It’s the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine. In celebration of Mad Max: Fury Road, we’re getting post-apocalyptic. So get ready to fight off zombies, scavenge for goods and run for your life! And maybe spend some quality time in an abandoned mall or Bill Murray’s house. We’re looking at what happens in movies when society crumbles. Are we replaced by apes or pod people? Is Kevin Costner a fish person or a postman? Our dystopian future is up to you.
Children of Men triumphed over The Omega Man. That means the critical darling will face off with the granddaddy of the zombie genre in the final four.
Today it’s a world run by apes vs. a world without grown-ups (unless you count 29-year-olds as grown-ups). Both Planet of the Apes and Logan’s Run were based on science fiction novels from the 60’s. Both movies made some pretty substantial changes to their source material. For example, the apes in the novel were much more sophisticated than their movie counterparts. Budget constraints caused them to ride horses instead of flying planes. Also, the book lacks the movie’s famous twist ending. *spoilers* Instead, the humans in the book successfully return to earth only to discover that it is also populated by apes which is a lot like the ending of the Tim Burton remake.
In Logan’s Run, the maximum age citizens were allowed to reach was raised from 21 to 29 in order to accommodate the casting of older actors. This seemingly simple change has a pretty serious impact on the way the movie plays out. The book is about youth run amok. Society in the book is filled by people who will never reach mental maturity. But in the movie, there are young adults who should really be taking charge of things and making changes.
Then ending of Logan’s Run is also vastly different from the book. *spoilers again*. In the movie, it turns out that the “Sanctuary” Logan and Jessica 6 are fleeing to doesn’t really exist. Most of the previous “runners” were likely killed by the robot Box. Instead, they find an old man played by Peter Ustinov and bring him back to their domed city where presumably he will teach those whippersnappers a thing or two. In the book, Sanctuary turns out to be a space colony near Mars. Logan and Jessica 6 escape to the space colony and live happily ever… until the sequels. The book had sequels but the movie wasn’t successful enough to do the same.
Planet of the Apes has become a pop culture touchstone. It’s one of the best-known and beloved science fiction movies of all times. Logan’s Run is less beloved. It’s regarded as a near miss that is very much of it’s era – the 70’s. The following year, Star Wars would completely change the rules of the genre. But Logan’s Run is still fondly remembered by many for its kitschy charms.
I like the fact that both of the top photos look more like actors randomly standing around on set than like characters caught up in the action of an adventure film.
I think it’s pretty clear that we’ve got an Apes/Road Warrior pairing coming up in the next round.
Glad you like the pictures. This is one where I actually spent some time looking for a good pairing. I had a picture from Logan’s Run where Logan was wearing a fur coat. I wanted to use it to match Heston’s primitive attire but I couldn’t find one that was high enough quality to use. Then I tried to match an Apes picture with the one of York and Agutter. I was looking for a decent picture of Heston and Nova, but I didn’t like any of those either. Eventually, I settled on these two. Something about the vacant facial… Read more »
Neither of these movies are particularly great, but they both have very interesting premises. I went with Apes because it is more iconic and it has had a more lasting impact.
The original Planet of the Apes has a 90% approval rating on RT which frankly seems low to me. I think it’s pretty great. Logan’s Run, okay, not great. Definitely worth a look, but not a great movie.
I again voted for “Logan’s Run” due to those kitschy charms mentioned (I think “Tron” has similar charms as well), but I understand it has NO CHANCE in this round. Yes, its run ends here.
This is 1960’s versus 1970’s. But you gotta love PotA because it has a great “punch line” ending. Also, PotA spawned a bunch of sequels, a few of which made sense.
And some of the ones that didn’t make sense were still a lot of fun.
I have a sentimental attachment to both of these movies. Both PotA and Logan’s Run were a big deal when I was growing up in the 70’s. And they both had TV spin-offs I remember watching.