History Film / PlanetOfTheApes1968

* EerilyOutOfPlaceObject: The Statue of Liberty on the beach.
* EiffelTowerEffect: Again, the Statue of Liberty.

* DeadGuyOnDisplay: This is what happened to [[spoiler:Dodge]], whose body is placed in an ape museum about humans.
** In the comics, it's revealed he's an interesting display because he's the only dark-skinned human they've seen.

* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: It's weird that the Apes still speak recognizable English more than 2000 years after human civilization was destroyed.

** The ship with the protagonist is sent into space to colonize a new planet. That's why it contains three males and one female. A population ''that'' low would die out from inbreeding within several generations, even assuming the single female would reproduce constantly.
*** In addition, for breeding it would be far more efficient to have several females for each male, since a single male can impregnate multiple females, whereas a single female can only undergo one pregnancy at a time.

** ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: It's weird that the Apes still speak recognizable English more than 2000 years after human civilization was destroyed.

** ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: Though it's weird that they still speak recognizable English more than 2000 years later.

* AdamAndEvePlot: This was actually the initial plan. It was scrapped when the only female crew member had died in transit.

* PersecutionFlip: The apes keep humans in cages and using them for experiments.

* IWantMyJetPack: 1972 has come and gone, and while we have stepped foot on the Moon the year after this movie's release, we do not have spaceships with ArtificialGravity and hypersleep chambers.

''YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP!'' '''''OH, DAMN YOU! GODDAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!'''''

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The fact that most of the landscapes resemble the American southwest (namely Arizona and Utah, along with [[CaliforniaDoubling California]]) given both the ending and [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090917142552/planetoftheapes/images/thumb/8/8f/Cornelius_map.jpg/300px-Cornelius_map.jpg Cornelius' map]], which shows [[spoiler:NYC's islands, only with less water around them]].

%%* CuteMute: Nova.

* HopeSproutsEternal: From the description of the film on This Very Wiki:
-->At first it appears that the planet is completely desolate, but they look for signs of life anyway. They discover that it has life when they '''see a small plant growing in the desert. They pull it up - go figure.''' "Where there's one, there must be more!" so, hope renewed, they keep looking.

* StatusQuoIsGod: At the beginning of the film, Taylor believes humanity to be bastards, but changes his mind after meeting the apes, but goes right back to thinking it after seeing the ruins of the Art/StatueOfLiberty.
* TeleportationMisfire: A misjump takes the astronauts to the eponymous planet. Which is actually Earth [[spoiler:thousands of years into the future]].

* YouCanTalk: When Taylor says the above mentioned WhamLine, all the apes go dead silent. They don't say this quote word for word, but their expressions sure do.

''YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP!'' '''''GODDAMN YOU! Goddamn you all to hell!'''''

-->'''Taylor:''' We finally really did it...YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

* Really700YearsOld: When Taylor, Landon, and Dodge leave Earth, it is 1972. When they crash-land on the planet, [[spoiler:2,006 years have passed (Taylor says that Landon is now 2,031 years old),]] and they still look like they're in their mid-30's/-40's. Given a rather [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] by Taylor.

* AdamAndEvePlot: This was actually the initial plan. It was scrapped when the only female crew member was killed in the crash landing.

* IWantMyJetPack: 1972 has come and gone, and while we have stepped foot on the Moon the year after this movie's release, we do not have spaceships with ArtificialGravity and hypersleep chambers.

* DespairEventHorizon: The [[EarthAllAlong ending]].

* AfterTheEnd: [[spoiler:As revealed at the end of the movie.]]

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: At first, played straight with the "alien" apes on the titular planet. It should have been Taylor's first clue as this trope is subverted and deconstructed as in the end, [[spoiler: Taylor was on EarthAllAlong]].

* AnimalIsTheNewMan: The astronauts land on a planet where apes rule the world while humanity takes on the role of animals. Since the planet is [[spoiler:EarthAllAlong]], it makes more sense.

%%* TheConstant: [[spoiler:The Statue of Liberty]].

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:The [[EarthAllAlong ending]]]].
* DetonationMoon: Implied to have happened since [[spoiler: we're on Earth]], but Taylor and his fellow astronauts note that the sky has no moon.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:After Zira and Cornelius get hauled away to be tried for heresy, it is revealed the planet of the apes is actually Earth, thousands of years after WorldWarIII. Taylor was home all along.]]

* EarthAllAlong: The TropeCodifier. [[spoiler:The "planet of the apes" is Earth, thousands of years after a nuclear holocaust.]]
* EerilyOutOfPlaceObject: [[spoiler:The Statue of Liberty on the beach]].
* EiffelTowerEffect: [[spoiler: Again, the Statue of Liberty.]]

* HopeSpot: What was the jungle in the end of the movie? [[spoiler:It turns out to be ruins of the Statue of Liberty and it WAS EarthAllAlong.]]

* HumanAliens: The apes and the humans look exactly like the ones on Earth. [[spoiler:Justified, since it was EarthAllAlong.]]

* InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves: Dr. Zaius explains to Taylor that his bigotry against humans is because they ultimately destroy any environment they settle in. Towards the end, Dr. Cornelius (who is actually sympathetic to Taylor) even reads from a religious scroll that warns of "that harbinger of Death -- man". [[spoiler:The ending reveals that Zaius was completely right, since it's really a post-apocalyptic future.]]

* KillerSpaceMonkey: The apes, and the gorillas in particular. [[spoiler:Until the truth is revealed at the end]].

* MonumentalDamage / MonumentalDamageResistance: [[spoiler:In the 40th century, the Statue of Liberty - though severely damaged - is the only part of New York City still recognizable (until ''Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes'', anyway)]].

* NoEnding: The movie abruptly ends after the [[spoiler:EarthAllAlong reveal.]] Until ''Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes'' came out, the audience had no idea what was next for Taylor.

* SilentCredits: One of the most famous silent end credits (except for the sound of waves crashing on the shore) [[spoiler:as Taylor realizes he's been on Earth all along]].

* SpoilerCover: There were videotape covers showing [[spoiler:the Art/StatueOfLiberty]] on the cover, spoiling the TwistEnding.
* StatusQuoIsGod: At the beginning of the film, Taylor believes humanity to be bastards, but changes his mind after meeting the apes, but goes right back to thinking it after seeing [[spoiler:the ruins of the Art/StatueOfLiberty]].
* TeleportationMisfire: A misjump takes the astronauts to the eponymous planet. [[spoiler:Which is actually Earth thousands of years into the future]].

* TomatoSurprise: [[spoiler:EarthAllAlong.]]
* TwistEnding: [[spoiler:EarthAllAlong.]] Considering Creator/RodSerling had a hand in the 1968 screenplay, [[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 it really shouldn't have been that surprising]]...

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

* PetTheDog: Dr. Zaius warning Taylor when the latter sets off to find more about the planet. [[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious Even calling Taylor by name, acknowledging him as his equal.]]

'''YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP!''' '''''GODDAMN YOU! Goddamn you all to hell!'''''

* AfterTheEnd: As revealed at the end of the movie.

* AntiHero: Taylor is a misanthropic, rather vicious JerkAss. However, he is not without sympathetic traits, such as his affection for Nova and his disgust with [[spoiler:Landon's lobotomy]]. He also seems disappointed that the apes are no better than humans (or vice versa)

* BigBad: Doctor Zaius. He spends pretty much the whole film plotting against Taylor. Though in the end it is revealed that he is an AntiVillain.

'''''YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP!''''' ''GODDAMN YOU! Goddamn you all to hell!''

* HamToHamCombat: Creator/CharltonHeston and Creator/MauriceEvans spend much of the movie's second half trying to out-act one another, as Taylor and Dr. Zaius verbally spar over and over. The fact that Heston more than keeps up with Evans despite Evans having the advantage of being costumed as a orangutan speaks to his LargeHam mastery.

* HumansAreUgly: When Taylor wants to kiss Zira goodbye, she says he is "so damned ugly".

* JerkassHasAPoint: Dr. Zaius at the very end, although the point is not made by him

* MrFanservice: Taylor. He goes SkinnyDipping along with the other astronauts during the above-mentioned GoneSwimmingClothesStolen scene, and his [[WalkingShirtlessScene state of dress]] doesn't really change from there on out. We also get to see his naked ass on at least two separate occasions.

* HamToHamCombat: Creator/CharltonHeston and Creator/MauriceEvans basically spend most of the movie trying to out-act one another, as Taylor and Dr. Zaius verbally spar over and over. The fact that Heston more than keeps up with Evans despite Evans having the advantage of being costumed as a orangutan speaks to his LargeHam mastery.

'''''YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP!''' GODDAMN YOU! Goddamn you all to hell!''

''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQME8mx4DMo It's a madhouse! A MAAADHOUUUSE!]]''\\
'''''YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP!''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5R_pS0h5Qk GODDAMN YOU! Goddamn you all to hell!]]''

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 daptured (and later lobotomized), and a third, Col. 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 civilized, talking apes learn that Taylor, "Bright Eyes" to them, can (eventually) speak and write, they put him on trial for heresy against the ape civilization's sacred scrolls.

A team of astronauts flies into space at near light speed. They are influenced by time dilation: eighteen months for them is over two thousand years for the Earth. They crash onto a mysterious, seemingly desolate planet (losing the [[TheSmurfettePrinciple sole female]] on the crew in the process), specifically into a dead lake; this loses them their spacecraft and most of their supplies.

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, Col. 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.

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 Art/StatueOfLiberty. He realizes that humanity destroyed itself in some iteration of WorldWarIII, sent the planet back to the Stone Age, and allowed the apes to conquer.

* AgentMulder: Zira; she instantly believed Taylor was more than special the second he first demonstrated writing "My name is Taylor". She then believed that there were more intelligent humans like Taylor out there somewhere.

* AntiVillain: Doctor Zaius can be ruthless when pressed though he has fundamentally good intentions as he seeks to prevent humanity from causing another apocalpyse and is at least reasonable enough to try and talk Taylor into making a false confession in exchange for his safety.

* EternalEnglish: It's 2,000 years in the future, and the apes are still speaking perfect English. Although they don't call it that...Cornelius just says it was the language taught to him by his father and his father before him.

* FantasticCasteSystem: Gorillas are soldiers, police, and blue collar workers. Chimpanzees work the medical and academic fields. Orangutans are the lawmaking aristocracy. It's mentioned that the caste system was abolished, but that only pertains to it being officially institutionalized. In practice it's still very much in effect.

* HistoryRepeats: [[spoiler:After humanity blew itself up with nuclear weapons, all surviving descendants of theirs have regressed into primitive, dumb animals much like ''Homo ergaster'' and ''Homo erectus'']]. Meanwhile, the Apes are repeating the exact same history of segregation, oppression and violence as the humans they despise so much.

* InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves: Dr. Zaius explains to Taylor that his bigotry against humans is because they ultimately destroy any environment they settle in. Towards the end Dr. Cornelius (who is actually sympathetic to Taylor) even reads from a religious scroll that warns of "that harbinger of doom -- man". [[spoiler:The ending reveals that Zaius was completely right, since it's really a post-apocalyptic future.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: 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.

* {{Lobotomy}}: One of the astronauts gets lobotomised by the apes.

* MotherlyScientist: Chimpanzee Zira, notable psychologist and zoologist, calls Taylor "Bright Eyes", at least until he manages to write his own name, to her surprise. [[spoiler:She ends up kissing him goodbye - even though, as she tells him, "You're so damned ugly."]] She's sort of like a reverse Jane Goodall.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Dr. Zaius. Despite being the high-ranking Science Minister, he is still consumed by the ideology that Apes are the superior species and Humans are nothing more than corrupt violent savages, "the Devil's pawns", and therefore it is his duty to pacify them. [[spoiler:It is revealed that he ''knows'' Humans used to have a great civilization, but believes that since they destroyed themselves, Apes are still the superior species.]]

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: At first, played straight with the "alien" apes on the titular planet. It should have been Taylor's first clue as this trope is ''brutally'' subverted and deconstructed as in the end, [[spoiler: Taylor was on EarthAllAlong]].

* LegendFadesToMyth: The religious myth held by the apes in the first movie turns out to be a distorted version of ape rebellion and the human war that allowed apes to come to power, as depicted in the sequels. Kind of. [[spoiler:Zira and Cornelius' mucking about with Time Travel in ''Film/EscapeFromThePlanetOfTheApes'' changes the course of history, causing the rebellion to happen in a different way - and with a different leader - than it had in this timeline.]]
* {{Lobotomy}}: One of the astronauts gets lobotomised and by the apes.