Karen: All of you Ape-ophiles will be excited to hear that the original Planet of the Apes will be back in theaters one day only, July 24th, through Fathom Events! I've attended some other classic films shown through Fathom and they've been a lot of fun. Although I am sure most of us have seen POTA before (maybe many times), there's nothing quite like seeing these films in a theater with other fans. I encourage you to see if it is being shown in your area and check it out. I already got my ticket!
Here's a link to the Fathom website: http://www.fathomevents.com/event/planet-of-the-apes
Karen: On another science fiction film-related note: if you happened to buy the recent release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Director's Cut on Blu Ray, there is a minor error in the editing of the Kobayashi Maru sequence (the problem occurs when Sulu turns around to correct Saavik; you can read about it in detail at Trek Core here). Paramount has initiated a replacement program, so buyers can send in their faulty copies for corrected ones. Trek Core also has the details for the trade in program, and you can learn about that by clicking here. I emailed Paramount a few days ago but I haven't heard anything yet. While it's disappointing that this mistake made its way into the film, the fact that Paramount is willing to replace the disc is commendable. Hopefully those of us who jumped on this version of the film (me!) can get it replaced soon.
9 comments:
Woo hoo, great news...except that BAB is an international community so this means nothing to some of us and I'd never even heard of Fathom Events till today. But I clicked on that link and I assume Ben Mankiewicz is the same Ben Mankiewicz who appears regularly on the Young Turks channel on YouTube ?
Yep, same one :)
So this movie opened in February of 1968-- man, I don't think that would even be a consideration these days. 'Course, there were probably theaters where it stayed on the bill for, literally, months. Different era entirely.
I would have been seven, but I certainly remember the hype-- and the fact that a few of my pals did get to go see it in South Bend, which was a HUGE mark of status. Most of us, though, had to sweat it out until Sept 1973 (I looked it up) when it was finally aired on television as a Movie of the Week. Me and my buddies were 12 years old at the time, so the timing couldn't have been better. Even then, though, it was clear that you were watching a big, widescreen film crammed into a little television set. Rather than letterboxing, editors would choose which part of the screen/shot was higher priority, and mostly stick with that-- so you'd miss seeing entire characters in some conversations. Or large portions of lateral action would get lost off one side or the other of the screen. But, like they say, "it's all we had", eh?
And that ending was still shiver-inducing, with the Statue of Liberty's head, yeah? But I've no doubt that, on a big screen in a dark theater, that reveal would have gotten audible gasps from the audience. The whole movie does have a feeling of "scope" and outdoor size (lacking in all of the sequels) that one associates with big, grand, Hollywood Westerns, really. A smart choice for a big-screen base-touching.
HB
We have two theater chains in town, and one of them often features Fathom events. Alas, I checked and this re-release of POTA is not one of them.
I do like the trend of recent years of one-time showings of "classic" films on the big screen. Last year my wife and I saw Ghostbusters, and a few weeks ago our family was together to see Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Fun times -- but it's interesting to see how you perceive a film now as compared to when you saw it as a teenager.
Doug
Well I guess no good deed goes unpunished. Colin, I'm sorry Fathom Events doesn't show films in Britain. But we're more than happy to post notice of events taking place anywhere our fellow BABsters are, if you or anyone else want to send us that information (or write a post yourself). I felt this information was worth sharing given the number of times POTA comes up around here. Maybe you can pop a copy of POTA into a player that day and come back here and discuss it with others! Almost the same experience...right??
I'm in a really small town, so no theatre here; to tell the truth, I've only ever seen the first Apes movie, not any of the sequels...which is weird since I really do love apes in general.
By the way, Colin Jones, congratulations on Wales making the semis in Euro 2016...they're looking like world-beaters!
Mike Wilson
I like Fathom... It's kind of fun to see the old movies back on the big screen. My wife took the boys to see the original Ghostbusters recently. And I saw they had the original Willy Wonka and my sons had never seen that so maybe we will go. I will have to see if POTA is playing. It freaked me out as a kid. The female astronaut's life support chamber malfunction and the lobotomy... When I was like eight years old... Whoa!
I do have to wonder exactly what the MPCA (is that the right acronym)formula was for rating movies back then. There are some seriously intense and terrifying moments and events in that film for a little kid. So it gets the same rating as THE ARISTOCATS-??
Not that it matters at all. If I had a dollar for every time I've been to an R-rated film, and been surrounded by parents who have brought along a pack of kids under 10 years old to watch it with them. . .
HB
HB, your observation about ratings prompted me to do a little search at the IMDb, and I was a bit surprised to learn that with the exception of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, which was rated PG, all of the rest of the original PoTA films had G ratings - like Disney cartoons as you noted.
I recall back in the early '80s some of those "seriously intense and terrifying moments" you mentioned led to the new PG-13 rating, and I'm pretty sure that if the PoTA films were released at that time all of them would have had PG-13 ratings.
Otherwise, it goes without saying that there are no Fathom Events in my neck of the woods, but all this talk about movies reminds me that I really, really want to see the new Tarzan movie - a few people whose judgement I trust (i.e., they're huge fans of the original novels) say this is the Tarzan film they've been waiting all their lives to see.
And turning the discussion back to Fathom Events, there's some interesting stuff on the schedule besides PoTA, like that animated Killing Joke feature, but there are quite a few movies I was too young to see in the theaters but would really like to see on a giant screen (rather than just on TV), like the Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, or Vanishing Point and Easy Rider, or Enter the Dragon or any number of the so-called Blaxploitation films, but especially Shaft, Superfly and Cotton Comes to Harlem.
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