"'You cut up his brain, you bloody baboon!"', Charlton Heston shouts at some malevolent monkey in the 1968 adaptation of Pierre Boulle's novel. Decades on, he might have said something similar to Tim Burton, who `re-imagined' the film (minus the minor matter of much imagination) as a regressive soup of special effects, screeching social satire, Mark Wahlberg and similarly surface-level-only nonsense. Give us those old PG Tips ads any day.
Thankfully, three decades later, the original remains the thinking chimp's conceptual sci-fi movie. From subtext to design, make-up to apeing-up, crash-landing to rude-awakening final twist, it's fully realised, witty and superbly sustained.
On the one hand, it's a classic genre piece, hinting at themes of faith and science; on the other, it's a key time-capsule of the Cold War-cum-Vietnam era. Little wonder that, in Charlton Heston's opening monologue, his Taylor is happy to leave the 20th century behind. In 1968, the world surely didn't seem much less of a madhouse than the one he lands on, a forbidding planet where evolution has gone AWOL.
From there, the film works every angle beautifully. The hierarchy of the ape society is keenly considered, the characterisation of the simians is rich and clear. Even through John Chambers' ape designs, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter and Maurice Evans give expressive performances. The script is packed with zingers, too, from "Human see, human do" to "But you're so damn ugly!", when hairy Chuck plants a kiss on Hunter's chimp. As for the twist (so spectacularly bungled in Burton's vapid variation), it's an example of smart audience duping that easily has the edge on, say, The Sixth Sense in terms of sheer resonance.
Of course, it's not perfect. For all his bare-chested bluster, Heston often seems to act with his teeth, and his stab at space angst is baaaaad ("I feel... Lonely"). Linda Harrison's Nova, too, is barely even given the space to take on a token `love interest' role. Still, if the knuckle-dragging TV series and banana-gobbling remake can't dent the film's reputation, any other minor quibbles aren't going to knock it out of the trees. Even after all these years, it still stands on its own two feet.
DVD Extras:
By the time you've got through this lot, evolution may have clicked into reverse.The key offering is Behind The Planet Of The Apes, a two-hour documentary narrated by Roddy McDowall. Following the hirsute heroes from inception to the final film in the series, it's packed with interviews, ranging from crazy Chuck to producer Richard Zanuck (who saw the film as an action movie, no more), make-up designer John Chambers and Kim Hunter. There's some great archive footage on show here as well, and it's nicely complemented by McDowall's home movies, which include footage of his monkey make-up being slapped on.On top of that, you get the screentest shot to see if this ape shit would swing before an audience, starring the great Edward G Robinson as Dr Zaius, along with dailies, outtakes, ape sketches and galleries. Sadly, the two commentaries (composer Jerry Goldsmith gets one; Hunter, McDowall and Chambers another) aren't that hot. No one comments on the film as it runs, instead talking in general terms and leaving huge gaps between their contributions. A better option is the scholarly text commentary, which offers plenty of insights into (and critiques of) the film as it progresses. So not quite King of the Jungle, but you certainly won't feel shortchanged.
