And now for your viewing pleasure, here’s Charlton Heston naked
Welcome to Screen Gems, our weekend dive into queer and queer-adjacent titles of the past that deserve a watch or a re-watch.Now, wait a second, dear reader.Before you freak out about actor Charlton Heston’s homophobia, lust for firearms, or otherwise nutty right-wing views, consider: what would piss off the man more than making him into the object of queer fetishism?Besides, love or hate his politics, Heston had remarkable acting chops.
For proof of his ability and to see him looking like something that stumbled out of a fetish night at a leather bar, look no further than the 1968 classic Planet of the Apes.
The sci-fi adventure stars Heston as Taylor, an astronaut who crash lands on an alien planet. Taylor, along with his other surviving crew make their way across the desolate landscape and quickly discover it enhabited by primitive humans…and a sophisticated society of intelligent apes.We don’t feel too much of a need to regurgitate the plot details here since A) most of the plot details of Planet of the Apes have already entered the zeitgeist, and B) if you, dear reader, have somehow escaped reveals of the movie’s plot–including its climactic twist–you’re better off experiencing it with as little foreknowledge as possible.
Suffice it to say, the movie works as much of a satire of 1960s American society as much as speculative fiction.Beyond the teeth-gnashing performance, Planet of the Apes benefits from groundbreaking makeup, and an outstanding supporting cast.
