Beneath the Planet of the Apes
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Beneath the Planet of the Apes is a 1970 motion picture. It was the first sequel to the 1968 movie Planet of the Apes. It stars Charlton Heston in a very small supporting role, James Franciscus, and Kim Hunter.
Taglines
- The bizarre world you met in 'Planet of the Apes' was only the beginning... What lies beneath may be the end!
- An army of civilized apes...A fortress of radiation-crazed super humans...Earth's final battle is about to begin—Beneath the atomic rubble of what was once the city of New York!
Plot summary
The film picks up exactly where the previous one left off, with the discussion between Dr. Zaius and Taylor about mankind. The opening credits are shown with Taylor and Nova riding through the desert of the "Forbidden Zone". Encountering a series of strange sights suddenly, they pause. A sheet of ice appears out of nowhere, and trying to smash into it, Taylor disappears.
The scene switches to the aftermath of another spaceship, of the same exterior design, that was sent to rescue Taylor and his crew. Just before the crash, this ship's chronometer read the year 3955. (This contradicts the original Planet of the Apes, which gives the year 3978, but agrees with Escape from the Planet of the Apes.) There are initially two surviving astronauts, but the ship's commander was blinded and fatally injured in the crash. He soon dies and is buried.
Nova soon comes by the crash site riding a horse. The lone survivor, named Brent (Franciscus), finds Taylor's dogtags around Nova's neck, but is frustrated that she cannot speak. While Brent is questioning Nova about Taylor's whereabouts, we find out what she knows through flashbacks. Brent wants Nova to take them to Taylor, but Nova remembers Taylor's last instructions to her, and she directs the horse back to Ape City to find Zira.
Brent hides close enough to see a meeting of the apes' citizen council. They overhear the speech campaign of one General Ursus (James Gregory), who wants the Apes to invade the Forbidden Zone, conquer it, and use it as a potential food source, as they are now apparently facing famine in their own territories. He also mentions reports of strange occurrences such as walls of fire, strange lightning, earthquakes, and the disappearance of several gorillas. After a rousing speech, he wins the support of the rest of the Apes for his invasion plans. All except one—Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter) resists. Only at the coaxing of her husband Cornelius does she ultimately conform to the expectations of the others.
Brent wants to leave immediately, but Nova takes him to the home of Cornelius and Zira. There, Brent finds out more about this planet, and above all, if he is ever captured by apes, to never speak.
He and Nova are soon captured. Zira attempts to protect them by getting them assigned to her care, but they have already been designated for target practice. Nevertheless, Zira manages to arrange for their escape.
Fleeing from their gorilla pursuers, Brent and Nova enter a cave and find the remnant of a subway station. The Forbidden Zone contains the ruins of what was once New York City. Since the gorillas are not far from the tunnel entrance, Brent decides to go down the subway tunnel. They hear a mechanical humming sound, and follow it to the buried ruins of Manhattan. There, Nova and Brent are separated. Brent is questioned by a group of white robed mutants (led by one named Mendez), descendants of the survivors of a nuclear war from the later 20th century. The mutants use mind control and telepathy to torture Brent into telling them what the apes are planning.
During their religious service, the mutants worship a nuclear missile, which they claim is their god. Brent and Nova sit silently during the worshipping. Afterward, Brent is put in a jail cell with Taylor. Using their mind control powers, the mutants force both Taylor and Brent into a brutal confrontation, but the appearance of Nova breaks up the fight, enabling both men to turn against their captors. Taylor asks about the missile that Brent mentioned in the temple. The only markings were "ΑΩ" (Alpha and Omega), Brent tells him, and Taylor realizes that it is a "doomsday bomb".
Taylor, Brent, and Nova attempt to escape when Nova is shot dead by one of the apes, who have invaded the underground city. The apes have killed all of the mutants that they have found. The two astronauts end up confronting the army of apes in the temple of the bomb. During the final gunfight, the apes shoot Taylor and later kill Brent. After Dr. Zaius refuses to help him disarm the missile, Taylor dies and his outstretched hand (extended in a last futile plea for help) falls on the control switch that triggers the bomb, destroying the Earth itself. The film ends with a narration:
- "In one of the countless billions of galaxies in the universe, lies a medium-sized star, and one of its satellites, a green and insignificant planet, is now dead."
Despite the destruction of the Earth, the Planet of the Apes series spawned three more movies. The next film, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, explains that Cornelius, Zira, and a third ape (Dr. Milo) escaped the Earth before its destruction by repairing Taylor's ship from the first film and piloting it through a rift in time that takes them back to 20th century Earth.
Trivia
- Since Roddy McDowall was unable to reprise his role for this sequel (he was directing a movie overseas at the time), David Watson assumed the role of Cornelius. Discounting the animated TV series, this would be the only original Apes project in which McDowall did not take part, although his voice can still be heard in the opening in footage taken from the first film.
- The storyline originally called for the worshiped bomb to destroy the warring apes and humans underground, as Taylor and Nova escaped, and for the survivors to found a new society.
- Charlton Heston showed little interest in reprising his role from the first movie and agreed to appear for only a short stint of filming with the proviso that his entire salary would be donated to charity. The initial plan was to kill off Taylor early in the film; the producers chose instead to have Heston's cameo broken into bookended opening and closing sequences in the film, including giving him the key moment of the conclusion.
- In the documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes Chartlon Heston claimed that the idea for Taylor to destroy the world was his. He hoped that this would put an end to further sequels.
- This movie mentions the "Hasslein Curve", a rift in time that sent both Taylor and Brent's ships back to Earth, far in its future. This is the second reference to Dr. Otto Hasslein, who appears in the next sequel, Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
- The role of Brent was originally intended for Burt Reynolds.
- The role of General Ursus was originally offered to Orson Welles, who declined the part.
- The Alpha Omega bomb design was inspired by the 7mm Remington Magnum rifle cartridge.
- The film's themes of a future world where intelligent animals had evolved to supplant man as the dominant form of life on the planet and a society that worshiped a nuclear missle were featured in "Kamandi", a DC Comics comic book series created by acclaimed artist Jack Kirby.
Influence in other works
In the Futurama episode "I Second That Emotion", the crew finds a society of mutants living in the sewers under New New York City, which actually interconnect with the crumbling ruins of the original New York City (visually much like the ruins of NYC are depicted in Beneath). The crew pass by the decaying structure of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, and when the crew looks inside it, they find that the mutants worship an unexploded nuclear missile.- Fry: You worship an unexploded nuclear missile?!
- Mutant: No one's that observant, it's mainly a Christmas and Easter thing.
External links
| 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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