Continuity mistake: When Lucius releases Taylor from his cell after knocking out Julius' the guard, his hands are shown to be tied above the horizontal lining along the cell. Then as Lucius says "We've got to move fast", the guard's hands are now tied below the horizontal lining along the cell. (01:19:05)
Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the movie when Taylor, Cornelius, Zira, and Nova are about to enter the cave, Zaius arrives with his crew. Taylor comes running back taking a few shots at the soldiers then he points his gun at Zaius. In a frontal shot you will notice the gun he is pointing has a strap on it tucked under his left hand as he is aiming. The scene goes to a rear shot of Taylor in the foreground and Zaius in the background on the beach. Look close at the gun Taylor is pointing and you will see the strap hanging free. As the scene returns to a frontal shot you will see the strap is tucked under his left hand again. (01:31:27)
Continuity mistake: When Taylor ties Doctor Zaius up to the log, shots from behind Zaius show the rope at the top of the log just above Zaius' head to be wrapped around the log only twice. Shots from in front of Zaius show the rope to be wrapped tightly a dozen times around the log. (01:37:35)
Continuity mistake: After the apes have blown up the cave, Taylor and Nova are shown riding away on a horse. In a close-up, Taylor looks at Nova and places his hand on Nova's cheek, but in the reverse angle he suddenly doesn't have his hand on her cheek and he is now looking straight forward. (01:44:30)
Revealing mistake: Most of the posed, fake displays in the ape's Museum of Natural History contain real people who are slightly moving if one pays careful attention. Especially noticeable are those posing with objects held in - or above - their hands.
Continuity mistake: When the spaceship first springs a leak and begins to sink, the interior shots show it tilting to starboard; Taylor falls against the starboard bulkhead and the other two survivors need to brace themselves from slipping. All of the exterior shots of the ship show it level from port to starboard.
Continuity mistake: The first exterior shots of the spacecraft in the desert lake show the spaceship's hatch door already gone... before the astronauts blow it off with an explosive charge minutes later in the movie.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie when Taylor and the woman find the ancient ruins of the Statue of Liberty, their distance from the statue seems to change between shots. In the first shot (when it only shows them and the torch) they seem to be almost next to it. In the next shot (when it only shows them and the crown) they are farther away. And in the last shot (when it shows Taylor kneeling from behind and the full torso of the statue) he is even farther away from it.
Continuity mistake: When Nova is removed from Taylor, one ape is also soaked with the hose. Then he is totally dry while taking Nova out of the cage.
Revealing mistake: Toward the end of the film, in a long-shot, an ape hits another in the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him over. You don't even have to look closely to see that the rifle's butt never even comes close to making contact with him.
Revealing mistake: Towards the end of the movie, at the cave, you can see that the rifle Charlton Heston has been firing has no magazine inserted.
Continuity mistake: Shortly after the astronauts crash land in the desert lake, they discover that the female crew mate is dead, her body is mummified due to an air leak in her cubicle. The mistake is that when her body is first seen, the arms and hands are folded across her chest. Seconds later, when the water starts rushing in, the point of view from inside her cubicle shows her arms at her sides.
Revealing mistake: Throughout the movie, if you look closely at all of the apes' mouths, you can see the actors' teeth behind the ape teeth.
Continuity mistake: When the 3 of them are swimming and one sees foot prints, he calls to Taylor - when Taylor starts out of the water his hair is wet, but when he stands up out of the water it is dry.
Continuity mistake: After Taylor dismounts the second ape, he attacks the ape, and the whip/rope used is dropped and Taylor is a few feet from it. In the closeup, he suddenly has it in hand.
Plot hole: Wouldn't Taylor have suspected he was still on Earth, seeing as all the apes were speaking English?
Revealing mistake: If you look closely at the back of the head of both Zira and Dr. Zaius, you can see the actor's real hair.
Other mistake: Taylor believes he is on a planet 300 light-years from earth for most of the movie. However, after spending months there, he would have seen the moon at night a number of times, letting him know where he really was before seeing the Statue of Liberty.
Suggested correction: Not necessarily; any astronaut knows that many, many planets have moons, so Taylor could have easily thought that it was simply an odd coincidence that the "other" planet's moon closely resembled Earth's moon.
Continuity mistake: Towards the end when Taylor is shaving, they show a shot of him when he is nearly finished; only a small dab of the shave cream left on his chin. Cut to a shot of Lucius and Cornelius looking at him from behind and his face is completely lathered once again.
Continuity mistake: When Taylor and Nova approach the Statue of Liberty, there is a slow panning shot looking down on them from behind the statue's crown. All of the spikes on the crown are completely straight when seen from this angle. When the camera angle changes and we're looking up at the statue, there is a spike on the left side of the crown bent outward. The bend starts a little more than half-way up the spike; it would have been visible in the shot from behind.
