Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

Ten years after a worldwide series of ape revolutions and a brutal nuclear war among humans, Caesar must protect survivors of both species from an insidious human cult and a militant ape faction alike.

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

Pierre Boulle (characters), Paul Dehn (story)

Stars:

Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Natalie Trundy

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Roddy McDowall	...	Caesar / Cornelius
Claude Akins	...	General Aldo
Natalie Trundy	...	Lisa
Severn Darden	...	Governor Kolp
Lew Ayres	...	Mandemus
John Huston	...	The Lawgiver
Paul Williams	...	Virgil
Austin Stoker	...	Bruce MacDonald
Noah Keen	...	Abe the teacher
Richard Eastham	...	Mutant Captain
France Nuyen	...	Alma
Paul Stevens	...	Mendez
Heather Lowe	...	Doctor
Bobby Porter	...	Cornelius
Michael Stearns	...	Jake

Storyline

After conquering the oppressive humans in "Conquest for the Planet of the Apes", Caesar must now keep the peace among the humans and apes. Gorilla General Aldo views things differently, and tries to cause an ape civil war. In the meantime, other human survivors learn of the ape city, and decide they want to take back civilization for themselves, thus setting the stage of warring ape factions and humans.

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Plot Keywords:

caesar character | cornelius character | betrayal | ape | gorilla | 

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Taglines:

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!

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 June 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Colonization of the Planet of the Apes

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Hyperion sewage plant., California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$8,800,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Apjac International, Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 96 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

With no explanation given, the apes in this film have begun wearing the cloth-and-leather clothing from the first three films. As in those films, the chimpanzees wear green, orangutans wear orange, and gorillas wear black. Also in this film, all of the apes have the ability to speak, reason, and to a lesser extent read and write; in the previous film, Caesar was the only talking ape except for Lisa saying (with considerable difficulty) "no".

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Goofs

When the governor opens the silo doors it is obvious that they are barely big enough to let the main body of the missile through, but not big enough to let the fins out as well.

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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, but against the apes, whom they reduced to slavery. Then God in his wrath sent the world a saviour, miraculously born of two apes who descended on Earth from Earth's own future and man was ...

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Crazy Credits

The 20th Century-Fox logo does not appear on this film.

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Alternate Versions

CBS edited 14 minutes from this film for its 1975 network television premiere.

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Connections

Referenced in HBO First Look: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

User Reviews

Why does everyone hate this film?

I've never known anyone say a good thing about this movie! To me it would have been far better if they had never made any sequels, the original movie was on a far higher level than the sequels ever aspired to. It was a ci9nematic masterpiece which I can't praise highly enough. I hated Beneath...it was hammy, boring and dull, with some badly judged humour and really could have been made without any actors in ape make-up, just a standard adventure. Escape had its moments, veering from cringe inducing slapstick to dark moments of intelligence, and Conquest is certainly depressing but badly misguided. Then came Battle. To be honest it looks like a tv movie, has no cinematic scale or visual ambition. What it does possess is compassion, which the other films lack. It tries to end the series in diminuendo, and for me works. The insight into the middle stage between human and ape is fascinating, and the gorillas have the menace again they lacked totally in Beneath. The most fascinating aspect is the "ape has killed ape" subplot, which is a great piece of moral soul-searching, big budget or not. Lord Of The Flies seems to have invaded the concept somewhere and the movie is pensive and reflective, and the ending is gorgeous. The allegorical tone of the first film is returned, albeit very heavy handed, but the chimp/ gorilla conflict and the school/ war games mixtures made for me a very sensible way of closing the book at long last. It's the only sequel I would dash home to watch of them all. "I guess you might say they just joined the human race."