The first movie is based loosely on a novel by Pierre Boulle, and the plot of that novel (which was originally called Monkey World) is sort of in Planet Of The Apes. Sort of.Watching the movie with a view to seeing it for the very first time is extraordinarily difficult. The ending is so monumentally famous that any hidden clues about what that ending is going to be now seem signposted by neon lights. The crew getting the Eart date at the beginning of the film (in a scene that we at the Enterprise had completely forgotten had even existed) and Cornelius' discovery of the Earth relics in the archeaology site, seem to scream that Taylor is still on Earth (how could he have been that surprised by the ending?). And yet, I wonder if it's because we're so familiar with the ending we are noticing those clues more so.
Given that this is the first film in the franchise, it's also easy to forget that this wasn't the first of the Apes series when it was released, but rather it was a Charlton Heston vehicle. Heston dominates the entire movie, swaggering along with a stogie in his mouth and a smile that suggests he's merely seconds away from punching you in the face. Heston actually isn't that brilliant an actor, but there's something tremendously compelling about him that he brings every scene he's in to life. The film benefits so much from him that it's not funny, and we'll see why this is true in the sequel.
The supporting cast all struggle to make an impact for a variety of reasons. Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowall and Maurice Evans are all hidden behind their ape masks, while Robert Gunner disappears not long into the film, and Linda Harrison doesn't get a single line in the entire film. However, all do actually make an impression in spite of the odds against them, with the apes of particular note.
And the ape masks are actually pretty good, and stand the test of time relatively well. There's perhaps not as much movement about the mouth as you might expect from a modern film, but the mask is quite seemless and well made. There does appear to be three distinct sort of masks as well, though it's not entirely made clear in this movie what that difference is supposed to represent (though there does seem to be a warrior class, a government class and a scientific class).
Mi made the observation that older films seem to take more risks than modern films, in terms of sound and photography. Whilst those risks might not always pan out (and you may remember our observations about the Amityville series, in particular the first one), it's still to the filmmakers credit that they tried. Perhaps, though, there was less need to make a massive impact on opening weekend in the 60's, than there is today. Certainly the music (by Jerry Goldsmith) is a lot more experimental that his traditional orchestral scores, and the scoundscape is occasionally quite abstract.
Ultimately, Planet Of The Apes is a damned good film. Not in terms of the impact it has on popular culture (when Evans first appears on screen, both Mi and Ry burst into "Dr Zaius" from The Simpsons), or indeed on the legacy it has left on film in general, but simply because it's a very entertaining film that keeps you engrossed and interested until the very end.
Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, not so much so.Goldfinger scribe, Paul Dehn, takes over scripting responsibilities for this film (I forgot to mention that one of the co-writers of the original film is Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling), and he seems to have decided to just throw a whole heap of things into the mix in the hope that an amazing and clever movie will come out as a result. Most of the ideas, however, just simply don't flow. And worse, the film has Heston for just a few minutes.
James Fransciscus takes over as star of the movie, and ostensibly he seems to have been cast for a striking similarity to Heston - one wonders if people might have been fooled when watching the trailer into thinking that this was another Heston film. It's not until Heston appears at the end that you realise that Fransciscus really is the poor man's Heston, as Charles himself literally towers over James in both size and presence. And whereas the original film was entertaining simply by Heston's sheer charisma, without it, Beneath has to rely on it's plot and that is something that it really couldn't afford to do.
A fair bit of retconning has taken place (and Roddy McDowall has left the cast to be replaced by someone who ultimately makes little difference because Cornelius barely appears). Now the class of apes is actually distinct by type - the warriors are gorillas, the scientists chimpanzees and it's never quite clear what Zaius and his lot are supposed to be. There's a fair bit of division between them as well, with gorilla Ushas (played by James Gregory) determined to go to war (against whom is also not really clear - perhaps it's the devolved humans, though they hardly seemed like much more than a pest in the first film), and wants to take his army to the place where Heston makes his first few minutes discovering special effects. Fransciscus, having stumbled on Linda Harrison (who is given considerably more to do in this film than be Charlton Heston's bitch), also goes to the area to find Heston, and instead discovers a group of humans who are intelligent and highly evolved, though wear masks to cover the fact they are all freaky veined albinos in real life (it's not quite clear why they wear masks because they all look the same...). As if that weren't confusing enough, there's a nuclear bomb in the place that Charlton Heston knows about (suggesting that the war took place not long after 1972) and everyone wants to set it off. Then Dehn remembers the apes part of the title, and suddenly they return to the plot. Silly is perhaps a tactful way of putting it.
Everywhere the original movie succeeds, the sequel fails. A sub rate lead, a sub rate plot, and characters that are so different from their original appearance you wonder what happened between films (Zaius is the greatest victim of this, apparently completely changing personalities overnight).
It doesn't bode well that the Apes series bombs out in the second film, but hopefully the next one will have some more redeeming qualities.
0 comments:
Post a Comment