Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Director	J. Lee Thompson
Production Company	20th Century Fox and APJAC Productions
Writers	Paul Dehn
Released	June 14th, 1972
MPAA Rating	PG
Runtime	88 min.
Continuity	Movies

Primary Cast:

• Roddy McDowall as Caesar
• Don Murray as Governor Breck
• Natalie Trundy as Lisa
• Hari Rhodes as MacDonald
• Severn Darden as Chief Inspector Kolp
• Lou Wagner as Busboy
• John Randolph as Chairman of the President's Committee of Inquiry
• Asa Maynor as Mrs Riley
• H.M. Wynant as Inspector Hoskyns
• David Chow as Aldo
• Buck Kartalian as Frank the gorilla
• John Dennis as Policeman
• Paul Comi as 2nd Policeman
• Gordon Jump as Auctioneer
• Dick Spangler as Announcer
• Joyce Haber as Zelda
• Hector Soucy as Ape with chain
• Ricardo Montalban as Armando
• Rayford Barnes as Riot Control Commander
• Sam Chew Jr. as Controller
• Ron Pinkard as Controller
• Daniel Keough as Jailguard
• William Bryant as Man at Auction
• James Bacon as Ape

[edit] Synopsis

'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes' takes place in 1991, 20 years after the events of the 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes'. Cornelius and Zira are dead, but they gave birth to a baby ape who resurfaces as a 20 year old ape with a monkey on his back about the treatment of his parents.

Apes have supplanted dogs and cats as household pets due to a virus killing all the world's pets and have replaced human servants as put upon personal assistants. The allegory is they are Black American Slaves

The conquest begins as Caesar leads his chimp brothers in rebellion against the human oppressors by process of mutiny and then out and out revolt against their masters. This action is ultimately supposed to lead to the events of the 'Planet of the Apes' movie but the 'Escape...' movie has created a predestination paradox or time loop. Something cannot come from the future to cause the future as the present has to happen uninterpreted to cause the future! Maybe the Battle for the Planet of the Apes will settle that one...

The film is particularly brutal in its depictions of violence against both beast and man. The finishing battle royale is a brute of a thing with apes blindly knifing Nazi styled guards and soldiers and bullet based massacres of charging apes.

The movie finishes with Caesar rejecting violence towards man but aiming to dominate them none-the-less with this speech

"But now... now we will put away our hatred. Now we will put down our weapons. We have passed through the night of the fires, and those who were our masters are now our servants. And we, who are not human, can afford to be humane. Destiny is the will of God, and if it is man’s destiny to be dominated, it is God’s will that he be dominated with compassion, and understanding. So, cast out your vengeance. Tonight, we have seen the birth of the Planet of the Apes!"

It was a tacked on ending. The first cut of the film had Caesar order the the execution of all the humans but test audiences found this too bleak and so Caesar's speech was added in.

It's interesting to note that Caesar's name in 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes' was Milo. I presume it was changed to reflect the life of the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar.

[edit] Cast And Crew

Supporting Cast (uncredited):

• Unknown ... Police Officers
• Unknown ... Ladies
• Unknown ... Bookseller
• Unknown ... Beauty Operator
• Unknown ... Mrs Riley's beau
• Unknown ... Negro Tycoons
• Unknown ... Captain
• Unknown ... Striking Waiter
• Unknown ... Aldo's Handlers
• Unknown ... Caesar's Handler
• Unknown ... Keeper 1
• Unknown ... Keeper 2
• Unknown ... Keeper 3
• Unknown ... Instructor
• Unknown ... Geneticist
• Unknown ... Governor Breck's Assistant
• Unknown ... Morgan, Governor Breck's Assistant
• Unknown ... Miss Greer
• Unknown ... Command Post Assistant
• Unknown ... Command Post Assistant 2

• Paul Stader ... Stunt Coordinator
• Tony Brubaker ... Stunts
• Roydon Clark ... Stunts
• Erik Cord ... Stunts
• Nick Dimitri ... Stunts
• Dick Durock ... Stunts
• Gary Epper ... Stunts
• Tony Epper ... Stunts
• Alan Gibbs ... Stunts
• Whitey Hughes ... Stunts
• Hubie Kerns ... Stunts
• Hubie Kerns Jr. ... Stunts
• Henry Kingi ... Stunts
• Regis Parton ... Stunts
• Victor Paul ... Stunts
• Allen Pinson ... Stunts
• Wally Rose ... Stunts
• David Sharpe ... Stunts
• Rock A. Walker ... Stunts
• George P. Wilbur ... Stunts

Locations:

Filming Locations:

• Century City Shopping Center, Century City, California
• University of California, Irvine, California

Items:

Production Crew

• Producer ... Arthur P. Jacobs
• Associate Producer ... Frank Capra Jr
• Unit Production Manager ... William G. Eckhardt
• Script ... Paul Dehn
• Director ... J. Lee Thompson
• Assistant Director ... David 'Buck' Hall, Jack Stubbs
• Director of Photography ... Bruce Surtees
• Editor ... Marjorie Fowler, Allan Jaggs
• Music ... Tom Scott
• Sound ... Herman Lewis, Don Bassman
• Make Up ... Dan Striepeke, Joe DiBella, Jack Barron
• Hair ... Carol Pershing
• Creative Makeup Design ... John Chambers
• Special Photographic Effects ... L.B. Abbott
• Art Directors ... Philip Jeffries
• Set Decorators ... Norman Rockett
• Title Designer ... Don Record

[edit] Notes

• The early scripts for Battle for the Planet of the Apes all use the name 'Modern City' for the city in which those events take place. They also refer to Breck as having been 'City Governor', rather than the Governor of a state.
• A reverse migration into the Ultra-Security cities led to the abandonment of the outlying areas of farm and ex-suburb as living areas; city-dwellers referred to these areas as 'The Provinces'.^[1]
• The official code designation for the truck-load of wild orangutans that Caesar hid in (and thus entered Ape Management by accident) was 'Shipment 5-0-7 I-for-Indonesia Ex- Borneo'.^[1]
• The couple who purchased the ape offered for sale just before Caesar was put on the block were Mr. and Mrs. Van Thal.^[1]
• The underground maintenance corridors in which Caesar made his escape from initial pursuit were 'Service Levels Sector Gamma 9-11'.^[1]
• 'Station M' was the special emergency scrambled-code telephone line.^[1]
• The street that Caesar's disorganized army of rebel apes used to enter the city was called 'Alpha Boulevard' - the site of the first massacre.^[1]
• This movie was adapted into a novelization by writer John Jakes.

[edit] Inconsistencies

[edit] Behind the Scenes

Arthur P. Jacobs viewed Conquest as probably the final 'Apes' film: "When [Beneath] also became very successful, Zanuck wanted another one. That was weeks with Paul Dehn trying to work it out, and we did end [Escape] with an opening for a sequel, as you know. The fourth one takes it full circle, close to where we started the first one." ^[2] And screenwriter Paul Dehn confirmed "While I was out there, Arthur Jacobs said he thought it would be the last so I fitted it together so that it fitted in with the beginning of 'Apes 1', so that the wheel had come full circle and one could stop there quite happily, I think."^[3]

Reporter Dale Winogura visited the set of Conquest when assembling Cinefantastique magazine's excellent Planet of the Apes special issue, during January and February 1972. Of particular note is the proposed 'opening title scene' he watched being filmed, as this scene also appears in the shooting script but has never been made public, having been omitted from both the theatrical release of the movie and the extended cut released in 2008. "What was once the backlot of 20th Century Fox studios lies a mammoth shopping center and building complex known as Century City, as futuristic a location as any film-maker could hope to find. Once again, the cameras are turning there as the same movie studio uses it as the center attraction of this, the fourth and easily most epic film of the series. The first day of shooting, January 31, was held atop the towering Bank of America building, about one block west of the shopping center, on a warm, sunny day. I ascended the building to the top floor, the 16th I believe, and the first thing I saw upon entering the location was a group of people gathered around the film's star, Roddy McDowall, in full ape makeup, with makeup man, Joe diBella, applying the final touches to McDowall's hands. This level is used as the heliport in the picture, as well as in actuality, where Caesar (McDowall) and Armando (Ricardo Montalban in the same role as in ESCAPE) land in a sleek red and white copter at the start of the film, after the credits. Joe diBella seemed a bit worried as McDowall wears a leash in these scenes, and he was concerned about it pulling the makeup."

"A few days later, the company was very close to the shopping center, in front of an office building, where a large sign was placed, reading Civic Center. After the first week of shooting, in and around Century City's shopping center in the daytime, the latter part of next week was scheduled for shooting at the University of California at Irvine, where the exterior Ape Management and training scenes were filmed."

"A couple of weeks later, after a considerable amount of studio interior filming, the cast and crew were back in Century City, this time for extensive night-time shooting, from about 7 P.M. to around 6 A.M. the following morning. The first evening of shooting, the sinister opening title scene was shot. Tracking shots of deserted sidewalks and buildings were filmed, and then a black-costumed and helmeted guard was shown, entering the frame with an intensely serious demeanor on his face, a light shining coldly and fiercely on him. Then, what looked like a man in a black jump suit appeared, running away into the background. A tracking shot of black boots glides back to reveal the same dark figure running on the bridge. The guard spots him, and runs after in desperate pursuit. Looming black buildings backdrop the chase, as brilliant white light floods the foreground, making the running figures look like shadows. The mysterious figure is shot by a guard, and the camera trucks in to reveal the bloodied face of an ape."

"On the following night, preparations for the climactic riot and siege of the city were filmed. A scene as difficult as this one is made even more trying by the very fact that the night temperature of the air is typically February in Los Angeles. For the most part, the civilians watching the picture being made were quiet and cooperative upon command from seasoned assistant directors Buck Hall and Jack Stubbs. When Buck yells out, "All right, boys. This is picture," silence must needs be observed, for the camera and sound equipment are rolling, and nothing must interfere with its progress." ^[4]

			POTA Magazine #2
'Beautiful Ape Contest'	'The Most Beautiful Ape'	Japanese magazine marking the release

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Quotes

Governor Breck: If we lose this battle, that's the end of the world as we know it!! We will have proved ourselves inferior!! Weak!! And all those groveling cowards who are alive, when the battle is over, will be the weakest of all!! This will be the end of human civilization!! And the world will belong to a planet of apes!!

Caesar: Where there is fire, there is smoke. And in that smoke, from this day forward, my people will crouch, and conspire, and plot, and plan for the inevitable day of man's downfall, the day when he finally and self-destructively turns his weapons against his own kind. The day of the writing in the sky, when your cities lie buried under radioactive rubble! When the sea is a dead sea, and the land is a wasteland, out of which I will lead my people from their captivity! And we will build our own cities, in which there will be no place for humans, except to serve our ends! And we shall found our own armies, our own religion, our own dynasty! And that day is upon you...NOW!!

Caesar: But now...now we will put away our hatred. Now we will put down our weapons. We have passed through the night of the fires, and those who were our masters are now our servants. And we, who are not human, can afford to be humane. Destiny is the will of God, and if it is man's destiny to be dominated, it is God's will that he be dominated with compassion, and understanding. So, cast out your vengeance. Tonight, we have seen the birth of the planet of the apes!!

[edit] Related Articles

• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (Novelization)
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (Marvel Comic Book)

[edit] External Links

• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes at Wikipedia
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes at IMDB
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes review

[edit] References

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