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| I'm almost Heston. How rude. |
General Ursus: What is more dangerous than spoiler, Doctor?
Dr. Zaius: The unknown.
The story follows right after Taylor's discovery of he is on Earth but it is hundreds of years into the future. Nova (Linda Harrison of Batman, Planet of the Apes, Bracken's World, Airport 1975, Cocoon, Cocoon: Return and Wild Bill) and Taylor proceeded to the Forbidden Zone and Taylor stops the horse to explore a phenomena then simply disappears. This time around an identical spacecraft that Colonel Taylor (Charlton Heston of Arrowhead, Ben-Hur, Touch of Evil, The Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man) flew crashes in the wasteland desert instead of following the same trajectory and came through a time vortex as well, Colonel Brent (James Franciscus of Naked City, Mr. Novak, The Cat o' Nine Tails, Hunter, Killer Fish and Nightkill) is the lone survivor of his crew and sees Nova on horseback. Being slow, mute or a combination of both she tries to communicate with Brent and aid him in finding Taylor.
So it is off to Ape City in beautiful Red Rock Canyon and some sound stage studio time as well. Sadly Roddie McDowell was not available to reprise his role of Cornelius (David Watson of Rawhide. Never Too Young, Daniel Boone, Paperback Romance, Beyond the Next Mountain, Criminal Ways and My Brother Jack) and Zira (Kim Hunter of Streetcar Named Desire, Lilith, Planet of the Apes, The Swimmer, Ironside and The Edge of Night) hide Brent and Nova from the Gorillas and the ruling parties so the commander of the military General Ursus (James Gregory of The Lawless Years, The Manchurian Candidate, Barney Miller and The Flight of Dragons) does not have even more to rant about.
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| I am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General!! |
His speech to force humans out of their valley will not improve the food stock and even slaughtering them all is still going to take a toll on their supplies. Ursus proposes to trek into the Forbidden Zone and look for vegetation and possible new crops.
His scouts report strange happenings and fire from the sky signifying other life is still on the planet. An expedition is underway in the hopes to improve their food supply and the ape way of life. So needed are the potential crops that Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans of Marry Me, The Path to Glory, Dial M for Murder, Macbeth, Rosemary's Baby and The Red Skelton Hour) puts his full support behind the exploration of a zone no ape dare travel.
With the help of Zira, Brent and Nova escape from the city and follow a deep cavern only to discover the ruins of Queensboro Plaza station in New York City, making him come to the conclusion he is in fact on Earth but many years later. In the ruins of St. Patrick's Cathedral he finds a gathering of humans that use telepathy and worship a nuclear bomb.
The underground mutants inform Brent that he is not welcome in their society as he is too primitive to appreciate their harmony and they toss him in a cell with Taylor. Hey, there he is! Our two heroes must join forces to stop the mutant and ape forces from ending the world.
Just a few comments on the movie at this time. Due to the smaller budget the extras wore Halloween masks of apes, gorillas and orangutans and boy does it show. Only lead speaking roles were allowed the make-up and prosthetics Because of the following expensive blockbuster bombs; Hello, Dolly! Star! and Tora! Tora! Tora! the budget for the film was down to 3 million unlike its predecessor of 5.8 million.
The set of fallout New York was originally used for an episode of Land of the Giants. Amusingly enough the same set was used in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes as corridors between sections of the Ape Management complex. Heston was said to have donated his salary to charity.
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| Crap, it's the hall monitor! |
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