History Film / PlanetOfTheApes1968

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The planet of the apes is actually Earth, thousands of years after humanity killed most of the population in a nuclear holocaust. Taylor was home all along.]]

* PetTheDog: Dr. Zaius warning Taylor when the latter sets off to find more about the planet. [[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious Even calling Taylor by his name acknowledging him as his equal.]] [[spoiler: He was right.]]
--> '''Taylor:''' A planet where Apes evolved from men? There's got to be an answer.

%%* CharacteristicTrope: EarthAllAlong.
%%* TheConstant: [[spoiler:the Statue of Liberty]].

%%* CuteMute: Nova.
%%* DeadpanSnarker: Taylor, even when [[TheVoiceless mute.]] Also Cornelius.

%%* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:The [[EarthAllAlong ending]]]].

* EarthAllAlong: One of the most famous examples. [[spoiler:The "planet of the apes" is Earth, thousands of years after a nuclear holocaust.]]

%%* ForbiddenZone: a really notable example.

%%* HumanPopsicle: The four astronauts.

%%* LowCultureHighTech
%%* MonumentalDamage: [[spoiler:The Statue of Liberty]].

%%* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In the "What have you done" variant.

%%* TomatoSurprise: EarthAllAlong.

Notable for its [[ItWasHisSled famous]] EarthAllAlong ending: Taylor escapes from the apes, finding a new life with his love Nova, and eventually discovers the ruins of the StatueOfLiberty. He realizes that Man destroyed himself in some iteration of WorldWarIII, sent the planet back to the Stone Age, and allowed the apes to conquer.

* WhamShot: [[spoiler: The Statue of Liberty at the end]]. (At least, if you don't already know the ending.)

* [[AliensSpeakingEnglish Apes Speaking English]]: It should have been Taylor's first clue...

* AgentMulder: Zira.
* AgentScully: Cornelius.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: A major contributor to the stigma between the humans and the sentient apes is the idea that humans are not apes, and (to some) not animals. ''Both'' of those are false, and while the apes in the first film may be forgiven for it by not being advanced enough to be able to prove the former through genetic sciences, the humans [[spoiler:in the modern day in later films]] have no excuse whatsoever.

* ApocalypseHow: "You maniacs! You blew it up!"

** It apparently [[Creator/TomFelton runs in]] [[Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes the family.]]
* BreakTheHaughty: Taylor

* CharacteristicTrope: EarthAllAlong.
* TheConstant: [[spoiler:the Statue of Liberty]].

** AgeWithoutYouth: The result of this.
* CuteMute: Nova.
* DeadpanSnarker: Taylor, even when [[TheVoiceless mute.]] Also Cornelius.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: This is what happened to [[spoiler: Dodge.]]
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:The [[EarthAllAlong ending]]]].

** The ending. Possibly a shout-out to [[Creator/RobertAHeinlein Farnham's Freehold.]]
* ForbiddenZone: a really notable example.

** Nevertheless, the series still portrays gorillas as violent brutes and chimpanzees as pacifists (chimpanzees are probably the most violent of the non-human ape species, and gorillas are generally reclusive and peaceful unless forced to defend themselves), either because they didn't know better or because [[ScienceMarchesOn Primatology Marched On]].
** Perhaps this was why the BigBad of Creator/TimBurton's remake was a chimp, and TheDragon (a gorilla) ended up pulling a HeelFaceTurn. Apparently Thade was originally going to be an [[EvilAlbino albino]] gorilla, but Rick Baker told Burton that chimps are meaner.

* HumanPopsicle: The four astronauts.

* IdiotBall: Most characters hold it at one point or another. Especially Taylor trying to prove to the apes that he is an intelligent being takes ridiculously long due to one blunder after another. Had he just motioned for Dr. Zira's notepad right away and shown immediately that he could write, things would've been that much simpler.
** He tried to do just that, they just didn't understand him.
*** Not very well, though. He could have done something like pretend to write on his hand so they knew what he meant.
**** Cornelius says 'human see! human do!' when Zira says he's trying to speak. They might have just assumed he was mindlessly imitating the apes writing.
* InNameOnly: adaptation of the novel.
** The only characters from the novel are Zaius, Zira, Cornelius, and Nova.
** Pierre Boulle was apparently impressed enough with the adaptation that he submitted his own proposal for a sequel titled ''Planet of the Men'', which would've ended with [[spoiler:the humans taking over the planet and ultimately turning Dr. Zaius into a zoo exhibit]].
* {{Irony}}: In the first movie, Taylor wonders if there's a sentient race out there that's "better than man." It turns out most of the Apes are [[NotSoDifferent hardly any better than the humans they claim to be superior to]].
** Taylor starts off as a cynical misanthrope who couldn't wait to get away from the human race. By the halfway point of the movie, he's forced to become humanity's vocal proponent. [[spoiler:And then the ending reveals he was right about [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans being bastards]] all along.]]
*** There's also a distinctly harsh moment where Taylor is roughly tying up Doctor Zaius near the finale, despite the protests of Zira and Cornelius; Taylor blithely remarks that it's no different from how ''he'' was treated, suggesting that he's no better than the Apes.
** [[spoiler: Taylor emotionally breaking down and damning all humanity to Hell for "blowing it up" at the end of the original movie becomes Hilarious In Hindsight when he blows the planet up for real at the end of the sequel.]]

** More like a [[IncrediblyLamePun Monkey Trial]].

* LaserGuidedKarma: The various humiliations Taylor suffers throughout the film could be considered this.
** At the end of the film after being repeatedly attacked, beaten, caged, stripped and tied up by the apes, Taylor exacts a small measure of revenge by capturing Dr. Zaius, arguably the Apes' main spokesperson, and tying him to a log.

* LowCultureHighTech
* MonumentalDamage: [[spoiler:The Statue of Liberty]].

* MeaningfulName: Played with with Dodge.
* MonkeyMoralityPose: The Three Wise Judges.
** Meant to be a private gag for the film crew, but ExecutiveMeddling meant the shot stayed in the movie.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In the "What have you done" variant.

* NubileSavage: Nova.

** Possibly [[InvokedTrope deliberately invoked]] by the [[MoralGuardians orangutans]]. It is shown repeatedly that Dr. Zaius is hell-bent on eliminating any trace of ''ANYTHING'' that doesn't mesh with the apes' doctrine of law. The implication is that the orangutans possess far greater knowledge of the technology of man than is generally known[[note]]which Zaius himself confirms to Taylor near the end[[/note]], and are ''deliberately'' thwarting the advance of certain fields of science [[{{Irony}} in order to prevent the apes from becoming the same self-destructive mess mankind became]].
** The real reason behind this was that the production crew did not have the money to build the super-advanced civilization the apes had in the books.
* ShoutOut: To ''AnimalFarm''. When asked if he knows why all apes were created equal, Taylor replies that "some apes seem to be more equal than others".

* TomatoSurprise: EarthAllAlong.

* YouFailBiologyForever: the ship with the protagonist is sent into space to colonize a new planet. That's why it contains three males and one female. D'oh!
** Also, portraying gorillas as warlike and violent, chimpanzees as reserved and rational, and orangutans as wise and social. Gorillas are very gentle and docile animals while chimps have been known to exterminate other tribes, including the infants, to take the females and food. Orangutans have a completely anti-social society; males leave upon puberty and live on their own, attacking anyone that comes into their territory. Again, probably a case of [[ScienceMarchesOn Primatology Marched On]].

* GoneSwimmingClothesStolen

->''"Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!"''

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The apes were used to their human captives among most things, not think intelligently and not speaking. So when Taylor writes down what he says (He got shot in the throat so he couldn't speak.) it scares Cornelius and Zira, before it impresses them. It scares the hell out of the Ape population when his wound heals and he says his iconic line. "Get your stinking paws off me you damned dirty ape."

* WhamLine: '''"GET YOUR STINKING PAWS OFF OF ME, YOU DAMNED DIRTY APE!!!"''' Made all the more powerful when you realize that CharltonHeston was ''sick with the flu'' at the time, but the director felt that the hoarseness of his voice would add impact to that line. It did.

* WhatMightHaveBeen: Scenes were scripted and filmed revealing, near the end, that Nova was pregnant with Taylor's child. The scenes were cut out of the final print, as it was felt that they changed the focus of the ending, leaving the door open to a sequel Heston didn't want (but got anyway).

* AssholeVictim: Taylor could be considered this.

* EarthAllAlong: The TropeNamer, via the Simpsons. [[spoiler:The "planet of the apes" is Earth, thousands of years after a nuclear holocaust.]]

Adapted from [[Literature/PlanetOfTheApes Pierre Boulle's novel]] and co-scripted by Creator/RodSerling, this classic 1968 sci-fi film launched a screen franchise that has continued, with various sequels and reboots, into TheNewTens.

Notable for its [[ItWasHisSled famous]] EarthAllAlong ending: Taylor escapes from the apes, finding a new life with his love Nova, and eventually discovers the ruins of the StatueOfLiberty. He realized that Man destroyed himself, sent society back to the Stone Age, and allowed the apes to conquer.

* {{Jerkass}}: Most of Taylor's behaviour to the apes for most of the film.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/38a_1303.jpg]]

On this planet, there is a mute race of human-like creatures, treated as animals by a race of [[AliensSpeakingEnglish sentient English-speaking apes]]. Caught in the middle of an ambush between Ape and Man, one of the astronauts is killed, another lobotomised and a third, George Taylor (Creator/CharltonHeston), is shot in the throat, which renders him mute like the other men. He is among the captured men, and taken back to the apes' mostly pre-industrial city. As the talking ape civilisation learn that Taylor, "Bright Eyes" to them, can (eventually) speak and write, they put him on trial for heresy against the ape civilisation's sacred scrolls.

Adapted from [[Literature/PlanetOfTheApes Pierre Boulle's novel]] and co-scripted by Creator/RodSerling, this classic 1968 sci-fi film launched a film franchise that has continued, with various sequels and reboots, into TheNewTens.

* EscapedAnimalRampage: A funny subversion occurs where Taylor the human escapes from a medical lab where apes do experiments on humans and run amok, scaring the innocent residents of Ape City.

**** Cornelius says 'human see! human do!' when Zira says he's trying to speak. They would have just assumed he was mindlessly copying the apes writing.

* SleeperStarship: The crew hibernate during the trip, though apparently the method doesn't stop them from aging.

* ApocalypseHow: "You maniacs! You blew it all up!"

* [[spoiler:BigApplesauce:]] The end of the film, which lets Taylor know where he really is.