Planet of the Apes (1968) Movie Ending... Explained 

chris daffron you responded to a great comment with a crappy one, and didn't even bother to explain yourself

Serai3 well said hence his closing cry of “damn them all, damn them all to hell”. Actually said this again in Tim Burton’s reimagining with Mark Walburg this time as an elderly ape. Uncredited role but his voice, unmistakable

+THEBUTTPART Hey, you're supposed to stay AWAY from the brown acid. They made announcements, dude!

+chris daffron That says more about your attitude towards humanity than Taylor's.

+Kim Morley I try very hard not to remember the existence of that "remake".

"It's a COOKBOOK!!!"

@@rafsandiego , From To Serve Man featuring the late Richard Kiel. I always liked that one!

"Picture if you will....." - Rod Sterling

That's why the Twilight Zone was so good and ahead of its time.

I remember seeing this at a drive in and being really depressed all the way home.

As 2020 proves, they will find other ways to destroy themselves. Homo sapiens love to follow and obey sociopaths, and that's why they end up fighting wars that kill millions.

It was also made at the end of the civil rights movement, which reflected alot of racist inuendoes.

“fear of imminent MAD-ness” Hehe, thought I’d add that

“Only people your age wear beards”

You can't look at a monolithic audience. I first saw the film when I was sixteen years old. By that time nuclear destruction was a platitude many young people had settled into, which we only half-believed if at all. We were blase about it. An example of that attitude (that I did not read until later) appears in a short story where a young girl uses the cold war as an excuse not to study in school: "Don't get me up with the rest in the morning." "But I thought you were having midterms." "Oh, those," she comes back in, kisses me, and says quite lightly, "in a couple of years when we'll all be atom -- dead they won't matter a bit." The government was at a more heightened pitch in the late 50's, when we had drills in school on what to do if Russia dropped bombs on the United States. Of course, crouching down in rows against the walls in inner hallways or hiding under our desks would not have protected us, so I now wonder what the true purpose of those drills were. To incite fear and frenzy? In 1962 there was the Cuban Missile crisis, but most kids my age did not realize the danger we narrowly averted. By 1959 we had seen On the Beach and by the mid-sixties movies like Failsafe and Dr. Strangelove. In 1968 Chad and Jeremy dropped a bomb and destroyed humanity in the album Of Cabbages and Kings. At that time China was considered the big threat. Charlton Heston also starred in a series of science fiction movies during the sixties where he played the cynical, disillusioned hero, something teenagers could easily identify with. Teenagers like dystopias. A favorite book with high school students was The Catcher in the Rye, with the main character, Holden Caufield, disgusted with the hypocrisy of the adult world. Another favorite, a genuine dystopia, was 1984, which I understand infinitely better now than I did as a teenager. But we were young. That meant that deep down we believed we had a future. Our nihilistic pose was just that: a pose. Those teenagers who first saw Planet of the Apes are now in their seventies with a full understanding of what happens with global warming, that democracies are very fragile and don't last forever, and an understanding how easily fascism spreads. When we were younger, we used to wonder how Nazi Germany could happen. We don't ask that question anymore. Given advanced age and given all that everyone has witnessed, we are now genuinely worried. I should also add that in the late sixties there were a glut of books popularizing the evolution of man and the discoveries that had been found earlier. (Lucy came a bit later in 1974.) A widely read book was called The Naked Ape, just one of dozens and dozens easily available to read (A Million Years of Man and African Genesis also come to mind), so this movie is just a twist on that theme and part of a larger trend. It is difficult to put a film in context and to explain the era it was created to those who haven't lived through it. There is so much that gets lost or forgotten or misunderstood.

no he's just a fearful religious zealot,

The apes weren't technologically evolved. Zaius didn't want the apes to know that they were inferior to the humans.

@@gusgrizzel8397 Not inferior, just less advanced. They were at the relative infancy of their civilization but with salvaged instruments of the previous world. Just like the Medieval society of Europe didn't just spring into the renaissance, but started by picking up the salvaged pieces of Rome and rebuilding.

@@iamemjarrobinson8713 You weren't paying attention to the props and behaviors of the apes.

@@gusgrizzel8397 Enlighten me. The humans acted like animals and the apes were acting like humans, some civil, others arrogant but how were they inferior when they walked, talked and socialized like humans?

She played that part well....

Linda Harrison was so frikin hott in this....

She's too hot, it's distracting. Like Monica Bellucci in Matrix 3.

@@Teebone211 She was one of the most beautiful women ever

But why were those humans “dumb”? Where they just uneducated or their brain somehow became primitive?

dr. zaius is a wonderful character.

@@kingincrimson Maurice Evans was a wonderful actor

@@newdefsys Agreed! Fantastic performance, he really elevates the film.

@Richard Johnson Yeah, Taylor had a change of heart about that though. And Dr. Zaius told him it would happen.

@Screuu Guglew Yeah maybe deep inside Taylor started to accept maybe he was on earth or similar, yet part of him did not want to accept this horrifying possible truth.

Brah, ... It's a metaphor for demographics, immigration, & suicidal Civilization decline. ✌

2001 ending was good ass hell to

Overrated

It was a brilliant ending. Great film.

same for me i was like 5 or 6 at the time.

The shock reveal of the aged female astronaut, freaked me out more than anything. I was maybe 10 yrs. old and couldn't sleep that night.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

God I love Spaceballs lol

Love that scene

Well there it is.gif

She's gone from suck to blow!

@Daniel Rodriguez honestly I think this is one of the rare occasions where the reboot surpassed the original (and that's saying something). no disrespect to the classic though, it's just that the twist is too known already to have any impact anymore. I really wish I could erase my memory and see it for the first time. also it's quite obvious once you already know, since the movie gives a lot of hints. but the fact that it took a whole trilogy to surpass one film speaks of the sheer stature of the original in pop culture. Planet of the Apes is truly an institution.

In the first remake. Chuck is a Ape and Nova is in the cart of human slaves. So both originals make an appearance. I think the remake is true to the novel.

They really tried to ruin it with the Mark Wahlberg reboot. I also really enjoyed the newest trilogy.

The reboot series isn’t a reboot of the 1968 movie. It’s a reboot of Escape, Conquer, and Battle (original series movies 3-5).Which it makes the reboot inferior to the 1968 movie because the reboot is following or copying a linear, forgettable style that strays from what made the original a classic. This highlighted when those morons decided to create a Messiah-chimp (Ceasar) who brought together both man and ape in pure harmony. Fuck that. In the original movie, one of the main points is that if an intelligent, teamwork oriented, and dominant species exist they will abuse their power in every way. Hence, their behavior in general, which I find brilliant.

@@etarver13Just because it has a different message doesn’t make it inferior. It’s not trying to be the same thing as the original and that’s ok

The Simpsons actually spoiled this ending for me. Then Mad Men season 6 also spoils the ending for anyone who never seen it.

The one that really got me was Beneath the Planet of the Apes. The way this world is going nothing would surprise me if this planet of the apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes with the show you the future and we just didn't catch it in a different way of speaking though.

Two words. Rod Serling.

This is an example of great science fiction.

it was based on the societal changes going on in the late sixties. In the sequel, "Beneath the Planet of the Apes", there are scenes where the chimps (youth), stage anti-military protests against the establishment (orangutans) and military (gorillas).

Orangutans and Gorillas were like Trumpists. The Orangutans are the cynical elites taking advantage of the uneducated brutes based on lies.

@@keptyeti It was based on the society of 50 years ago so leave Trump out of it. The Orangutans were the establishment, i.e. government which was both Parties as the youth were just as anti-Democratic (Daley, Johnson) as they were anti-Republican (Nixon, Goldwater). The gorillas were the military which was controlled by both Parties as Johnson was a Democrat who was succeeded by a Republican, both received the ire of the youth movement.

I did a report on this in college; You nailed it. This is not how the movie wants to be perceived by this comment section because it is a feeling they are unfamiliar with in real life

It's implied that man forgot to talk.

Yeah me too, it terrified me.

Same, I was so young, maybe 5 or 6 , and when I saw the Statue of Liberty, it clicked and I realized it could really happen.....or so I thought. I didn’t sleep a wink that night! Still the most gripping film ending of all time.

Same again. I remember my aunt taking me to see Beneath the Planet of the Apes too when I was about 8 and the scene where the humans take off their 'masks' completely terrified me. It was awesome.

Hanniffy Dinn same here, I’ve watched this movie 10 times. I could watch it another 10. My most favourite film 2, is Star Wars.

Can you imagine seeing Moses Ben Hur fighting off ape beasts and then this ending?? I was real small when I saw this, i got it all mixed up

A different time. How amazing that in thirty years, they still hadn't got past the word "damn".

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" was a long time before 1968

It was not "Damn" that was the issue, it was the full sentence "God damn you all to hell". Profanity has religious aspects, not just swearing.

+Frank Kopke About thirty years, if that's your idea of a long time.

Really? I could understand the word, "Damn" being an issue in '39 (Gone w/the Wind). But in 1968? I'm pleasantly surprised. 😀

The apes speaking English didn't make me think it was Earth as much as it made me think it was a movie. It's kind of like watching a film like Executive Decision. You have all these middle eastern terrorists, yet ALL of them are speaking English, not Farsi or Arabic.....because it's a movie and American audiences don't like subtitles....LOL

The broken Statue of Liberty shown in this movie is a filthy Satanic idol gift from the evil French ILLUMINATI. "Why do the American people keep defending their betrayers?" Many of you purposely allow your elitist public servants to brain damage your children with vaccinations. Many of you are so very naive about the evil side of human nature. The HOLY BIBLE warns you, but you choose to be willfully ignorant. You pride yourself in your foolish stubbornness. UNITED STATES I. R. I. E. Investigation Research International Educator The real "X-Files" US 4252935977 AGENT Sinne'

@@unitedstatesirie7431 ok

I think we all abide by an unwritten rule that most American science fiction films can have alien characters that speak English, even in a galaxy far, far away. We just accept it. 😃

@@jasona9 and they don't like even dubbed movies.

To me it made perfect sense. The spaceship time clock showed them being waaaay into the future, and also the dead scientist who obviously aged thousands of years when they crashed. They were in the future.

The endless waves....

Serling was brilliant but the crashing waves at the end with no music was a collaborative idea which the director and writers came up with together.

Thx for liking my comment joblo videos

Wonderful story telling right up to the last second of the film.

I loved Heston and miss his acting terribly.

The geography of craters on the moon and the fact that all the constellations wouldn't have changed in a few thousand years would give it away. Him being an astronaut and all.

@@8584zender The moon is surprisingly far away. And without a telescope it's difficult to make out the actual iconic details that we THINK we are familiar with. And much of that is only visible during the waxing to full moon. How long did the story take? My sense of it is that it took less time than a month but I could be mistaken (see below). They could've landed as the moon was waning towards the new moon phase - and thus the details aren't visible. And the moon wouldn't have been in a position for Taylor to see it and make out the details with the naked eye for another 3-4 weeks. Also circumstances such as the weather could have hidden the truth. It could have been overcast or cloudy at the times when he could see it. Also - there's a significant period of time when he's kept against his will in a cage indoors. Particularly as he's healing. Who knows exactly how long that was? He could've missed an entire month of viewing in that time. As for the stars - you have to travel through space farther than you think for the constellations to significantly change. You could be at Alpha Centauri or Barnard's Star or any star out to about 10-15 light years away and much of the night sky would look very similar. Maybe they weren't expecting the sky to be that different. Or again - perhaps Taylor never had the opportunity to get a good look. How often do you really get a good unobstructed view of the night sky to check the constellations without clouds getting in the way? If they are close to New York, prevailing weather might simply conspire against Taylor ever getting a good view for the same reasons stated above for the moon. One last observation - did the apes even have telescopes? I do not recall seeing any. Maybe they hadn't invented them yet?

It was cloudy

retroking59 I like the your short reply better lol

I think that he believed that he was in an alternate universe, where apes evolved and humans didn't. Though the discovery of the human artifacts should have told him it wasn't, he refused to believe what he was seeing. It wasn't until he saw the Statue of Liberty, that his greatest fear was finally realized.

I was 7 when I saw it at the drive-in with my parents and brothers. I was enthralled. The ending blew my tiny little mind - it was my first experience with a story that deliberately set out to trick me. And for me, the most awful, scary, nightmarish thing about the ending was the droop of those tines on the Statue's crown - they were _melted._ That terrified me in a way I'd never felt before. (I also loved the humor, which was so wicked.)

@@Serai3 wow i hadn't noticed that on the tines! Us maniacs, we blew it up!

Saw it at the theater, I was 14, it was an impactful film for me.

@@Serai3 Ooof, that gave me an eerie chill haha. The nightmarish rendition of the statue is definitely haunting.

Yes but they really didn't blow it up did they? That's not what The Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes suggests.

The lack of soundtrack at the end is one very important component, and makes this one of the best cinema endings ever made. Few directors these days have the balls to just let the audience sit, alone, with the devastation of an ending like THAT. I certainly can't think of one.

I was struck by the shifting of Taylor's views toward mankind. In the beginning of the film he is very cynical ("I can't help thinking somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man") to being an apologist for mankind near the end when he told Zaius "He was here before you, and he was better than you are." But at the end he returns to his initial cynicism ("You maniacs. You blew it up.")

​@@Serai3 It is ironic. I love the music in this film, which was used effectively in most dramatic scenes, such as when Taylor was chased and captured. But somehow the subtle sound of ocean waves in the background instead of music works better in the film's finale.

Yep the silent ending with just the wave sound was brilliant and even as a kid it just chilled me to a degree! I always like how Heston played this last angry, cynical astronaut it gave some weight and power to the film in my book!

1) I don't think Taylor was completely bitter in the beginning. Remember when he argues with Landon, he says straight out that he doesn't hate his own species, he just hates what we do. He's hopeful at heart. That's what makes the last revelation so devastating to him - that hope he's held since he left that mankind had gotten better along the way. 2) The whole soundtrack is genius. I got it on CD and used to play it late at night. When you play it on its own, it takes on this insane life of desperation and unformed aggression. Fantastic stuff from a master soundtrack artist.

🐵 " OH SHIT THERE GOES THE PLANET "

I believe that this is going to happen soon, not apes taking over, but man destroying the world

because of all the hot mute women near you??

it's an ending to end all endings, and i challenge anyone to come up with three science fiction movies with better endings than that. love and peace to you and all, xxxxxxx

Wow, think I saw the first one on tv around '73 or '74 😉 Did you ever watch the series that came on tv? It came out originally during the middle 70's as well. It only ran 1 season though...

Yeah that's one of the reasons it becomes a known twist ending for many who haven't even seen it!

@@JoBloOriginals that and the hundreds of comedy take offs over the years.

Is that the same as the Un-Rated version?

@@robertherrick6703 I think so.

Yeah when I saw that in the store I was thinking how stupid of 20th century to run with the cover. What was funny up close I believe there was a figure standing in for Heston and it looked like he had flip flops on. It was like epic failure! Man I could do better work at some of these studios at times! LOL!

And you played POTA in the school yard just like I did lol

Didn't get to see it when it first came out. But a few years further along: I read the book, and then saw each movie as it came out on TV., and then the series...Lol: my 8 inch action figure world was built around the world of POTA. I named my characters after the movie, my best friend had the TV series figures, so his characters were built on them. BIG influence on my childhood.

I loved them all. This was my Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings....I had action figures and t-shirts.

Please put the footage on You Tube.

The Sixth Sense?

The Statue of Liberty is buried, partial nuclear destruction?

Why is it so iconic and why does it have such an impact?

@@superchef78 I saw this at the cinema back in the 70’s and time was different then. We did not even dream of seeing the year 2000, let alone 2022. Nowadays it seems rather tame.

Exactly.....I still remember the reaction of the audience in the movie: UTTER SILENCE for long minutes on.....they got the hint....yes, the human race had destroyed themselves. Great ending, which is all the more painful in our days, still very relevant, more relevant than ever.

Was that revealed in the book?

+NDE108 No, not at all. The story in the book was not about Americans. The people in it were all French. It was Americanized when the film was made, because of course no story would be interesting unless it involved Americans. ARGH

The New Jersey thing or Statue of Liberty doesn't make sense. After all, they landed in high desert country and that environment carried the movie to the end where the beautiful cliffs of the left coast are located.

+SteveTheFazeman Dude, you're overlooking the fact of worldwide nuclear war. Not only changes the climate, but the landscape as well.

@@Serai3, I disagree with your summation. The atom bomb that was tested at Trinity site in New Mexico did nothing to change the topography of that land.

I think 2001 A Space Odyssey rivals it. Most people do suspect that the big gap between humans and animals was caused by something extraterrestrial.

mawkish jejune puerile stuff for kindy kit kat kids

HAAAAAAAAAAAA

Not to the ones that are in hell .

H G Wells

@@Patrick-hb7bk THERE IS NO HELL !

@@christopherdunn317 You keep telling yourself that , you may eventually believe it .

especially with the Biden administration.

@@KB-ke3fi Yep!

The apes are people

"Pretentious depressing 1970s film sequels that were made by a bunch of corporate suits to take the piss out of New Hollywood and Arthouse filmmakers by making their films as incredibly pretentious and depressing as possible" Oh how much I hate those movies.....!

I enjoyed Beneath The Planet Of The Apes primarily for Maurice Evans' performance, and that smoking hot sauna scene. Glad that the Simpsons have honoured him with a song. The protesting Chimps was a nice touch. Even as a kid, I thought that the Escape movie was more of a tv episode than a motion picture, but Ricardo Montalban added much credibility. Big shout out to original casting though, as all those actors nailed their roles. Especially through all that latex.

@@Panzer4F2 Maurice's performance was a saving grace for that movie, but I feel that the protesting chimps was a bit much

@@LiteralmenteUmaMulher Is that meant to be a criticism or a correction?

@@thevfxmancolorizationvfxex4051 I'm quoting your comment and adding my opinion (youtube has no reply system like forums have so that is how I had to quote)

Haha! Had to....

Omega Man was good, too

He was a excellent actor and starred in some of the MOST remembered movies ever made!!! Ben Hur, The 10 Commandments, Planet of the apes, Solient Green, Omega man!!!! Not including his westerns he made also!!!!

@@shrek_428 Yep he really had a good run of scifi films I grew up with in the late 60s early 70s!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it :)

100% intentional artistically symbollic cinematography.

It's always in the details, the little things :)

The reason that the 2001 "reboot" sucked is because they never explained what had happened to cause the change in the evolution of the earth causing Apes to become the dominant species on Earth.

Paul Kersey Good Point I never read the book I don’t know if the answer was explained.

Well…this comment didn’t age well.

too hot! and the "tuning knobs" are always behind a thread,but her costume was anyway almost not existing, yet u see nothing!😉

She had a cameo in the reboot.

@Evan Koch it would be fun at first though lol 😝

Yes.. yes she was. It is one reason why I remember that movie so well. Had such a crush on her.

@@PercivalThe23 - I loved her costume..just as I loved Raquel Welch's costume in "One Million Years B.C."..

Well for a brief time, he likely thought he had all he needed, a horse, a rifle, a girlfriend, and freedom.

@@nicholasbartonlaw341 Nothing like the barest essentials. As long as they stay away from the woods!

Instead of Taylor looking up and seeing "the Statue of Liberty"..could had been worse..looking up at a statue of George Floyd..then letting out his famous last words.."Goddamn you all to Hell"..

@@cynthiaclarke3979 I love it 🤣🤣

@@davidcervantes7961 - Why lie..lol..

it sucks people are misinformed by the media about unarmed killings by police and Joe Biden is taking advantage of that to become president :(

@David Cervantes - A aged statue of George Floyd holding a gun to a pregnant woman's belly..Taylor upon seeing that,I'd said the same thing.