Planet of the Apes

I give up! I'm a complete idiot!

I just watched The Planet of the Apes, which I haven't seen since I was a kid.

I get all of the symbolism in the movie except one...

Can someone, please, explain the end of this movie to me?

The part where Heston is on the beach staring at the Statue of Liberty?

He's not on the "planet of the apes", he's on Earth, in the future. The damned human race has destroyed itself in nuclear war. Charleton Heston goes off to take many parts as the wise, anti-establishment tough guy, before joining the NRA. I don't know whatever became of Nova, but I dreamt of her often.

Except for the bit about Heston, most of this is explained in the 4 sequels, which become increasingly bad. Ricardo Montalban is in the third installment, as a circus owner who drives a Chrysler.

Oh, and Roddy McDowell comes back to play a different ape than the one he was in the first movie. I hope this clears things up for you.

Hmm...

I thought the "planet of the apes" was the future earth...

If most humans were destroyed by nuclear war, how did so many apes survive?

So in the final (statue of liberty scene) has he gone even farther into the future?

I think the point was that in trying to eliminate the threat posed by the ape uprising, humans insured its success by inadvertently destroying themselves. I don't think the nuclear war is what left so few humans around, it was the rise of apes who hunted them to near-extinction.

6
Yeah, I think you're right. But if I recall, in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes", there were human mutants scarred by radioactivity living in the catacombs beneath New York City. The apes had left the cities, establishing colonies in the countryside and thus escaping the brunt of the thermonuclear war.

Ultimately, James Franciscus, despite being blind (oh, wait, that was "Longstreet"!) helped Charleton Heston destroy the earth with a big shiny golden phallus that went by the name "Steely Dan" "Doomsday Device".

Or something like that.

The main theme of the movie, The Planet of the Apes is basically about us, humans. You must view the re-make movie version directed by Tim Burton. It is more "up-dated".

Monkey Planet, the original novel, by Pierre Boulle was a more direct satire on humanity, with memorable scenes (that is, if memory serves) of apes swinging through a stock exchange in a mad frenzy. The films bear almost no resemblance at all to the book.

If a person looks closely at the story, it is being realised that Planet of the Earth is not all about apes, but truly about mankind.It is a story about the human condition, and the manner humans interact wth their natural environment.From the start to the end of the movie the viewer is shown a picture of a world ruled by a heavy handed government, and led by apes which symbolise the church and state alike. The main character, Dr.Zaius, "Chief Prosecutor and Defender of the Faith, who rules both nation and state with a firm hand and "closed" mind. It amount to that religions cannot mixed with politics. Cornelius, a young upstart scientist tries not to accept the religiously based view of life in his soceity he is being charged with heresy. Cornelius have evidence that apes had evolved from man.Dr. Zaius quickly ended the hearings and charged Cornelius with heresy.Dr. Zaius had feigned ignorance about the past intelligence of mankind.He had been keeping that knowledge from his fellow apes. It was because apes needed an unquestionable religion to keep a stable soceity and not destroy themselves.
The main theme of the story is to show mankind that religion is merely meant to keep soceity in line so that people can be dominated by a power crazed government.

Wait, didn't humanity become mute due to "mad cow diease" from eating too much "Solyent Green". Or was it the aftermath biological warfare between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union where Heston injected himself with a experimental vaccine and fought vampires in "The Family" or was that Will Smith? or Vincent Price? Wait didn't the guys in Ghostbuster use the Statue of Liberty to attack the Stay Fresh Marshmallow giant.

Sigh...Just stick to Star Trek it's much easier to follow...

And speaking of Charlton Heston - this always makes me giggle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xxju1pNhuA

3> Did the Chrysler have fine Corinthian leather?

But of course.