Sci-Fi Classic Review: PLANET OF THE APES (1968)

[@newdefsys]

The thing I like about the Plant Of The Apes is how Dr. Zaius was right the entire time. Zaius instantly dismissed Taylor's story of being from another planet, reasoning that Taylor is human therefore he is from this planet. Zaius literally spells out all the facts throughout the movie and even warns Taylor about what he would find in the Forbidden Zone. Yet everyone in the audience refused to accept what Zaius was saying. Zaius was the film's antagonist and Taylor's nemesis, so his words of wisdom fell on deaf ears. This is a distinguishing fault of human trait, "what is said is measured by who is saying it".

[@devinreese1397]

Logical fallacy that the presenter of a statement 's character affects the validity of said statement: ?ad hominem? Anyway: The real reason we dont trust Zaius is that he is such a jerk, and part of the dystopian ape society that is like medieval inquisitions or dystopian primitive societies. He tries to obscure the truth the whole time, so while his statements may be true, he is still a profoundly dislikeable and rightly called evil character. If he were truthful and just, he would want the truth to be known and be open minded. Yes, humanity destroyed itself. Does that mean the ape society is just? No. In fact it is unjust, but the irony of the movie lies in that they are treating the humans like objects, like the way we do to apes today and other animals, as in other movies of this theme. The deepness comes from the fact the apes are mirroring our injustices, not that they are superior. in fact they are at the level of barbaric or medievalistic culture. As the movie is however an antiwar movie of the time, the starkness of the lesson in black and white, does come out and seems to take front seat, that man screwed up, in the largest way possible, and as bad as the apes are, man still destroyed himself. But the evil and classist society of the apes, is in no way to be excused from scrutiny due to this fact. This would be like saying, one shitty species destroyed it, to be replaced by a shitty species which doesnt destroy itself or more accurately hasnt necessarily yet, it may not but it is still shitty, and that notion may not be simply obscured. This a tad like Joseph Stalin saying we're awesome because we helped destroy [and in our own minds probably destroyed single handedly] fascism, and the NAZIs. Oh yeah, therefore we are all good. Evidenced by: We did not self destruct like them. [yet.?]

[@botboy6977]

Still holds up. What a movie and franchise!

[@nklin6]

this movie is incredible - i rewatched it last night - 1st time ive watched it again since i was a kid - still holds up, I was blown away again

[@andersdenkend]

One of the all time great classics!

[@dtjr.4151]

Well done. Your speaking voice is well spoken and consistent and flows into each next subject within the primary subject of the story of the film itself. The editing was impressive. Thank you, proud of you.

[@jackrosati1438]

Went to the theater today to see this in 35mm. Such a great film with a great message

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

The book has a great twist ending. "Talking humans!"

[@jb888888888]

That was the most unbelievable thing about the book.

[@SmartCookie2022]

Yes, but not very visual. The movie ending is far better.

[@KonElKent]

When I was in the Seventh Grade, and AMC actually still stood for American Movie Classics (and not a misspelled acronym for "The Walking Dead Ad Nauseum"), AMC celebrated the then-30th Anniversary of the original Planet of the Apes film series with a marathon of the original films and the excellent retrospective Behind the Planet of the Apes all weekend long. It was a three-day weekend (God, I miss those) and I got to school on Tuesday and was a little "aped out". I don't know what bothered the girl I sat next to in my computer class more; the social grooming I performed or the "bugs" I found... I was a strange child.

[@rsacchi100]

A great review. A topic of conversation within the drug culture was what drug they were on when they watched the movie. I wonder how much that had to do with the box office success. I wonder if killing off Dodge had something to do with Jeff Burton's race? To me the cave scene seems to make a point different from intended. Dr. Zaius is right in that another archeologist could come up for alternative explanations for the artifacts. Taylor came up with items familiar to him that fit the narrative he wanted. The human doll that says "mama" proves nothing, my son had a purple dinosaur that said a lot more than that. A documentary, I believe it was in 1978, dubbed the year 1968 as "a crack in time". So much happened in that year. Not mentioned at the time but "Planet of the Apes", "Night of the Living Dead", and "2001" came out that year.

[@jb888888888]

In the original book Ulysse (the protagonist, equivalent of Taylor in the film) is the only one of the three travelers to survive unscathed too. One is killed in a human hunt and another, the scientist and leader of the original expedition, is placed in a zoo with some other humans. He wasn't lobotomized though, he just lost his mind. Also in the original book it wasn't Earth All Along.

[@brucegame1458]

they used to play these ape movies on the late show each weekend in a row lol it was great this was before vcr's i loved the whole series

[@richelliott9320]

Good point about the other astronauts. I never thought of that!

[@Sawlon]

Saw this when I was 14 in 1968. Liked it so much I saw it twice. The only movie I went back to for seconds in the theater.

[@adambusenlehner3689]

La-La Land Records produced a 5-CD set of all five POTA scores in a nice box set of soundtracks.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

IF this is ever remade, I *HOPE* it follows the book as closely as possible. If you have READ THE BOOK, you will understand what I mean....

[@Sal214OC]

Now that Disney owns the rights the franchise is dead.

[@guymorris6596]

You're right about that. They destroy everything, including people.

[@majorgear1021]

Disney destroys everything the touch.

[@JohnWilliamNowak]

A ruined Statue of Liberty was an iconic post-apocalypse image since the 1950s or even earlier; it's immediately recognizable all over the world so it appeared on the covers of SF magazines for a very long time. It is absolutely effective, but not original. It's also a little bit silly: humans popping up on another planet is a lot less likely than aliens building a Statue of Liberty; but we go along with it because aliens who look human are another old trope. This really is one of the great films. It spawned one of the longest-running SF movie series, and jokes about it are instantly recognizable. Agreed about the switch of ironic fates.

[@ninfilms]

Originally J Lee Thompson was going to direct The Planet of The Apes but couldn't due to his work commitments on western film Mackenna's Gold.

[@rickyj5547]

my favourite childhood movie.

[@tetedemarc]

This is indeed a Great Movie !!! Any time it's on I will watch it. The newer remake don't cut it as well. The following episodes were very good too , but very hard to beat the first one in most case.

[@donna25871]

I wish someone would make a version that follows the book…the twist is just as shocking.

[@TheTwoFishes]

Love your review of Planet of the Apes. Really superb coverage and in-depth information, especially the part on the original Dr. Zaius, and the “self-segregation” of the apes at the cafeteria! A+.

[@thrashpondopons8348]

Can't believe I haven't stumbled on this Post til now! An amazing Franchise! & YES... I've always loved the story of how the apes bunched into their own groups during the filming! Merry Christmas TUG! ✌

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

Merry Christmas, my good sir!

[@JessicaZane4realz]

In my opinion, the best parody and funniest parody of this movie was the one starring Misty Mundae called Playmate of the Apes.

[@newdefsys]

Better than anything Disney could do.

[@majorgear1021]

@@newdefsys Facts.

[@Keefymonoped]

Still the best Apes movie of them all imho

[@fredo1070]

Brilliant.

[@RA-VEN8]

I'd love to see the whole movie, tv series, cartoon on Disney+ if they hold the rights much like Marvel, Star Wars, etc.

[@majorgear1021]

Disney would ruin it. They destroy everything they touch.

[@majorgear1021]

@@BLAlley It’s very true. They are losing billions of dollars and 12 million subscribers last quarter. They just shut down 2 Lucas special effects studios that George Lucas opened in 2014, firing a few hundred people. The age of Disney is over.

[@majorgear1021]

@@BLAlley Disney is doomed.

[@nasalpolecat091]

What a fantastic retrospective T U G. Great work thanks for talking us back.

[@adambusenlehner3689]

A fire hose is seen in the cage sequence. Um, where did the apes get the electric pumps to power that fire hose? How do they generate electricity? LOL.

[@acrodave9287]

We had fire hoses long before we had easy access to electricity generators. Fire carts in most American and European cities were horse drawn carts and water pressure was provided by hand pumps, pressurized in advance and topped up at the scene of the fire. More puzzling; where did Zira get what looks very much like a ballpoint pen..?

[@willbauermeister4506]

Favorite is escape. Beyond its time with a vetted idea

[@RabbitShirak]

Excellent review. Though in the future I'd avoid mentioning plot twists in detail about movies. Reason being that there's always someone who hasn't seen it or parodies of it. As a side note, I refused to buy the movie initially because of the Statue of Liberty cover on it. Way to spoil a movie from someone!

[@rogerlynch5279]

2:26 Not only the USA. Similar has happened in Western Europe as well. In Germany you call it the 68´Uproars or TE LOST 68- Generation About that time the social phienomena you, so well, ddescribed had hit the streets in German. In France it had started one or two years earlier and was even more bloody as in Germany. 2:33 Yes, Piere Boulle ( 1912-1994) was a very well known man around this time in the cultural circles. What had added to the dark moods he had written his novels in was his privat believes in the Nihilism. NIHILISM is a philosophy negating the GOOD per se and the NATURAL MORALITY VALUES in humanity Therefore a true nihilist like Boulle did not believed in a haevenly force in what ever a form. A nihilist believes that man only " works in society oout of a egocentric wish to survivie " Hence Planet of the Apes is one film I am glad for the script writers changing it´s original content. To my taste the outcomming films had been dark enough That was one reason why many Europeans shreaked back from movies done after Boulle´s bookds. A classical professional European criticism quote is: YOU GO INTO A FILM DONE AFTER A BOOK BY PIERRE BOULE YOU ARE GETTING NEXT IN A BAR TO GET DRUNK OR WORSE YOU WANT TO COMMIT SUICIDE ( VON DER NÄCHSTEN BRÜCKE SPRINGEN originally ) Hence PLANET OF THE APES was taken on by the European audience with some second thought. In fact the first really successfull PLANET OF THE APES FILM had been the second one after a massive, aggressive advertisement campaign in all mediums from Radio, TV, Magazines and even Comics. I remember a line from the Superman Comic were Planet of the Apes was directly mentioned.

[@rogerlynch5279]

12:47 THEIR FATE IS SWITCHED. Maybe both actors should have given the others roles. After all showing a dumbed down Afro-American as a slave with a chain around his neck would have served all those evil clichees to that topic. Even though Pierre Boulle would have applauded but not because of racism but because of his bleak view on humanity and nature itself.

[@Trollfest23]

Great essay!

[@mikelitoris9610]

The greatest movie ending of all time

[@simonrancourt7834]

6:03 : see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing

[@primeracalledelasoledad8439]

Love your video. New Subb.

[@adambusenlehner3689]

The twist ending really makes no sense. The astronauts launched from Earth and traveled through space for years only to wind up back on the planet of origin? Pretty lousy guidance system if you ask me.

[@stevis8264]

They were on their way home when the movie began.

[@richelliott9320]

Actually three species of apes

[@acrodave9287]

I don't agree that the Apes have a class system. The Apes have a rigid Caste system based on species, whereas in a class system, however unfair and arbitrary, there is some small room for movement. Working class can become middle class by the addition of money and a couple of generations. However Aristocrats remain Aristocrats no matter how broke they are. They're just no use to anybody...😂

[@leftcoaster67]

"Of all of God's primates. He hunts for sport. Or lust. Or greed. Yay he will murder his brother to possess his brothers land...."

[@mikemack9701]

Disney now owns the rights to Planet of the Apes. Gawd, it's gonna be awful from now on.

[@ryantothemaxey]

8:59 I swear that looked liked Trump for a moment

[@rexremedy1733]

Should be more apologetic.