Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Ted Post

Writers:

Pierre Boulle (characters)
Paul Dehn (story) ...

Release Date:

26 May 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The bizarre world you met in 'Planet of the Apes' was only the beginning... What lies beneath may be the end!

Plot:

The sole survivor of an interplanetary rescue mission searches for the only survivor of the previous expedition. He discovers a planet ruled by apes and an underground city run by telekinetic humans.

Plot Keywords:

Ape | Planet Of The Apes | Astronaut | Sequel | Subterranean City

Cast

James Franciscus	...	Brent
Kim Hunter	...	Zira
Maurice Evans	...	Dr. Zaius
Linda Harrison	...	Nova
Paul Richards	...	Mendez
Victor Buono	...	Fat Man
James Gregory	...	Ursus
Jeff Corey	...	Caspay
Natalie Trundy	...	Albina
Thomas Gomez	...	Minister
David Watson	...	Cornelius
Don Pedro Colley	...	Negro
Tod Andrews	...	Skipper
Gregory Sierra	...	Verger
Eldon Burke	...	Gorilla Sergeant

Also Known As:

Planet of the Apes Revisited (USA) (working title)
Planet of the Men (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Brazil:Livre | Australia:M | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 (original rating) | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Norway:16 (1970) | Singapore:PG | UK:15 (video rating) | UK:A (original rating) (cut) | USA:G | West Germany:16 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Red Rock Canyon State Park - Highway 14, Cantil, California, USA

Company:

APJAC Productions

Trivia:

An early draft of the script, called "Planet of the Men", and written by Pierre Boulle in his native French, featured a messianic Taylor 14 years after the events of the 1968 original. It involved an uprising against the apes, following which they revert back to their primal states.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Brent tries to get the reins from the runaway horses you can see an extra set of reins going into the paddy wagon through the holes in the wall. These are the reins that a hidden person is using to control the 'runaway' horses. After Brent stops the horses and gets off the wagon, the reins are no longer in the holes.

Quotes:

Dr. Zira: Gorillas are cruel because they're stupid! All bone and no brain!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) ***

I guess you could say that this first sequel to PLANET OF THE APES is a nostalgic pleasure for me; I got hooked on it as a child and while I still think it's an interesting followup to the original, as an adult I'm naturally more aware of its flaws. Yet it's still works out as a good adventure film; less of a cerebral experience like PLANET OF THE APES, and more of a comic book story.

James Franciscus plays astronaut Brent, sent along the same trajectory as Taylor's (Charlton Heston's) old ship in an effort to rescue him. He crash-lands in the same vicinity as his friend, and goes through a similar nightmare when he comes to discover that the planet he's stranded on is dominated by intelligent, talking apes with a decidedly low opinion of mankind. General Ursus (James Gregory) is a war-hungry gorilla leader who's anxious to investigate strange unearthly occurrences in the Forbidden Zone with the aid of the ever-skeptical scientist Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans in a reprisal of his role from Part One).

Luckily, Brent runs into Taylor's mate, Nova (Linda Harrison looking prettier than she did in PLANET) and she is able to lead him to kindly chimpanzee couple, Zira (Kim Hunter) and Cornelius (David Watson this time; Roddy McDowall was busy directing a film). The pacifistic simians try to help their human friends along their journey to find Taylor, but Brent and Nova only succeed in getting themselves captured by gorillas anyway.

Up to this midway point in the film, all we're really seeing is a rehash of the first APES movie, which feels obligatory to set up the scenario. Where this chapter starts to develop its own identity and really take off is in its second half, as Brent and Nova escape and find themselves going underground (literally) in the Forbidden Zone and discovering the ruins of a ravaged city, along with a community of radiation-scarred mutations who have mastered mental telepathy and worship an atomic bomb as their god who has "created" them. And they know it won't be long before the Ape Army will invade their sanctuary.

Charlton Heston felt that sequels were not very challenging for an actor in those days, so at first he resisted appearing in this movie. He eventually agreed on what gradually evolved into a more extended "cameo" in BENEATH as a favor to Richard Zanuck, since the producer had taken a gamble on making the original film when Heston asked him to. The resulting sequel can be a downbeat and unusually pessimistic viewing experience, but in an odd way that actually helps to work in its favor.