Fifty years later, they’re still so strange, still so good.
“Planet of the Apes” debuted in theaters March 27, 1968.
>> Watch the trailer for “Planet of the Apes”
A week later, Stanley Kubrick’s most polarizing film — it was panned by many critics upon its release, but is revered as an all-time great today — “2001: A Space Odyssey,” hit the big screen. It eventually became the biggest film of 1968, and played in theaters for years.
>> Watch the trailer for “2001: A Space Odyssey”
The odds the films would be celebrated 50 years later are as strange as the films themselves, especially when it comes to “2001.”
The film is more symphony than motion picture. Visuals and music carry the narrative, not dialogue and character development.
The most notable characters of “2001” are a black rectangle-shape monolith (acting as extraterrestrial life or perhaps a god or the God ... there’s no clarification) and a talking computer hell bent on self preservation.
The film’s ending (spoiler!) — a psychedelic journey through a dimension that ends with an astronaut’s death in a strange hotel room (just go with it) and rebirth as a star child — confounds and confuses.
It’s the same with “Planet of the Apes,” but from the perspective of the protagonist. The film concludes (another spoiler!) with astronaut George Taylor (Charlton Heston) wondering where he is, and what the heck is going on. The big reveal of Heston looking up to the Statue of Liberty is arguably one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. Taylor’s sign-off:
“Oh my God. I’m back. I’m home. All the time, it was... We finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”
“2001” does not have the shocking ending of Apes, but its sign-off is the mind-bender of all mind-benders. Movie fans who enjoy ambiguity, this is your film. Those who like a film’s meaning mapped out neatly, “2001” is not your film.
Kubrick in a 1968 interview: “You’re free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film — and such speculation is one indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level — but I don’t want to spell out a verbal road map for ‘2001’ that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he’s missed the point.”
In other words, make up your own mind about “2001.” That’s the fun for some, and source of frustration for others. But the film is a technical masterpiece, and author Michael Benson maps it out in his just-released book, “Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece.”
It’s packed with information, and interviews with Clarke (before his death in 2008), Kubrick’s widow and others involved with the film. A “making of” book for “Planet of the Apes” is set for October of this year. The films were well ahead of the times technically and visually, especially “2001.”
The likes of George Lucas (“Star Wars”), Steven Spielberg (“Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T.”), Ridley Scott (“Alien”) and James Cameron (“Aliens,” “Avatar”) have acknowledged the film’s influence on their careers.
Special effects and makeup weren’t the only factors that elevated “2001” and “Apes” to milestone films. Each tackled powerful themes.
In “2001,” evolution, the advanced of technology and how we use (and abuse) technology in a way played as the film’s main characters. The iconic scene of an ape’s bone-club and orbiting satellite juxtaposed perfectly sums up millions of years of evolution in a few seconds.
Keir Dullea plays astronaut David Bowman, the most notable character of “2001,” but he’s hardly the central figure throughout. The most popular character 50 years later is the Hal computer, whose breakdown (“I can’t do that Dave”) is eerily cryptic and — considering our reliance on technology — hits closest to modern times.
In “Apes,” themes of race relations, the pecking order in society, and the threat of nuclear war are issues a half-century later. The film was so popular, it produced four sequels, live-action and cartoon TV shows, tons of memorabilia, plus a 2001 Tim Burton-directed remake, and — most recent — a successful re-imagining film trilogy.
“2001” spawned one sequel, “2010: The Year We Make Contact” in 1984. It starred Roy Scheider (“Jaws”) but it’s mostly forgettable.
That will never be the case with “2001” or “Apes.”
Fifty years later, their grip on the film world is as strong as ever.
Don’t miss
>> CIFF 42 preview: Cleveland’s latest film fest is, as usual, bigger than ever