Planet of the Apes -1968

[yokaijohn]

I love the Original And the first 2 sequels,but I wish they would make a Movie version just like the book.

[trekman101]

The original "planet of the apes" was the best apes movie ever and my favorite It still holds up today...no guestion about that...you have to remember in the 50's and 60's sci fi was about "space something or another" but when man landed on the moon "space" wasn't sci fi anymore.Apes put sci fi back on the map It's sequels were just the studio trying to make money off the original film.
Tim's remake was just "fantasy" not sci fi but he wanted his ending to lead into the origin novels vision of apes in a technologically advanced civilization.Now with this said... there is an ongoing tv commercial with actors replaying characters from their past(you know the ones I'm talking about)talking about the topic of the commercial....have you seen the one with Tim's POTA character....I don't think FOX is through with POTA

[wolfie]

Thanks Apes that was all very intresting. Perhaps i am falling for one of those myths about there being some great cut that was lost.

[shaunhood]

I love this version... I remember watching this in gradeschool. I was traumatized with the idea of devolving into an ape with humans in wax museums. Just creepy...

[palitoy]

Conquest is one my all time faves. I really like the concept of an Orwellian future.
I went to University on a campus that was eerily similiar to Century City, especially because everyone was wearing black.

[apes3978]

As i said that was because it was cut to shreds with a lot of plot and everything cut out including a lot of Roddy's speech.

I would love to see the full version but sadly never will.

The "uncut" version of CONQUEST was released as part of the Blu-Ray DVD boxed set and it was shown on the FMC as part of their APES marathon, so it is out there to be seen...

As far as it being butchered up, it wasn't cut as much as everyone acts like... The main cuts were during the revolt and of those, most of them were basically a lot of splattered blood shots but nothing you could really say affected the story/film plotwise... Besides cutting most of the bloody shots out, they altered the soundtrack and reused cues rather than using what Tom Scott had written for some of the various scenes... Those were the only major changes, the story itself did not lose any plot or major scenes. The only lengthy scene that was known to exist that wasn't included in either the "uncut" version or the released cut was the opening scene where a chimp is trying to escape from the city and is shot down by police, but that scene may not exist anymore (in it's original form) because bits of it were edited out and used in the film during the scene where Caesar is trying to escape the police... (They also used a shot of the dead chimp lying on the ground during one of the revolution scenes.)

Regarding Caesar's speech, that was never cut up... It was the same dialog in both cuts of the film, there were no lines edited from it... If anything, it was the released cut of the film that messed with it: They added the cop-out (tacked on) ending to his speech in that one.

[wolfie]

As i said that was because it was cut to shreds with a lot of plot and everything cut out including a lot of Roddy's speech.

I would love to see the full version but sadly never will.

[Mikey]

The biggest problem with Conquest imo, was it didn't FEEL like a Planet of the Apes movie.

Conquest was the only POTA's movie I seen new in the theatre back in the day (I still remember seeing it at my local drive-in.
I vividly remember HATING it because it didn't seem like a POTA's movie.

[kennermike]

you know Conquest is a thinker really dark the whole police state theme ,torture, slavery.I think that was Roddy Mcdowell's best work in the whole series that speech he gave at the end with the orginal apes theme cue and the burning buildings in the background chilling still think of it

[Gorn Captain]

Let's face it, movies like the first POTA are so original, and timeless, why would you possibly remake it?
Don't mess with perfection. I rewatched the first one last month, and I still get a buzz from that first scene showing the gorilla soldier on horseback. Wow! It still kicks!

I liked part II, but the lower budget let it down a bit. Low-cost ape masks, poor effects (especially in the subway scenes). I liked Franciscus as the new lead, he did well.

Part III had some great social comment, mostly about how we treat animals or anyone that's different. Again, they didn't shy away from letting the film end on a down note. Gutsy. But someone still has to explain to me how Cornelius and Zira suddenly found a functional space ship and suits, knew how to pilot it, go back in time,...
Needed some suspension of disbelief for that part...

I loved Conquest. A very social and political film, about human/simian rights, slavery, modern society. It's still an exciting movie to watch, but I loved the underlying messages.

"Battle" was pretty poor, due to an even smaller budget (will studios never learn?), and the need to "make a family picture". It was pretty weak on storyline, and the "big battle" at the end had about two horses and a truck. Not impressive.

If you have the DVD box, the documentary is fantastic, two hours of interesting, intelligent info. Great stuff.

And if you don't mind, I'll skip the remake. I don't settle for Pepsi, either....

[wolfie]

The original cut of Conquest was, so i have heard, really good and possibly the best film of the series until the studio got hold of it and cut it to pieces to get a family rating. As far as i know no print of the original cut exists.

[Mikey]

The Planet of the Apes movie series was an odd lot.
It's like they didn't know which direction to go so they went off in all directions.

Planet of the Apes was pure modern (at the time) Sci Fi

Beneath was too.

Escape seemed made for kids but had adult situations -- a weird combo that really didn't work, imo

Conquest was dark and I still can't believe that movie got made ... The claustriphobic feel, adult themes including torture -- and the ending really still has me scratching my head as to "what were they (the studio) thinking ?"

Battle was similiar to Escape ... It seemed ment for kids but had adult themes (the child dying at the end)...

Today, we can look back on these movies with fond nostalgia and go easy on them ... But at the time a lot of bad decissions were made in the franchise that totally trashed it before it's time.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

I showed my 11 year old nephew the old one then the new one back to back, and he thought the old one was much better...that says a lot to me in these technology oriented times.

[david_b]

Despite it's primarily focus on being a 'chase' show, the live action television series was always Roddy's favorite out of all the Apes projects. I liked it more than any of the sequel movies..

The original movie was an entertaining milestone on many levels..!

david_b

[wolfie]

I like the Original and Escape the most. I think the Burton film is better than the other 3 films.