Planet of the Apes

Charlton Heston is George Taylor, one of several astronauts on a long space mission whose spaceship crash-lands on a remote planet. Soon the astronaut learns that this planet is ruled by a race of talking, thinking, reasoning apes who hold court over a complex, multilayered civilization. In this topsy-turvy society, the human beings are grunting, inarticulate primates, penned-up like animals. When ape leader Dr. Zaius discovers that the captive Taylor has the power of speech, he reacts in horror and insists that the astronaut be killed. But sympathetic ape scientists Cornelius and Dr. Zira risk their lives to protect Taylor. In the end, it is Taylor who stumbles on the truth about the Planet of the Apes: “Damn you! Damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!” PLANET OF THE APES has gone on to be an all-time sci-fi (and/or camp) classic. It won a special Academy Award for John Chambers’s convincing (and, from all accounts, excruciatingly uncomfortable) simian makeup. (Hal Erickson)

Supporting film: RAT LIFE AND DIET IN NORTH AMERICA