Random Movie: Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

Welcome back readers. I found something interesting. The ratings board put the first three Planet of the Apes under a "G" rating. With gunfights, weapons battles, blood and mild swearing that was a "G" rating. Huh. Could learn something there modern day MPAA. Today is a film that was apparently too violent for the youngins in the crowd they had to bump it up to PG. Savagery, slavery and monstrous behavior on both fronts. This is Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

Ricardo, someone pinched my butt.

Yeah yeah, back to the damn dirty apes joke blah blah. We return to a totalitarian police state of the United States. In this future a virulent plague wiped out small animals so the natural conclusion is to train apes to be household pets, servants and in general, enslavement. Guess sign language for fresh fruit and bounding around wasn't entertaining enough for the humans.

We catch up with Armando (Ricardo Montalban of Space Seed, The Train Robbers, Wonder Woman, The Mark of Zorro, Joe Panther, Police Story, Fantasy Island, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Spy Kids 3: Game Over), the circus owner and follower of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals is back in town to provide amusement to those under tyrannical reign.

Now you all clean up your poops!

 

Milo now named Caesar (Roddy McDowell of The Felony Squad, Planet of the Apes, 5 Card Stud, Night Gallery, A Taste of Evil, The Poseidon Adventure, The Legend of Hell House, Fright Night and Batman The Animated Series) Cornelius and Zira's son from Escape from the Planet of the Apes all grown up baffled why all humans are not like Armando. Armando explains that subterfuge is the only way he can survive and not exhibit higher intelligence or the power of speech because the government fears an ape revolt that will overthrow humanity.

Police states implement order!!!

City Controller Breck (Don Murray of Bus Stop, A Hatful of Rain, Endless Love, Soldier of Fortune, Wings, The Single Guy and Island Prey) is adamant that he will be the man to find Cornelius and Zira's offspring and destroy him for the sake of humanity. So clearly enslaving his people should win him over. Meanwhile his assistant Malcolm (Hari Rhodes of Daktari, Shock Corridor, Detroit 9000, Coma, The Fall Guy, Magnum P.I., Donor and Cover Up) bites his tongue on the racist tendencies shown by white men in power and abusing their authority. May hit too close to home but he does his level best to rein him in when it looks like he is going over the top.

Armando is scooped up by Ape Control which is pretty much this future's Gestapo. Seriously, right down to the all black uniforms, sashes on their arms and brutal mentality. Caesar called the lot bastards and Armando takes the blame without hesitation. They go to town on Armando with beatings and lie detectors trying to find out if he knows whereabouts of Milo now known as Caesar. Knowing his number is up, Armando sacrifices himself to save Caesar.

Caesar infiltrates Ape Control, bides his time and prepares to go to war. Humans stole his parents and his surrogate parent. Revenge on them and liberation of his people is all that is on his mind. With observations of routine and lazy behavior of his human captors, Caesar prepares to win over his people, arm them and mount bloody retribution.

Will the humans survives this? Will apes dominate the world? Can a compromise be made?

The inherent cruelty to the apes pushes this animal lover's buttons something fierce until you remember, "Oh right, those are guys in costume. Unpucker, butthole." Once again SciFi doesn't pull punches about classism, racism and separation covered all in this one film. Subjugation is a way of life that no one seems to question or if they do, it is never out loud. A handful of picketing lines about waiters getting the shaft but other than that, no one even speaks up for the apes. Complete governmental control is as common as breathing and the people don't speak up about curfews, big brother watching its citizens' purchases and work environment?

I mean c'mon. This is exactly what the Trump administration wishes they could get away with.

I won't fib. Of all five of the original Apes films, this is probably the most violent. Do I think the modern day children will be horribly scarred if they watch it? Nah. I would have loved to have seen all five in the theater as a kid rather than chopped up for TV. Hell I didn't see Planet of the Apes unvarnished until I was 25 and at an art theater. So if you enjoyed the previous three films, yes catch this one as well. If anything my own complaint about this movie was the same with the previous three. I just had to go and get the letterbox version. If these flicks don't interest you at all, well why were you reading this review?   Seems a tad silly. 

Ape terrorists equal gorilla warfare.

Random Movie: Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Hey folks. Trying to juggle every component of Rotten Reelz has been a bit trying. I am awaiting some much needed funding for riffs, audio reviews and the standard write-up which has been neglected at this time. So today we trapse back into a Sci-Fi movie series we have not touched base in a while. A series revolving around the stories and histories of future, present and past. We come back to those damn dirty apes. This is Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

I swear woman, you listen to me before I fling poo!

Now as many of you that have seen the sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, you know the Earth was blasted into a million pieces courtesy of an the end all nuclear warhead aimed at the Earth's core. So how the hell do you continue a film after that? Why you go back in the past. Yup using a slingshot maneuver around the sun, (That old chestnut) three astronauts using Colonel Taylor's crashed ship they set back to Earth.

Now right off the bat, people have problems with this story. What did they use for a launch platform? When did they pull the ship from the waters? How did they have the technological skill, equipment and tools to get it back into working order? So on, so on. Suspend disbelief and suck it up!

Man the body odor on this kid.

With behavioral psychologist, Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter of A Streetcar Named Desire, Police Story, Love, American Style, Young Dr. Kildare, Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes), archeologist Dr. Cornelius (Roddy McDowell of The Felony Squad, Planet of the Apes, 5 Card Stud, Night Gallery, A Taste of Evil, The Poseidon Adventure, The Legend of Hell House, Fright Night and Batman The Animated Series) and and physicist Professor Milo (Sal Mineo of Rebel Without a Cause, Giant, Exodus, Police Story, S.W.A.T., Harry-O and Ellery Queen Mysteries) somehow escaped before the planet was obliterated and landed in the year 1971.  With the Vietnam war on, pollution and capitalism hand in hand and Civil Rights movement dragging its feet, three intelligent apes have arrived and in Taylor's ship after it had only been 10 years since its departure.

The three transported to the Los Angeles Zoo and kept under observation by Dr. Stephanie Branton (Natalie Trundy of 77 Sunset Strip, Perry Mason, The Felony Squad, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, A Great American Tragedy and Huckleberry Fin) and Dr. Lewis Dixon (Bradford Dillman of The Way We Were, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, Piranha, Man Outside and Hotel) in order to see what makes them tick. None of the apes exhibit intelligence nor the power of speech so they can't be poked, prodded or examined...gee not unlike what they did to Taylor. Now they are in a society that views them as freaks perhaps. Karma, she's a vicious bitch.

Hoop after hoop, the scientists can't seem to get anything out of Zira and Cornelius aside from simple puzzle solving and Zira announce she detests bananas.

That night Professor Milo is trying to calm everyone but is attacked through the bars by a mountain silverback snapping his little bones...the ones he needs to survive.

Yeesh more enemas if we don't swallow the pills.

Branton and Dixon head to the Presidential Commission to explain Zira and Cornelius' standings on how they got a hold of Taylor's ship, his present whereabouts and so on and so forth.

With a bit of good press our two chimpanzees are given a bit of luxury and trying to find their place in their new world. Meanwhile Scientific Advisor Dr. Otto Hasslein (Eric Braeden of Colossus: The Forbin Project, Rat Patrol, Lady Ice, Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law, The Power Within, Hagen, Charlie's Angels and Titanic) feels the apes are a security risk and removing them from the equation could be the very thing necessary for human survival. With nothing more than some hypothesis and a drunken confession on Zira's part of the dissection of human brains, even the President considers them a threat.

Unaware of this plot, Cornelius and Zira are living it up and also meet with a circus performer/owner Armando (Ricardo Montalban of Space Seed, The Train Robbers, Wonder Woman, The Mark of Zorro, Joe Panther, Police Story, Fantasy Island, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Spy Kids 3: Game Over) as Zira births her little bun in the oven naming him Milo after their lost colleague.

Zira and Cornelius are on the run with issues for them dead or alive but little Milo stays behind with Armando.

Are they now public enemy number one? Castro getting a free pass? Have you ever seen such a disregard for firearm safety ever?

They established in the first two movies that Taylor and company as well as Brent's crew came through a natural phenomenon of a temporal portal in space warped them through, ending up in the future so who's to say a doorway does not work the opposite route? Wibbly Wobbly, people.

What's clever about this film is showing a mirror response to humanity having issues with intelligent apes able to think, express and confer with others. They undergo everything Taylor did in the first movie and making it a brilliant parallel to how they mistreated their underdeveloped humans out of fear also allows humans to question their own morality, codes of conduct and whether or not their very souls are in the good.

With a 2.5 million budget, this film has some good humor, dramatic moments and some questions raised about our own humanity. The third of its collection but making it no less impressive.

Ach!  Ze German!

Random Picks Week: Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Greetings to Day 1 of Random Picks Week and I have scooped up a sci-fi that is deemed either cult classic or a sequel that need not be with the exception of money grubbing producers.   In spite of the mixed feelings to outright negative reviews still made over $17 million in the box office on a 3 million budget.  Not a bad turn out.   This is Beneath the Planet of Apes.

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.

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.

Crap, it's the hall monitor!