Open thread - Apes weekendby: Pam SpauldingFri Nov 28, 2008 at 23:02:20 PM EST |
| We head back to NC tomorrow. Had some great chow, and a lot of good times here in Delaware.
I'm packing up for the flight home tomorrow (oy, please let the Philly airport not be a hellhole), and watching Fox Movie Channel. This weekend the network is playing all the Planet of the Apes classics this weekend, along with documentaries, promo films and documentaries -- calling it Channel of the Apes. Planet of the Apes (1968, and I saw it in the theatre, kiddos - I am o-l-d)
I've seen all of the first four and about an hour of Battle. The first one still kicks ass, even today. Charlton Heston chews the scenery oh so well, and the innovative score by Jerry Goldsmith rocks (it earned an Oscar nom).
More below the fold, including a poll. |
| "Beneath" is the strangest one by any stretch of the imagination but I always. The mutant humans worshipping a nuclear warhead in the ruins of NY? Deliciously bizarre. Also, it was the only one in the film series that Roddy McDowell didn't act in (Cornelius in this film is played by David Watson, though McDowell appears in footage from the first film).
One of the documentaries shown during this weekend featured test footage with Heston and a different Dr. Zaius, Cornelius and Zira: In order to convince the Fox Studio that a Planet of the Apes film could really be made, the producers shot a brief test scene using early versions of the ape makeup. Charlton Heston appeared as an early version of Taylor (named Thomas, as he was in Rod Serling-penned drafts of the script), Edward G. Robinson appeared as Zaius, while then-unknown actors James Brolin and Linda Harrison played Cornelius and Zira. Harrison, who was the mistress of the head of the studio at the time, would later play Nova in the 1968 film and its first sequel, and have a cameo in the Tim Burton "reimagining" more than 30 years later (as did Heston). This test footage is included on several DVD releases of the film, as well as the documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes. Dr. Zaius was originally to have been played by Robinson, but he backed out due to the heavy make-up, and long sessions to apply it, that were required.The famous final scene from the first film: |