Planet of the Apes (1968)

Costume Design by:

- Morton Haack ( notable efforts: The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), What's the Matter with Helen? (1971) )

Costume Design Genre: Futuristic

The first film in the series all about evolved intelligent apes running the world after a nuclear holocaust (with some occasional trips back in time) who have enslaved the surviving humans - the original series consisted of five movies, but only the first two entries of the series - Planet of the Apes, and Beneath the Planet of the Apes will be covered here, as the other film sequels were either set in the present or reused the first two films costumes. Morton Haack's costumes for the apes were simplistic, usually consisting of simple coloured tunics with leather strips attached on the collars, shoulders or sleeves, these leather strips often having engraved markings on them - a collection of Haack's costume design sketches are available to see on the Film Sketchr blog.. The various ape castes are in colour-coded garments, with the chimpanzees such as the scientista Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) and Zira (Kim Hunter) wearing drab green with brown leather trim. Cornelius wears the male version of the uniform, which is a simple green shirt with a large brown leather patch with lining around the collar, as well as more faint lining on the sleeves.

Zira wears the female version, which is a gown made of the same coloured cloth as the male version, but cut to resemble a dress, with the leather patch being more narrow and ornate around the collar.

The chimpanzees are the 'middle' cast of the ape society, with the ruling class being the orangutans such as the curt Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans), who are all clad in orange jackets and trousers over dark brown shirts - the jackets are also fitted with leather strips around the side, with Zaius in light brown strips, and other orangutan elders having different markings on theirs, the one exception being the judge with a segmented leather vest trailing down to the waist

Zaius' second outfit worn at the end of the first film is another orange jacket and trousers, but worn over a brown leather shirt, and the jacket having leather strips on the sleeves and shoulders - and noticeably worn with boots rather than the shoes worn with the standard outfit (which, like the chimps outfits, are molded to resemble being made for ape feet rather than human's).

Zaius' third outfit worn towards the end of the sequel slightly resembles the one worn in the previous film, but is more complex with detailed leather pieces around the shoulders, sleeves and collar, and is once again worn with boots.

The gorillas are the 'grunt' caste of the ape society and are used as soldiers (ironic considering its chimpanzees which are the more aggressive ape species in nature!), who are all clad in dark purple shirts and trousers, worn under lined boots and ridged leather vests.

The sequel introduces the gorilla general Ursus (James Gregory) who wears perhaps the most famous outfit of any of the apes, an armored vest with pads on the arms, and worn with a studded collar piece and domed helmet fixed with long flaps, the helmet again adorned with the markings seen on the garb of the rest of the apes.

The sequel introduces us to a cult of telepathic humans who survived the nuclear holocaust, and reside deep underground (hence, the film's title) where they sing hymns devoted to their god, the nuclear bomb. These human cultists are in some of the more outfit futuristic outfits in the series, being all glad in hooded uniforms worn under habits akin to the garb of priests, these habits being adorned with coloured strips or cloaks with metallic fixtures stuck on the front.

Lastly, are the guards that protect the undergound base of the cultists, who are in some of the most striking outfits of the film, but sadly are never really seen properly - all white uniforms with ridged tunics in a similar manner to the other cultists, but with a bright yellow strip down the front. These humans were the 'future' ones that were wiped out in the nuclear war, so it does make sense that their garb should be so space age in comparison with everyone else.