Planet of the Apes

Feature film ~ 20th Century-Fox ~ Released April 3, 1968 ~ 1 hour, 52 minutes

Credits ~

Writers ~ Rod Serling and Michael Wilson, based on the novel by French author Pierre Boulle

Director ~ Franklin J. Schaffner

Cast ~ Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly, Linda Harrison, Robert Gunner, Jeff Burton

Story ~

A team of three astronauts (Charlton Heston, Robert Gunner, and Jeff Burton) on a deep-space mission crash-land on a planet where they soon discover apes (orangutans, chimpanzees, and gorillas) are in charge and humans are mute.

Notes ~

Rod Serling is most definitely responsible for the movie’s iconic final scene ~ Taylor (Charlton Heston) realizes he has been home on planet Earth all this time when he and his companion Nova (Linda Harrison) stumble onto the rusting Statue of Liberty. half-buried in the sand along a shoreline.

Photo Gallery ~

Scroll through the photo gallery below and enjoy images from Planet of the Apes ~

Charlton Heston is held captive by a strange simian civilization in Planet of the Apes

Astronaut George Taylor (Heston) is interrogated by Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans), who knows more than he can say about the secrets of the planet’s past.

In this French lobby card, sympathetic chimpanzees Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter) and Dr. Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) bring Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans) to see the human (Charlton Heston) they call “Bright Eyes”, who appears to be much more intelligent than the other mute humans they have encountered.

Rod Serling visits the set of Planet of the Apes and chats with Kim Hunter, as Dr. Zira, the chimpanzee “animal psychiatrist” who studies humans and befriends Taylor (Charlton Heston).

Rod Serling chats with Charlton Heston (as the astronaut George Taylor) on the set of Planet of the Apes.