Ape Movies

Before I do my long over-sue “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” review, I would first like to reminisce a bit on the whole series.  I am not sure when I first became a fan…I was young.  I know I did not see it in the movie theatres when it came out…I was “minus” two.  But in the seventies there were theatres which showed passed-run movies everywhere.  Plus on Saturday afternoons the three channels would run movies – especially Hammer and Castle horror films (ridiculously tame to today’s horror crap).  Regardless of when it began - I am a Planet of the Apes fan. 

Now this saga begins in 1963 when French novelist Pierre Boulle wrote “La Planète des Singes” (Monkey Planet).  **This description does have spoilers – however I doubt many people will be reading a novel in French from the 1960s or its translation (but I do have a copy should someone wish to borrow it).**  Anyway…parts of this book are used throughout the series.  Most notably the Ape characters such as chimpanzee scientists Zira and Cornelius along with the religious zealot Dr. Zaius.  This tale, beginning as does Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a story in a story, takes place in the distant future.  A couple on a leisurely drive in space comes across a message in a bottle.  The letter tells the story of Ulysse – a space traveler from 2500 who visited a planet of apes in the Betelgeuse system.  (Yes, his name was meant to evoke the epic Greek traveler Ulysses). The rest of the story is very familiar to the fans of the first two movies.  The primary difference between the novel and the films is that the movies show the apes in an agrarian society.  The apes in the novel have an advanced society – easily recognized by a 20^th Century inhibitor of our planet.  However, the movie producers had an insanely small budget and could not afford to give the apes a high-tech society. Unlike the first movie, in the novel Ulysse escapes…he lands in Paris on Earth only to find it run by intelligent apes (now you know where Tim Burton got his ending).  But that is not the ending.  For we learn those  reading this letter find the story preposterous – no human is intelligent enough to write a story – the couple (chimpanzees) dismiss the tale as fiction. Dum, dum, dum…

NOTE: There are some spoilers in the movie descriptions below, sorry…

So fast forward a couple of years, and a unique film began production at 20^th Century Fox.  Directed by Franklin Schaffner (better known as a TV director at the time but later gained fame for Patton, Papillon, and The Boys from Brazil) and written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling (yes, the Twilight Zone dude).  The cast included Charleston Heston as Taylor (the assumption was that the name Ulysse was too European and Americans would not get the reference any way), Roddy McDowall as Cornelius, Kim Hunter as Zira, and Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius. Today’s audience may not be familiar with these actors, but in the 60s they were stars.  Linda Harrison – girlfriend to a studio executive at the time – played Taylor’s love-interest, Nova. The academy award winning makeup was designed by famed artist John Chambers (known for the Munsters and Spock’s ears, and years later Blade Runner).  Composer Jerry Goldsmith was later recognized for his unique use of sounds to create his errie score to the movie – he became famous later as the composer of nearly all the Star Trek TV theme songs and movie scores. 

The 1968 original Planet of the Apes surprised the studio when it not only did well with audiences but was well-liked by critics.  Underneath the makeup and spaceships was a relevant storyline.  A tale of racism and oppression was very real and present to 1960’s audiences.  As later with TV shows like Star Trek, a moral was given but masked by science fiction.  You could not do a similar story in 1968 America with contemporary sets – those who made the world oppressive would have banned it.  But slap on a science fiction label and viola – a story can be told with complexities.  While the story may not be as obvious to today’s society, it still resonates with them (even when they aren’t sure why).  This film is continuously listed in critics’ top 100 film choices.  The images of this film have become iconic.  You can find allusions to the film in Spaceballs, Futurama, the Simpsons, Jay and Silent Bob, Family Guy, and much more.  The line "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" has become a part of our lexicon and the ending scene of the Statute of Liberty lying buried on the beach is a symbol every man, woman, and child seems to recognize.

The film did so well, they made a sequel.  In 1970 Beneath the Planet of the Apes was released - it also did well.  Although not as inventive as the first movie, we have many of the same actors and characters.  James Franciscus – who could pass as Charleston Heston’s little brother – played John Brent, part of the rescue party who followed Taylor and his crew through the vortex or wormhole or whatever it was that moved them through time and space.  The gist of this story is an underground race of humans physically scarred by radiation with telepathic abilities who worship a nuclear bomb.  The apes invade and a battle ensues.  Charleston makes a brief cameo at the end of the film…blowing up the bomb (and hoping to kill the franchise). 

Over the next 3 years, another sequel popped out every year.  Spending less and less on quality, the effects in the later movies are often obvious masks not even glues to the actor’s faces.  Escape from Planet of the Apes tells us Zira, Cornelius, and a friend Dr. Milo (played by the Sal Mineo, most famous as James Dean’s friend in Rebel Without a Cause) escaped just before Taylor blows up the planet.  They use Brent’s spaceship and land in 1973 LA.  First – they are sent to a zoo, where Dr. Milo is killed by a gorilla.  Then the humans learn the apes can speak – suddenly celebrity.  Then the dark side of humanity - they are poked and prodded by scientists, grilled by the military, and over all abused.  Zira, who was pregnant, is determined to save her child from the imprisoned life they now have.  Their escape is aided by a kind circus owner, Armando (played wonderfully by Ricardo Montalban).  The family is hunted down and killed.  Only in the last moments of the film do we realize baby Milo was switched with a regular chimp baby.  We see him crying for his “ma ma” in Armando’s circus.

Conquest of the Battle of the Apes shows Milo – rechristened Caesar – all grown up and living with Armando, the circus owner from the last film.  Roddy McDowall plays the part of his own son.   Caesar has been hidden in the circus for 10 years (apes mature faster than humans I guess).  A virus has killed all the cats and dogs so humans, in need of pets, take in monkeys and apes…the storyline is a bit thin.  The other part of this story is the breeding apes as slaves (trained through violence).  Armando’s death eradicates the last hope Caesar has in the human race.  He begins to plot a rebellion.  In the training facility, he must hide his ability for speech.  The human tormentors show the worst homo-sapiens have to offer.  Caesar inspires the orangutans, chimpanzees and gorilla to rise against their slave lords (no subtlety in this movie).  The bloodshed ends only once Lisa (Caesar’s girlfriend) shouts “NO” – she is the first ape other than Caesar to demonstrate speech.  It is with this that Caesar remembers his own humanity…

But now... now we will put away our hatred. Now we will put down our weapons. We have passed through the night of the fires, and those who were our masters are now our servants. And we, who are not human, can afford to be humane. Destiny is the will of God, and if it is Man’s destiny to be dominated, it is God’s will that he be dominated with compassion, and understanding. So, cast out your vengeance. Tonight, we have seen the birth of the Planet of the Apes!

The last movie in this series shows life after the great ape rebellion.  Caesar, again played by Roddy McDowall, leads a band of humans and apes who are working together to start a new society.  He has married Lisa and they have a son Cornelius.  He Caesar learns about his parent through films found on the old base – now called the Forbidden City.  Overrun with radiation affected humans, their crazy leader wanted to erase apes from the planet.  The gorilla general wants to do the same with humans.  The resulting battle is cliché.  The opening and closing sequences show the “Lawgiver” played by famed director and actor John Houston.  We see a ray of hope, as he is speaking 600 years later to a group of human and ape children appearing to co-exist peacefully.  These 5 movies supposed to explain the circular nature of this planet.  Taylor landed on the planet in the future - Cornelius and Zira escaped the doomed planet in the rescue space ship and are sent to the past – their son leads the ape rebellion – the planet is now ruled by apes – this is the world Taylor meets.  So what came first…the chicken or the egg?  So is Caesar his own grandfather??

It doesn’t end there.  A year later a really horrible TV series call Planet of the Apes aired on CBS for three painful months.  The only good thing in the 14 episodes is Roddy McDowall (playing Galen, no apparent relation to Cornelius of Caesar).  If you really feel you must watch it, it is available on DVD.  Then in 1975 they try again, this time animated.  Have you seen the Star Trek cartoons from the same era?  It’s just a hokey.  Now the ape civilization is far more technologically advanced (as in the original novel).  Roddy McDowall is NOT in this incarnation.  It died after thirteen episodes.  There were later comic books, but there are even worse than the cartoon.

So that brings us to this generation.  Tim Burton directed his remake in 2001 staring mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clark Duncan and Paul Giamatti.  Linda Harrision – Nova in the first two movies – has a cameo as a captured human.  Charleston Heston – once quick to curse the franchise – embraced his legacy and performed a short scene as   General Thade’s dying father.  The iconic Rick Baker developed the makeup effects and Danny Elfman (former Oingo-Boingo frontman) composes the score (as he has in nearly every Burton movie).  Sadly, Roddy McDowall, who was often connected with possible reboots, died in 1998.

In this movie the apes’ functions are not clearly defined by their species (as it was in the original).  Events and dialogue allude to film.  There is still a sense of injustice, slavery, and oppression in this movie as in the original.  The ending – which received the most derision – is right out of the novel.  Since most Americans never heard of (let alone read) the novel, they could not figure out why the ending was so different from the 1968 movie.  Tim Roth said in an interview he was confused by it.  At least Helena Bonham Carter said she thought it was related to the time-wormhole.  Burton planned on expanding on the ending with a sequel which was never made.  I enjoyed the movie and appreciated its nod to the original film and the novel.

This brings us to 2011 and Rise of the Planet of the Apes…but we will save that for another day.