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15 Famous Movie Monkeys

Chimpanzee’s Oscar is but the latest filmic primate to captivate viewers.

Chimpanzee
Photo: Walt Disney Pictures

Disneynature unveiled its fourth American Earth Day doc this weekend with Chimpanzee, a glimpse into the life of young chimp Oscar, who may or may not boast more refinement than narrator Tim Allen. Leading the film with at least a small hope from Disney that names will have influence in next year’s Documentary Feature race, Oscar is but the latest filmic primate to captivate viewers, his adorable anthropomorphism reflecting back the basest human instincts and pastimes. More than any other class of creature, Oscar and his ilk afford an audience the fun of animal voyeurism right along with a close species identification. It’s what helps movie monkeys to endure, from the big to the small, the winged to the animated.


Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). Andy Serkis didn’t land the Supporting Actor nomination many forward-thinking fans felt he deserved, but he did bulk up his mo-cap performance resumé with his memorable turn as Caesar, the special lab chimp who goes from James Franco’s house pal to leader of the monkey revolution. Someone had to get the fateful ball rolling in this ominous prequel, and Serkis’s Caesar proves game for the task, counting among his memorable moments the electrocution of sniveling Hogwarts grad Tom Felton.


The Jungle Book

King Louie in The Jungle Book (1967). The Tony Soprano of animated primates, King Louie is one connected orangutan, leading a gang of jungle monkeys who round up big bear Baloo and his human pal Mowgli. Capitalizing on the fact that Mowgli is desperate to stick around despite the danger of Shere Khan, Louie promises to use his influence to keep things kosher, so long as Mowgli spills his supposed knowledge of fire-making. Not even classic Disney jungles are immune to shady deals.


2001: A Space Odyssey

Tribe Leader in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The zealous man-ape who ushers in cinema’s most famous match cut, this herbivorous tribe leader stands as the early embodiment of humans as utilitarian thinkers, his heaving of a bone after its discovery as tool and weapon linked directly to the orbit of a nuclear satellite. Haunting even in the angle with which he’s initially shot, the leader is as ominous as he is curious, which tethers him just as firmly to the film’s mysterious black monolith.


Outbreak

Betsy in Outbreak (1995). A small and cute capuchin unwittingly responsible for big and ugly problems, Outbreak’s Betsy only looks harmless. In reality, she’s the host of the deadly Motaba virus, which this paranoid thriller loosely based on ’90s dread-inducer Ebola. Betsy remains MIA until soldiers Dustin Hoffman and Cuba Gooding Jr. find her in the backyard of a young girl, who’s been feeding the animal apples for weeks while nearby townsfolk drop like flies. Thankfully, Cuba’s ace aim downs Betsy with a tranq dart, just in time to save Hoffman’s honey, Rene Russo.

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Mighty Joe Young

Joe in Mighty Joe Young (1998). Before Charlize Theron was a Monster herself, she palled around with the likes of Joe, a 12-year-old, 2,000-pound, 15-foot-tall mountain gorilla, who comes into the care of Theron’s Jill after both companions’ mothers are murdered by poachers. Remade by City Slickers director Ron Underwood from a ’40s film of the same name, Mighty Joe Young also stars Bill Paxton, who naturally tussles with Joe before facing everyone’s common enemy: Rade Šerbedžija.


The Wizard of Oz

Nikko in The Wizard of Oz (1939). It’s cool enough to be a monkey with wings, but to be the leader of a whole pack of flying primates takes a rare beast. Enter Nikko, the head henchman of the Wicked With of the West, played in everyone’s favorite heel-clicking fantasy by Pat Walshe. Most believe that Dorothy’s Oz-touring quartet has all the fun, but Nikko gets to behave badly with minimal repercussions, nabbing Toto and un-stuffing the Scarecrow while the Witch takes all the blame.


Curious George

George in Curious George (2006). Traditionally animated even when so many of his filmic peers were made of ones and zeros, Universal Pictures’ 2006 incarnation of Curious George pays tribute to the monkey’s vintage legacy, which dates back to the 1940s, when H.A. and Margaret Rey first published their now-iconic stories. Voice actor Frank Welker took the role of George, while Drew Barrymore and Will Ferrell rounded out the supporting players, the latter bringing life to the beloved Man with the Yellow Hat.


Tarzan the Ape Man

Cheeta in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). A Pre-Code adventure with Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O’Sullivan, this W.S. Van Dyke-directed vine-swinger was the first of three films based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan of the Apes novel. Telling the classic story of how Jane (O’Sullivan) arrived in an African jungle only to fall for Tarzan (Weismuller), the movie features a climactic scene in which Jane and her London kin are kidnapped, with Tarzan’s ape BFF, Cheeta, their last hope for rescue. After faithfully summoning his hunky pal to save the day, Cheeta joins Jane and Tarzan for a beachside cuddle. Aww…

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Showgirls

Dressing Room Invaders in Showgirls (1995). According to a little Showgirls trivia, the only time skin-baring stars like Elizabeth Berkley felt uneasy was during the dressing-room scene where monkeys invade. Apparently, the lipstick-stealing primates wouldn’t stop staring at the gals’ breasts. Leave to a pack of zoo animals to stand-in for, and sum up, Berkley and company’s tongue-wagging audience, who might not be swinging from the chandeliers, but are just as ready to hoot and screech and ogle naked nipples.


Every Which Way But Loose

Clyde in Every Which Way But Loose (1978). Clint Eastwood was heavily mocked for his Dirty Harry 180 Every Which Way But Loose, which saw him step into a rare comedic role that left critics primed to hurl bananas. Nevertheless, the film, which casts Eastwood as a trucker who befriends an orangutan, became one of the former bad boy’s biggest hits alongside its sequel, Any Which Way You Can. One wonders if long-armed, red-furred Clyde might have come in handy on some of Eastwood’s recent work, adding a little life to the abysmal Hereafter, or spicing up J. Edgar for its naysayers.


The Hangover Part II

Chain-Smoking Capuchin in The Hangover Part II (2011). One of countless easy sight gags in Todd Phillips’s redundant party-pals sequel, this denim-rocking monkey embodied the epitome of bad ape behavior, puffing away on cigarettes and aiding in drug deals amid Bradley Cooper and company’s desperate search for yet another missing hell-raiser. And yet, through it all this furry sinner proves both vulnerable and endearing, latching to Zack Galifianakis’s man-child like a cuddly kiddie leash.


Planet of the Apes

Cornelius in Planet of the Apes (1968). A descendant of Andy Serkis’s Caesar, Roddy McDowall’s Cornelius is perhaps the most famous monkey in the Planet of the Apes universe, unless we’re underestimating viewer soft spots for Kim Hunter’s blue-eyed smoocher, Zira. The husband of Zira’s sympathetic veterinarian, Cornelius takes an immediate interest in Charlton Heston’s Taylor, furthering his frowned-upon embrace of evolution. Talk about a twisted Darwinian pretzel.

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The Lion King

Rafiki in The Lion King (1994). Sure, Rafiki was one of many ethnic stereotypes simplified into borderline offensive form in Disney’s hallowed opus, but at least this babbling fortune teller didn’t veer into full wisecrack-slave mode like Whoopi Goldberg’s hyena. Essential in young Simba’s reconnection with his late father, which in turn would support the inheritor’s grasp of the all-important Circle of Life, Rafiki, a mandrill, memorably—and literally—knocks some sense into our hero, proving a comedic favorite among viewers, for better or worse.


Underground

Soni in Underground (1995). From the rubble of a zoo devastated by Hitler’s bombs, in a scene that suggests the fall of Eden, a relationship between a pet monkey, Soni, and a mentally handicapped man, Ivan, is born. In this, Emir Kusturcia’s testament to the ties between family and country, Soni is our surrogate, a witness to history. He is also a great unifier, an unmistakably moral being who frees his master’s family from their underground prison. And when he abandons Ivan, the zookeeper’s heart breaks into a thousand pieces…and so will yours. In a world so cruel, the goodness of their relationship seems impossible, but as the final scene suggests: maybe next lifetime. – Ed Gonzalez


King Kong

Kong in King Kong (1933). Indeed, the king of all movie monkeys needs no introduction, but allow us to present him with an entourage of swirling airplanes. Forever to endure as one of cinema’s great monsters, Kong is also a complicatedly tragic figure, bearing the burden of man’s greed and and stumbling into a star-crossed romance to boot. There are plenty of things that would never be the same after Merian C. Cooper, David O. Selznick, and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s creature classic: the Empire State Building, the special effects business at large, and, bringing us full circle, the career of Andy Serkis.

R. Kurt Osenlund

R. Kurt Osenlund is a creative director and account supervisor at Mark Allen & Co. He is the former editor of Out magazine.

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