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IMDb > The Naked Ape (1973)

The Naked Ape (1973) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
4.8/10   41 votes
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Director:
Donald Driver
Writer:
Desmond Morris (book)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Naked Ape on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1 August 1973 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Drama more
Tagline:
The naked ape is only human.
User Comments:
Underrated retro-gem of the Sexual Revolution more

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
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Additional Details

Runtime:
85 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
USA:PG

Fun Stuff

Movie Connections:
References King Kong (1933) more

FAQ

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17 out of 19 people found the following comment useful:-
Underrated retro-gem of the Sexual Revolution, 23 December 2005
8/10
Author: ofumalow from United States

It's beyond me why this movie isn't better regarded, let alone hasn't been released to any home format (legally that is). Produced by Hugh Hefner's Playboy Productions--which, must as you might object to its trademark "bunny" objectifying of women--it takes the theses of Desmond Morris' pop-anthropology book and translates them into a series of pro-sex, but more importantly pro-tenderness and pro-humanism sketches.

Some are cleverly animated (in various styles), others acted out in terms that range from the satiric to the tragic. The non-cartoon segments are primarily acted out by an appealingly goofy, vulnerable if muscled-up (from his juvenile TV stardom days on "The Rifleman) Johnny Crawford, and pert young Victoria Principle. (Stills from her nude scenes here were much later exploited as bogus evidence of a past "softcore" career after she'd achieved fame in the TV series "Dallas.")

"The Naked Ape" is imagined in creative and narrative ways that would never happen again (at least with a generous budget) after the mid-70s. It's conventionally sexy/humorous on the surface. But the overriding message is that the sexes should respect one another, and that mankind's tilt toward warring, macho self-destruction is anything but "natural." It's a beautiful message, one that the film arrives at with an entirely appropriate weight of melancholy and anti-Establishment critique.

A lot of counterculture-relic features from this era have dated badly, but I think this movie--poorly appreciated in the first place--is still forward-thinking, and would earn a larger cult following (the existing one flows from "cut" early-80s TV broadcasts and bootleg videos) if it were released as a legitimate DVD. C'mon, Hugh...this was your baby once, why not let it take some long-delayed toddling steps toward the public?

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