Escape from the Planet of the Apes

A very good sequel. <em>'Escape from the Planet of the Apes'</em> is a clear improvement on (the good) <em>'Beneath the Planet of the Apes'</em> and isn't that far adrift from the 1968 original. The plot is out there but they make it believable, while the ending is quite something - unexpectedly so! Neat to see Roddy McDowall return to his role from <em>'Planet of the Apes'</em>, while co-star Kim Hunter continues once again. I like those two characters so enjoyed seeing them become 'the stars' of this third release of the franchise. Onwards to <em>'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes'</em>.

Now quite how, we don't know, but suffice to say that "Cornelius" (Roddy McDowall) and "Zira" (Kim Hunter) manage to find themselves a spaceship and travel back in time to an Earth when humans - here, more specifically, a bunch of rather numb-sculled Americans - rule their continent. On stepping out of their craft, they must sigh the sigh of all aliens whose first glimpse of man is a man with loads of braid and no brains. They are taken to a zoo, fed oranges (?) and then subjected to a presidential inquiry that brings them some fame and celebrity, but also keeps them firmly on the radar of the malevolent "Dr. Hasslein" (Eric Braeden) who becomes doubly suspicious of their portentous storytelling (remember, apes cannot talk in 1971!) when it emerges that "Zira" is expecting an apelet! Things become distinctly perilous for our visitors, but luckily they have allies in fellow scientists "Dixon" (Bradford Dillman) and "Branton" (Natalie Trundy) so maybe they can escape their guilded cage? This is much better than last year's effort. The story is stronger, the morals are there but not over-used and the two lead actors gel well. The visual effects are effective and though I did not particularly like the ending, it offers us some food for thought.

**_The reverse of the first film_** After Taylor’s space vessel lands in the waters near the coast of SoCal, military officials are astonished to find it occupied by three apes in spacesuits (including Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter). While there are those who embrace the talking chimpanzees (Bradford Dillman, Natalie Trundy and Ricardo Montalban), there are also those who view them as a threat to humankind (Eric Braeden). “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” (1971) keeps things interesting by switching the situation of the first two films in this original series. Although this takes away from the inherent mysteriousness of those previous flicks, it is entertaining to view the modern world through the eyes of Vira and Cornelius, not to mention be concerned about their persecution. Some people overstate the comedic content, which mainly revolves around Vira, yet she has the same witty personality with a sense of humor of the prior flicks. In other words, it wasn’t overdone and was congruent to the series. The only difference is that, now, she’s the focus of the story, along with Cornelius. Natalie Trundy was 30 during shooting and lovely. She appeared in all four sequels, albeit as three different characters. This can be attributed to her marriage to producer Arthur P. Jacobs, the person behind bringing the five “Apes” films to the public, including buying the rights to Pierre Boulle's novel Monkey Planet in 1963. Their marriage lasted through the entire run of the five movies, 1968-1973, and only ended because Arthur was “a heart attack waiting to happen” via his drinking, smoking and long hours. He died prematurely at the age of 51. There are some boring parts, but it effectively continues the story. Each of the four sequels had a significantly lower budget than the previous film due to the struggles of 20th Century Fox at the time. The last one, “Battle for the Planet of the Apes,” had the least budget and therefore is the least impressive on a technical level, but I found the story and characters more interesting than this one despite the comic booky vibe. I rank the films as follows: “Planet,” “Beneath,” “Battle,” “Escape” and “Conquest.” It runs 1 hours, 38 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles & points nearby. GRADE: B/B-