the makeup, driving home with his make-up on, and shocking some of the other drivers on the freeway.
Nice bit of trivia, thanks!
Shan ...You're welcome. I try to add a little more than a simple "This Reaction Is Great!" in my comments. Please enjoy your day.
Roddy McDowell is always great fun to watch. One of my favorite roles schlockmeister Peter Vincent in Fright Night.
@Gerald H McDowall also made an appearance on the Carol Burnett Show in makeup where he sang a duet with her.
Watching this review I had never really picked up on the symbolism of racism and slavery until Shan mentioned the possible social commentary. It is not as overt like it was in District 9 where there it was an overt allegory to apartheid.
The sequels (it's a five-movie series) have their own fascinating timeline and mythology and go ALL over the place. It's pretty fascinating for being almost impossible to predict where the next film will go. Roddy McDowell skips the second film but returns for 3, 4 and 5 and he is the heart and soul of this series. I would DEFINITELY recommend continuing the series.
I really like the third film.
The reason why McDowell wasn't in the 2nd movie was because he was busy filming another movie.
Greatest twist ending of all time.
Sequels were really looked down at back then, and most stars & directors didn't want to do them, because they thought that the original movie told the whole story, and sequels were a cheap low budget knockoffs from the studios trying to make 'cheap quick buck', it wasn't until the Godfathers & Star Wars sequels that things slowly started to change, with bigger budgets better writers, etc.
@@susiestone5644 I think you mean "directors" & not "dictators" 😜😉
Another interesting sci fi film made in 1973 starring Charlton Heston is Soylent Green. Hope you add it to your list.
Yes! and I’d like to recommend ‘Logan’s Run’ as another classic sci-fi ahead of it’s time.
Omega Man is worth a look. Campy, but good.
MUST SEE...
Go for the triple and watch The Omega Man too!
Soylent Green and Omega Man are both classics
Another favorite with Charlton Heston is 'Soylent Green' 1973
Another vote for "Soylent Green" great movie.👍😎
In "SOYLENT GREEN", the action takes place in 2022 ! 😁
interesting trivia.. Soylent green is set in the 2022
The cast of this film was filled with a few major actors of the time.
- Roddy McDowell (Cornelius) - With the most recognizable voice, Roddy was a child actor turned mature character actor who appeared in tons of films and tv shows. He was the voice of the robot V.I.N.Cent in Disney's 'The Black Hole', appeared with lifelong friend Elizabeth Taylor in 'National Velvet' as well as playing Octavius opposite her as 'Cleopatra', was Peter Vincent in the original horror classic 'Fright Night', and was a beloved figure in Hollywood. His filmography is long, distinguished and spans from the late 1930s to the 1990s. As far as 'Planet of the Apes'...he was Cornelius, then his son Ceasar, and in the short-lived TV series, played Galen.
- Kim Hunter (Zira) won the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress playing Stella Kowalski in 'A Streetcar Named Desire', reprising the role she created in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' play opposite Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski. She did a lot of television and films, but only 'The Planet of the Apes' films match the popularity of 'Streetcar'.
- Maurice Evans (Dr. Zaius) was an English born and naturalized American actor who did a lot of Shakespeare and films. However, most of his work was not as popular as 'The Planet of the Apes' franchise.
- James Whitmore (The President of the Assembly) was basically one of the best character actors around. He had a very long career and did so many things that to call out one is hard. However, he was best known for being a master of playing roles in one-man plays and touring them like 'Will Rogers, U.S.A.' (playing the American humorist and actor), 'Give'Em Hell, Harry!' (as U.S. President Harry S.Truman), and 'Bully' (as U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt).
As for Franklin J. Schaffner...This was his first big hit. He only made a handful of films, some of which are still recognizable from the titles. He won tons of awards for his next film after this, 'Patton' (1970) with George C. Scott as General George Patton (it was an Oscar darling when it came out...Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay by Frances Ford Coppola). He also made 'Nicholas and Alexandra' (1971), 'Papillon' (1973) with Steve McQueen & Dustin Hoffman, 'The Boys From Brazil' (1978) with Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, and 'Yes, Giorgio' (1982) starring the legendary opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti in his only movie that was not an opera adapted for the screen.
This was one of my favorite film series as a boy. Thanks for doing this one, Shan!
The reason for the apes evolution so quickly is explained in the sequels particularly the third film. Other great Charlton Heston films are ‘Ben Hur’ and ‘The Ten Commandments’.
Gotta watch the other films to understand what actually happened.
Planet Of The Apes, Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments...Charlton Heston once said that for most of his career he didn't need trousers.
I just assumed it was many hundreds of thousands of years,there is no way the statue of liberty could have been buried that deep in a short amount of time.
Miklós Rózsa's score to "Ben-Hur" and Elmer Bernstein's score to "The Ten Commandments" are pure awesomeness.
@@hifijohn if there was a nuclear war and the bottom half was blown off it could
My last comment: I agree with others here that you ought to check out "The Omega Man" and "Soylent Green". Along with Apes, the three comprise Heston's Misanthrope Trilogy, which he did during the turbulent era of the late 60's/early 70's, when science fiction was especially morose and movies were joining it in the general sense of malaise, rebellion, and violence. _Star Trek_ had been cancelled and the future seemed to be full not of shiny ships and hopeful journeys, but of tension, pollution, shortages... it wasn't a good time, frankly.
If you want to see an epic movie with Charlton Heston at the top of his game then I would recommend the all time classic Ben-Hur.
The Ten Commandments: "Am I a joke to you?"
@@odiumgeneris729 ?
Definitely watch Ben-Hur, a true masterpiece. In fact, if you haven't already watched it, why not?
@@billrab1890 I think Odium means The Ten Commandments is a much better known Heston film than Ben-Hur
@@odiumgeneris729 The Ten Commandments is great but it's not as good as Ben Hur. In fact when interviewed Heston said he wasn't pleased with The Ten Commandments as he felt he was too young to really do the part of Moses justice.
SO RARE to find someone who hasn't either seen this film or had the ending ruined at this point, so THANK YOU for providing this reaction/review and proving that this one's still got it (this 5-film series - despite applying the law of diminishing returns with each film going forward - is one of my favorite guilty pleasures, and you should see the other two Matt Reeves reboots if you want some more modern, high-quality ape adventures; skip the Tim Burton/Mark Wahlberg Apes film though; it's worth it for the prosthetics, but WOW did they bend that one over a sink otherwise, lol).
Per your request, some other Charleton Heston must-sees:
The Big Country (he's more of a co-star with Gregory Peck in the lead, but it's an amazing and unusually thought-provoking western with a rousing score)
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles' best film after Citizen Kane, imo)
Ben-Hur (most expensive film of its time in 1959 - at $15 million dollars - all of it on screen)
Midway (an all-star international cast gives both sides of the battle a fair view, plus one of John Williams' best pre-Jaws scores; Heston's character is fictional, but like Titanic, is set in and around real events and people)
The Ten Commandments (regardless of your religious beliefs, or lack thereof - I consider it a religious fantasy film myself - it's simply one of the biggest and best movies EVER MADE. BEHOLD HIS MIGHTY HAND!!!! I'm talking about Cecil B. DeMille, btw, lol).
But whatever's next in your queue, looking forward to it as always - thanks!
Hey liked what you said,interesting read. I just wanted to add for all the people that saw the recent ape films before seeing the original it is unfortunate because you would know or have an idea that the character of Taylor was on the planet earth all along.
Don't forget "The Agony and the Ecstasy", "Khartoum", and his crowning achievement: "Wayne's World 2".
Other great Charlton Heston movies, which Shan should watch: "Soylent Green", "The Omega Man", "Ben Hur", "The Ten Commandments", and "A Touch of Evil".
Good reaction Shan. I saw this film at the theater in 1974 as a 12-year-old kid. It was shown as part of a matinee marathon of 3 Planet of the Apes films. The original was and still is my favorite. Heston dropping to his knees at the realization of where and when he actually was still stands as one of the great moments in film history.
One of my favorite movies of all time! And Shan, you're right, the movie does delve into social commentary, science vs religion, class separation, etc.
Notice that Taylor was defending man while at the beginning criticizing man. He was confronted by Dr Zaius at the end, repeating Taylor's exact criticism of man. The movie is a masterpiece and intelligently written.
Another really good sc-fi movie with Charlton Heston is Soylent Green from 1973.
Charlton Heston's main films are the 10 Commandments and Ben Hur. Ben Hur is one of the best films ever made.
Ben Hur is in the pipeline Lee, I have watched the 10 Commandments though!
@@ShanWatchesMovies Got to watch Charlton Heston in "Soylent Green"!
@@ShanWatchesMovies "El Cid" is definitely a must see Heston film. If you haven't seen it already, make sure you see the restoration that Martin Scorsese did about 25 years ago. Apparently, "El Cid" was one of Scorsese's favorites from his childhood.
Regarding the evolution of the apes from humans, they make it clear in the sequels that the apes didn't evolve from man, but the apes that already existed rose when humanity fell. I don't know if it was a retcon or if that was their intention from the beginning, but either way, it fixes that plot hole. :)
Great video as always.
WTF is wrong with you? Are you the guy that spoils everything in the theater for your friends that are sitting next to you?
@@menotu000 The movie is more than 50 years old. I think it's safe. ;)
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Oh, and Norman Bates IS his mother.
@Gerald H Easy when the person comments are addressed to hasn't seen the sequel movies yet, Shan managed to avoid knowing about the statue of liberty reveal at the end & that it is in fact earth, so if someone told him about that before he watched this one it would still be a spoiler, It's one thing to spoil a classic movie by accident ( By assuming someone already knows about the film because of it's age ) It's another to talk about details when someone has just said they haven't seen it yet, ( As is the case regarding the sequels ) And people on here are already laying out the most of the plot's of the next four ! 🤔
The original intent was to adapt the novel as closely as possible...except, the studio didn't have the budget for that.
In the novel, it's explained how apes slowly became more human-like, until they rebelled. The humans trained themselves to not speak, so as not to upset the masters.
This is explored in the sequels, where we see the advanced chimp Caesar rally ape slaves that, in my mind, had been genetically engineered. They looked like their descendants; not like the apes we'd see in a zoo.
This movie was co-written by Rod Serling, who was famous for his " shocking twist endings" on his TV show The Twilight Zone.
Which makes the classic last scene so memorable. It was written by a master craftsman writer.
Wow! I didnt know Serling was involved. Not terrifically surprised, though,
The movie is based on a book, which also has a twist ending, though more like in the reboot.
I've read the book and the original ending was much more like the ending of the Tim Burton movie, though even a bit more involved and confusing. In the book, they're undeniably on another planet since it's a planet orbiting the star Betelgeuse which is a red giant star and nothing like our own. Burton got alot of flack for trying too hard to "one up" the original ending, but he was actually closer to the ending from the book. In fact, when Pierre Boulle saw this movie's ending, he said that he wished he'd thought to end it this way himself in the book.
@@RyanPeterson23 Which interview did Pierre Boulle say that? His novel couldn't possibly have finished like that, the ending is a different twist altogether.
You should know that nearly 100% of the finished script was credited to Michael Wilson, not Rod Serling. And this is coming from Rod Serling, he originally didn't feel comfortable taking a writing credit as he felt that it was all Wilson's doing, but the studio wanted to honor Serling and gave him the credit anyway. Serling's script was virtually a 100% faithful adaptation of the novel, but the studio wanted to make the production cheaper so they hired Michael Wilson to do a complete rewrite. And also the entire religious persecution subplot was Wilson's, not Serling's-- Wilson based it on his own experiences being a blacklisted writer. Rod Serling is mostly credited with coming up with the ending of the movie. The ending as written ("damn you all to hell") wasn't written by Serling but the idea is mostly credited to him. Although, in recent years, up to seven people have taken credit for the film's ending, so god knows what's true or not.
The Sequels are worth checking out just be prepared not to expect any of them to be as classic as the original
The sequels explained how the apes evolved in such a short period
The 4th one is my absolute favorite (but with the alternate ending - the one that was originally planned, but had to be changed because of viewers' reaction).
@@burni82 the 4th one is good but I prefer the 5th and I hope you agree the 3rd is the worst
@@seanbumstead1250 ...sorry, but it's the 5th I like the least. Just my opinion. 4, 1, 3, 2, 5
@parallax_616 I think it is important to point out that there never actually was a fact that needed to be explained..... rather...... the "claim" by the chimp doctors that maybe they believe they had an origin was supposed to be just a hypothesis. An unreliable narration type of thing. Not quite as direct as Obi-Wan telling Luke that Vader murdered his father....before we find out he is the father; but a similar "first hypothesis being unreliable" type of thing.
Even ignoring the prequels; the audience would have understood that "forbidden zone" was a nuclear explosion site and that radiation causes mutations.
Nowadays we think "nuclear winter", then it was "wiped out cities, hot spots where they were that kill you, plenty of mutations (many positive) around". That was the trope for nuclear war in the 50s.
Shan, while technically the budgets kept getting cut for each successive sequel, they still continue the story with very little break in logic. No one has done reactions to all of them, yet. I love this film series, as well as the TV series that came around a year or two after the 5th movie.
You should watch the other 4, as well as the "Behind the Planet of the Apes" documentary.
While the point of how the apes evolved so quickly was never really addressed in the original films, the reboot gives some credence to the possibility of it happening much faster through scientific intervention. Also, I can recommend watching the two sequels that reboot spawned. We won't bring up the Tim Burton/Mark Wahlberg version, though.
Yeah, you saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes with Franco, you'd love Dawn and War. It's a wonderful Sci-Fi trilogy - and the original 5 are classics as well. I really love the original, Escape, and Conquest from the first 5. The Burton 2001 movie isn't great, but it's not horrible either - great Rick Baker makeups in it!
More then 👍 but ❤ on the comment.
@@minnesotajones261 The Burton abomination is utter trash. Baker's makeup is like dumping expensive perfume on a pile of shit.
@@Carandini I don't think it's that bad, but your perfume comment made me laugh! Nice! :o)
It was said that during breaks in the filming, the actors and extras in ape costumes tended to congregate for meals with those of the same species, regardless of the identity underneath. Another trivia bit on the costumes, as you might expect, the ape extras had less detailed prosthetics than the main actors who had to appear to talk as an ape and subject to closeup shots.
Not nearly so much in the first movie, but certainly in the sequels.
John Chapman won a Special Oscar for the Makeup.
"I think this film is alluding to social commentary...." LOL... the whole movie is social commentary ;) Thanks for reviewing this film! And for another Charlton Heston classic: "Soylent Green"
Shan the prequels with Andy Serkis explains why the evolution of the apes occurred in such a short time. You should definitely check them out. I don't want to give away what happens and I hope no other comments do as well. keep up the great reactions and the innovative film choices. that definitely sets your channel apart.
This was a scary movie for a kid, but the toys were great. I had the Planet of the Apes Treehouse play set with figures in 1974. That set is worth some money today.
Funny, I had an ape doll myself.
I had (still have) all the 8-inch action figures, as well as the tree house. My brother had the catapult, which was really cool as it shot those plastic boulders about 10 - 15 feet
This is easily my favorite out of the series. When I first watched it I was expecting it to be cheesy.....but I really got into it really quickly. One thing they did back in the 70's was re-release all 5 films back in theaters. They promoted it with carboard gorilla soldiers pointing like Uncle Sam saying, "Go ape!" I wish they'd do that again.
Still one of the best science fiction movies imo. Impressed the hell out of me, when I was watching it as a child. And no, I wasn't alive, when it came out. Born 1996, but it still impressed me :)
Also, I don't think this movie just alludes to social commentary, it very much so has clear critiques of religion and authoritarianism in it.
Yeah the commentary is a little more subtle than what Star Trek was doing around the same time, but still right there on the surface. And it ages well too; the part where they think he's unintelligent because he doesn't know the arbitrary legends and tenets of their insular society is the sort of thing that comes up in academic testing all the time.
Fun trivia: The "oo-oo-oo" ape-like noise in the music is a _quica,_ a Brazilian friction drum composed of a tight drumhead with a stick glued to the inside of the skin so it protrudes into the drum. The player uses a damp rag to rub the stick inside the drum, creating that weird tone that sounds like an ape expressing alarm. You hear it most in "The Hunt", the track that's played during the manhunt that traps Taylor. (There is version of this instrument from northern Europe called a _rommelpot,_ that has the stick glued to the outside of the skin so it sticks up into the air. Even MORE fun to play!)
You’re my favorite when it comes to these movie reactions, Shan. You really give credit to all persons associated with each film. I’m glad that you enjoy the older stuff that a lot of us grew up watching. I think the CGI stuff is over done now days. I love how you try to figure out what’s going on and most of the time you are correct. Keep up the good work. “Let’s Go”.
Soylent Green is the other Charlton Heston sci-fi movie to watch, a classic.
Agreed. Plus The Omega Man is definitely worth watching too.
Hey, Shan! This is a science fiction classic and a remarkable movie! I highly recommend you continue with the series.
The closing scene with Taylor devastated on the beach kneeling before a destroyed Statue of Liberty is an ICONIC cinematic image!
The film is loosely based on a French novel by Pierre Boulle.
The screenplay was co-written by Rod Serling, the creator and writer of the original "Twilight Zone".
Taylor's raucously sardonic laughter at the flag planting was an expression of his deep-seated disgust with human constructs and vanity especially in light of how far in the future they were rendering the flag an obsolete relic.
While in suspended animation, the ship passes through a TIME WARP in space keeping them in the vicinity of Earth just at a different point in time. Later, the voyage is recreated by the apes to go back in time. Don't overthink the concept because it's just pseudo-science that's not meant to hold up under rigorous scrutiny. It's just credible enough to serve the plot.
Similarly, your point about evolution is dealt with in the story when the ape revolution is revealed in a sequel. Simian science is just propaganda perpetuated by orangutans like Zaius.
Notice the apes are grouped into three classes: chimpanzees are scientists, gorillas are soldiers and orangutans are administrators.
Taylor is one of Heston's signature roles. This is as much a Chuck Heston movie as it is a sci-fi classic!
The irony is that Taylor is a cynical misanthrope who loathes humanity even more than the apes do yet his actions kickstart a series of events that give both humankind and apekind a chance to reach their greatest potential.
There are four sequels that maintain an internally consistent narrative that loops back on itself. All five films together form a saga. It is an excellent series.
The production quality is unfortunately low budget and very clearly stuck in a '70s aesthetic but the five-film saga tells a remarkable story of hope and redemption.
The other films are "Beneath the Planet of the Apes", "Escape From the Planet of the Apes", "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" and "Battle For the Planet of the Apes".
The modern reboot trilogy of "Rise", "Dawn" and "War For the Planet of the Apes" is a rare modern reboot that equals the classic originals in emotional power.
Avoid the dreadful Tim Burton remake at all costs!
Franklin Schaffer followed up PotA' with Patton (1970), Nicolas and Alexandra (1971), Papillon -etc. a versatile director.
It was great watching this with you. What you said at the end about how long evolution takes is why you must do the sequels starting with "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" followed by "Escape the Planet of the Apes", and the two following sequels after that to complete the initial 5 Planet Of The Apes saga. You will see how it all happened. I can tell you this Shan, back in '68 at age 13 I had no idea they were on Earth until the very end and it blew mine and most of our minds back then! Of course the Cold War and the threat of a nuclear holcaust was in full bloom going in to see PotA. All the ads on TV back then for PotA were careful not to spoil the ending. There were a good number of well known actors in PotA such as James Whitmore here 12:31 who played Brookes on The Shawshank Redemption. Enjoyed the reaction vid and keep up the good work! And if you haven't seen Shawshank, it's time you did! I suspect you have already.✌😎
Edward G. Robinson was originally going to be Zaius, but he found it too difficult to endure the make-up. He did help in the proof of concept test footage though.
@@Carandini Thanks for that. I can see why E.G. would not want to endure the make-up. That would be about 5 years before his last movie "Soylent Green" and what a performance! He's one of my very favorite actors and have seen about every movie he's done even less traveled movies like "A Dispatch From Reuters" and "Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet", etc. 👍
Rod Serling was the perfect choice in writing the screenplay since he's the creator & the host of the original 50's-60's TV-show The Twilight Zone, a great anthology series that for the most part always had a great twist at the end.
Rod Serling was an icon of early American television. He was the creator and head writer of the American classic tv show, "The Twilight Zone."
There's also, 'The Night Gallery' an even more scary show similar to 'The Twilight Zone'.
4:25 I've always believed Heston's character is laughing at that moment because he's certain America will not exist 2000 years into the future so it appears comical to him that this guy still holds on to that notion.
It was a mind blowing movie in 1968 and a blockbuster that launched 4 sequels, a tv show, a cartoon and a massive amount of merchandise.
One of the most iconic movie endings ever. I can’t remember if you watched “Space Balls.” If so, now you get the ape bit toward the end of the movie.
I love this one so much more than the reboots. Yes, the apes look like people in makeup, (which it won an academy award for, by the way...) but the script is so much better. I doubt too many studios would want to touch that whole science vs religion subtext just at the moment. Beneath the Planet of the Apes should be included on any list of best sequels ever. After that, the original franchise goes a little further downhill with each new movie.
Apes look like people in GREAT makeup.
That's one thing I have to give to the Tim Burton version - its ape makeup/costumes are (mostly) really good.
When I saw these movies as a kid I thought they really were talking apes. They were incredibly convincing at the time
The newer ones are not reboots. They are prequels
@@nenabunena no they are reboots
Great video Shan.
Planet of the Apes is a classic and you were on the right track when you senses the subtle social commentary.
The co-writer of the film is Rod Serling, host and creator of The Twilight Zone.
And the filmmakers have commented as much afterwards. Though this direction was never spoken aloud during the production. There was an unspoken understanding.
By the way, the book the film was based on was originally a French novel from author Pierre Boulle.
The author of
“The Bridge on the River Kwai”.
Charlton Heston has made many classic beloved films.
I’m going to recommend though his collaboration with director Orson Welles
“Touch of Evil” (1958)
It’s a beautifully shot black and white film.
“The Bridge on the River Kwai" which also was made into a classic movie Shan should watch, with Alec Guinness, William Holden, directed by David Lean and, I was surprised to discover when I looked up the year, (1957) co-written by Michael Wilson.
In honor of Charlton Houston you should consider reviewing the Omega Man, which a lot of us consider to be a science-fiction classic. It’s based on the original novel from which I am legend was remade, but it’s by far the superior film. Would love to see your reaction to that one. Keep up the excellent work, have a great day!
Great flick, isn't it? As to the shortness of the "evolutionary" period, remember that this film was made during the era of the "talking apes" experiments, of Washoe and Nim Chimpsky. There was still a hope that apes could be taught to speak like humans, so it wasn't so far-fetched that they would have learned to do so in 2,000 years. (Of course now we know that it's impossible since they don't have the hardware.) The story of how this happened is laid out in the sequels. No spoilers, but one really should watch them in order. The third one is the lightest, with the most humor, and the fourth one is the most intense and politically charged. Personally, I think you can skip the last one but it's good, too.
'Conquest' was the only one that didn't get a G rating and was subjected to censorship to soften Caesar's speech at the end as test audiences in places like Watts got a little too into it for the comfort of authorities.
He should skip none.
I may have missed it but I don't think the sequels really explain how the apes evolved into human-sized bipedal forms. I remember something about a disease, and cats and dogs dying, and humans taking apes as pets and then as slaves, but how apes got to be in the form they're depicted in the movies is totally glossed over.
@@signupstuff I think you're overthinking this, dude. Way too many people expect exact explanations from things that are just supposed to entertain.
At the time of the movie (and certainly the book) the trope "war->radiation->mutation->rapid evolution" was still active in the minds of the viewers. So this needed no explanation and wouldn't have caused anyone wo wonder.
trivia: during the break from filming the actor staying makeup, all the species sat and ate together-- the chimps with chimps the orangutans with the orangutans.
The film has a shocking twist I did not see coming! I first saw this film on the WB network in 1998, and I was blown away by it! The film won an Honorary Oscar for Best Makeup or something of the similar nature.
I saw it for the first time around then and I didn't know about the twist either. But it definitely made the end of Spaceballs make more sense.
Yes, they won it for their groundbreaking ape makeup that allowed the actors to have greater range of expression and movable lips to speak. "2001 A Space Odyssey" used a similar makeup for the Dawn of Man sequences.
Yes,John Chambers (who was portrayed by John Goodman in the movie ARGO),did indeed win a special Oscar,only the second time this happened (the first was for The 7 Faces of Dr Lao).
Planet of the Apes was huge during its time. There were even Marvel comics, I still have them. There were only 12 issues with background information about the making of the movies, which was very unique, because at that time there was no such thing like "Making of..." like nowadays. In the Marvel comics they portrayed the movie plot but they also ventured into different directions. One storyline was a society of apes who life on a huge old-fashioned ship with sails, the size of an aircraft-carrier. Very weird and bizarre vibes. :)
Rod Serling = Genius (just thought I’d mention that…)
The later movies explain how the evolution of the apes happened. Each adding its own lore to the series. In some ways you can consider this movie and the movie sequel following this as being like the original star wars trilogy. Its not the first movies chronologically but they let you know to some extent how the story inevitably ends.
If you like this film you should watch the original Twilight Zone series from the 60s, they have a lot of endings like that make you really think about things.
Rod Sterling, who was one of the screenwriters of The Planet Of The Apes, was the creator, producer and writer of (the original) The Twilight Zone tv series...
Great review of a classic movie. Another movie with Charlton Heston I could highly recommend is Ben Hur (1959), which is one of my all time favorite movies. Story, acting, sets, costumes, the amount of extras used, stunts, some really epic scenes, overall an amazing film for it's time (and to me still holds up as one of the best films). Ok, keep up the good work and best wishes.
I'm sure I've said this before, but my friend, you have excellent taste in movies. So much variety and quality. Mad respect
BTW you were right. It's the American Southwest, primarily Arizona (around the Grand Canyon) and Utah. The final scene was shot on a beach near Malibu, California
Thank you for your kind words, they really do go a long way :)
Yup, at Lake Powell, on the Arizona/Utah border. Parts were also shot at the Glen Canyon, just downstream of the lake. In fact, where they are in the Forbidden Zone, talking across the cliff at each other, that's Horseshoe Bend behind them and the Colorado River below.
Absolutely watch the rest of the series. Even though the budgets started to fall, the stories kept moving along in very imaginative and epic directions . They explain how the apes evolved so fast later on in the series. Hope you can get around to it. It's no where near as long as the Bond franchise. Cheers.
Glad you enjoyed the film, it's one of my all time favorites. I particularly enjoy how Taylor starts out so cynical about humanity that he leaves Earth to find something better... only to then be put in a position where he's the one that has to actually defend humanity. Dr. Zaius is such a great antagonist too. His actions may make him the villain but, as you recognized, there's enough truth in his words that you can see his point-of-view. While none of the 1970s sequels are quite as good, they're still enjoyable. Charlton Heston also stars in another sci-fi classic from the 1970s Soylent Green. It takes place in the futuristic year of 2022 so might make for a fun reaction this year if you're so inclined.
Charlton Heston… One movie. The 10 Commandments!! What an epic with beautiful colors and cinematography!! Many like Benhur also, some more but for my money is the 10 Commandments not to miss!!!
You have an amazing array of movie reactions. True Romance, Falling Down and A Few Good Men are all amongst my favourite movies and i really enjoyed you're reactions to them and this was another very enjoyable one. Keep up the great work!
Other films with Charlton Heston that are worth a watch (as already mentioned) are:
Ben Hur
Soylent Green
The Ten Commandments
If you are interested in classic movies these three are a must watch!
Don't forget, "The Omega Man"!
What i found really interesting is that the Ape society did nothing invent on their own. Everything is eiter directly or indirectly adopted by the previous Human civilization.
In 2000 years they didn't invent anything.
For that to happen the screenwriters would have probably needed 2000 years to work on the script.
In the original screenplays the apes had a much more advanced society. It was intentionally made more primitive rationalizing that technology was associated with humans and was part of the reason for their destruction. Without advanced human level tech they wouldn't be tempted to think they could use it better and fall into the same trap.
If I remember correctly a special Academy Award was presented for the ape prosthetics developed for this film. The end of the novel was a little different. Apparently during breaks in filming the various types of "apes" started segregating themselves- Gorillas hung out with gorillas, Chimps had their meals with other chimps, etc. I don't think I've seen a bad Charleton Heston film. You MUST see Ben Hur.
Schaffner made two great movies in the 70's Patton & Papillon.
I didnt realise he made papillon , excellent film .
The writing deserves tons of credit. The film is based on a science fiction novel from French author Pierre Boulle (definitely worth reading, it is a classic in the genre) with a script cowritten by the legendary Rod Serling. Serling was most famous for creating classic TV shows The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, but he was also among television's first generations of great writers with others such as Paddy Chayefsky (whi wrote Network). Serling (not Sterling) had a grasp on the human condition that is rarely seen and his scripts remain among some of the best things ever filmed.
And that line about "precious cargo" isn't cringy when not viewed with the watered down lens of political correctness. Without the female crew member there is no chance of furthering humanity. That's precious.
A couple of other fun well-done sci-fi films starring Charlton Heston are "The Omega Man" and "Soylent Green".
Aside from the evolution issue, which they did attempt to explain in the sequels, one of my bigger problems with the film was how Taylor demonstrates flight to the astonished apes with a paper airplane, which _glides_ rather than flies. I find it very difficult to believe that a species who possessed paper, even in such a strict theological society, would never once have noticed that it was capable of gliding briefly when folded a certain way (or just carried on a strong gust of wind).
Still a great movie for all the reasons you mentioned and an absolute classic.
I loved this film series, and the short-lived TV series (as well as an animated series) it inspired.
Didn't know they made a tv show Ronald!
@@ShanWatchesMovies The live action series only lasted for one season, I believe. The animated series was part of the Saturday morning lineup of cartoons during the 70s.
@@TwistedSither@Shan Watches Movies It was but when Close Encounters and Star Wars came out TV shows like Buck Rogers and Battle Star Galactica were in favor.
@@ShanWatchesMovies Roddy McDowall was in the TV series as well as 4 of the movies. 😀
On a sidenote: If you haven´t already seen it: The movie "Twilight Zone" (1983) is also worth watching. It is based on the classic TV series and even features a remake of a classic episode that featured William Shatner (Captain Kirk). The remake of that episode doesn´t feature William Shatner, but Dan Akroyd (Ghostbusters & Blues Brothers) has a small role in it. The movie was (besides others) directed by John Landis (Blues Brothers & American Werewolf) and Joe Dante (Gremlins & The Howling).
You should definitely watch the whole series, even if it isn't as a reaction. It answers the whole history of the Planet of the Apes.
There is a evolutionary back story on why the apes were advanced ahead of there time. If you were to watch the rest of the series. These old movies have a warm place in my heart. (The rest of the series run from ok, interesting, intense, weird, campy and fun but this one is a game changer for American cinema in my opinion)
Location shoots were well-established practice by this point in the 1960s, having taken off in the 1950s as one of several ways to make films look different from television programs of the period. The Forbidden Zone was near the recently constructed Glen Canyon Dam/Lake Powell area along the Arizona-Utah border. Ape City was constructed on 20th Century Fox's Fox Ranch property and still stands, now inside a California state park that includes the former studio land--there some YT videos that explore the decaying remains.
When he said "most movies were filmed in studios," I immediately that of all the Westerns filmed in the desert with mesas in the background! Location filming in the 1950s. Sweeping vistas as hordes of savage "indians" chase a fleeing stagecoach!
The choice of the name Galen is ironic - historically, Galen was an ancient Greek physician who believed that blood moved in the body by "centrifugal" forces. It was Harvey who said that the heart pumped it. There was a famous quote "I would rather err with Galen than accept Harvey's truth". Just in the way that the scientists in the movie refuse to accept the truth.
PLEASE react to Soylent Green at some point this year. Another Charlton Heston classic and it's set in the future, dystopian future of 2022 :D
Lighthearted? As a kid.... the dessicated corpse in the spaceship, the dead humans in a pile, the other astronaut is STUFFED with blanked eyes, the remaining astronaut is horrifically lobotomised.
All those things are the stuff of terrible nightmares :/
Was waiting for a watch on this. The apes faces was created by John Chambers who was awarded an Oscar. For more on him watch ARGO. The other four sequels are worth watching but suffer from decreasing budgets.
In the grander story the apes didn't simply evolve, they were bred by man for intelligence (originally as pets, but as they became smarter, as servants). If the story were written today I am sure there would be genetic engineering involved to increase their intelligence further. Part of the apes fear of man relates to how "servant" really quickly became "slave." Edit: What I really like is that the "Planet of the Apes" is set in New Jersey if you think about it.
There was at least one other great science fiction classic around this time called "Fantastic Voyage". Highly recommended.
Charlton Heston says that Earth has changed "Nearly 700 years" - yet it's OVER 700 years - 701 years! This is one of my all-time FAVORITE movies!
Great reaction. I hope you continue on with the rest of the original franchise...4 more to go. If you DO, you will see how it IS possible for the apes to evolve in such a short time. :)
1968 was a great year for science fiction movies. (I was 14 at the time.) “Planet of the Apes” and “2001:A Space Odyssey” are iconic films.
Great reaction to this sci-fi classic. Jerry Goldsmith started scoring for TV in the 1950's and early 60's. His first film score was in 1957. One of his first major film scores was in 1962 for Lonely Are The Brave with Kirk Douglas and I highly recommend this film. It was also Kirk's personal favorite film.
Just as a fun fact: John Williams (of "Star Wars" fame) wrote music for the 1965-1968 "Lost in Space" TV series (as Johnny Williams).
2001: A SPACE ODDYSSEY
Also from 1968 … depicts AMAZINGLY beautiful & scientific space travel a year before the moon landing.
Awesome! Hope you get to do all of them down the line. It's one of the best sci fi and philosophical movie series ever made. But it's never preachy as it respects the audience to think about it all.
The 2nd one added one of the writers who co wrote Goldfinger on board, Paul Dehn. He took over for Rod Sterling and the other writer. And he went hard on examining philosophical issues in each movie but it isn't annoying or obnoxious. Each of the sequels are very fun watches that make you think but entertain and advance the timeline and story well. But be prepared they can hit really, really hard if you aren't expecting it especially the endings/. The third movie, Escape, is probably my favorite of the sequels but they all work real well. My least is the 2nd one, but even it grew on me in the last re-watch. Roddy McDowell acts his heart out in all of them and is a fun lead. Plus you get solid performances from Eric Braden and Claude Adkins as well and they have great chances to shine. Can't wait to see your journey on those.
Brand new Sub. I'm very glad you enjoyed this movie. Saw it myself when I was 10 or 11 years old and has always been one of my all time favorite films.
Having been born in 67' it's always great to see how well it aged and seeing a fellow movie buff see it for the first time was very entertaining...loved seeing your reaction at all the many pivotal scenes, including the final climax when seeing the statue of liberty poking out of the sand.
Great film, great review.
Will be watching for more.
Thanks 👍😉
The recent Planet of the Apes trilogy is rather exceptional. The Matt Reeves films get particularly heavy. For some good fun, you should eventually give a watch to Tim Burton's remake from 2001; it's a doozy.
Whilst Burton's version is pretty subpar, it's kinda worth watching solely for the ape makeup/costumes.
I'd take those over the cartoon monkeys any day of the week ^^
@@arsenelupin9697 - Oh for sure. And it actually has a rather good cast.
Useless Trivia: The French author of the original novel had one other book of his that became a well known Hollywood movie. "Bridge On The River Kwai."
The Actor who played Cornelius is a very famous actor Roddy McDowall
I remember thinking at the end I would be so broken to have it confirmed I was home the whole time. Great reaction as always my guy ! Keep them coming.
One of my favourite films , Do invasion of the body snatchers sometime , that's another of my favourites. I think the same director made Papillon , which is a great film.
Long time viewer but first time commenting. You absolutely have my favorite movie reactions because you give great, thoughtful analysis after you watch and it’s fun seeing how your thoughts become sharper the more movies you watch. It’s been fun seeing your knowledge grow and how you apply things to other movies. And thank you for seriously taking when a film was made into account! I’ve seen so many people fail on that and they don’t look at a movie through the lens of when it was made in terms of effects, social commentary, etc.
A classic and a film I always find depressing, for some reason. Be aware the sequels are.... variable. The 3rd one might be worth you looking at as it is has a major change of location (no spoilers) and it is pretty much all character based.
I'll probably get around to them eventually dude
@@ShanWatchesMovies yeah it's all good. The sequels are all lower budget and pushed out once a year (and it sadly shows :))
Charlton Heston is an enjoyable actor to watch (he was one of the "action hero" actors of that time period), but his range is limited (he's essentially playing himself in different roles). Even though he doesn't have a lot of dramatic range, he was a good actor and is somehow acceptable in all kinds of roles in spite of himself.
Some of the roles he took are almost absurd stretches taken at face value, but they still work more often than not. Like, he's clearly a brash American acting in the role of Moses (Ten Commandments), or when acting in movies like Ben Hur (Roman time period). There is very little attempt for him to play to the part in the way really skilled contemporary actors might... but, because of his charisma and his action chops, it's still extremely enjoyable to watch him in these roles. He has that "everyman" quality that makes it easy to identify with him and makes his struggles and emotional displays hit more on a gut level.
I think many people would consider "The Ten Commandments" his signature, but films like Planet of the Apes are also synonymous with Heston because he made several dystopian action films about a messed up future during the 60's/70's (check out the iconic Soylent Green and/or less good The Omega Man as other examples). There are plenty of corny and even good historical/period films by him (examples like El Cid), and there are some surprising character studies like his portrayal of Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel ("The Agony and the Ecstasy") where Heston is honestly outclassed by Rex Harrison (almost as ridiculous as an American playing an Italian but a Englishman playing the Pope), but there are still some merits to that movie too.
I would consider essential Charlton Heston films:
Ten Commandments
Ben Hur
Planet of the Apes
Soylent Green (not as good as Planet of the Apes imo, but is iconic and permeates pop-culture... there are jokes and references to this movie... don't look for them if you don't want it spoiled)
This is one of the few older excellent Sci-Fi films to have very good and worthwhile modern sequels. Most of the direct sequels back in the day were good as well.
I'd suggest both "Soylent Green" and "Omega Man", as 2 more Heston movies that don't entirely suck.That wasn't a drawing of the statue of Liberty but a fully formed 70 foot tall mock up of the upper part of that statue with scafolding built behind it so the camera man could shoot it from it's perspective towards Heston. There was a friendly chat about who was going to go up in the scaffolding to do the shoot from there and it turned out to be a production designer and someone else. The special edition silver case cover of this movie has hours of behind the scenes and info about the film and even a Roddy Mc Dowell, (Cornelius), short film of the make up prosthetics appplied to himself and other actors on set with the theme music of Goldsmith in the background, excellent watch I recommend for everyone..
I read the original book years ago.It was quite different,with a civilization similar to ours,as opposed to the primitive look of the movies (due to budget).
Are you going to watch the rest of the 70s POTA movies??? They are really good. The whole story is played out from beginning to end, meaning the transition from man ruling to apes
Great review.I say the sequels are worth a watch .For other Charlton Heston films I reccomend Touch of Evil,Omega Man ,Soylent Green,The Big Country ,The Three Muskateers and The Ten Commandments .I must also reccomend the work of Cornelius's actor:Fright Night(!985),Legend of Hell House (!973) ,Man Hunt (1941),Cleopatra (!963),Poseidon Adventure (1972) and That Darn Cat (1965)
Roddy McDowell, an excellent actor
Roddy McDowell is also great in Evil Under the Sun. And I didn't know he was in Cleopatra!
I actually had to watch this movie for an anthropology assignment and I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed it
What a classic. This one and beneath the planet of the apes are my faves. Both endings are insane.
Shan, _Planets Of The Apes_ is a pentalogy, it requires the five films to know the whole story. There is also a tv series covering events before Taylor's landing.
I remember watching the first two of these movies on television when I was a kid, as well as the television series.
In the seventies, when I was a kid watching this, seeing that ending blew my mind. But after so many movies like it over the decades, I can see why it loses that shock.
I kind of did it see the twist. Coming but it ultimately had the desired effect to be honest
Time to watch the new Shan drop for the most thoughtful reactions on the Tube!
😃😃😃😃
TIM BURTON also did a remake several years ago starting Mark Wahlberg playing Charlton Heston's character. The beach sequence at end of film was shot at ZUMA BEACH, my favorite in Los Angeles County. Funny trivia, at the South East corner where the Statue of Liberty is shown, you go up a cluster of boulders and it becomes a nude beach with great hiking trails up the cliffs and amazing views of the Pacific Ocean. There are also several caves formed by erosion. There are countless movie and televivion films that have been filmed there.
While it's hardly a classic and it's probably Burton's least-interesting film, there's a lot I really like about it and I think the makeup is best in the franchise on a technical level.
@@HobGungan Oh the makeup was absolutely stellar in that film!
The movie with Nark Wahlberg was just Awful!!!!, Horrible, I rented it and wanted my money back. It was that Awful. I don't recommend watching it. They should just burn it.
You have to watch the whole original movie series ( up to Conquest of the Planet of The Apes ) to see how the evolution was sped up. My favourite part was when he was on trial and they personified “ Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Say No Evil “ when we are close minded to a different truth.