Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786305076094
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 630507609X
Label: Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Fox Home Entertainment
Model: 1054
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: 2001-11-12
Running Time: 112
Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 1968-04-03

Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall star in this legendary science fiction masterpiece. Astronaut Taylor (Heston) crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist (McDowall).
Many early science fiction films are now, quite inadvertently (and in most cases undeservedly), objects of camp attention: we laugh at the silly makeup, tin-can special effects, and the naive "high-tech" dialogue. Planet of the Apes is no such film. Its intelligent script, frightening costuming, and savagely effective conclusion (which needs no big-budget special effects to augment its impact) remain both potent and relevant. When Colonel George Taylor (the fabulous Charlton Heston) crash lands his spacecraft on what seems to be an unfamiliar planet, he is captured and held prisoner by a dominant race of hyperrational, articulate apes. However, the ape community is riven with internal dissention, centered in no small part on its policy toward humans, who, on this planet, are treated as mindless animals. Befriended and ultimately assisted by the more liberal simians, Taylor escapes--only to find a more terrifying obstacle confronting his return home. Heavy-handed object lessons abound--the ubiquity of generational warfare, the inflexibility of dogma, the cruelty of prejudice--and the didactic fingerprints of Rod Serling are very much in evidence here. But director Franklin Schaffner has a dark, pop-apocalyptic sci-fi vision all his own, and time has not dulled the monumental emotional impact of the film's climactic payoff shot. If you don't know what I'm talking about here, you owe it to yourself to check out this stone classic, and even if you do, see it with fresh eyes; and don't be surprised if you get the chills all over again... and again... and again. --Miles Bethany

Customer Rating:
Summary: Enthralling and Amazing !
Comment: If you're going to see this 1968 movie for the first time, as I did only a few weeks ago, you're in for a treat. I can see why it has, despite its occassional camp and references to '60s youth radicalism, withstood the test of time. It has all the elements of a great movie: astonishing performances that shine through the ape masks and costumes; superb cinematography that makes effective use of the widescreen (if you can, watch it on a large projector screen); thought-provoking screenplay which deals with man's place in the great scheme of things; and an ending that inspires awe with its visual beauty and apocalyptic portentousness. This ending has seared itself into my memory, and is the most startling conclusion I've ever encountered on film (even including The Sixth Sense and Don't Look Now).

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Planet of the Apes (1968) - Blu-ray Info
Comment: Version: U.S.A / FOX / Region A, B, C
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50 / BD+ / High Profile 4.1
Running time: 1:52:02
Movie size: 27,96 GB
Disc size: 44,95 GB
Total bit rate: 33.28 Mbps
Average video bit rate: 26.33 Mbps

DTS-HD Master Audio English 2312 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2312 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio French 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
DTS Express English 96 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 96 kbps / 24-bit

Subtitles: English SDH / Chinese / French / Korean / Spanish
Number of chapters: 28

#Commentaries
#Documentary: Behind the Planet of the Apes (SD - 118 minutes)
#Galleries (SD)
#Theatrical Trailers (HD)
#Featurettes
--A Look Behind the Planet of the Apes (SD - 15 minutes)
--1967 NATO Presentation (SD - 10 minutes)
--Original 1968 (SD - 5 minutes)
--Raw Footage Archive (SD - 57 minutes)
--Impact of the Apes (HD - 11 minutes)
--Evolution of the Apes (HD - 23 minutes)
#Science of the Apes (Bonus View)
#Interactive Game: Beyond the Forbidden Zone (HD)
#ANSA Public Service Announcement (HD)

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Customer Rating:
Summary: It's a very clean, sharp blu-ray experience
Comment: If you're a fan of the Planet of the Apes movie series, you will be very pleased at the blu-ray transition. This campy delight really pops with blu-ray. I watched it on a 58 inch plasma, and it lost very little crispness. I was too young to see it first run at theaters, but I'll bet this experience rivals that one. In fact, it's so clear, you'll no doubt see things you never saw when watching it on standard TV. I never noticed the masks on some of the "extra" apes were much less detailed. Some had black orbs where their star counterparts had eyes. No doubt a budget issue back then.

If you've never seen the original Planet of the Apes movie, but only the more recent remake, you will probably chuckle at this one. But the rendering of the city buildings is brilliant, it seems to take a chapter straight out of the Flintstones, and bring it to life. Owning the blu-ray is a bit like owning a piece of history, since it's been the forerunner to so many science fiction stories. Though the movie drips with tongue-in-cheek sillyness, Charlton Heston still belts out a memorable performance, with his incredulous stares and absolute distain for the apes. This film is a cult classic, and blu-ray does it proud. Two thumbs up!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Quality transfer
Comment: I was very impressed at the quality of this transfer. Very sharp, with close ups of Charlton Heston and other characters. Not sure if they used the transfer to make the ape costumes look more genuine. If not, then kudos to the makeup men who did the ape costume because in HD transfer you really cannot tell these are masks and not actual living creatures.

Loved this purchase!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Crowning jewel presentation of underrated classic
Comment: I may be a bit biased, having authored the MAKING OF book on the APES series ,PLANET OF THE APES REVISITED, however that doesn't alter the facts. This is THE best presentation of PLANET OF THE APES ever done for home video---in fact all the APES blu-ray masterings are superior to their dvd counterparts. This is one of the most classic films ever, especialy in the sci-fi genre, and on virtually every level, it holds up extraordinarily well and has a fresh atmosphere even 40 years after it's release. I would say the APES blu-ray set is worth entering the format if you are enough of an APES afficianado. They look amazing.

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