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:

Colleen Camp's film debut.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The same tree is blown up repeatedly for dramatic effect. Obvious stock footage.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Title Card: North America, 2670 A.D.
The Lawgiver: In the beginning God created beast and man so that both might live in friendship and share dominion over a world of peace. But in the fullness of time evil men betrayed God's trust and in disobedience to His holy word waged bloody wars, not only against their own kind...

Movie Connections:

References Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Cut price ending to an inventive series

Less a battle for the planet, more a scuffle in a field, the final chapter dangles weakly at the end of a series that kept up a high standard for an unusually long time. This could have been a classic war movie, couldn't it? An ape army and its human allies fight off a desperate attack by radiation-scarred men in the ruins of a post-apocalyptic Earth! But without the budget to do the idea justice, 'Battle' has to settle for a few explosions and some stuntmen somersaulting about. The screenplay, too, suffers from a lack of ambition, although the interesting political machinations and xenophobic tension between the humans and the gorillas add some much needed depth. I dunno, it's not a bad film. It wraps up the chronology quite neatly, and it's fun. As the conclusion to a series as grand as 'Planet of the Apes', though, it falls short.