听 In "Ben-Hur" Charlton Heston was condemned to the galleys and had his family abandoned in the Valley of the Lepers. The prospect may have struck fear into his heart, but it can never have come close to the threat posed in "Planet of the Apes". In this notorious science fiction adventure, monkeys try to geld him.
To this day, the 1968 original has been described as everything from a definitive example of the genre to laughable 60s trash - a reputation owing more to its sequels, but which it does in part earn. It manages to be both of these things, which is why it remains such fun to watch, despite ludicrous rubbery masks and over-sensational camerawork.
Heston is Colonel George Taylor, leader of a space expedition that crash-lands on a strange planet that at first appears to be uninhabited. Things turn nasty when the crew indulge in some skinny-dipping and are lured into a gruesome manhunt in which grinning apes on horseback slaughter humans for sport. Taken prisoner, Taylor becomes a phenomenon when it turns out he can talk.
Supportive ape doctors Zira (Hunter) and Cornelius (McDowell) try to defend him against simian dogma that refuses to acknowledge the possibility of his existence.
McDowell, Hunter, and Maurice Evans as Dr Zaius perform well, given their latex muzzles, and a magnificently indignant Heston ("You cut up his brain you bloody baboon!") wrestles with the imponderables of a topsy-turvy world in which apes reign over humankind.
Read reviews of all the "Ape" films.
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