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Of course, some of the parallels are obvious. In our world humans do experiment on animals, use them as a source of labor, hunt them for sport, and some sick people even torture them for fun. Before he regains his ability to speak and therefore overact, Taylor's relationship with Zira is not unlike that of an especially clever ape and his zookeeper. And watching apes mug for photographs over a pile of human bodies is meant to be as disturbing to us as it is to Taylor. These are the conspicuous issues you'd expect a film called Planet of the Apes to address, but this isn't an animal rights film, or an environmental drive by.

The guts of the script are from a screenplay by Twilight Zone honcho Rod Serling. So despite the unfortunate addition of some self serving dialogue, the story remains credible and ripe with parable.

The impact a speaking human has on ape society is as profound as it might be the other way around, an effect actually amplified by the film's low budget atmosphere. Pesky archetypes that they are, Zira and Cornelius raise some compelling arguments that shake both the theological and philosophical pillars of apedom. And shockingly, none of their peers are ready to embrace the annoying way science makes it harder to stay afraid of everything we can't understand. It's solid storytelling that works surprisingly well. More than once you'll be astonished to find yourself unnaturally absorbed in a philosophical discussion between two overly emotive people in monkey suits.

But if all you're thinking is that it takes some pretty good writing to make all this believable, you'd only be half right. It also takes a pretty good performance from the cast, most of whom are indeed behind some pretty heavy makeup. You don’t hear Franklin J. Schaffner’s name often, but the director had a knack for getting great performances out of a variety of people, and he certainly does so here.

So I'll give Heston and his Shatneresque preening a pass, even though George Taylor seems perfectly aware that he is a fictional character in a movie who is in no actual danger. The real story here is anybody who has to be in an ape suit. Good use is made of the actors' natural features, which gives them each a distinctive appearance. And they were clearly trained how to move like our hairy cousins and emote believably behind all that latex. Despite the occasional double pair of lips or quad row of teeth, the apes, even after all this time, are also credible. The costumes aren’t bulletproof, but considering the film is over 40 years old, the fact it still holds up as well as it does makes it a towering achievement.

Planet of the Apes is vintage ‘60s sci-fi, full of obvious allegory, bristling with social awareness and shot mostly on locations that suspiciously resemble southern California. But if - for the sake of parable - you can forgive a rather conservative budget and see the story through the eyes of its characters, you’ll come away with a lot to think about. If you can look past some incredible early leaps of logic, you’ll find this a quaint but well structured story that’s told imaginatively and with legitimate passion. Mostly.

And then there’s that ending. A great ending cannot exist except as payoff to a legitimate emotional investment, and it only truly succeeds when (unlike the Sixth Sense) it works more than once. In my opinion Planet of the Apes is a very worthwhile investment that pays off very well - each and every time.

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