Filmmaker reacts to Planet of the Apes (1968) for the FIRST TIME!
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- Hope you enjoy my filmmaker reaction to Planet of the Apes. :D
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Original Movie: Planet of the Apes (1968)
Ending Song: / charleycoin
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When this came out, it wasn't seen as "campy or cheezie". No, this was considered straight up cutting edge sci-fi. The make-up alone was Academy Award winning.
From a 2020s perspective they see it as Camp compared to modern sci-fi and expensive modern effects compared to the late 60s.
How is this not camp? The premise is literally apes taking over human society. On its own, that is camp. Self-serious camp, but still camp. Camp doesn't need to be goofy.
@@cashflowhustlespeople have to watch older films with an understanding of the time period when it was made. People can’t judge older films with modern standards.
I don’t know. I saw this as a child and it was an action movie to me but, for my parents, it was kind of ridiculous. I think it was always a bit campy.
It was satirical, and the film certainly has a sense of humor. Even at the time, some people felt that the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" bit was a little too silly.
The brutal ending is vicious. It goes to credits, no music, and you just sit there with that thinking about what you've just watched.
Yeah, I can imagine people in 1968 just sitting in the theatre in the darkness listening to the crashing waves unable to move from their seats literally thinking "WTF did I just watch???"
the sad part is some video releases use the last shot for the DVD Box art giving away the twist
i saw all these in the 70's as a kid , the 3 rd film was the first one I saw in theaters when it first came out 4 and 5th and finally the original 2 when they did the GO APE screenings and showed all 5 films in one day in theaters all the kids were APE crazy for most of the 70's until I got my car at 16 then girl crazy lol@@joebloggs396
Once you see the ending, you realize you've just watched a post-apocalyptic movie.
Greatest end to a sci fi film, ever. Never forget it at the time.
It wasn't 'camp' for us it was serious state of art movie/social commentary for us.
lol I don't think my dad would appreciate the "camp" comments, he prides himself on being a real straight manly man and he loves this movie..this and ben hur.
I was born in 67 so when these movies started being aired on broadcast television i was around 8 or 10 years old and they really made an impression on me and influenced my view of the world till this day. The ape society really is a metaphor for western society of the 60s, and it still applies all the way to today.
This is not a campy movie , this is 1968 and was a great movie with great actors , and NO CGI
You just had the privilege of witnessing one of the works of the makeup effects genius that was John Chambers
I belive john chambers was the make up artist for the Outer Limits series (1963)
I avoided this for ages. Recently it was starting on tv and my husband convinced me to watch. I was unbelievably impressed with it. The end is so iconic.
Oh yeah. STILL one of the greatest science fiction films of all time. Is it dated now? Yes. But it's also timeless.
I get that 100%
@@JamesVSCinemain my childhood seeing bits and pieces of this franchise in the early 1970’s, I actually thought apes could talk.
@@JamesVSCinemaand don’t forget the music of Jerry Goldsmith, always EPIC, as serious as John Williams.
@@JamesVSCinemayou may have noticed the “feel” of the movie was like an old episode of The Twilight Zone. When Rod Serling directed this movie, it actually was his original intention to use the story for an episode, but then the idea eventually grew to a full feature film when they realized the potential. The whole time and the ending felt exactly like something that Rod Serling would do in an episode of his show, literally waiting at the end for his voice to give a chilling voiceover.
@@JamesVSCinemaif you didn’t notice it the first time, watch the cave scene again and listen to Cornelius describe the estimates of how old the layers of artifacts were, and add it up. He estimated 1,300 years for the oldest ape culture (a century earlier than the “sacred scrolls”) but then human civilization was 700 years earlier…
1,300 + 700 = 2,000 years, exactly the amount of time Taylor knew he was forward into the future, but he didn’t realize the figures when it was spoken, the coincidence just didn’t hit his awareness until he ventured further down the beach and found the statue.
This movie was so successful that even in the 1960s it had 4 sequels. Escape from the Planet of the Apes is particularly crazy.
I was about seven years old when this came out and my mom took me to see it in the movie theater. She later took me to see "Beneath the planet of the Apes" the second one. In the series, in one scene with the masks, I started crying so much my mom had to leave the theater with me.
@@joebloggs396 I think it’s crazier that after the ending of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, it’s revealed that the original Chimps from the first movie rebuilt the rocket to go back in time for 1970s hijinks that inexplicably features commentary on celebrity and women’s bodily autonomy.
@stevenwoodward5923 that bit effed me up, too. In fact, the whole sequence from when they entered the tunnel onward.
I saw part of Escape at the theater with my mother. Scared me enough we had to leave. I was too young for it.
Yes, every time I thought they had painted themselves into a corner and there's "no way" they could make another one, they always managed to figure out a way to do it. I like how the fifth one ends sort of setting up the cycle to start all over again.
James, remember that you're watching this after over 50 years of subsequent sci-fi to shape expectations. Back when this was released, there was no CGI, and makeup effects were limited. So, audiences were used to "aliens" basically just being humans (possibly wearing funny clothes) and speaking English. So, when the astronauts were saying they were on some planet halfway across the galaxy, there was no reason NOT to believe that's exactly what was going on, as it fit they mold of sci-fi at the time. The reveal at the end was shocking because you weren't conditioned with half a century of sci-fi to make you think of what was going on in a more critical way. Even so, the ideas of dogma vs science, racism, classism, and our obligations to the planet and the other creatures on it still rings true today.
Another good scifi film with Charlton Heston is Soylent Green.
That's an excellent one!
Also omega man....
Taking into account that this movie was made during the time the nucelar arms race took place, you can imagine how people must've elt at that twist ending back in 1968
I love how the quote about humans from the scrolls read by Cornelius at the end is basically the same thing Taylor was saying about humans before the opening credits. The entire movie was a joke on him.
Right! ❤
Taylor didn't say jack to defend humanity after hearing that devil's pawn verse either.
He just kept quiet and bowed his head because the rhetorical question he asked in the beginning was answered.
It's also why he said "Damn" to himself after shooting the ape on the hill before he took Dr. Zaius hostage.
Taylor didn't want to kill anyone and by killing the ape he only confirmed to himself man's inevitable predisposition to kill.
What a character arc! Taylor the complete cynic who abandons Earth to look for something better, only to find aliens every bit as violent, corrupt, hypocritical, dogmatic and willing to suppress the truth. After finding some human feelings for his murdered crewmates and affection for Nova he humanizes her by giving her a name. For all his apparent disgust with humanity he is still surprisingly outraged that they finally destroyed themselves. Incredible!
In the beginning of the show Tayer talks about man in his ship the time was 700 years in the future. When the scrolls are read about how man destroys things was written 1300 years ago.
So Rod Serlings is saying that when Taylor talked about Man in his ship Mankind already Nuked it self.
Side note Roddey McDowell who played Cornelius went home with his mask on since it took so long to put on. Caused a lot of stares when he drove home😅😅😅
I got Charlton Heston's autograph back in the 90's after a local film society screening. He was so gracious and stood in the theater lobby for over an hour intently listening to each person who wanted to say something to him. A lovely evening. If you haven't seen him in The Ten Commandments you should. Epic.
One thing I always thought was clever in Planet of the Apes was how the different breeds of apes had their own place. The wise elder orangutan. The bright, curious scientists chimpanzees. The rough and rowdy gorilla soldiers. Cool 🦍 🙉
On your opening comments: "CGI? A little, maybe."
In 1968?! How cute! ROFLOL!
This is the earliest movie I can remember seeing in a theater. I was 4 or 5 when it came out. Mom was a horror/Sci fi fan. Of course, I saw this young.
The first use of CGI in a movie is Vertigo from 1958, so it's not that outlandish.
“Charlton Heston laugh”
@@maul42 Technically true, but wasn't it only used in the titles? I thought the first feature film to use any CGI in the story telling was Westworld in '73.
Me too !! I was almost 6
@@maul42- “Vertigo” didn’t use the computer to actually generate the image. It used it to control the spinning of several animation cells to create the effect. Strictly speaking, NOT “CGI” as it is traditionally known.
Maaaaan, this is bringing me back to my childhood. I can remember being sick with the flu and AMC had just got the whole library of Apes movies and they had a marathon of all the OG Apes movies. They always played a documentary hosted by Roddy McDowall (Cornelius) before the first movie would play. It was a good 90-120 minutes. They showed makeup tests, original casting screenings, etc.
Yes the original planet of the apes is here 🔥🔥
Loved it!
In behind-the-scenes footage, people talked about Ape hierarchy even when the cameras weren't rolling. During meal breaks, almost all of the extras in costume would sit with the others who looked like them. Gorillas ate with gorillas, etc., even though they could sit wherever they desired. Humans naturally tend to congregate with those who look like them, so it's pretty fascinating to see this dynamic play out while in costume. It's still one of my all-time favorite movies.
I remember watching this as an 8 year old in 1972 on the CBS Late Movie. I was hooked. The horn blare when the apes are shown still gets me. This and 2001 in the same year.
I was 11 and couldn’t wait. I had to go to the hospital that night and was afraid I would miss it.
It may appear campy now, but it didn’t seem campy or cheesy when it originally came out in the theaters, and I still remember the scene with the Statue of Liberty as a complete shock at the end.
Glad you watched this. POTA is definitely not "camp" which is more mocking - this is satire and it's very grim. Watch CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES -- the unrated version -- and you'll see where Vaughn took all his POTA films from. You won't be laughing at that one! And without this, there would none of the new versions. It's silly to think anybody has to apologize for watching a huge influential SF hit from 1968 that won an Oscar for make-up and is still being referenced today. The CG in the new films will date worse than the blue screen from 1960s films.
It is 100% camp, being ridiculously over-the-top homoerotic.
I do not know what people think "campy" means, but it means overtly homoerotic.
Three men swimming naked and the running around a forest and then getting barely dressed in animal skins, in any context, is camp.
Yes, pro wrestling is camp.
The third one, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, is also a must watch for anyone who loves this type of story-telling that only sci-fi can pull off. Escape is so good.
I love Zira's reaction when Taylor asks to kiss her goodbye.
Think of it from the opposite perspective. Imagine if an intelligent ape asked to kiss a human goodbye.
You'd react how she did. "I mean, this is weird, but I don't wanna be rude..."
"Better Call Goodall" ;)
Logan's Run is another scifi movie that walks the line between cheesy and serious
Definitely. Plus, it has Jenny Agutter.
Also people in the modern age will recognize Michael York from his time as Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers trilogy.
Logan's Run was high budget, high concept scifi. It was the best Hollywood could offer at the time. I saw it at the movies as a kid and was impressed. Then Star Wars came out.
@@brettcoster4781And Farah Fawcett...
@@tortiecatman I think I saw this in theatres after Star Wars, but enjoyed it at the time. Nowadays it looks really dated, and a bit cheesy, but it still has a strong narrative, and would be one of those movies that could use a modern adaption to tidy up the structure and pacing of the story.
the makeup in this film is phenomenal -- John Chambers won an oscar for it years before makeup was even a category.
There is a difference between "camp" and "satire" in storytelling.
I saw this in the movie theatre as a kid. My stepdad was so angry at the ending, he literally threw a screaming fit in the car all the way home. It was a movie everyone talked about and what it meant. It was, to me, a statement about how we treat the animals on our planet and may be a real defining moment in life for me. Odd, I never realized that until now.
Sounds like your stepdad is abusive.
@@drewpaupanekis4710 just an ahole who didn't like the ending of it being Earth.
He must have been one of those jingoistic types that mindlessly believed America can do no wrong and anyone who says different is a subversive or a communist.
Do you remember specifically what he was angry about?
@@ccthomas It was that it was Earth and humans weren't top dogs anymore. Some people just can't stand reality.
The ending of Planet of the Apes was changed dramatically from the original novel, Monkey Planet. In the book, Taylor is actually on an alien planet where intelligent apes rule over humans, and the story ends with Taylor escaping from the planet with Nova on his spacecraft and returning to Earth. Screenwriter Rod Serling decided to give the film version a surprise twist ending, borrowing the ending from one of the episodes of The Twilight Zone he'd written, called 'I Shot an Arrow into the Air,' where a group of astronauts land on what they believe is an asteroid, and a brutal struggle for survival begins, where one astronaut kills his crewmembers in order to save the food and water supplies for himself, only to discover that they actually landed on Earth in a desert in the American southwest when he sees telephone poles along a highway.
The book, by a French author has its own twist ending that shocked me when I read it, particularly after having grown up watching the Apes movies.
It is based on the book of the same title written by Pierre Boulle, screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling. The sets were built on Fox Ranch in Los Angeles. As a Kid a movie theater in our home town had a Summer Membership club for kids where we got to see movies all summer for a great price(my parents said it was the best money they ever spent). They ran the whole series of the Planet of the Apes movies, then all the Support your local sheriff, gunfighter series
This is really good trivia on the movie. 8 need to find the book.
OK but how plastered fo you have to be to mix up the desert in the US southwest with a frigging *asteroid*. Little things like "gravity" and "air" just fail to tip you off?
@@HaganeNoGijutsushi Hey, it's Rod Sterling.
This was an incredible banger when it came out.
Still so eerie and haunting to this day. Love James’s breakdowns and appreciation.
This picture first hit the theaters when I was 12-years-old. My BFF and I went to see it. We hadn't seen any previews. Let me tell you, as we left the theatre NO ONE was speaking. People were undeniably stunned by the ending.
It felt quite overwhelming to see this film in the theatre when it first was released - I was a young teenager at that time. This film was something that you'd never seen before. The special effects were astounding - and so was the story.
My father took my brother Mark and myself on opening weekend. I was blown away as a kid. Thank you dad. I know you are gone, but you will always be in my heart. And so will this movie.❤❤
One of my favorite things about this film is the score. Jerry Goldsmith went for this sort of sparse percussive instrumentation that made the world feel truly alien.
Very jarring and does an excellent job of building tension and anxiety. Jerry Goldsmith does not get enough credit for his work.
I first saw this movie at the drive in (ah, the drive in!) with my parents when I was a youngster. I was not old enough to think about the fact that they might have traveled back to earth, I took it at face value that they landed on another planet . The ending was a shock (at least to me, can't speak for my parents). Nothing beats that first shocking moment when you see the gorillas mounted on horses, or the first time you hear them speak.
This movie, and the ones that followed, made me fall in love with the idea of intelligent apes and my appreciation of how very intelligent the real world apes are. The make-up was spectacular for the time but very stiff. I remember Roddy McDowall saying they had to really stretch their faces and emote behind those masks for the emotions to come through. Great movie and a great reaction!
I prefer this version than the modern ones.
The movie honestly far exceeds its name and branding, there is so much social commentary here that it can easily get overlooked.
This is one of my top 3 movies of all time.
I enjoy the entire series, honestly.
I watched this with my daughter when she was about 3 or 4, and the moment the apes started to talk, she was totally amazed an in awe. For make up / special effects that is over 50 years old, it still hold up today, and shows back then, a lot of care was taking into creating the visual of advanced apes.
I've been waiting for this one James. I say this a lot but Planet of the apes is a timeless classic.
I can see why, that ending alone hits.
I was 6 years old when this came out and of course my parents wouldn't let me see it in the theater! It finally started being run on free TV by the early 70s and I was probably 10 years old when I finally got to see it! I was obviously horrified but loved it! This movie was huge, they even had trsding cards like baseball cards of Planet of the Apes that I collected. It also became a short lived TV series with Roddy McDowell also in it as the lead chimpanzee! Thanks for the reactions, you caught on to this one quickly, nice job!
Logans Run, Soyent Green, The Omega man, all worth checking out!
Set designer William Creber was the Art Director who created Ape City and, yes, it was all a set built on the Fox Studio ranch outside Malibu. Artist Mentor Huebner came up with the iconic look of it. Foundations of the buildings were made of wooden beams and wires. The exteriors of the houses were made with plaster, fiberglass and polyurethane foam, a chemical mixture resembling bread dough, which could be sprayed from a gun, easily molded into any desired shape, and then hardened like cement.
Three films .made a huge impact on me as a young kid. 2001, Night of the Living Dead, and this film. The ending of all three just so shocking in very different ways.
This movie the 1968, "Planet of the Apes" is a true classic. You have to remember during the cold war (1950's, 1960's and 1970's) between the USA and the USSR, it was not a question of ... if, we would have a nuclear World War III but, just a question of when it would occur. Today, it might be hard for younger people to understand that each year, you lived with the reality that this might be when modem civilization comes to an end ... period.
Yeah The Cold War years. People these days in The Post Cold War Era can't relate to the prospect of a Nuclear Armageddon. Even in the 80s and early 90s Nuclear War was a very real threat. That's what inspired James Cameron and his entire Terminator franchise.
Yes, 70s and 80s you were not entirely convinced that there would be a next year.
UK, in 80s we still thought nuclear war would end things. Threads, When Wind Blows, and of course War Games was popular here.
STILL under that nuclear sword of Damocles, its just been there our whole lives and most of us can't see it apart from the landscape.
I experienced the Cuban missle crisis as it was called in I guess 1960 when I was turning 6. We lived in south Florida. I remember my dad being so concerned. He left it to my mom to explain it to my older sister and me.
When the school year began, which I guess was 2nd or 3rd grade our teacher explained that we would not be taught the "duck and cover" drill which prior classes had been taught because the authorities had decided in the event of a nuclear strike there would be no survival and it would be best to die as quickly as possible.
When this came out James most viewers took the story very seriously. You have to remember that in a lot of old sci-fi, planets were routinely populated by English-speaking anthropomorphic aliens (just think any episode of Star Trek)! It didn't matter. Screenwriters were trying to make important points and were sophisticated enough to know it wasn't a documentary and so didn't drag the story down by having the protagonist navigate alien languages or species (unlike a lot of modern, cluttered and frankly boring shows that don't have that kind of creative confidence). It was the deep themes that counted - misanthropy, hypocrisy, inter-species cruelty, nihilism etc. So until the final reveal - the weathered, surf-washed tombstone of our civilization - it still could have been an alien planet (horses and all). Gotta check out the next one - Beneath the Planet of the Apes!
"Oh no, I was wrong, it was Earth all along"
😂😂😂
@@FloofyFlora I guess you finally made a monkey....
I hate every ape I see, from Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z.
"You finally made a monkey out of me"
They finally made a monkey out of me!
One of the best twist endings EVER!!! We definitely didn’t see this coming when we saw this in theaters!!
One of the greatest Sci Fi movies ever made!
It changed the way we looked at cinema forever!
It was originally going to be very different, as the script was going to have the apes drive tanks, helicopters, jeeps, trucks and other modes of transportation, as seen in the original novel.
However, it would have been too expensive for the film, and Fox had to cut down the best budget to $5 million dollars.
The film was a box office success, making $32 million dollars and won an Honoray Oscar for John Chambers' makeup effects.
That’s awesome, the makeup really sold it here!
@@JamesVSCinema of course having some world class actors underneath that makeup didn't hurt.
Hey even if you've seen it already, now that you've seen the original I hope you find that Simpsons musical for Planet of the Apes. It's comedy gold.
@@JamesVSCinema Enjoyed the reaction! A few little factoids about this movie: It's based on a novel of the same name by a French writer, Pierre Boulle. The screenplay was co-written by Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone fame. The chimpanzee Cornellius is played by Roddy McDowell, who has another great role in Fright Night (1985), which might be worth a look some Halloween.
@@BfdidcPierre Boulle also wrote the novel Bridge on the River Kwai, which became an absolutely fantastic film in its own right!
I am in no way detracting from the achievements of this movie, and makeup wasn't a competitive Oscar category at that point, but I've always found it funny that this was recognized for makeup effects when 2001: A Space Odyssey came out the same year! Of course, Kubrick's apes didn't need to talk, so maybe their job was easier.
It's a testament to the movie how many sayings and images have survived the test of time and been incorporated into the culture. It's a pleasure to see someone realize where those quotes and references are from for the first time.
People clown on the ape makeup in this movie now, but it was cutting edge back in '68--it essentially won the Best Makeup Oscar before that award even existed! And I love how much Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall especially are able to emote through it so naturally. Plus, they've got such great chemistry here--the kissing might be unintentionally funny, but that moment after Taylor's trial where they walk out of the courtroom hand in hand is one of my favorite small moments.
The character arc for Taylor is the best part of this movie. He starts as a man who despises humanity- leaving it behind to search for something better out there. Then he finds himself defending his own humanity, falling in love with a woman and risking his freedom to save her. Then discovering in the end that human kind was just as he had believed. Devastating.
I was 9 years old when this movie came out. Blew my child's mind. I read the book, but it was quite different. Years later my best friend's dad took us all to a drive-in to watch all 5 films in one night. Thank you Mr. Rainey.
Ape City was built for the film at what is today called Malibu Creek State Park outside of Los Angeles. Back then it was the 20th Century Fox Ranch and was used for a number of productions. In fact, the exterior camp scenes in M*A*S*H were filmed atop one of those hills not too far away. The Ape City set was built using a technique that was only recently developed at the time whereby a steel and wire frame was built inside a cardboard mold, then filled with spray foam. When the foam hardened, the cardboard was stripped off, giving the foam the carved-stone look, which could itself be further carved and touched up. There were 25-30 buildings created using this technique though the ones further up the hill were only half-buildings and were not built to scale, relying on forced perspective to make it seem as though they were further away and thus creating the illusion of a larger cityscape than actually existed.
Charlton Heston was king of these dystopian 60's sci-fi movies; Soylent Green, The Omega man and this are his holy trinity.
When you consider that this movie came out in 1968 during the height of the Cold War between the USSR and USA, that ending felt especially ominous to moviegoers.
I saw this movie twice on the big screen. Believe it or not, the ape makeup looks even more convincing on a movie screen.
I first learned about this movie and the ending in the 80s. I don't know what I expected when I finally saw it a few years ago, but even knowing how it was gonna end, the buildup to and the execution of the final scene hit really hard. That's some solid-ass writing and film-making.
23:30, one of the most shocking and most memorable twist endings in film history! It's been spoofed in over 1,000 TV series and movies!
Yes it's right up there with The Butler did it.😊
One of the great surprise endings of all time. People who never saw the original don't realize what a shock that final scene was. It was absolutely chilling. Suddenly what was so fantastical became not so much anymore. Who knows what the world becomes should we ever destroy ourselves totally. Like I said.... chilling.
Fun fact: during lunch, all the actors playing gorillas sat at one table, and the actors playing chimps sat at another, the orangutans at another, and the humans at another.
Also, Roddy McDowall (Cornelius) went on to play two different Batman villains: the Bookworm and Mad Hatter.
Charlton Heston also cameos in the Tim Burton remake--as an ape, of all things.
I saw it in the theater. The end left everyone in complete shock. Everybody was quiet but in internal turmoil.
This was a very well made movie that engrossed me as a kid and still does today. From the look to the themes. A classic's classic.
I saw it in the theater in 1968 and was blown away when they revealed the Statue of Liberty. It’s an image I’ve never forgotten and still gives me chills to this day. Thank you for your insightful comments.
We saw this in the movies when it first came out - I was ten. It made a huge impression in the house, you could hear the gasp.
Taylor was Charlton Heston, one of the very big names of his generation, and a man who always fully immersed himself in whatever he was given. I confess he was never "my guy", but he was, unquestionably, one of the best.
Cornelius was a lovely actor, Roddy McDowell, who started his career as a child, famous for being in the first "Lassie" movie. He was a great, versatile actor, capable of chills and of laughs.
Zira was Kim Hunter, the very first Stella from "Streetcar Named Desire", and a wonderful addition to this cast.
And Dr. Zaius was the wonderful Shakespearean trained Maurice Evans, known to my generation as Samantha's father in the tv series "Bewitched".
You should get to know the work of all of these people.
@melenatorr
Wonderful comment. So glad you gave pertinent info about each of those fine actors.🩵
I always loved Roddy McDowell, especially as Octavian in "Cleopatra". It was unusual to see him portray someone you loved to hate.
And he held his own quite admirably while sharing the screen with Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton...that dynamic duo who were the biggest tabloid fodder in the world at the time.
Thanks again for such an informative & thoughtful comment.✨️💫✨️
@@deborahcornell171 He was one of the great assets in "Cleopatra", and it was chance for him to show us what he could do ... and he did!
He also showed his comic talents during a couple of guest shots on "The Carol Burnett Show": ruclips.net/video/8jF3Xfzu-rM/видео.html and: ruclips.net/video/72hwzMuYqRs/видео.html
I've never thought of Heston as a great *actor,* but he had an undeniably charismatic on-screen presence, & I've enjoyed him in the roles I've seen him in.
@@hemlock399 Same, and I appreciate the concentration he gives each of his roles. I think, oddly, my favorite role for him is a supporting one in "The Big Country", starring Gregory Peck. The story is that he really didn't want to take the supporting role, but his agent strongly advised it: the director was William Wyler, and the agent guaranteed that if Heston made a good impression on Wyler, he wouldn't be sorry. The agent was right: Wyler cast Heston as Ben Hur as a result of working with him on "Big Country" (which is a movie I truly love). I heard the theme on WPAT radio station before ever watching the movie, and it set me up for a good time: ruclips.net/video/QKdmOpXJHR4/видео.html
Twilight zone, Star Trek, and planet of the apes the great sci fi trinity of my youth
I saw this movie (and the two sequels in the theater). I was six years old when the first one came out! Of course, the ending blew me away.
Three things to realize about this movie.
1. It was based on a French novel, so the audience would not have been familiar with the reveal.
2. The movie script was written by Rod Serling. So the twist ending was a very familiar tool in the arsenal of the guy who wrote all those Twilight Zone episodes!
3. In the 60's and early 70's there was a very real concern about the dangers of nuclear weapons. The US and the Soviet Union were building their own arsenals after World War II. The US alone built THOUSANDS of nuclear weapons. Then the UK and China joined in. If anyone launched a weapon, the others would, and the world could have been destroyed.
The only thing to keep in check the end of the world was what they called MAD: mutually-assured destruction. That is: if one country launched a nuke, the others would and EVERYONE would be destroyed.
So everyone lived with the idea that the end of the world could happen. Children in school practiced drills where they would "duck and cover" in the hopes that nuclear radiation wouldn't harm them too badly.
So that ending really landed. People really worried that we would destroy the whole planet, and the film exploited that brilliantly.
American schoolkids did the "duck and cover", not Australian or, I think, any elsewhere. But I grew up with an American household medical book that had a yellow paged section on nuclear warfare and its effects. It included a diagram showing how you'd be affected at different ranges from the bomb drop. Because it listed Army bases as a target, and I knew there was an army base 10 miles away (an Army Reserve platoon in Korumburra, Victoria, Australia) I was still scared shitless in the late 60s and early 70s.
I'm still MAD that Bush II tore up START II. Although Putin or some other dictator would always have been a concern, the US gov really put the screws to Russia after the Cold War.
Military budgets never went down, either. We have squandered our futures to build a Global War on Terror machine.
as an 8 year old seeing this when it first came out and seeing the statue at the end was a total amazement. being that young it never entered my mind they were on earth. charleton heston did a few great science fiction films - soylent green and omega man
Every single time I watch this film, I find more and more aspects of its social commentary and I love the way it makes us look at human nature from the outside. This is the pinnacle of what great science fiction can be.
One "Sci-Fi" movie from this era (1973 I think) that sticks with me still, was the dystopian "Soylent Green". (also starring Charlton Heston) I remember seeing it as a kid and it just blew my mind. So much so that I still seek it out now. I think every student of Sci-Fi should watch it at least once, because some of the ideas put forward in that movie, although disturbing, are relevant now (some but thankfully not all). It was also Edward G. Robinson's last ever movie.
since you mentioned it, Tron is Disney's original IP. They made the original in 1982 and then made the sequel tron legacy in 2009. anything Tron related has been Disney. love noth movies. Legacy is definitely underrated.
They are also filming a new Tron, Tron: Ares right now.
Yes they actually did build the whole Ape City - on the shores of Century Lake in Malibu Creek State Park. No trace of it exists today, sadly.
The "Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" orangutans in the tribunal was always one of my favorite details as a kid. Glad you caught it first go!
My class got to tour the Ape City when I was a kid. It was so much fun.
It was quite an experience in the theater when this came out. I watched it, 2001 and others that way.
YOOOO I'm so excited right now! Planet of the Apes is my all time favorite movie franchise! The first film is a classic! Love Zira and Cornelius!
I love the way that Heston yells "madhouse".
Great reaction, James! I'm just a little too young to have seen this in the theaters, but loved it every time it was on TV. Even back then the makeup seemed a little cheesy, but the story was just so good. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
You’re in for a treat! One of the greats with the iconic ending.
Love that you're covering a lot of older movies recently. Great reaction!
Glad you like them!
I saw these old apes movies (all five) for the first time in the 90's, and even though the effects and make up are obviously not up to today's standards, I still love them, and prefer them over the new ones. Such classics!
I didn't see it in the theater, but we saw it when it came to television. We were kids &, pre-internet, the ending hadn't been spoiled for us.
That final scene, that final image was so powerful, it hit like a railroad spike to your medulla, it gave me chills, we were literally stunned, we sat there in silence, awestruck, dumbstruck.
& as someone said above, in the late 60's/early 70's, it wasn't cheesy, not at ALL. It was state-of-the-art.
It's a mad house! Rod Sterling, the creator of The Twilight Zone wrote the film.
That’s awesome! The music ironically made it feel like that too in some parts.
Not entirely. He wrote an earlier version of the script, some aspects of which were retained for the final.
@glennlesliedance true because it would have been expensive, but the ending was part of Sterling script
Serling...and he declined to write the screenplay (he was busy writing, pitching and financially tied in to developing his own series Night Gallery). He did contribute ideas because he loved the book, the ending being the one that only he could come up with.
Literarily speaking, Mr. Serling is close kin to O. Henry and Guy de Maupassant, _n'est-ce pas?_ 😉
Such an iconic film, I love it so much! Made a big impression watching it as a kid, and this movie was before my time (I was born '89). I love the ape characters.
bro this is a classic. Dude the rest are pretty eye opening too. enjoy my friend
18:57 those kind of trials are why i loved watching and learning about oppenheimer
Now your watching the movies of my youth. I loved my movies back then. Rollerball HAS TO BE SEEN MAN!!!!!!
Yes, the original movie "Rollerball" is a true film classic. In 1975, when this movie was new it was, just fiction. However, now in 2024, it is starting to feel more like reality (smile...smile)
@@transitengineer Yes, being set in 2018 with corporations running the world seemed a little on the nose nowdays, with mindless violent entertainment for the masses.
Death Race 2000 is another fun one.
@@robertspain3742 Yes, you are correct. By using the sport "Roller Derby" the film creators were safe. But, when you watched it is easy to tell that, it is really about American Football but, this would have been to close to home say ... the Super Bowl (smile...smile).
Yeah man I remember watching this in the 70s. So good. This movie helped me fall in love with scfi. It and Star Trek. Great reaction as usual man. 👏👏😊🥰
The book (“La Planete does Singes” by Pierre Boulle) had an interesting twist ending as well. In the book, a solar sail spacecraft comes across, literally, a message in a bottle drifting through space. The story is told in the message and is pretty similar to the movie. The twist is that at the end of the message it is revealed that it was written by a human, but being read by a space-faring monkey (from whose perspective the story is obviously fiction. Space-faring humans? Pshaw!)
Sci-fi, when done well, is pretty awesome.
My father took me to 2 movies. This and Beneath The Planet Of The Apes. I'll always remember his reaction at the end of the first, his jaw dropping, and him laughing at a "worship like" scene in the 2nd movie. Thanks for bringing that special memory to me. You are great as always.
The biggest giveaway was the fact that the Apes spoke and wrote perfect English. If this was another planet, that would be impossible.
I think with today's perspective, when alien make-up/cgi is easy and details like alien languages in movies are the norm, those "giveaways" are that. But when this was made science fiction shows/movies often had aliens that simply spoke English and looked human (and usually just dressed funny). The ending was a shock to most people who saw it at the time, which is why many regard it as the ultimate movie reveal in history.
@@topomusicale5580 Oh, I agree 100%, but the fact that no one questioned the language was funny.
@@starbrand3726 The language was for the movie audience! The director and producers actually toyed with the idea of an ape language that Taylor would need to learn and to use subtitles for the audience but the studio heads turned down the idea!
I thought about that but didn’t pay much mind to it since many aliens in movies speak English, think Star Wars
@@amiranda4360 I wouldn't use Star Wars as an example, because right away it starts with... "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away." This tells us that quite possibly the humans in Star Wars could be our ancestors. Plus, Star Wars uses a written language called Aurebesh not English.
You can't use Star Trek either because they use a device called a Universal Translator.
Farscape uses injectable microbes that translate language.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy uses a Babel Fish inserted into the ear to translate.
A much better example would be the TV series Stargate SG1 (Not the original Stargate movie which handled the language issue perfectly.) Stargate SG1 had humans travel to other galaxies where they encountered other humans who spoke perfect English. Try doing that on Earth. Send an American to Scotland and see if he can understand their English. Stargate never explained how aliens in other galaxies spoke and understood English.
Please do the sequels! It explains so much of the backstory and are generally great movies!
I still love this movie. My mom brought my brother and I to the theater to see this when we were little. Age 4 and 5.
I still find it amazing! ❤️
The director Franklin Schaffner won an Oscar 2 years later for the movie Patton, which I highly recommend
This was one of the movies my dad had me watch as a kid. Classic
It is not often commented on but the score in this film is exceptional in how it adds to the other worldly tone and feel to the film. It really is a ground breaking work in how a score is composed and used in a film. There is a lot in this film that sets new standards such as the score and the effects and even on a story telling level. Its a great film with one of the all time great endings. Another sci fi film whose scores that plays such an important part to the film is Forbidden Planet which i know lost out on the vote this week. As always, stay awesome and stay genuine... much love
James, I honestly hope you do the rest of the series of these classics! While some are panned by critics (and by part of the audiences).... I really think you can learn a LOT about movie making from them. I know you're in the movie business, so I really want to recommend them to you, both for what they did right, and what they did "wrong". Also, there is a documentary called "Behind the Planet of the Apes", that gives a detailed look at how all 5 films were made, as well as the (beyond the makers control) aspects that hindered the sequels. Trust me on this, the 5 movies and that documentary can be a real eye opener to someone like you (especially since you are young, and could learn a lot from mistakes of the past).
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Definitively watch the rest of the movies, at least the first 3. As mentioned above, the films suffered a lot of issues (not the least of which being an ever-decreasing budget), but it's one of the classics for a reason. Some of the themes may be a bit ham-fisted at times, but it was still very smart Sci-Fi. :)
Watching these (and the TV series) as a kid in the early 70s, I was entranced.
I didn't know about that documentary. Not sure how to see it, but I did find a YT clip from it called "Creating the Statue of Liberty Ending". To me, the first 4 films are definitely worth watching.
This was primarily filmed at the 20th Century Fox Movie Ranch, now part of the Malibu Creek State Park in Malibu, CA. The buildings were sets built for the movies as well as the short lived "Planet of the Apes" TV series. Literally hundreds of TV shows and movies were filmed there. Ape City was very close to the "MASH" set. My Dad took me there when it first opened to the public and Ape City and many other sets were still there including "MASH" and the temple used at the end of "The Sand Pebbles". "The Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House " house is still there and used as an administrative building. The ending was filmed at Westward Beach in Malibu. I never read the source book, but the ending was Rod Serling's ("The Twilight Zone") Idea.
I think I was in "The Forbidden Zone" when I saw it in a theater. The theater was on 42nd St in NYC. The end hit like a punch in the gut, so "where" I saw it was burned into my brain.
Great movie. I saw this at a drive-in movie theater when it first came out. I was nine years old. Thanks for your reaction.
Awesome Movie and Work Bro, Thanks 👍👍👍👍 Greetings from Helsinki, Finland 🇫🇮🇺🇸🇫🇮🇺🇸🇫🇮🇺🇸