Planet of The Apes - The Original Inconvenient Truth
Hello Everyone,
David here from West Hollywood and I'm a huge fan of the Planet of The Apes movies, particularly the 1968 original. You can catch me tonight on Cinemania at 8pm / 7C on AMC in the ultimate POTA fan smack down.
In my opinion, Planet of The Apes has stood the test of time as a classic film because of all the elements of the film coming together without one overpowering the other. The keen direction of Franklin J. Schaffner, the thoughtful and often times humorous script by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, the amazing make-up by John Chambers, the haunting musical score by Jerry Goldsmith, fantastic costume design by Morton Haack, and of course the superb cast all come together in a fantastic adventure of survival.
The film was so far ahead of its time in dealing with the harsh reality that man himself will one day be the cause of his own demise that one might argue that it is the original An Inconvenient Truth. I was also a huge fan of the "disaster" movie decade of the 1970's. In many ways, POTA is the ultimate disaster movie. Climbing to the top of an upside-down ocean liner is child's play compared to dealing with talking Apes that want to cut pieces out of your brain.
I also love the relationship between Zira and Cornelius. It took such fine actors as Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall to convey the necessary range of emotions under all that latex and heavy costumes for audiences keep coming back year after year. I think my favorite shot in the movie is the close up on Kim Hunter's face when Taylor (Charlton Heston) barks out the famous line, "Take your stinkin' paws off me you damned dirty ape!". It's pure movie magic! Enjoy.
Enjoy the film!
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I'm curious what you and Jessica thought of the Planet of the Apes remake? I'm a big Tim Roth fan, so I think I looked on it more kindly than most people -- but as fans of the original, do you give the remake any weight? Is there anything redeeming, or has it sullied the POTA legacy?
Hi Clayton,
I can honestly say that I didn't hate the Tim Burton remake and I also thought that Tim Roth was very good. Charlton Heston's cameo at the end of the film was a nice surprise, but the film just didn't have a big pay-off for me. Maybe it was because I was such a fan of the original.
I do have an issue in general with the whole concept of Hollywood remaking a classic film with the label "a re-imagining" of the original. The old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies in this case. The worst offender of recent years was Frank Oz's re-imagining of the 1974 classic thriller, The Stepford Wives. Oz's remake was a great big pile of steaming ape do-do as far as I was concerned.
Now back to the topic at hand; I didn't much care for some of the make-up in the Tim Burton remake. For instance, they actually gave Helena Bonham Carter's ape character false eyelashes and lipstick...what the fudge was that? She looked like a drag queen in an ape costume.
Happy viewing,
David