Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

Pierre Boulle (characters)
Paul Dehn (story)

Release Date:

15 June 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The final chapter in the incredible Apes saga. The most suspenseful showdown ever filmed as two civilizations battle for the right to inherit what's left of the earth!

Plot:

Ten years after conquering the Earth, ape leader Caesar wants the ruling apes and enslaves humans to live in peace. But warning factions of apes led by a militant gorilla general as well as various human groups threaten the stability.

Plot Keywords:

Ape | General | Gorilla | Planet Of The Apes | Slavery

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Roddy McDowall	...	Caesar
Claude Akins	...	General Aldo
Natalie Trundy	...	Lisa
Severn Darden	...	Governor Kolp
Lew Ayres	...	Mandemus
Paul Williams	...	Prof. Virgil
Austin Stoker	...	MacDonald
Noah Keen	...	Abe the Teacher
Richard Eastham	...	Mutant Captain
France Nuyen	...	Alma
Paul Stevens	...	Mendez
Heather Lowe	...	Tanya the Doctor
Bobby Porter	...	Cornelius, Son of Caesar
Michael Stearns	...	Jake
Cal Wilson	...	Soldier

Also Known As:

Colonization of the Planet of the Apes

Runtime:

93 min | USA:96 min (extended version) | UK:86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | Brazil:Livre | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-12 (original rating) | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | USA:G | Canada:PG | Singapore:PG | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Company:

Apjac International

Trivia:

Roddy McDowall is the only cast member to appear in all the original "Planet of the Apes" movies. He also starred in the "Planet of the Apes" (1974) TV series. It's also noted that Roddy is the only actor to voice two different apes, Cornelius and his son, Caesar.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Caesar's famous "Now, fight like apes!" line is marred by his ape lower-mouth appliance beginning to fall off, revealing his own human mouth inside. The director tried to hide this by blurring those frames of film at the lower end of the screen. What looks like dust on the camera was intentional.

Quotes:

Virgil: Teacher only reverted to type under provocation. He... he spoke like a slavemaster in the old days of our servitude when we were conditioned to mechanical obedience. He, uh, he uttered a negative, uh, imperative.
Caesar: Could you put that into words which even Caesar could understand?
Virgil: Uh, he said, "No, Aldo, no!"

Movie Connections:

References Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

The final scene will have YOU weeping with regret!

Horrible. What exactly gets this disaster started? There's a conversation that goes something like this: "Hey, Caesar. You wanna see and hear what your mother and father used to look and sound like? There's a forbidden city not too far from here that has an archive, and in that archive is some footage of your mom and pop doing some interviews and stuff. Wanna check it out?" Caesar: "Cool, let's go!" And it's all downhill from there. Two major cities less than a days ride apart and no one knows that the other exists or is populated? Give me a break. When the forbidden city "army" came rolling out of their ruins in an old dilapidated school bus and a couple of jeeps left over from the old Rat Patrol series I just about keeled over in hysterics. Did those cool goggles, man. I suffered so much brain damage from this film that I find it difficult to continue. An "armory" made of sticks "protected" by an elderly ape who administers logic tests to separate the riff raff from the honest weapon seeking populace? A mutant club whose only requirement is that you have a scar? Any scar. Anywhere. Any size. And don't forget those ruby goggles. When the mutants first open fire on a pair of apes it reminded me of something out of Monty Python. The shell explodes right between the two guys who are about 6 feet apart and when the smoke clears they're still standing! A quick follow up shot takes care of those pesky apes for good. The battle, such as it is, is a dismal failure. More of a squad of soldiers trying to secure a choke point than a battle for a planet. Things do go boom, there's some dirt flying in the air and a lot of extras running around screaming but that's about it. There's an extremely heavy handed comeuppance of a murderous ape and even a weeping statue at the end but not one shred of redemption for the time you just wasted watching this piece of trash. I can only wonder why Roddy McDowall agreed to participate in this tragedy unless he was forced to do so under contract with penalty of execution by firing squad if he refused. Here's a suggestion: Grab your kid's dolls, dress 'em up like apes and make your own final ape movie. It's gotta be better than this.