Planet of the Apes may be the most bitter, bleak, and hopeless film to ever become a smash hit. Our hero George Taylor (Charlton Heston) is captured, beaten, and humiliated by creatures that he considers beneath him. We enter a world where apes are not cute animals in a zoo but the brutal masters of an unknown planet in the far future. Director Franklin J. Schaffner presents this barren and stark world masterfully, vaulting it to a special place in the annals of science-fiction. Planet of the Apes is one of the essential films of the genre; it not only established one of the first modern day sci-fi film franchises, but it is a great film of polemic power.

On the shores of a distant planet, a spaceship from Earth crashes into an ocean. One of its crew having died en-route, the remaining three astronauts soon find themselves at the mercy of a race of advanced, speaking apes. The apes, who seem to have a pathological hatred and fear of humanity, kill one of the astronauts and lobotomize another. The commander, Taylor, is taken into the protection of two chimpanzees: Dr. Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) and Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter), one an "animal" psychiatrist and the other an archeologist. Cornelius and Zira aid Taylor in escaping from Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans), the orangutan minister of science. After a series of humiliations, a kangaroo court appearance, a nighttime escape, and a climactic encounter with Dr. Zaius, Taylor discovers an awful truth of the Planet of the Apes, a truth that adds meaning to the film exponentially.

There are many memorable aspects of this film: the remarkable makeup, the exciting direction, and the wonderful performances. With all of these great qualities, however, it is the script that makes Planet of the Apes the special film that it is. Penned by the incomparable Rod Serling along with Michael Wilson, the blacklisted writer who had written the screenplays for The Bridge on the River Kwai (based on a novel by Pierre Boulle, the author of the novel Monkey Planet, upon which Planet of the Apes is based) and Lawrence of Arabia, the script of this film soars. It is an incredibly literate script, which contains humor, satire, and biting social commentary. There are many lines that could be used as examples. One that epitomizes the attitude and quality of the script comes near the end. Cornelius is reading to Taylor the apes' Sacred Scroll's warning about humans. He reads:

Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him;drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death.

This chilling evaluation of humanity is more than evident in the film's conclusion (which will be discussed in a moment) and is one of the best examples of the mastery of the film's script.

An example of the script's satire occurs during the scene in which Taylor is brought to a hearing to decide his fate. The screenwriters turn this scene into a parody of the Scopes Monkey Trial¹ with a prosecutor thundering on about the evils of the theory of evolution, and "proving" Taylor's inferiority by pointing out that he knows nothing of Ape history and culture. Any time that Taylor tries to speak up, the apes quickly silence him. This level of social commentary and satire contribute to making Planet of the Apes so powerful and culturally relevant. While there a few lines that date the movie (Taylor tells Zira's nephew Lucius (Lou Antonio), "In my world, when I left it, only kids your age wore beards," and "Remember, never trust anyone over thirty"), overall the script is magnificent.

If the makeup in Planet of the Apes had been corny or looked as if it had wandered over from Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), the film would have been hopelessly doomed. Fortunately, the makeup by John Chambers (for which he received an honorary Academy Award), is absolutely convincing. From the first moment that we see the gorillas on horseback mercilessly hunting down primitive humans and then later taking snapshots of themselves standing over human bodies, we know there will be no "cuteness" in the film, but this style is also accomplished largely by the realism of the makeup. It is true that they are smaller than the real apes of today, but this could be explained as the result of thousands of years of evolution. It is a testament to the makeup that it could hold up as completely believable through five films.

The cast in this film is much of what makes it so moving and even inspiring. Charlton Heston perfectly captures the sense of someone who, even though he hated humanity, had no doubt that he was in control of his life. He quietly and sardonically narrates Taylor's misanthropic log, his voice dripping with sarcasm. However, once his character is captured by the apes, Heston brilliantly shows his helplessness and humiliation at their hands. At one point in his cage, when an ape named Julius (Buck Kartalian) sprays him with a hose, he painfully screams, "It's a madhouse! A MADHOUSE!" Even after he is subjected to many humiliations, the character still has a brash self assurance that Heston plays to the hilt. Being a person who always hated humanity, he is forced here to actually defend it to the apes, and the pride with which he tells Dr. Zaius, "[Humanity] was here before you. And he was better than you are," can be heard in the violent rip in his voice. Heston provides a perfectly painful performance for this character.

Equally compelling is Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius. He, too, uses his voice to evince his disgust and fear of mankind. He exclaims, "The sooner he [humanity] is exterminated the better!" with obvious loathing, and he speaks with the air of noble arrogance that a representative of orthodoxy must have. Even while performing through a great deal of makeup, he manages to evoke subtlety and emotion through it (a trait that all of the actors who play apes in this film share). Kim Hunter also shines as Dr. Zira. She presents an intelligent, dogged character that courageously follows the truth no matter where it leads. She acts perky and whimsical at first, but as she begins to realize that Taylor is an intelligent being, she sheds her ebullient demeanor and becomes serious and determined. Though she is risking serious consequences, Zira is determined to discover the truth of Taylor's origins, and Hunter, playing the role of the character, demonstrates strength, courage, and intelligence. Both Evans and Hunter contribute mightily to the success of the film.

It is interesting that Roddy McDowell is just a supporting character in this film considering how important he would become later in the series. Nevertheless, his performance is as solid as that of the rest of the cast. He also projects intelligence, but he plays Dr. Cornelius as much more subservient to Dr. Zaius than Dr. Zira. He quietly acquiesces to Dr. Zaius, and seems to always look down or away while in his presence. Later, when he helps arrange Taylor's escape, he and Taylor butt heads over who is in charge. He almost comically keeps insisting in a slightly whiny voice that he is still in command even as Taylor takes Dr. Zaius hostage. He is outstanding during the scene in which he explains his archeological discoveries. His eyes light up, and his voice rises as he says, "That's the paradox! For, the more ancient culture is the more advanced!" He is indispensable,not only to this film but to the entire Planet of the Apes franchise.

Schaffner (who later directed Patton and The Boys from Brazil) provides exciting and intense direction throughout. The crash of the spaceship in the beginning is done especially well. All we see is a point-of-view shot as the ship tumbles from the sky into the water. This draws the viewer right into the action, and it forces us to fully believe the ship is spinning out of control into the water without ever actually showing us the ship, but it also puts us in the shoes of the main characters, making the later events that much more immediate. Later, Schaffner presents us with a startling hunt sequence in which the camera is always moving and in which we can feel the fear of the primitive humans. There are many chase scenes in Planet of the Apes, but, in a departure from many other films, the chase scenes here serve a purpose other than excitement; they graphically demonstrate how badly Taylor wants, in general, to escape from the apes, and by doing so, they make the viewer wish for escape as well. These scenes also allow us to get a very good view of Ape City from Taylor's point of view. Schaffner's direction energizes the film and prepares us for the unforgettable final scene.

The final scene of Planet of the Apes is both one of the most intriguing and one of the most pessimistic endings in all of cinema. (SPOILER ALERT -- skip this paragraph to avoid) After Taylor and Nova (Linda Harrison) have been released by the apes, they ride alone beside the beach on horseback. Slowly, we see Taylor staring up at something, and he dismounts the horse. The camera moves up very high, looks down on Taylor, and passes behind some structure that we cannot yet identify. Taylor drops to his knees and cries out with rage, "Oh my God. I'm back. I'm home. All the time, it was ... We finally really did it. You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!" As Nova looks at him not understanding why he is so upset, the camera pulls back to show the decaying ruins of the Statue of Liberty. There can be no other ending, in this reviewer's opinion, that at once provides a satisfactory answer to the film's puzzle and offers such damning social commentary. It is an absolutely astonishing ending.

Rarely does a movie provide such an entertaining mix of script, direction, acting, and social commentary, but Planet of the Apes does all of this with complete success. The film offers not only an original idea, amazing makeup, and dynamic performances and direction, but it also provides one of the best scripts to ever grace an entry in the genre. This is a virtually flawless adventure that every science fiction fan should see.