Inspired by Pierre Boulle’s novel, this quality sci-fi is given profound power by its central metaphor of apes personifying human cruelty. Charlton Heston at his rugged, moral best. “Goddamn you all to hell!” is the moment everybody remembers from Schaffner’s terrific adaptation of Boulle’s darkly comic science fiction novel, but there’s more to Planet Of The Apes than merely a stunning last-minute revelation… Heston stars as Col George Taylor, an astronaut who crash-lands on a strange, but strangely familiar, planet and soon finds himself at the mercy of the ruling simian population (a truly evolved bunch of apes – they even speak English). Only McDowall and Hunter, hidden beneath layers of effective make-up and prosthetics, are on his side as he attempts to escape from his hairy captors. One of the most enduring blockbusters of its era, which still has a power to provoke thought, and Fox into reinvigorating the franchise. A true classic. – Film4

” It is quickly paced, completely entertaining, and its philosophical pretensions don’t get in the way.” – Roger Ebert