Behind the Planet of the Apes

During one of the Sci-Fi channel's many "Planet of the Apes" marathons, I caught this little making-of special that covers the various "Apes" movies. I thought it was an intriguing look at the first movie franchise to really milk the cow dry. Good narration by the late Roddy McDowall, good film series (the first three, anyway...), worth a watch if this happens to pop up on TV again.

This informative documentary looks at the Planet of the Apes franchise in some detail. It covers all five movies, the short-lived TV series and even the kids cartoon. It's a pretty lengthy documentary clocking in at over two hours, although this allows it to cover a lot of ground. The first half looks at the first film, including the difficulties involved in convincing the studio to bring it to the screen. The second half details the subsequent sequels, etc. It is a very informative film but it will admittedly appeal mainly to fans of the series. It isn't really the most critical of docs it has to be admitted. It looks mostly favourably on everything, even though some of the later films weren't especially well received. Nevertheless, it does hone in on what made each instalment different.

Looking back on it, Planet of the Apes was the true precursor to Star Wars with its sequels and focus on tie-in merchandise – toy figures, mugs, games, bins, you name it. It was interesting to see how similar this model was to the subsequent Star Wars one. Admittedly one considerable difference was the fact that the Apes films were reduced in budget every time, leading to the final film Battle for the Planet of the Apes appearing more like a minor skirmish. This progression in the development of the series was interesting though and I have to say that overall it made me want to re-watch them.

It was presented by the ideal man in Roddy McDowell who appeared in almost all Apes-related stuff. It takes the form of the talking-heads format and so we get interesting input from a number of people involved in the franchise. We also get to see how the first film differed from the novel and understand why it ended up looking the way it did. There was one priceless sequence that showed early test footage, which was effectively a make-or-break moment for the first film. It ultimately convinced the studio execs that the make-up would work and led to the green light being given, however, it's interesting to see how different and primitive the make-up here is in comparison to what would be in the finished movie. There is also a fair amount of fascinating behind the scenes footage and some bits of entertaining chat, such as the way that the orang-utans, gorillas and chimpanzees ended up hanging out together at lunch for no obvious reason but probably an interesting subconscious psychological one.

A labor of love and a fine example of what a well done documentary should look like. AT LEAST watch the original 68' version first; watching the sequels before or after has its pros and cons (the insight of knowing the diminishing budgets of each successive sequel may increase an appreciation for them...even if you're not a POTA fan).

Some facts are condensed (and distorted) that was necessary for the sake of running time (POTA didn't get the green light till after the box office returns for 'Fantastic Voyage' proved favorable enough to convince Richard Zanuck to take a gamble on a then big budget for a sci fi outing). And the million dollar monkey masks budget was closer to half a million...but a million dollars is better publicity.

NOTE: The DVD versions have about 3 1/2 minutes more footage than the VHS & AMC broadcast versions...most notable is the religious comparisons of the ape and mutant cultures from 'Beneath...' and more summations from cast and crew toward the end.

An intelligent and well researched documentary that's filled to the brim. And thankfully, no mention of the 2001 remake as this was produced in 1998.

Interesting and informative documentary recounts the story of how Pierre Boulle's novel was adapted to the big screen, with the determined support of star Charlton Heston, and the growing cast of actors chosen like Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, and writer Rod Serling, with director Franklin J. Schaffner, and how its surprise box-office success led to a most unexpected franchise...

Covers all five Apes films(at that time!) in an informative and entertaining way, with behind the scenes footage and trivia that fans often crave. The late Roddy McDowall hosted, and did a fine job, being so closely involved with them of course! Was first shown on AMC, then released as an extra disc on the DVD set, it is well worth watching.

This is an excellent look at how the five Planet of the Apes films as well as the television series and the animated cartoon. It also was sad too knowing that this was probably one of the last projects that Roddy McDowell worked on before he died. However, the main thing I did enjoy about this documentary was the original test footage featuring Edward G. Robinson as Zaius and a young James Brolin as Cornelius. Also, I was fascinated by some of the interesting behind the scenes tidbits that it showed. This is a great documentary about one of the most enduring film series in motion picture history.