This part of the list is really tough as there are many movies that I enjoy and would recommend but with some kind of a caveat, so getting down to under 200 in the list will be tricky as going through them now after just looking at a movie and giving it a score. Then going back to the list and go hang on I don’t like this movie more than this one and re-arrange. And I will be honest that I have moved this one with another Planet of The Apes movie as in my head I had them around the wrong way the other is now on 75% and this one has come down 2 points. Let’s get on with the movie shall we?
This is the third movie of the original five. Release in 1971 a year after the second movie and for me it was better. There was something about the second movie that just didn’t work for me and bizarrely this probably shouldn’t work for me either but it does and I enjoyed it. For me there is a flow to the stories and two doesn’t fit as I believe you could the second anywhere in the story and it would fit in or equally not be there and make no difference to the story. This had to recon part of the second in the first place to set up the premise but you could just go from whenever really if you ignore the second movie. This saw the return Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter along with other stars Bradford Dillman, Natalie Trundy, Eric Braeden, Sal Mineo & Ricardo Montalbán. It was made on a budget of just over $2m and went on to make over $12m at the box-office. Which I would guess that in the early seventies that was a pretty penny. Should I get going with an overview of the plot, right?
The basic premise is the same as the original movie but all the roles are reversed. That enough for you? Second movie spoiler alert for the next sentence between the **’s OK that is enough warning. ** To escape from the bomb that blew up the planet** The apes of Dr Zira and Cornelius fly off to space in Taylor’s space rocket. They land back on a planet which is not only populated by humans but is also civilised and looking very much 1973. The assumption is that the spaceship went through a time loop and went back in time. They are taken a to a zoo (in LA) and pretend they cannot talk. The senior powers want to investigate the return of the spaceship and they let slip they can speak. So, the dilemma is reversed with the humans are dominant and how would they treat speaking and intelligent apes? They become celebrities and are given gifts. They are lured into the confidence of a government official who tricks them into letting slip that they experimented on humans before and are aware of Taylor. Being pregnant and having talking apes means some decisions need to be made and the general consensus is that they are both neutered and the baby is terminated. They take flight and escape to a circus where the current chimp is also due to give birth. Potential switch-a-roo option here but they decide the circus is too dangerous and try to escape the states in a container with a baby chimp. The government give chase and you can watch for the rest.
I’ve said it before and will again, I like the original Planet of the Apes movies and this is not bad. I know I realigned this movie in the list but I still enjoyed it. Could be because it takes a new story arc which leads into the fourth and fifth movies and that has to be a good thing. I would recommend all the five films really but for me the second movie was the weak link even though the more this went the smaller the budget they had to play with and some of the masks of the extra are that bad you can see them flapping in the back ground but not in this one. You should go and enjoy them in order!
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