Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is by no means "a very bad film" as the first reviewer here put it. It's actually a very well thought out film that does reflect some of the social upheaval in the United States during the late 60's and early 70's. Planet of the Apes films have always been a comment on the social climate during the period they were made.

Conquest is the darkest film of the Apes series, and the two different versions on the Blu-ray disc have varying levels of violence. The uncut version is very in your face and bloody and ends on a very violent note, which if you discount the fifth movie in the series Battle for the Planet of the Apes, makes a perfect transition to the first Apes film which is set after Conquest chronologically. In the first Apes film men are hunted for sport by apes, used for medical experiments and treated like animals. It was a pretty violent film for it's day as well.

The PG rated version of Conquest ends on a much more upbeat note that the timeline may have changed and that things might not end up so badly. There is still violence but not as much blood as the uncut version. It's really great to be able to see both versions of the film so that you can see where the film makers originally intended it to go and what the test audiences did not like about the movie before it was re-edited.

The film was directed by J. Lee Thompson who also directed The Guns of Navarone. And the look of the film is very deliberate. I suppose one could complain as the previous reviewer did that the artistic use of colors in the film is distracting, but I feel it shows that the creators of this film actually put some thought into how they wanted the audience to react to the characters and environments on the screen. One also has to remember that this movie was made several years before Star Wars came on the scene and changed the way we look at special effects in science fiction films. But for the period it was made in the costumes and effects are very well done. Personally I love the look of the city in the film but then I'm a bit of a apes fan to begin with.

Anyway in my opinion this is my favorite of the Apes sequels. If your an apes fan or you've seen the first three but never checked out the fourth, the Blu-ray version is the one to get. You get to see both versions of the film in very good video quality with great sound as well.

I just watched this last night after having not seen it for at least twenty years. Compared to all of the other "Apes" sequels, this one holds up the best for me.

"Beneath" feels like "Apes" lite: I kept thinking, "When are we getting back to Charlton Heston?"

"Escape" is probably the silliest to me (although it has one of my favorite soundtracks in the series.)

And "Battle" just comes off as cheap and shoddy. Most of the run time is spent in a grove of trees with treehouses.

In "Conquest", I like the colors of the apes' jumpsuits. I also like the sets, and the use of Century City was a great choice as the nameless "futuristic" city of 1991. The actors did a good job. Don Murray made a wonderful villain and Ricardo Montalban and Roddy McDowall were both excellent.

If you're hyper-critical and are going to be bothered by a reality check, you probably shouldn't watch movies like this one (or maybe ANY movies, because they're an escape from reality.) If you enjoy sci-fi with a fascist Orwellian setting (kind of like the present time we live in) this is fun.

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This fourth entry in the Planet of The Apes is by far the most straightforward and violent in the series. The scenes of revolt by the apes are tame by todays standards but are still effective. especially considering the small budget director J.Lee Thompson had to work with. He makes the film look much bigger in scope than it really was.

The story begins with Caesar,the son of Zira and Cornelius from The 3 earlier films and it was a great touch allowing Roddy McDowall to portray both father and son. He goes into a city with mentor Armando. The circus owner from the third film Escape From The Planet of The Apes and again portrayed by Ricardo Montalban and sees what has become of his fellow apes. They were at first being treated as pets to replace the dogs and cats that were wiped out by a plague only to become slave labor for humans. He cries out when a fellow ape is beaten and runs away. Armando goes to the police to explain and is interrogated. In the process he kills himself rather than betray Caesar to the authorities. Who were never sure that the baby of the talking apes was really killed as shown in the previous film and believe Armando was lying to protect Caesar.

Caesar hides among his fellow apes and ends up being sold to Governor Breck. Breck is the regional governor and not at all sympathetic to apes and is Ceasars nemesis in the film. Caesar after learning of Armandos death and also sickened by his fellow apes treatment gradually leads his fellow apes to a full blown revolt. The social commentary in this film deals with the treatment of others and gets the point across nicely without being too heavy handed. As I stated earlier it is the acting that really carries this installment and director Thompson delivers in that department. Roddy McDowall gives what I feel is his finest performance in the series his speech in the end is amazing and shows what an underrated actor he was and Don Murray more than holds his own as Breck. He is cold harsh man and The scene where he reveals why he is afraid of apes is a great reversal of Dr. Zaius' fear of humans in the original film and his entire performance is a nice compliment to McDowalls. The supporting cast including the above mentioned Ricardo Montalban,Hari Rhodes as McDonald the human who helps Caesar and series vet Natalie Trundy all deliver in their roles and help make this arguably the best of apes sequels.

Read Best Reviews of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) Here

This is the forth installment in the POTA's series and I'm aware that this film was severely cut before releasing it in theaters. Fortunately they have restored the edited scenes in an extended version available only on Blu Ray. This was done to "Battle for" on standard DVD a few years ago. The theatrical release of the film is pretty good, but a bigger budget would have helped it a great deal. The problem with most of the POTA sequels is that they were pushing for a G rating so kids could go see them. This is the studios idea, not the directors of the films. The sequels are too middle ground. Too violent for the kids, but too tame for adults! I don't mean to be harsh on these films as I am a big fan! I saw them all at the theaters growing up and have seen them many times now. This is a good film that could have been much better....hopefully the Blu Ray extended version retores the original vision of the story. The DVD transfer is very good and I will add more once I've watched the Blu Ray.

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Interesting that each film seems to have been written with the idea that it would be the last one, but this one is referred to as "an action-packed finale", although we know there is one more. Perhaps they mean climax.

At one point in the "Escape from" movie, an explanation for how things got so terribly turned around between humans and apes was offered. A plague killed off the dogs and cats, and humans needed pets. So they made pets of monkeys. But when they found how smart they were, and how easy to train, they soon turned them into servants and then slaves, bought and sold just like in the antebellum south. And just like in those days, abused due to their similarity to humans.

Remember Milo, the baby Zira and Cornelius left in the care of the circus owner played by Ricardo Montalban? Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, he was sold to the governor who allowed him to choose his own name out of a book in a tradition he says started with his wife. Milo put his finger on the name Caesar.

So this is the story of the revolution led by Caesar, still the only ape that can speak and read and write, but by no means the only one that can understand. In fact, Ape Control has disturbing reports of (1) higher intelligence tests in apes all the time, and (2) deliberate acts of disobedience. Once the apes have won, and vengeance seems inevitable, Caesar persuades the mob that they will rule by kindness and understanding, and show themselves to be better than their former masters.

Of course, it's not hard to be better than brutes who are so obviously over-drawn characters that they were SS-like black uniforms and jack-boots. I was expecting them to do a stiff-armed salute any minute.

It is an interesting link in the chain that circles round to the original movie, but I'm looking forward to the last one the most: that's the only one I have not seen before. Up next.

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