On the Planet of the Apes with Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith (allegedly) wore a gorilla mask while writing 

and conducting the score to Planet of the Apes (1968) 

in order to better understand the film and its themes 

 

 

I. 

 

Last night, I returned to the Planet of the Apes ... 

 

That is to say, I rewatched the 1968 American post-apocalyptic science-fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, starring Charlton Heston (as Taylor), Roddy McDowall (as Cornelius), Kim Hunter (as Zira), Maurice Evans (as Dr Zaius), and Linda Harrison (as Nova).

 

As well as marvelling once more at the cinematography, set and costume designs, and various other visual aspects of the film, I was for the fist time really struck by the brilliance of Jerry Goldsmith's score ...

 

 

II. 

 

Whilst working with a traditional orchestra - albeit one which made use of innovative techniques and some unusual percussion instruments [1] - Goldsmith fashioned a composition that is paradoxically primitive yet futuristic, alien yet strangely familiar, and thus perfectly suited to Earth in the year 3978, when apes have found their voices and assumed a position of dominance, whilst humanity, on the other hand, has lost its exceptionalism (as well as the power of speech).    

 

As one commentator notes, Goldsmith gives us an unsettling avant-garde combination of Bartók and Stravinsky [2] and why he didn't win the Oscar for Best Original Score for a non-musical motion picture in 1968 I don't know [3]. 

 

Perhaps it was just a little too clever (and unconventional) for the Academy; Goldsmith's background in classical music and his knowledge and appreciation of modern developments such as dodecaphonism (i.e, twelve-note composition) set him apart from many of those in Hollywood (including many of his fellow composers whom he felt were just repeating the same things over and over again) [4].      

 

  

Notes

 

[1] For example, when scoring Planet of the Apes, Goldsmith looped drums into an echoplex, had his orchestra imitate the grunting sounds of apes, and used stainless steel mixing bowls (among other objects) to create unique percussive sounds. 

 

[2] The Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist Béla Bartók and Russian born composer and conductor Igor Stravinsky are widely considered two of the most important figures within the world of modern classical music. 

      Bartók's innovative style blended complex, percussive musical ideas and rhythms with extensive use of native folk music, thereby giving the latter a distinctive modernist edge. His work has had a lasting and significant influence on later classical composers, as well as those who, like Goldsmith, scored music for film and television. 

      Stravinsky's stylistic versatility along with his revolutionary approach to rhythm and harmony - as demonstrated in ballets like The Rite of Spring (1913) - opened up entirely new ways of composing and, like Bartók, he was highly influential on those who came after him. 

      Goldsmith cited both men as inspirational, whilst also acknowledging the profound impact made by Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone serialism on his own work, using the latter to create the psychological tension that is a crucial aspect of many a film score. For a comprehensive discussion of this, see John O'Callaghan's Simians & Serialism: A History and Analysis of Jerry Goldsmith's Score to Planet of the Apes (Pithikos Entertainment, 2015); an expanded second edition of this text was published in 2023.

 

[3] Actually, I do know: Goldsmith was nominated for the Academy Award, but lost out to John Barry for his work on The Lion in Winter (dir. Anthony Harvey). Planet of the Apes was also nominated for Best Costume Design (Morton Haack). The only Oscar it picked up, however, was an honorary award given to John Chambers, for outstanding makeup achievement. 

 

[4] It's interesting to note that although Goldsmith would receive 18 Academy Award nominations during his career - making him one of the most nominated of all Hollywood composers - he only once took home an Oscar, for his score for The Omen (dir. Richard Donner, 1976). 

      He did, posthumously, also receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017, in recognition of his many achievements.

 

 

Musical bonus: Jerry Goldsmith, Main Title from Planet of the Apes (1968): click here.  

 

Cinematic bonus: to watch the famous final scene from Planet of the Apes on YouTube, click here. 

 

 

This post is in memory of the English primatologist Jane Goodall who, sadly, died a few days ago (1 October 2025), aged 91. She spent more than six decades working and living alongside wild chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park, in Tanzania.      

 

 

In Memory of a Man from U.N.C.L.E.

David McCallum (1933-2023) as Illya Kuryakin 

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-68)

 

 

Thanks to Tom Cruise's big-screen reboot, many people believe that Mission: Impossible was the greatest secret agent series of the sixties. 

 

But it wasn't.

 

At any rate, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was far more fun and whilst I remember pretending to be Napoleon Solo as a child - and obsessively wearing a Man from U.N.C.L.E. flicker ring until it eventually cut into my finger [1] - I don't recall wanting to be Jim Phelps or a member of the IMF. 

 

Obviously, the two shows share certain similarities; both, for example, have implausible (some would say ridiculous) storylines and both have fantastic opening theme tunes [2]. But I preferred The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to Mission: Impossible because it was more lighthearted - or more camp, as Susan Sontag would say [3].

In other words, it didn't seem to take itself too seriously - and that's something I loved as a child and still like today. It's why, for example, I prefer the Monkees to the Beatles; Adam West's Batman to the brooding figure of the Dark Knight as played by Christian Bale; and Roger Moore's Bond over Daniel Craig's 007. 

 

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. also had the advantage of having David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin playing alongside Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo. And that was a big advantage, as the Scottish actor proved to be hugely popular with the viewing public; particularly the younger audience who loved his Beatle-style haircut in contrast to Vaughn's clean-cut appearance and who inundated the actor with adoring fan mail [4].

 

But McCallum wasn't just eye-candy for pre-teen girls; he was an excellent actor and received two Emmy Award nominations in the course of the show's four-year run (1964–'68), for his role as the enigmatic and intelligent Russian-born agent.

 

Sadly, McCallum died yesterday, at a hospital in New York, one week after his 90th birthday. Like a lot of other people - particularly of my generation - I will remember him fondly as someone who, partnered with Robert Vaughn, captured my imagination as a child.  

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

[1] I also had a die-cast toy car made by Corgi with figures of Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin which popped in and out of the car windows firing guns when you pressed on a button protruding through the car roof (see the image above at the end of the post).

 

[2] The main theme for Mission: Impossible was composed by Lalo Schifrin and is noted for unusually being in 5/4 time. Click here to play the Season 1 opening titles.

      The theme music for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was originally written by Jerry Goldsmith, although other scores were produced by other composers and the changing musical style reflected the show's different seasons; some, using brass instruments and martial rhythms, were intended to be dramatic; others, using flutes and bongos, were deliberately more jazzy. Click here for the opening title sequence to the Season 1 episode 'The Giuoco Piano Affair' (Nov 1964), featuring Goldsmith's original theme.

 

[3] See Sontag's famous essay of 1964, 'Notes on Camp', which can be found in her first collection of essays, Against Interpretation (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1966). 

 

[4] Originally, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was conceived as a vehicle for Vaughn and McCallum's role was intended to be peripheral. McCallum, however, managed to turn the character of Kuryakin into a pop cultural phenomenon and, recognising his on-screen chemistry with Vaughn, McCallum was given co-star status by the show's producers. Incredibly, while playing Kuryakin, McCallum received more fan mail than any other actor in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's history - including such popular stars as Clark Gable and Elvis Presley.