ORBzine - 2000.03 Television Movie Review

ORBzine - Movie Reviews March 2000

TITLE & REVIEW

Man did not evolve from gorillas, chimps or orang-utangs; he has a common ancestor with them.

Planet of the Apes
Astronaut Charlton Heston and his crew go into cryo-sleep for 6 months, and wake up an estimated 700 years later. Their plan? To settle a new world. The astronauts total 3 men and only one woman, with a maximum of 10 kids. But one man and 3 women would have given a maximum of 30 offspring. Since the film is to be re-made, this reviewer suggests himself for the lead role and our erstwhile Charlies's Angels [ Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu] as his companions.
The film is set on an M-class world, with breathable air and abundant h^2o [except in the desert]. To anyone not accustomed to SF movie conventions [ie ALL planets look exactly like Hollywood back-lots and ALL aliens speak American-accented English!] the answer is blindingly obvious.
Although the humans are apparently social and semi-intelligent creatures [they have villages and crops] the only one given a name or any real screen time [Nova, played by the babelicious Linda Harrison ] makes no attempt to communicate with Heston [or with Franciscus in the sequel].
Producer Arthur P. Jacobs bought the rights to the novel by Pierre Boulle [le planet de singes] who had also written Bridge on the River Kwai [BOTRK]. Jacobs was that rare thing; a Producer who was an ideas man. Rod Serling [Twilight Zone] completed over 30 drafts of the screenplay adaption. However, due to budgetary constrictions the ape civilisation had to be reduced from hi-tech to lo-tech. The budget escalated to $5.8 - including $1 million for make-up and costumes. They needed 80 make-up crew for up to 200 apes!
The Studios were extremely reticent about making the film. However, Jacobs met with Charlton Heston, who signed up to the project.
Richard Zanuck had just taken over FOX from his father, and liked the ideas. However, he insisted on the creation of a $5k test reel in which Edward G Robinson played Dr Zeus. Robinson dropped out from the proper film, because he was uncomfortable with the lengthy make-up process.
The key to the film was prosthetic makeup for the apes. The man selected was John Chambers, a former WW2 medic who designed the vulcan ears for Star Trek! It won him a special Academy Award for outstanding services to the industry.
The ending is remarkably Anti-war, which is notable because Heston is currently President of the NRA [National Rifle Association]. It is also reminiscent of the cry Madness! at the end of BOTRK!
Shooting was completed on August 10th 1967.
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Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Heston did not want to appear in the sequel - he agreed to a cameo, and suggested the ending himself.
James Franciscus took the lead role - another version of Heston, the leader and lone survivor of a rescue mission sent after the first ship. After a planned gap of 700 years they land within a couple of months and miles of each other!
Unlike Heston, Franciscus' character knows from the start he is in 3955 CE. However, it is only when he and Nova enter a cave to escape gorillas that he discovers the ruins of NYC!
The subtle social commentary of the first film was replaced by a more contemporary anti-war stance. The gorillas decide to invade the Forbidden Zone, which turns out to be inhabited by psychic albino human mutants. The mutants worship a cobalt bomb [powerful enough to destroy the Earth], which they refer to as a Weapon of Peace. Nice oxymoron.
The problem with the action aspect of the film is, the mutants have only one line of defence - a gigantic illusion. They use their telepathy on Franciscus to make him attack the girl, Nova, but are unable to make the gorilla soldiers attack each other.
It took $14 million at the box office - over 3 times its cost. Therefore the budgets were going down even at that stage ..
4 months after BTPOTA was released, Jacobs insisted a third film!

Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Roddy McDowell returned to the part of Cornelius, who is now the protagonist. The budget was now only $2.5 million - but they did not have to pay for a big star like Heston, and only needed make-up for 3 apes ...
Cornelius and Zera travel back in time to the early 1970s, and land in the USA. Bradford Dillman and Producer Jacobs' wife appear as a pair of friendly scientists - to mirror Cornelius' and Zera's roles in the first film. Zera's snappy and talkative nature gives their secrets away.
Ricardo Montalban [ Wrath of Khan ] guest-stars as a friendly circus-owner.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Montalban reprises his role, this time as the token good human.
The film was made on location at Century City, a futuristic-looking development built on what was formerly FOX's back-lot
The director was J. Lee Thompson better known for action films [Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear] than for SF. The resulting film was a lot more violent than the previous films; it needed serious cuts before it got a family-friendly PG rating.
Made in 1972, the climactic battle was based on the 1965 Watts Riots. Originally Caesar's end speach was a violent call for revolution. This was later changed to a more hopeful end ...

Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Co-written by John & Joyce Carrington [Omega Man], the story focused on Caesar, a few years after Conquest - and an off-screen nuclear war.
The budget was now a mere $1.8 million. J. Lee Thompson returned to direct.

Planet of the Apes [TV show]
This series was set in 3085 CE, and starred Roddy McDowell as Cornelius.

Return to the Planet of the Apes
In 1975 a 1/2-hour saturday morning cartoon was released. In the story it told, the Apes finally got an advanced civilisation.

Twilight Zone:

Amy Irving goes into a cinema, and sees her own future on the screen. That night she sees those events come to pass, and tells her boyfriend [Gary Cole - American Gothic ] about it. The next time she goes to the cinema, she sees her own death ...
As a side note, it is rather unnerving watching Lucas Buck console a woman slowly going insane ...
Where the Dead Are is set in Boston, 1868. A doctor [Patrick Bergin] discovers a patient with a wound that should have killed him years previously. He goes to the man's village, where he meets Jenna Stern and Jack Palance, and discovers the terrible truth ...

House on Haunted Hill
This is the original 1958 William Castle film recently remade with Famke Janssen and Brigitte Wilson.
Inflation has certainly kicked in; in the 1958 version Price offers $10K per person to stay in the haunted house overnight, but 42 years later Geoffrey Rush offers $1 million per person.
The characters'introduction is by voice-over [narrated by Price], not through characterisation. One of the characters is a young lady who screams a lot, but apart from that they are a pretty bland lot.
The ghosts plot is put aside, while the rocky marriage between Price and his wife takes centre-stage.

Co-Ed Call-Girl
Not a SF film, this piece of made-for-TV trash stars Tori Spelling as the title character. It is only notable for Jeri Lynn Ryan , who appears in a string bikini as a Madame!
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TITLE & REVIEW
Man did not evolve from gorillas, chimps or orang-utangs; he has a common ancestor with them. Planet of the Apes Astronaut Charlton Heston and his crew go into cryo-sleep for 6 months, and wake up an estimated 700 years later. Their plan? To settle a new world. The astronauts total 3 men and only one woman, with a maximum of 10 kids. But one man and 3 women would have given a maximum of 30 offspring. Since the film is to be re-made, this reviewer suggests himself for the lead role and our erstwhile Charlies's Angels [ Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu] as his companions. The film is set on an M-class world, with breathable air and abundant h^2o [except in the desert]. To anyone not accustomed to SF movie conventions [ie ALL planets look exactly like Hollywood back-lots and ALL aliens speak American-accented English!] the answer is blindingly obvious. Although the humans are apparently social and semi-intelligent creatures [they have villages and crops] the only one given a name or any real screen time [Nova, played by the babelicious Linda Harrison ] makes no attempt to communicate with Heston [or with Franciscus in the sequel]. Producer Arthur P. Jacobs bought the rights to the novel by Pierre Boulle [le planet de singes] who had also written Bridge on the River Kwai [BOTRK]. Jacobs was that rare thing; a Producer who was an ideas man. Rod Serling [Twilight Zone] completed over 30 drafts of the screenplay adaption. However, due to budgetary constrictions the ape civilisation had to be reduced from hi-tech to lo-tech. The budget escalated to $5.8 - including $1 million for make-up and costumes. They needed 80 make-up crew for up to 200 apes! The Studios were extremely reticent about making the film. However, Jacobs met with Charlton Heston, who signed up to the project. Richard Zanuck had just taken over FOX from his father, and liked the ideas. However, he insisted on the creation of a $5k test reel in which Edward G Robinson played Dr Zeus. Robinson dropped out from the proper film, because he was uncomfortable with the lengthy make-up process. The key to the film was prosthetic makeup for the apes. The man selected was John Chambers, a former WW2 medic who designed the vulcan ears for Star Trek! It won him a special Academy Award for outstanding services to the industry. The ending is remarkably Anti-war, which is notable because Heston is currently President of the NRA [National Rifle Association]. It is also reminiscent of the cry Madness! at the end of BOTRK! Shooting was completed on August 10th 1967. Search This Site
Beneath the Planet of the Apes Heston did not want to appear in the sequel - he agreed to a cameo, and suggested the ending himself. James Franciscus took the lead role - another version of Heston, the leader and lone survivor of a rescue mission sent after the first ship. After a planned gap of 700 years they land within a couple of months and miles of each other! Unlike Heston, Franciscus' character knows from the start he is in 3955 CE. However, it is only when he and Nova enter a cave to escape gorillas that he discovers the ruins of NYC! The subtle social commentary of the first film was replaced by a more contemporary anti-war stance. The gorillas decide to invade the Forbidden Zone, which turns out to be inhabited by psychic albino human mutants. The mutants worship a cobalt bomb [powerful enough to destroy the Earth], which they refer to as a Weapon of Peace. Nice oxymoron. The problem with the action aspect of the film is, the mutants have only one line of defence - a gigantic illusion. They use their telepathy on Franciscus to make him attack the girl, Nova, but are unable to make the gorilla soldiers attack each other. It took $14 million at the box office - over 3 times its cost. Therefore the budgets were going down even at that stage .. 4 months after BTPOTA was released, Jacobs insisted a third film!
Escape from the Planet of the Apes Roddy McDowell returned to the part of Cornelius, who is now the protagonist. The budget was now only $2.5 million - but they did not have to pay for a big star like Heston, and only needed make-up for 3 apes ... Cornelius and Zera travel back in time to the early 1970s, and land in the USA. Bradford Dillman and Producer Jacobs' wife appear as a pair of friendly scientists - to mirror Cornelius' and Zera's roles in the first film. Zera's snappy and talkative nature gives their secrets away. Ricardo Montalban [ Wrath of Khan ] guest-stars as a friendly circus-owner.
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Montalban reprises his role, this time as the token good human. The film was made on location at Century City, a futuristic-looking development built on what was formerly FOX's back-lot The director was J. Lee Thompson better known for action films [Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear] than for SF. The resulting film was a lot more violent than the previous films; it needed serious cuts before it got a family-friendly PG rating. Made in 1972, the climactic battle was based on the 1965 Watts Riots. Originally Caesar's end speach was a violent call for revolution. This was later changed to a more hopeful end ...
Battle for the Planet of the Apes Co-written by John & Joyce Carrington [Omega Man], the story focused on Caesar, a few years after Conquest - and an off-screen nuclear war. The budget was now a mere $1.8 million. J. Lee Thompson returned to direct.
Planet of the Apes [TV show] This series was set in 3085 CE, and starred Roddy McDowell as Cornelius.
Return to the Planet of the Apes In 1975 a 1/2-hour saturday morning cartoon was released. In the story it told, the Apes finally got an advanced civilisation.
Twilight Zone: Amy Irving goes into a cinema, and sees her own future on the screen. That night she sees those events come to pass, and tells her boyfriend [Gary Cole - American Gothic ] about it. The next time she goes to the cinema, she sees her own death ... As a side note, it is rather unnerving watching Lucas Buck console a woman slowly going insane ... Where the Dead Are is set in Boston, 1868. A doctor [Patrick Bergin] discovers a patient with a wound that should have killed him years previously. He goes to the man's village, where he meets Jenna Stern and Jack Palance, and discovers the terrible truth ...
House on Haunted Hill This is the original 1958 William Castle film recently remade with Famke Janssen and Brigitte Wilson. Inflation has certainly kicked in; in the 1958 version Price offers $10K per person to stay in the haunted house overnight, but 42 years later Geoffrey Rush offers $1 million per person. The characters'introduction is by voice-over [narrated by Price], not through characterisation. One of the characters is a young lady who screams a lot, but apart from that they are a pretty bland lot. The ghosts plot is put aside, while the rocky marriage between Price and his wife takes centre-stage.
Co-Ed Call-Girl Not a SF film, this piece of made-for-TV trash stars Tori Spelling as the title character. It is only notable for Jeri Lynn Ryan , who appears in a string bikini as a Madame! Search This Site