A Long-Overdue Return to ‘Planet of the Apes’

Fans of the 1968 sci-fi classic “Planet of the Apes” and its four sequels have been going bananas trying to find the films at their local video stores.

The problem? It’s been nearly a decade since the “Apes” have been unleashed on video.

“Over the years we have gotten many phone calls and letters, e-mails on our Web site, asking, begging, pleading, ‘Where can I find them?’ ” says 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment product manager Lewis Lagrone.

The wait is finally over. In honor of its 30th anniversary, FoxVideo on Tuesday re-released “Planet of the Apes,” as well as “Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” “Escape From the Planet of the Apes,” “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” and “Battle for the Planet of the Apes.”

Each movie ($50 to $55 for the set; $15 each) has been restored, remastered and THX-certified for this launching. “This is the first time that ‘Planet of the Apes’ has been in stereo,” Lagrone adds. “They all have their original theatrical trailer.”

Lagrone says demand for the videos has been great among baby boomers because they are “looking back and remembering a lot of . . . unusual things about when they were young and impressionable.”

Plus, she says, “parents are really kind of trying to share with their kids things they remember as being wonderful when they were their age. ‘Planet of the Apes’ was unique at that time.”

Besides the five films, “Apes” spawned a live-action TV series, an animated TV series, Web sites, fan clubs and collectibles.

Based on the novel by Pierre Boulle, the exciting thriller was set on a planet in the future where the apes ruled over primitive man. Charlton Heston played Taylor, an astronaut who crash-landed on the planet. Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter were featured as sweet-natured chimp scientists who befriended and helped Heston.

The film, which won a special Oscar for makeup, was penned by Rod Serling and Michael Wilson and directed by Franklin Schaffner (“Patton”). It also features a well-built Heston running around sans most of his clothes for part of the movie.

McDowall, who appeared in four of the films and the TV series, says he was intrigued by the idea of the movie even before he read the script. “When [producer] Arthur P. Jacobs mentioned it to me on an airplane, it was just so riveting a concept and unusual an idea that one would have to be crazy not to be intrigued by it,” he says.

The first “Apes,” says McDowall, was the “granddaddy of the whole [sci-fi] genre. Everything now that has been made really springs from that platform. It was humorous.”

Emoting under layers of ape makeup, says McDowall, was one of the things that “was deeply discussed and was a measure of concern and a great adventure to us.”

“One had to find a mental way to hone their thoughts. One kept one’s face moving all the time, which gave the appliance [mask] a sort of life that it wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

Coping with the heat on the first movie was difficult. “Inside that makeup, it was about 130 degrees,” McDowall recalls. “They had these huge fans, and we would sit around in a circle trying to lap up the air. I couldn’t even at times remember words--just standing up was such a trial.”

Cable’s American Movie Classics will also be presenting a two-day “Apes” marathon on Sept. 6 and 7. The marathon will present the TV premiere of the two-hour documentary, “Behind the Planet of the Apes,” hosted by McDowall. The documentary will also be available to those who buy all five “Apes” videos.