April 13, 2009

Planet of the Apes

Title: Planet of the Apes
Year: 1968
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Writers: Michael Wilson & Rod Serling, based on the novel by Pierre Boulle
Starring: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, Linda Harrison
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Distinctions: honorary Academy Award for Best Makeup; Oscar nominations for Best Score and Best Costume Design; currently #246 in IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: damn dirty apes
How I saw it: on video, a lot (used to have on VHS), most recently July 2008
Subjective Rating: 8/10 9/10 (One of my favorites).
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for special effects/design) c. 3.4/4 (Very good).

I love this stuff. It's the quintessential science fiction film of an era (for all the right reasons), and a damn good movie besides that. As for the special effects/design point - I don't care how groundbreaking the make up and costumes were at the time; they look like rubber masks to me.  There really isn't any way to make a live action movie about talking animals look convincing, even today.  And besides having production values only slightly better than Star Trek, I do not understand why the Ape city is modeled after Bedrock.

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