riginally, astronaut George Taylor (Heston) and his crew set out to prove that while traveling in space, time passes more slowly than it does on Earth. When they return home, they expect 700 years to have elapsed. Fate intervenes, throwing them off-course and adding 1,300 years to their ETA--proving the scientific theory rather overwell.
Another lesson follows swiftly: not only are they 1,300 years off course, but apparently they've gone astray by a multitude of light years as well. They are not temporal arrivistes to Earth but to Hades, and whatever Hell it is, it's a Hell with brackish humor--on this planet, humans are mute, animalistic slaves and apes are their talking, governing masters.
Taylor and his two crewmates tumble into something like the 19th century hunting parties of European aristocracy. But on this planet, they are among the prey. Beaters drive the human game toward the ape lords with horses and sticks. Hunters shoot at will into the herd of females, males and young, scooping them into nets and driving them into pits where they are clubbed and shot. Dead prey is hung from racks by its heels as ape photographers take trophy pictures.
In the hunt's tumult, Taylor is shot in the throat, but lives, and is taken with other survivors to a corral near an animal experimentation lab. Though temporarily unable to speak because of his throat wound, his understanding of speech and his unusual human intelligence draws the attention of an animal psychologist, Dr. Zira (Hunter).
At first Zira thinks him nothing more than a singularly intelligent dumb animal, but when speech finally erupts from Taylor's raw, newly healed throat, she is dumbfounded. Far from being safer as a confirmed talking creature, Taylor is closer to the precipice than ever. In this society, a talking human is no mere medical freak, but a dangerous quake of heresy that could batter ape society to rubble.
Animation and imagination that soar
Adapted from Pierre Boulle's short novel "Monkey Planet," Planet of the Apes is a wonder, for it is seemingly almost everything: cautionary tale, racial satire, genocidal horror, camp. To watch Taylor treated with such casual, thorough cruelty is near unbearable; the ruling apes are so alien, so other, that for viewers, isolation and degradation cease to be internalized philosophical ruminations, but become the very bolus of fear--noxious and quite solid. Yet, perversely, the apes are unnervingly familiar in their banality. There is hypocrisy, anger, stupidity and just plain meanness. There is not a one who is human who does not know these small qualities in one's self, which is why they echo so eerily and fit in the psyche so displeasingly well.
Those more familiar with the film's cult dialogue ("It's a madhouse! A madhouse!" and the immortal "Take your hands off of me you damn dirty ape!") will be surprised to learn or remember that this is actually a good film, and one not only aware of its humorous aspects, but exploitive of them. In a scene in which Taylor is basically on trial for being a sapient human, he tries to sway the tribunal with impassioned reason. The three orangutan officials are, faced with his argument, cinematically framed in the classic tableau--see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
Somebody surely stood firm in insisting that solid actors and absolutely competent writers be retained for this project. Although there is much else to praise in this production--the direction, special effects, cinematography, score--the duality of strong writing and acting is the linchpin to the success of the entirety. The project is so high concept, with the added burden of being SF, that mediocrity would be a hard thing to attain and ridiculousness almost a sure thing. However, it is wonderful, even after 30 years.
