Review of Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) by Jagt P — 29 Nov 2013

J. Lee Thompson returns to direct. This final sequel was taken back to a G rating and the budget was actually increased slightly (by $100,000). John Huston makes a cameo as The Lawgiver ape sometime between the time of this movie and the 1968 original.

A major theme of this series, as always, is whether enough has been done to affect the course of history toward more peaceful rather than destructive ends. The majority of the plot involves the apes who have followed Caesar since the previous movie.

It is somewhat unclear as to how much time has past. Some sources say ten years, but it is not specified how long the war lasted that decimated so many human cities, or how long it took for the apes to establish their little village, then, of course, Caesar (Roddy McDowall again) and the chimp Lisa (Natalie Trundy again) have a son who is about ten.

So, it seems probable that more than ten years would have past, but with new writers (husband and wife team John and Joyce Corrington) developing an initial story by Paul Dehn, the filmmakers were probably not concerned with these details.

Without the genetic manipulation of the reboot, the apes somehow have learned to speak and some are learning to write in this short time. Claude Akins is impressive as the gorilla, General Aldo, who doesn't do well in school, craves power and weapons, and rebels against Caesar's leadership.

Caesar has named his son Cornelius. Bobby Porter as Cornelius does some great stunts in some trees. Cornelius overhears Aldo's plans to seize power and ends up dying after a fall. It is a bit like an Ape Cain and Abel story.

Veteran actor Lew Ayres is an orangutang who guards the ape armory. Pop music composer Paul Williams is another wise orangutang named Virgil. There are also a few humans that are living relatively peacefully with Caesar and his people.

Austin Stoker, in his first movie role, was one of the humans. He is MacDonald, the brother of the character from the previous movie and, therefore, trusted by Caesar. Caesar takes MacDonald and Virgil with him to the archives of the forbidden city, despite the radiation poisoning, to see if film recordings of his parents survived.

Cheaply, the filmmakers only show still frames with audio recordings, rather than film clips from Escape. Severn Darden plays the same character from the previous film. Somehow he has survived and is now the governor of the people in the bombed out city.

Again, radiation poisoning makes humans incredibly campy. The adventure aspects, the ape/human war, the gun-play, and all the explosions become dull after awhile. The internal struggle between Aldo and Caesar is the most interesting part.