Movie Critique: Planet of the Apes

As Taylor and his crew emerge from their ship on the "foreign" planet they have landed on exploration ensues. The planet that they are on seems to uninhabited to Taylor's crew mates.  However they soon find out that it is inhabited by an evolved species of apes and humans that are hunted.
Planet of the Apes takes an interesting on view on completely reversing the social roles of society during the 60's and early 70's. Apes that have taken the favor of evolution in, what is soon to be discovered, futuristic Earth seems to hold strong opinions of slavery and even touches on issues of racism and the intolerance for change.
The plot of this film takes place on Earth some thousands of years from now.  Taylor, the protagonist, is trying to fight his way to what is perceived as some sort of equality among the apes. He goes to show that he too is intelligent and not a savage like the rest. The idea of his subjection to the apes unchanging opinion of his inadequacy among their species, or one might say, their race.  What this might suggest is that the certain hierarchy of the white race is oppressive to the "inadequate" race of our society.  But the reversal of the roles makes one feel as if there is a certain unfairness to the system that is in place, which is exactly what the director may have been aiming for.
The hierarchy of the orangoutangs try to hold in place is most certainly a reference to ideas of a socialistic or communist society. Their discouragement of freedom of thinking shows that what we might hold as truth or a proper social order is not at all fair or correct. Their mentality is aimed at the racist mentality of certain opinions held in the U.S.at the time. The idea of letting a "lesser" man speak in their presence is outrageous to them.
The film also hold a strong and final opinion of the effects of nuclear war. At the end of the movie, Taylor sees the Statue of Liberty demolished and buried.  This scene makes him realize that he is on Earth, only very far into the future. Not only that but it also suggest that man had become so obsessed with nuclear power that we were destroyed in our own obsession. Nuclear war was always an intimidating realization at that time in society, therefore to suggest that we had destroyed ourselves with it is very disturbing.
Overall the film can be very controversial do to the racist notions suggested throughout. However, it is very accurate in our assumptions and racist mentality that we had at the time. It shows an excellent example of reversing roles and really understanding what it is like on the other side of the fence.