Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Encyclopedia
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is a 1972 science fiction film
directed by J. Lee Thompson
. It is the fourth of five films in the original Planet of the Apes
series produced by Arthur P. Jacobs
. It explores how the apes rebelled from mankind's ill treatment following Escape from the Planet of the Apes
(1971). It was followed by Battle for the Planet of the Apes
(1973). The series reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) has a similar premise to Conquest, but is not officially a remake.
Armando (Ricardo Montalbán
) and Caesar (Roddy McDowall
), a young chimpanzee horseback rider in Armando's circus, distribute flyers around a large city to advertise the circus' arrival. Armando warns the chimpanzee to be careful; should anyone learn his identity as the child of Cornelius and Zira, it would mean their deaths. They see apes performing various menial tasks, and are shocked at the harsh discipline on disobedient apes. Seeing an ape being beaten and drugged, Caesar shouts, "Lousy human bastards!" Quickly, Armando takes responsibility for the exclamation, explaining to the policemen that it was he who shouted, not his chimpanzee. The surrounding crowd becomes agitated, and Caesar runs away.
Hiding in a stairway, Armando tells Caesar he will go to the authorities and bluff his way out of the situation. Meantime, Caesar has to hide among his own kind (in a cage of orangutans) and soon finds himself being trained for slavery through violent conditioning. He is then sold at auction to Governor Breck (Don Murray
). Breck allows the ape to name himself by randomly pointing to a word in a book handed to him and the chimpanzee's finger rests upon the name "Caesar", feigning coincidence. Caesar is then put to work by Breck's chief aide, MacDonald (Hari Rhodes
), who sympathizes with the apes to the thinly veiled disgust
of his boss. MacDonald eventually figures out who Caesar really is.
Meanwhile, Armando is being interrogated by Inspector Kolp (Severn Darden
), who suspects his "circus ape" is the child of the two talking apes from the future. Kolp's assistant puts Armando under an authenticator machine that psychologically forces people to be truthful. Rather than confessing, Armando fights the guards and slips, falling to his death through a window. Learning of the death of his foster father, the only human that cared for him, Caesar loses faith in human kindness and begins plotting a rebellion
.
Secretly, Caesar teaches combat
to other apes and has them gather weapons. Meanwhile, Breck learns from Kolp that the manifest of the vessel that delivered Caesar lists no chimpanzees. Suspecting Caesar is the ape the police are hunting, Breck's men arrest Caesar and electrically torture him until he speaks. Hearing the confession, Breck orders Caesar's immediate death. Caesar survives his execution because MacDonald lowers the machine's electrical output well below lethal levels. Once Breck leaves, Caesar kills his torturer and escapes.
Caesar leads an ape revolt against Ape Management. The apes are victorious after killing most of the riot police. After bursting into Breck's command post and killing most of the personnel, Caesar has Breck marched out to be executed. MacDonald is spared, and he appeals to Caesar to show mercy to his former persecutor. Caesar ignores him, and in a rage declares:
As the apes raise their rifles to beat Breck to death, Lisa (Natalie Trundy
), Caesar's love interest, voices her objection, "NO!" She is the first ape to speak other than Caesar. Caesar reconsiders and orders the apes to lower their weapons, saying:
).
Conquest is the only Apes film without a pre-title sequence. The script describes a pre-title scene where police on night patrol shoot an escaped ape and discover that his body is covered with welts and bruises as evidence of severe abuse (in a later scene depicting Armando's interrogation, Governor Breck refers to the "ape that physically assaulted his master," thereby prompting MacDonald to retort that the attack must have been the result of severe mistreatment). The scene appears in the first chapter of John Jakes
' novelization of the movie, and in the Marvel Comics
adaption of the film in the early 1970s, both of which were probably based directly on the screenplay and not on the final edit of the actual film. An article in the Summer 1972 issue of Cinefantastique
(volume 2, issue 2) by Dale Winogura shows and describes the scene being shot, but it is unknown why it was cut. The Blu-Ray unrated version (which restored many other graphic scenes) does not contain the pre-credit opening.
Test audiences reacted badly to the original ending. The studio re-edited the ending with existing footage. The plot twist of the chimpanzee Lisa saying the word "No" was added to the film via dubbing a new voice-over and Roddy McDowall was brought back to record new dialogue. The new ending allowed Caesar to show some degree of mercy and to leave the audience with the hope of peaceful co-existence between apes and humans. This ending was also changed in hopes of getting a G rating from the MPAA as the previous films had. Nevertheless, the film was given a PG rating.
In 2008, a 5-disc Blu-ray Disc set was released, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the movies, with all five films with new extras. This set release contains the original and theatrical cut of Conquest. It contains more footage of graphic violence during the climatic battle scenes and the original dark ending. This version is also released on a separate Blu-ray Disc, but it has yet to be released on regular DVD. This version also shows on the Fox Movie Channel
.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
directed by J. Lee Thompson
J. Lee Thompson
John Lee Thompson , better known as J. Lee Thompson, was an English film director, active in England and Hollywood.- Early years :...
. It is the fourth of five films in the original Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (franchise)
Planet of the Apes is a United States media franchise with seven films , two television series, and comic books. The series began with the 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes, which was based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle.-Background:The original series of...
series produced by Arthur P. Jacobs
Arthur P. Jacobs
Arthur Jacobs was a twentieth century film producer responsible for numerous classic films of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Planet of the Apes series, Doctor Dolittle, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Play It Again, Sam and Tom Sawyer...
. It explores how the apes rebelled from mankind's ill treatment following Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Escape from the Planet of the Apes, directed by Don Taylor, is a 1971 science fiction film starring Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Bradford Dillman and Ricardo Montalbán. It is the third of five films in the original Planet of the Apes series produced by Arthur P. Jacobs, the second being Beneath the...
(1971). It was followed by Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Battle for the Planet of the Apes is a 1973 science fiction film directed by J. Lee Thompson. It is the fifth and last entry in the original Planet of the Apes series produced by Arthur P...
(1973). The series reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) has a similar premise to Conquest, but is not officially a remake.
Plot summary
In 1983 (twelve years after the end of Escape from the Planet of the Apes), a disease kills the world's cats and dogs, leaving humans with no pets. To replace them, humans began keeping monkeys and apes as household pets. Realizing the apes' capacity to learn and adapt, humans train them to perform household tasks. By 1991, American culture is based on ape slave labor.Armando (Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
) and Caesar (Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
), a young chimpanzee horseback rider in Armando's circus, distribute flyers around a large city to advertise the circus' arrival. Armando warns the chimpanzee to be careful; should anyone learn his identity as the child of Cornelius and Zira, it would mean their deaths. They see apes performing various menial tasks, and are shocked at the harsh discipline on disobedient apes. Seeing an ape being beaten and drugged, Caesar shouts, "Lousy human bastards!" Quickly, Armando takes responsibility for the exclamation, explaining to the policemen that it was he who shouted, not his chimpanzee. The surrounding crowd becomes agitated, and Caesar runs away.
Hiding in a stairway, Armando tells Caesar he will go to the authorities and bluff his way out of the situation. Meantime, Caesar has to hide among his own kind (in a cage of orangutans) and soon finds himself being trained for slavery through violent conditioning. He is then sold at auction to Governor Breck (Don Murray
Don Murray (actor)
Donald Patrick "Don" Murray is an American actor.-Early life and career:Murray was born in Hollywood, California on July 31, 1929, the only child of Dennis Aloisius, a Broadway dance director and stage manager and Ethel Murray, a former Ziegfeld performer...
). Breck allows the ape to name himself by randomly pointing to a word in a book handed to him and the chimpanzee's finger rests upon the name "Caesar", feigning coincidence. Caesar is then put to work by Breck's chief aide, MacDonald (Hari Rhodes
Hari Rhodes
Hari Rhodes was an American author and actor whose career spanned three decades beginning around 1960....
), who sympathizes with the apes to the thinly veiled disgust
Disgust
Disgust is a type of aversion that involves withdrawing from a person or object with strong expressions of revulsion whether real or pretended. It is one of the basic emotions and is typically associated with things that are regarded as unclean, inedible, infectious, gory or otherwise offensive...
of his boss. MacDonald eventually figures out who Caesar really is.
Meanwhile, Armando is being interrogated by Inspector Kolp (Severn Darden
Severn Darden
Severn Teakle Darden, Jr. was a comedian and actor, and an original member of The Second City Chicago-based comedy troupe as well as its predecessor, the Compass Players...
), who suspects his "circus ape" is the child of the two talking apes from the future. Kolp's assistant puts Armando under an authenticator machine that psychologically forces people to be truthful. Rather than confessing, Armando fights the guards and slips, falling to his death through a window. Learning of the death of his foster father, the only human that cared for him, Caesar loses faith in human kindness and begins plotting a rebellion
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
.
Secretly, Caesar teaches combat
Combat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
to other apes and has them gather weapons. Meanwhile, Breck learns from Kolp that the manifest of the vessel that delivered Caesar lists no chimpanzees. Suspecting Caesar is the ape the police are hunting, Breck's men arrest Caesar and electrically torture him until he speaks. Hearing the confession, Breck orders Caesar's immediate death. Caesar survives his execution because MacDonald lowers the machine's electrical output well below lethal levels. Once Breck leaves, Caesar kills his torturer and escapes.
Caesar leads an ape revolt against Ape Management. The apes are victorious after killing most of the riot police. After bursting into Breck's command post and killing most of the personnel, Caesar has Breck marched out to be executed. MacDonald is spared, and he appeals to Caesar to show mercy to his former persecutor. Caesar ignores him, and in a rage declares:
As the apes raise their rifles to beat Breck to death, Lisa (Natalie Trundy
Natalie Trundy
Natalie Trundy is an American actress, and the widow of movie producer Arthur P. Jacobs.She made a sizeable contribution to the Planet of the Apes movie series during the 1970s. She appeared as the telepathic mutant Albina in the first sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, as Dr...
), Caesar's love interest, voices her objection, "NO!" She is the first ape to speak other than Caesar. Caesar reconsiders and orders the apes to lower their weapons, saying:
Cast
- Roddy McDowallRoddy McDowallRoderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
as Caesar - Don MurrayDon Murray (actor)Donald Patrick "Don" Murray is an American actor.-Early life and career:Murray was born in Hollywood, California on July 31, 1929, the only child of Dennis Aloisius, a Broadway dance director and stage manager and Ethel Murray, a former Ziegfeld performer...
as Governor Breck - Ricardo MontalbanRicardo MontalbánRicardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
as Armando - Natalie TrundyNatalie TrundyNatalie Trundy is an American actress, and the widow of movie producer Arthur P. Jacobs.She made a sizeable contribution to the Planet of the Apes movie series during the 1970s. She appeared as the telepathic mutant Albina in the first sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, as Dr...
as Lisa - Hari RhodesHari RhodesHari Rhodes was an American author and actor whose career spanned three decades beginning around 1960....
as MacDonald - Severn DardenSevern DardenSevern Teakle Darden, Jr. was a comedian and actor, and an original member of The Second City Chicago-based comedy troupe as well as its predecessor, the Compass Players...
as Kolp - Lou WagnerLou Wagner- Filmography :* Raising Hope ** episode Blue Dots ... as lawyer* Artificially Speaking ... as Dr. Lionel Bainbridge* My Name Is Earl** episode Stole P's HD Cart ... as Mr. Covington* Yes, Dear...
as Busboy - John RandolphJohn RandolphJohn Randolph may refer to:* John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray , 3rd Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland.* Sir John Randolph , Virginia colonial politician, Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses...
as Commission Chairman - Asa Maynor as Mrs. Riley
- H.M. WynantH.M. WynantH.M. Wynant is an American film and television actor.Among his many television credits are appearances on shows such as Playhouse 90, Hawaiian Eye, The Wild Wild West, Perry Mason, Daniel Boone, Gunsmoke, Get Smart, Hawaii Five-O, Mission: Impossible, and Dallas.One of his more memorable appearances...
as Hoskyns - David ChowDavid ChowDavid John Chow is a fictional character in the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, portrayed by actor Vincent Irizarry from January 9, 2007 to August 1, 2008.-Character biography:...
as Aldo - Buck Kartalian as Frank (Gorilla)
- John DennisJohn DennisJohn Dennis was an English critic and dramatist.-Life:He was born in Harrow, London. He was educated at Harrow School and Caius College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in 1679. In the next year he was fined and dismissed from his college for having wounded a fellow-student with a sword....
as Policeman - Paul ComiPaul ComiPaul Domingo Comi is an American film and television actor. Mr. Comi was invited to join and is active voting member of the Actor's Branch of the :Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.- Biography :...
as 2nd Policeman - Gordon JumpGordon JumpAlexander Gordon Jump was an American actor best known as the clueless radio station manager Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson in the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati and the incompetent "Chief of Police Tinkler" in the sitcom Soap...
as Auctioneer - Dick Spangler as Announcer
Original opening
Of the five original films, Conquest is the only entry filmed in Todd-AO 35 using Arriflex ARRI 35IIC cameras with lenses provided by The Carl Zeiss Group, (the other Apes pictures were filmed in PanavisionPanavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...
).
Conquest is the only Apes film without a pre-title sequence. The script describes a pre-title scene where police on night patrol shoot an escaped ape and discover that his body is covered with welts and bruises as evidence of severe abuse (in a later scene depicting Armando's interrogation, Governor Breck refers to the "ape that physically assaulted his master," thereby prompting MacDonald to retort that the attack must have been the result of severe mistreatment). The scene appears in the first chapter of John Jakes
John Jakes
John William Jakes is an American writer, best known for American historical fiction.-Early life and education:...
' novelization of the movie, and in the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
adaption of the film in the early 1970s, both of which were probably based directly on the screenplay and not on the final edit of the actual film. An article in the Summer 1972 issue of Cinefantastique
Cinefantastique
Cinefantastique was a horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset quarterly in 1970 by publisher/editor Frederick S. Clarke...
(volume 2, issue 2) by Dale Winogura shows and describes the scene being shot, but it is unknown why it was cut. The Blu-Ray unrated version (which restored many other graphic scenes) does not contain the pre-credit opening.
Original ending
Caesar has Breck marched out to be executed. MacDonald appeals to Caesar to show mercy to his former persecutor. Caesar ignores him, and declares henceforth apes everywhere will repeat the revolt that happened in the Ape Management complex. The revolution will lead inevitably to Mankind's fall after which the apes will dominate the Earth and enslave the few remaining humans. Breck and all the other humans are then beaten to death as the film abruptly ends.Test audiences reacted badly to the original ending. The studio re-edited the ending with existing footage. The plot twist of the chimpanzee Lisa saying the word "No" was added to the film via dubbing a new voice-over and Roddy McDowall was brought back to record new dialogue. The new ending allowed Caesar to show some degree of mercy and to leave the audience with the hope of peaceful co-existence between apes and humans. This ending was also changed in hopes of getting a G rating from the MPAA as the previous films had. Nevertheless, the film was given a PG rating.
In 2008, a 5-disc Blu-ray Disc set was released, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the movies, with all five films with new extras. This set release contains the original and theatrical cut of Conquest. It contains more footage of graphic violence during the climatic battle scenes and the original dark ending. This version is also released on a separate Blu-ray Disc, but it has yet to be released on regular DVD. This version also shows on the Fox Movie Channel
Fox Movie Channel
The Fox Movie Channel is a channel which shows movies uncut and commercial-free.-Overview:Movie content consists mainly of selections from 20th Century Fox's library of releases through the 1990s and movies produced exclusively for television. Widescreen versions are shown whenever available....
.