Battle for the Planet of the Apes
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Battle For the Planet of the Apes (1973) is the fifth and final entry in the Planet of the Apes series. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson.
Set in flashback to the turn of the 21st century, this sequel focuses on the ape leader, Caesar (Roddy McDowall), about ten years after he led the ape revolution in the previous film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. In this post-nuclear war society, Caesar tries to cultivate peace between his simian peers and the surviving remains of humanity. Gorilla leader Aldo (Claude Akins), however, wants nothing to do with this, as it reminds him of his former enslavement, so he plots Caesar's overthrow and doom, as do a band of mutated humans from their former city of the last film who want to reclaim Earth and destroy the entire ape society.
Towards the end of the movie, however, Aldo and the human mutants are overthrown. The apes and humans then decide to coexist with one another and they begin to make a new society.
It turns out that the story is being told by an elderly ape (the Great Lawgiver, played by John Huston) over 600 years later to a group of young humans and apes. It is left ambiguous as to whether the ape-dominated society as seen in the first film, and the eventual destruction of Earth as seen in the second, will actually come to pass. However, as this film takes place after a nuclear war has nearly wiped out civilization, at least one major element of the first film still comes to pass.
Goofs
When the humans from the dead city and two of Aldo's gorillas meet in the desert, Governor Kolp watches the gorillas through his binoculars. He then issues orders to shoot the gorillas with a cannon. The cannon fires in a completely different direction to the way he was looking, but hits them anyway.Caesar's famous "Now, fight like apes!" line is marred by his ape lower-mouth appliance beginning to fall off, revealing his own human mouth inside. The director tried to hide this by blurring those frames of film at the lower end of the screen. What looks like dust on the camera was intentional.
Extended Cut
The following information is from the IMDB entry:CBS television version adds a few scenes cut from the theatrical release. One scene takes place after Aldo chases teacher Abe, where MacDonald reminds him why humans should not say "no" to an ape. Another scene towards the end of the film has the surviving House of Mendez cult about to set off the doomsday bomb (as seen in "Beneath The Planet Of The Apes"), but decide not to as it would be a threat to the world.
In 2006, the Planet of the Apes movies were re-released separately and in a new box set. When Battle For the Planet of the Apes was re-released on the box set and separately, it was advertised as a digitaly remastered, extended version with 10 minutes of additional footage. This version has been released, via bootleg, has been widely know by Apes fans as the definitive version. Here listed is the addional scenes:
Near the end of the opening creddits, the score continues to its original ending for 25 seconds with extra footage of General Aldo approaching on a horse.
The chase of the teacher of the apes is longer by 20 seconds.
The mutant chief is walking around in his HQ and has more dialogue.
The entry into the forbidden city of the ape scout party with Caesar is 40 sec longer with more dialogue.
The escape from the forbidden city shows more footage and dialogue of the apes.
The scene were Cornelius is "shot" by a human boy is beginning earlier, making it clear that the shooting is a game - which makes more sense since no mutant party had yet approached the ape city.
DELETED SCENE:In this edited scene, the mutant chief tells his lieutenant to fire an atomic missile on Ape City when he give the signal. This adds to the tension, and it is odd that this element was left out.
The assault by the mutants is shown 45 sec longer. (In this sequence there are three more smaller cuts that reduce the battle scene by 40 additional sec and there is no musical score.)
The scene where the mutant chief calls "Sergeant York" is missing.
Again, parts of the assault are cut by almost 40 sec.
There are additional shots and dialogue before the mutants lay the smoke screen.
15 more sec of the battle were cut.
20 sec of more battle footage cut.
The scene were Aldo kills the mutant chief and his followers in the school bus was cut in the U.S. theatrical version is restored.
The fight between Aldo and Caesar is longer.
DELETED SCENE: The scene where the advisor talks the mutant lieutenant out of firing the atomic missile was cut. (only with this sequence reinserted the odd cut from the Caesar conversation with the humans to the ending sequence makes a little more sense and looks better).
| Planet of the Apes movie series |
| Planet of the Apes | Beneath the Planet of the Apes | Escape from the Planet of the Apes | Conquest of the Planet of the Apes | Battle for the Planet of the Apes |
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