If there’s one thing all sci-fi fans love, it’s a good ol’ dystopia. Whether we nuked ourselves back into the Stone Age, or zombies destroy civilization, or some sort of totalitarian dictatorship manages to enslave the Earth, we just can’t get enough of the downfall of our society. Perhaps it’s a sign of our modern times that the idea of the world crumbling to dust around us is so appealing, that our cynical view of the world might someday be validated, that buying free range chicken at Whole Foods really did matter in the end. Or maybe because of the fact dystopias are set in the future, we use it as a way to convince ourselves that our own lives aren’t actually all that bad, and that it isn’t too late to change things for the better. Either way, death sells.
Just as dystopian fiction has been a great success in the world of literature, George Orwell’s “1984” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” being the most obvious examples, so too has it been explored to great success in the world of film. Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and Orson Welles’ The Trial, which depict worlds where free thought are crushed under the heel of all-consuming bureaucracy. George Miller’s Mad Max series, where the world has become a hellish desert and the dregs of humanity wage war against each other in souped up dune buggies. The Last Man on Earth (we won’t be viewing the film this year, but I think I’m going to reference it as often as humanly possible), where Vincent Price stars as the lone human against a world of nightmarish creatures. In terms of critical and commercial success however, not to mention franchise potential, there aren’t many dystopias that can compare to 1968’s Planet of the Apes.
At this stage of the game, I think cultural osmosis has removed the need for a plot recap. Astronauts land on planet, planet is ruled by apes, Forbidden Zones, Charlton Heston, damn dirty apes and stinking hands etc., it’s all a part of the collective unconscious that is pop culture. We know what’s up with Planet of the Apes just as we know what’s up with Star Wars and Die Hard and all those other movies that people deride other people for not having seen them. So is there even a point in watching this movie, in that case? Is there a point in watching any of these movies, when they have been referenced and parodied hundreds upon hundreds of times over the years?
Well, I’ve already started writing the article, so…
The thing that makes Planet of the Apes worth watching is the same thing that made The Incredible Shrinking Man worth watching a few entries back: It tells a old-school style sci-fi story and it looks good while doing it. The allusions to the Cold War (which was pretty hot at this point), the speeches on man’s failings (done by the protagonist of course), the irony of a fundamentalist ape society that denies evolution, it all feels like something out of a Ray Bradbury or Stanislaw Lem book. Much of that likely has to do with the fact that Rod Serling, the narrator of The Twilight Zone and writer of 95% of the episodes, wrote the first draft of the screenplay. Although Michael Wilson (Bridge On the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia) ultimately rewrote most of the script, the infamous twist at the end and the overall tone of the film end up making Planet of the Apes feel like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone. Which isn’t a bad thing either, considering the show is still the gold standard by which any bit of television that claims to be science fiction, speculative fiction, horror or otherwise is inevitably judged. I mean, considering it could have ended up feeling like an episode of The Night Gallery, and I don’t think anyone would want that.
When it comes to the ‘looking good’ part, you have Franklin J. Schaffner (The Boys From Brazil, Patton)and make-up artist John Chambers to thank for that. Chambers’ apes are remarkably realistic considering the era in which it was made, and despite their general similarity each major character manages their own distinctive look. It was Schaffner’s idea to portray the ape society as archaic and proto-industrial rather than the futuristic world of Serling’s original draft and Pierre Boulle’s original novel, a move which not only reduced costs but in some ways heightens the surreality of the whole thing. Overall, the film cost about 6 millions dollars to make, but not only did it make back about 5 times its budget, it spawned about 5 sequels, a TV series, an animated series, a reboot by Tim Burton, a successful reboot series in 2011 and it ended up in the National Film Registry for being ‘culturally, historically or aesthetically different’. Not a bad job, considering you can barely make a half-decent indie movie with only 6 million bucks nowadays.
So go ahead and watch Planet of the Apes, it gets a full recommendation from me. Much like The Incredible Shrinking Man, it’s a good film for those getting into science fiction to see, in fact this might be considered ‘essential viewing’ to some people. Even if you aren’t a particularly adamant sci-fi fan though, I’d recommend Planet of the Apes because it’s just a entertaining and well-made movie, one which has held up remarkably well over the years. If you’re up for violating some ape law this Halloween, this might be the film for you.
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