Cheap Planet of the Apes (Widescreen 35th Anniversary Edition) (DVD) (Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall) (Franklin J. Schaffner) Price

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Customer Reviews of Planet of the Apes (Widescreen 35th Anniversary Edition)

The original, and by far the best
I've seen the original Planet of the Apes about three times, and still rate it the number 1 apes film. Michael Wilson and Rod Serling's screenplay is intelligent, and Franklin Schaffner is a wonderful director. Starring Charlton Heston and Kim Hunter (She was more important in this one than Roddy Mcdowall) this film still sends social messages and is wildly entertaining.
The story begins with Colonel George Taylor (Charlton Heston), the leader of a band of astronauts, falling asleep. A year later, the spacecraft crashes in the water of an unfamiliar planet. He and his crew (except Stuart, the lovely female astronaut) escape and go to shore. Taylor, after checking the clocks, knows that in his time, his crew and him were away from Earth for 18 months. But 2,000 years passed on Earth. The astronauts move across the desert, and discover a watering hole in the forest. They also encounter primitive humans. While eating, the humans and astronauts are hunted by intelligent gorillas. They kill one astronaut. Taylor is shot and taken captive. He meets a sympathetic chimpanzee named Zira (Kim Hunter) and her husband Cornelius (Roddy Mcdowall). Taylor, a human who once had believed that man was not worth studying anymore, finds himself defending human kind, mating with a girl named Nova (Linda Harrison) and hunted by the orangutan leader Dr. Zauis (Marice Evans). The film's true stars are: Charlton Heston, Marice Evans, Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowall, and Linda Harrison. Produced by Arthur P. Jacobs, the film was beautiful. John Chambers created fairly good makeup (The Oranutans look the most realistic, even though the male orangs look like female orangs), and the film remains a classic.

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a brilliant classic
With its excellent performances and tight, smart script written by Rod Serling and Michael Wilson (based on the book by Pierre Boulle), this is a film that stays fresh and interesting even with repeated viewings. Released the same year as "2001: A Space Odyssey", both films are at the top of my "super sci-fi" list, and stack up against the best of what has been released in recent years, which relies more than ever on special effects to tell the story; the effects in "Planet of the Apes" are minimal, and it's the latex make-up that is the marvel, and garnered John Chambers a Special Award at the Oscars for his work, which allows the ape characters full freedom of facial expressions. Oscar nominations went for costume design, and the marvelous score by Jerry Goldsmith.
The cinematography by Leon Shamroy is also fantastic, and I love the aerial descent that starts the film.

Charlton Heston as the astronaut who lands in an "upside down world", and Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall as free thinking scientists are superb, and in smaller roles, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore and James Daly terrific as authority figures in the ape colony.
This film had four sequels, a TV series and a cartoon series, as well as a multitude of merchandise from plastic figurines to bubble gum cards, but the original stays pristine and untarnished by its often silly spin-offs, and is a one-of-a-kind classic.
What this film has, that one can appreciate even when one knows what it is, is that rare thing...a great ending. Very few films leave one with a satisfied feeling at their close, but this one is unique, brilliantly filmed, and like a perfect dessert after a good meal.
Total running time is 112 minutes.

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ape
in this one some astronauts are in suspended animation.they come out and go down to some strange planet.charelston heston is in it.whos he?guess that was before my time.the kids will think the apes are funny.i cant tell if its low budget because all those old movies look low budget.it is the best of the set which has many many sequels.it is also better than the tim burton version.the very last scene is very well acted and one of my favorite scenes ever.thee are some chicks about but its hard to tell that they are as sexy as they are through all the grime and dirt from the forest world they live in.its an excellent film.