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Planet of the Apes (1968)
the definition of irony
Astronaut George Taylor sets out from Earth with not much luggage except for a heavy case of cynicism. "I don't know what's out there, but it's got to be better than Man," he narrates before going into deep sleep. When he awakens to a strange world with cloud cover at night and no moon in the sky, he supposes that he and his two surviving shipmates have landed somewhere in the Orion constellation.
As Taylor and his crew find first vegetable life and then animal life (primitive humans) Taylor finds many of his own words come back to haunt him. The first clue that something is not right comes when the tribe of humans they encounter become alarmed at the sound of a horn being blown. As the hunt begins, we're not allowed privvy to the hunters until Taylor sees them for himself and they are gorillas! The psychological shock is intense for those not knowing what to expect.
Taylor is soon wounded and captured. His throat injury prevents him from speaking, yet none the less he makes communication with a sensitive chimpanzee named Zira. She presents Taylor to Cornelius, her fiancee, who is horrified at her finding. He over comes his prejudice to aid Zira in trying to gain Taylors freedom from the scientific counsel (little more than a board of cardinals upholding the faith.) The simply wonderful "see no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" part of the inquisition is one of motion picture histories finest moments!
Ultimately, and with assistance, Taylor escapes and manages to proves human superiority to Zaius, his main nemesis. Feeling comfortable and smug with himself, Taylor and his hottie girlfriend set off up the beach to the future before him. A future that Zaius says "he won't like what he finds." A prophecy that holds all too true in one of filmdoms all time great shock endings.