As I hoped and predicted, she really liked it. I didn't have to explain all that much to her. One of the best scenes is when the captured main human character (played by the late Charlton Heston) speaks for the first time (after running away from dozens of apes trying to capture him while striking him and finally capturing him in a net), shocking all that heard what they thought was impossible. I commented how that was my favorite scene of the movie. She got a kick out of it as well. My wife was multitasking at the computer (she has a blog, have you noticed?) and casually commented that it was too bad he had to swear (he used the real version of the "darn" word) and I joked that if I had been chased around that long by a bunch of apes, I probably would have sworn too. Both of my female companions empathized.
At the end of the movie, which is the shocking climax of the picture, I really enjoyed watching my daughter's face as she learned the exciting secret. Her jaw dropped as she had her "ah ha" moment. It was very satisfying. There were a few more choice words shared by Mr. Heston's character in that scene and I explained a little bit more about why he was so upset. She loved the movie (Yes! Maybe someone else in this house will finally appreciate some of my interests!--OK, that's a bit dramatic.)A few minutes after she was to have been in bed (and as usual, she goes to bed several times each night), she came out to tell me that if she were the main character in the movie, there were two places that she would have sworn. She started to explain the same two scenes that I described above as I wiggled in my seat and hemmed and hawed a bit about how I didn't really want to have a conversation about when we might actually swear--all while smiling about how funny the whole situation was.
I guess she didn't get all the political commentaries of the 60s either.
5 comments:
That's a great story. I saw that movie for the first (and only) time when I was 17. I remember liking it, but I don't know why and I can't remember any of the story. I guess I need to watch it again...I wonder if Shaun has seen it.
I just saw the remake on a list of the worst remakes ever!
I used to watch that with my grandpa, cool show, but not as cool as Godzilla vs King Kong!
So, yah, I sometimes read your blog. But the last time was February. I forgot about it.
I enjoy your posts. I like listening to and reading people who actually think. I'm not one of them much.
And I've never seen Planet of the Apes of any kind. Sorry.
Great minds . . . I also saw this movie (the whole thing) last week. I remember liking it way back when (what political commentaries?) and I liked it again. I guess I didn't notice the swearing, but I remembered the last kiss scene. A very strange movie--so sorry we lost Charlton Heston. I always respected him and his work.
It's actually full of commentary on the following issues: racism, class-ism, nuclear proliferation, religious dogmatism vs science (e.g., evolution), interracial mating (if you read it into the kissing scene), militarism of the government (particularly in the Vietnam era), and, of course, the freedom to swear!
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