An astronaut crew crash lands on a planet in the distant future where intelligent talking apes are the dominant species, and humans are the oppressed and enslaved.
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The sole survivor of an interplanetary rescue mission searches for the only survivor of the previous expedition. He discovers a planet ruled by apes and an underground city run by telepathic humans.
Director:
Ted Post
Stars:
James Franciscus,
Kim Hunter,
Maurice Evans
The world is shocked by the appearance of three talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a U.S. spacecraft. They become the toast of society; but one man believes them to be a threat to the human race.
Director:
Don Taylor
Stars:
Roddy McDowall,
Kim Hunter,
Bradford Dillman
In a futuristic world that has embraced ape slavery, Caesar, the son of the late simians Cornelius and Zira, surfaces after almost twenty years of hiding out from the authorities, and prepares for a slave revolt against humanity.
Director:
J. Lee Thompson
Stars:
Roddy McDowall,
Don Murray,
Ricardo Montalban
Ten years after conquering the Earth, ape leader Caesar wants the ruling apes and enslaved humans to live in peace. But warring factions of apes led by a militant gorilla general as well as various human groups threaten the stability.
Director:
J. Lee Thompson
Stars:
Roddy McDowall,
Claude Akins,
Natalie Trundy
After an encounter with U.F.O.s, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Stars:
Richard Dreyfuss,
François Truffaut,
Teri Garr
A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier.
Taylor and two other astronauts come out of deep hibernation to find that their ship has crashed. Escaping with little more than clothes they find that they have landed on a planet where men are pre-lingual and uncivilized while apes have learned speech and technology. Taylor is captured and taken to the city of the apes after damaging his throat so that he is silent and cannot communicate with the apes. Written by
John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
During breaks in filming, actors made up as different ape species tended to hang out together, gorillas with gorillas, orangutans with orangutans, chimps with chimps. It wasn't required, it just naturally happened. See more »
Goofs
(at around 20 mins) When the astronauts walk up a sandy hill, a single astronaut is shown walking uphill from behind, yet there are two sets of footprints side by side. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
George Taylor:
And that completes my final report until we reach touchdown. We're now on full automatic, in the hands of the computers. I have tucked my crew in for the long sleep and I'll be joining them soon. In less than an hour, we'll finish our sixth month out of Cape Kennedy. Six months in deep space - by our time, that is. According to Dr. Haslein's theory of time, in a vehicle travelling nearly the speed of light, the Earth has aged nearly 700 years since we left it, while we've aged ...
See more »
It's especially interesting that "Planet of the Apes" was released a few months before "2001: A Space Odyssey", as they both look at the same question: what will become of humanity (and how did we originate)? Obviously, the really famous line is Charlton Heston's snap at his captors, and the really famous scene is the end - which I won't tell here for fear of spoiling the whole movie. And what an impressive movie it is! Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Tim Burton's remake. "POTA" should never have been remade. So, for a cinematic treat, stick to this one and avoid the remake.
One more thing is that some people have pointed out that the portrayals of the simians were kinda racist. The blond, cultured orangutans are the nobles; the dark-haired, mildly nervous chimpanzees are the scientists; and the dark-skinned, incompetent gorillas are the police. Oh well. It's still a good movie.
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It's especially interesting that "Planet of the Apes" was released a few months before "2001: A Space Odyssey", as they both look at the same question: what will become of humanity (and how did we originate)? Obviously, the really famous line is Charlton Heston's snap at his captors, and the really famous scene is the end - which I won't tell here for fear of spoiling the whole movie. And what an impressive movie it is! Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Tim Burton's remake. "POTA" should never have been remade. So, for a cinematic treat, stick to this one and avoid the remake.
One more thing is that some people have pointed out that the portrayals of the simians were kinda racist. The blond, cultured orangutans are the nobles; the dark-haired, mildly nervous chimpanzees are the scientists; and the dark-skinned, incompetent gorillas are the police. Oh well. It's still a good movie.