Movie · 1968 · Science Fiction, Adventure, Drama, Action · 1h 52m · G · English
Curator score: 8.2/10 (442.2K ratings)
Somewhere in the Universe, there must be something better than man!
Overview
Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.2/10
IMDb: 8.0/10
Letterboxd: 4.00/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Metacritic: 79
TMDB: 7.7/10
Director
Franklin J. Schaffner
Production
APJAC Productions, 20th Century Fox
Cast
Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly, Linda Harrison, Robert Gunner, Lou Wagner, Woodrow Parfrey, Jeff Burton, Buck Kartalian, Norman Burton, Wright King, Paul Lambert, Martin Abrahams, Army Archerd, James Bacon, Erlynn Mary Botelho, Priscilla Boyd
Where to watch
IndieFlix
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, cynical sci-fi adventure that works as both a thrilling survival story and a pointed satire about power, science, and civilization. The ending is iconic, but the film earns it with patient world-building, strong performances, and surprisingly serious ideas.
Best for
classic science fiction fans
viewers who like twist endings
satirical dystopian stories
adventure films with philosophical bite
fans of practical effects and makeup craft
Skip if
you want fast-paced modern action
you dislike 1960s genre filmmaking
you prefer straightforward worldbuilding without allegory
you need polished effects over concept and atmosphere
Overview
Planet of the Apes is much smarter and stranger than its pop-culture shorthand suggests. What begins as a survival adventure becomes a bleak, satirical reversal of human exceptionalism, with the film steadily turning its premise into an indictment of prejudice, authority, and institutional complacency.
Worth noting
The movie’s pace is deliberate, but that patience pays off. The ape society is built with enough detail to feel lived-in, and the courtroom and laboratory scenes give the film real dramatic shape. Charlton Heston plays Taylor as abrasive, wounded, and increasingly isolated, which makes the character’s unraveling feel both funny and tragic.
Bottom line
Its reputation rests on the final image, but the film is more than a twist machine. It’s a beautifully staged, often unsettling piece of 1960s science fiction that still feels provocative because it treats its absurd premise with complete seriousness. That commitment is what makes it endure.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Kevin (4★) · 3233 likes
[Ape 1]Help! The human's about to escape.
[Troy McClure]Get your paws off me, you dirty ape!
[Ape 2](gasp) He can talk!
[Ape]He can talk! He can talk! He can talk!He can talk! He can talk! He can talk!
[Troy]And I can siiiiiiiiiiing!
[Ape Nurse]Oooh! Help me, Dr. Zaius!
[Ape Chorus]Dr. Zaius! Dr. Zaius!Dr. Zaius! Dr. Zaius!Dr. Zaius! Dr. Zaius!O, Dr. Zaius!
[Ape 1]Dr. Zaius! Dr. Zaius!
[Troy]What's… more
Simon (3★) · 2967 likes
howd they get the statue of liberty all the way onto tht other planet
trex888 (5★) · 2274 likes
get your stinking toes of me you dumb dirty ape
SilentDawn (4.5★) · 1914 likes
83
The initial sequel series and modern prequel trilogy could never even prepare the uninitiated viewer for how quiet this film is, and how careful it is at revealing its hand - constructing a series of loaded, aggressive images for the shock of the american public. That famous Gif of Heston's Taylor laughing maniacally is, in context, one of the strangest moments in science-fiction history, following an image of a small american flag being planted in the desolate earth, a quiet reminder of the commitment to the system and the disaster it can cause. The United States doesn't matter. Unless, of course, the cycle repeats.