The writers turned a not very good novel into an allegory on race and religion.

It also takes an nuclear stance which makes an impact in its finale.

Charlton Heston is Taylor. An astronaut, part of a crew of four on a long term space mission.

They crash landed in what looks like a deserted planet. Soon they encounter some hunter/gatherer human beings who do not speak. Then he finds apes on horseback who speak English.

The apes treat the humans like animals. Taylor is injured by the apes and is unable to speak at first.

A female ape who is a zoologist is shocked when Taylor speaks. The other apes see him as a threat. Taylor being able to talk and think is against what the apes have been taught. The answer lies in the forbidden zone as to what happened to the humans.

The movie raises issues regarding race relations, the treatment of animals and adherence to holy texts.

This is a powerful film famous for its twist ending.

Having seen all three films from the rebooted series, I came into watching the original series expecting something relatively similar. To my pleasant surprise, it's a very different story.

It's a fascinating dynamic that is set up in this version, which I in fact prefer compared to the films from the 2010s - as entertaining as they are in their own right. It's nicely paced and features good cinematography.

The cast of 1968's 'Planet of the Apes' are very good. Charlton Heston, as you might expect, sticks out the most, but Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter and Maurice Evans are good too. Everyone else is solid, as well.

The effects haven't aged amazingly, for example the ape make-up/costumes are dated and clunky - particularly when the characters are speaking. That's all forgivable of course, given the release year. It's all still effective, either way.

8/10 - very close to being 9/10 in truth.

It seems that this film is almost as famous for the folks who didn't take part - Marlon Brando, Edward G. Robinson, Steve McQueen and even Ingrid Bergman, as for it's achievements as a thought provoking piece of cinema. I have always found that Charlton Heston's delivery tended a touch to theatrical monologue; but it really does work in this existential sci-fi story. Returning from a space voyage to Earth several thousand years after they left, the crew discover a planet (they are not even sure which one) ruled over by apes with their own sophisticated, hierarchical, though still agrarian, society. Heston is soon captured but luckily falls under the protection of two curiously-minded scientists "Zira" (Kim Hunter) and "Cornelius" (Roddy McDowell) who suspect that there is much more to their societal beginnings than are oft quoted in the sacred scriptures by "Dr. Zaius" (Maurice Evans). The juxtapositioning of ape and man make for some quite funny scenarios and over 50 years later it still poses some relevant questions about man's assumptions and behaviour towards the rest of life on our world.

Dramatic and adventurous

The Planet of the Apes (1968) is a fantastic movie that delivers a real experience to the viewer. There is no excuse for anyone not to enjoy this movie. Taylor and his friends land in the spaceship in a land ruled by damn dirty apes. If you haven’t seen this, it’s shameful. 9-10.

*SPOILERS BELOW*

I frst saw this film on its first run on CBS. I was in junior high and a hard core sci-fi fan. I was hooked from the first scene. Written by the late great Rod Serling based on the novel by Pierre Boulle, the story is very engaging. After we are introduced to an ANSA Mission Commander named Colonel Taylor, we are treated to a roller-coaster type sequence as we see the re-entry and crash of Taylor's ship subjectively; as if we were aboard her. The abandon ship scenes are still impressive even by today's standards. It's very easy to believe we are seeing a real spacecraft crashed in the water. The next sequence basically establishes Taylor's personality. To be blunt, he is an arrogant jerk. He mentions hoping to find something better than Man. In a literal casr of "Be careful what you wish for", he spends the rest of the film trying to prove the opposite. After he and his two crew members encounter a tribe of wild, mute humans, the sci-fi element takes on a horror flavor as a terrifying horn sounds. We are then introduced to the higher lifeforms of the planet which happen to be apes. The hunting sequences are both exciting and disturbing. As we are familiarized with the film's antagonists, we get a bit of comedy relief as we hear Julius, the zoo-keeper say "Human see, human do" The simian characters are all wonderfully written and acted.
I had heard many times about the ending, but actually seeing Miss Liberty half buried and weathered like that was still a shock. CBS edited Heston's agonized reaction to merely "DAMN YOU!!". I didn't hear the uncut version until I rented it on VHS about 2 decades later when I got my first VCR. The new Apes films are well made but I will always prefer this one. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.