Escape from the Planet of the Apes is a 1971
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
film starring
Roddy McDowallRoderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English-born actor and photographer. He is known for beginning his long career as a child actor. His best known role is in the "Planet of the Apes" films and TV series from 1968-1974.-Early life and career:McDowall was born in Herne Hill,...
,
Kim HunterKim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire. -...
, and
Bradford DillmanBradford Dillman is an American retired film and television actor and author.-Early life:Bradford Dillman was born on April 14, 1930 in San Francisco, California, the son of Josephine and Dean Dillman, a stockbroker. He studied at Town School for Boys and St. Ignatius High School, and at...
. It is the second sequel to the
Planet of the ApesPlanet of the Apes is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner loosely based on the novel La planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston and features Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, veteran Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and...
movie of 1968, the first sequel being
Beneath the Planet of the ApesBeneath the Planet of the Apes is a 1970 science-fiction film directed by Ted Post, and the first of four sequels to 1968's Planet of the Apes. The film stars James Franciscus and Kim Hunter, and features Charlton Heston in a supporting role.-Plot:...
(1970). This sequel is considered by critics to be one of the better of four sequels made. Its plot centers around many social issues of the day including race, social status, scientific experimentation on animals, nuclear war and government intrusion as well as women's rights.
In this film, actor Roddy McDowall returns to recreate the character of
CorneliusDr. Cornelius is a chimpanzee archaeologist and historian, appearing in the original novel of Planet of the Apes , and also the first three installments of the classic movie series of the same name, from the 1960s and 1970s...
which he created but did not portray in its entirety in the previous film.
Escape from the Planet of the Apes is a 1971
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
film starring
Roddy McDowallRoderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English-born actor and photographer. He is known for beginning his long career as a child actor. His best known role is in the "Planet of the Apes" films and TV series from 1968-1974.-Early life and career:McDowall was born in Herne Hill,...
,
Kim HunterKim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire. -...
, and
Bradford DillmanBradford Dillman is an American retired film and television actor and author.-Early life:Bradford Dillman was born on April 14, 1930 in San Francisco, California, the son of Josephine and Dean Dillman, a stockbroker. He studied at Town School for Boys and St. Ignatius High School, and at...
. It is the second sequel to the
Planet of the ApesPlanet of the Apes is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner loosely based on the novel La planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston and features Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, veteran Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and...
movie of 1968, the first sequel being
Beneath the Planet of the ApesBeneath the Planet of the Apes is a 1970 science-fiction film directed by Ted Post, and the first of four sequels to 1968's Planet of the Apes. The film stars James Franciscus and Kim Hunter, and features Charlton Heston in a supporting role.-Plot:...
(1970). This sequel is considered by critics to be one of the better of four sequels made. Its plot centers around many social issues of the day including race, social status, scientific experimentation on animals, nuclear war and government intrusion as well as women's rights.
In this film, actor Roddy McDowall returns to recreate the character of
CorneliusDr. Cornelius is a chimpanzee archaeologist and historian, appearing in the original novel of Planet of the Apes , and also the first three installments of the classic movie series of the same name, from the 1960s and 1970s...
which he created but did not portray in its entirety in the previous film. A new character of
Dr. MiloIn the Planet of the Apes movie series, Dr. Milo is a genius chimpanzee scientist, and a renegade who spurns the intellectual and technological limits placed on the ape society. He was portrayed in Escape from the Planet of the Apes by actor Sal Mineo, in one of his last roles.Not a character from...
is introduced played by actor
Sal MineoSalvatore Mineo, Jr. , better known as Sal Mineo, was an American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause....
, who hoped his career would gain from the new project much as McDowall's career had from participating in the first film.
Charlton HestonCharlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television.Heston is known for having played heroic roles, such as Moses in The Ten Commandments, Colonel George Taylor in Planet of the Apes, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar in El Cid, and Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur, for which he won the Academy...
, star of the first film and supporting actor in the second, appears in this third installment only in two brief flashback sequences.
Plot summary
The preceding film,
Beneath the Planet of the Apes, ends with a
nuclear weaponA nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion...
's destruction of all life on the apes' future
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
.
Escape from the Planet of the Apes begins by establishing that three
apeAn ape is any member of the Hominoidea superfamily of primates. Due to its ambiguous nature, the term ape is less suitable as a means of describing taxonomic relationships....
s (
CorneliusDr. Cornelius is a chimpanzee archaeologist and historian, appearing in the original novel of Planet of the Apes , and also the first three installments of the classic movie series of the same name, from the 1960s and 1970s...
,
ZiraDr. Zira is a chimpanzee psychologist and veterinarian, who specialises in the study of humans, in the novel and subsequent movie series Planet of the Apes. Zira was played in the first three Apes movies by actress Kim Hunter...
, and Dr. Milo, played respectively by
Roddy McDowallRoderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English-born actor and photographer. He is known for beginning his long career as a child actor. His best known role is in the "Planet of the Apes" films and TV series from 1968-1974.-Early life and career:McDowall was born in Herne Hill,...
,
Kim HunterKim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire. -...
, and
Sal MineoSalvatore Mineo, Jr. , better known as Sal Mineo, was an American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause....
) escaped the Earth's destruction. They have managed this by salvaging and repairing the astronaut
Taylor's spaceshipIcarus is a fan designated, non-canonical name of the spacecraft designed by art director William Creber for Planet of the Apes and Escape from the Planet of the Apes . Icarus is the space craft commanded by Col. George Taylor in Planet of the Apes...
(which sank in the first movie) and piloting it through the
shock waveA shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field...
of Earth's destruction sending the ship through a time warp back to 1973.
The apes arrive on Earth, splashing down on the Pacific coast. Marines haul the ship to the beach, and the apes remove their helmets. They are quickly transported to seclusion for examination and are later moved to a secluded area of the Los Angeles Zoo. They remain under the observation of two scientists, Stephanie (
Natalie 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...
) and Lewis (
Bradford DillmanBradford Dillman is an American retired film and television actor and author.-Early life:Bradford Dillman was born on April 14, 1930 in San Francisco, California, the son of Josephine and Dean Dillman, a stockbroker. He studied at Town School for Boys and St. Ignatius High School, and at...
). Both discover the apes' power of speech when Zira's impatience gets the better of her. Right afterwards, Milo is killed by a noncivilized
gorillaGorillas are the largest of the living primates. They are ground-dwelling and predominantly herbivorous. They inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
who was agitated by an argument between himself, Zira, and Cornelius (Kim Hunter later said that Sal Mineo was happy to be killed off so early in the film because he hated the makeup process and was glad to be done with it.)
Meanwhile, a Presidential Commission has been formed to investigate the return of Taylor's spaceship and how the apes, which they already are aware are atypically intelligent, came to be aboard it. The apes then are brought before the Presidential Commission, where they publicly reveal their ability to speak, and are welcomed as guests.
The apes become celebrities, being lavished with presents and media attention. They are soon watched by a scientist, futuristic consultant
Dr. Otto HassleinIn the Planet of the Apes movie series, Dr. Otto Hasslein is a physicist attached to the space flight project that sends astronauts Taylor, Dodge, Landon, and Brent to the world of the apes. He was portrayed in the third Apes film, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, by actor Eric Braeden...
(
Eric BraedenEric Braeden is a German-born film and television actor, best known for his role as Victor Newman on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Braeden won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the role....
), who discovers Zira is pregnant and fears for the future of the human race. He is determined to force the issue, gets Zira intoxicated on wine (which she knows as grape juice plus) to get information out of her and convinces the Commission to have the apes taken for proper questioning.
Both are questioned using numerous means of interrogation; one of Hasslein's assistants refers to the apes as "monkeys", stirring Cornelius anger. Hasslein defuses it, saying they simply want to know how apes rose in dominance over men. Cornelius tells what he knows, information that was not fully known to the general public of his time. Now, Hasslein has learned how the human race will eventually meet its downfall and be dominated by simians, which will eventually lead to Earth's destruction. However, there are still suspicions about how humans are treated by the future apes.
The suspicion had already been aroused by Zira's letting slip, during her first appearance before the newly-formed president commission, that she had dissected humans in the course of her work. Zira dismisses her slip of the tongue, therefore Hasslein orders Lewis to administer a
truth serumTruth Serum is an independent comic book series created, written and drawn by author Jon Adams.-Overview:Originally published as a mini comic in 2001 and given away for free, it appeared as a three-issue mini series published by Slave Labor Graphics in 2002...
on Zira, while Cornelius is taken to confinement quarters. Lewis warns Zira that the serum will have the same effect as the wine Hasslein used on her. As a result of the serum, Hasslein learns for himself that Zira examined and operated on humans in the future.
Zira is taken to join Cornelius in confinement while Hasslein takes his findings to the U.S. President (
William WindomWilliam Windom is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his work on television, including several episodes of The Twilight Zone; playing the character of Glen Morley, a congressman from Minnesota like his own great-grandfather and namesake in The Farmer's Daughter; the character of John...
). An orderly brings food, and refers to the unborn child as a "little monkey"; Cornelius has heard enough of the epithet and accidentally renders a fatal injury to the orderly; he is stunned later to overhear that the boy died. Hasslein uses it as an illustration of the future danger the apes present and calls for the apes' execution. The president reluctantly orders that the unborn child's birth be terminated and that both be sterilized. Running for their lives, Cornelius and Zira (assisted by Stephanie and Lewis) find shelter in a circus run by
Señor ArmandoSeñor Armando is the owner of a circus, a human friend of Cornelius and Zira, and foster-father of Caesar in the Planet of the Apes movie series...
(
Ricardo MontalbánRicardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG , was a Mexican-born American radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning seven decades and multiple notable roles...
), where an ape named Heloise has just had a baby. There Zira gives birth to a son, whom she names Milo (later known as
CaesarMilo, better known as Caesar, is the son of talking chimpanzees Cornelius and Zira, in the Planet of the Apes movie series. He is the leader of the ape revolution in the fourth entry, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, and the ruler of Ape City in the fifth and final film, Battle for the Planet...
).
Hasslein, knowing Zira will imminently give birth, orders a search of all circuses and zoos. As a result, Armando must send the apes away; Lewis grants Cornelius a pistol so the apes can die by their own hand... if it comes to that. The drama climaxes aboard a derelict ship in an abandoned ship yard. Hasslein tracks the apes down, and finds Zira resting with her infant. The fearful but ruthless Hasslein shoots Zira in cold blood after she refuses to hand over her infant and then proceeds to fire several shots into the infant; he is immediately shot to death by Cornelius, and falls overboard. After Cornelius kills Hasslein, he is shot by an unseen
Marine CorpsMarines are military forces optimised for operations at sea. Historically the marine forces or marine corps are infantry forces that are part of the country's navy...
sniper (this unseen person is left mysterious to the viewer) and, as Stephanie and Lewis watch in horror, falls to the deck of the ship. Zira tosses her dead baby over the side of the ship before crawling to lie with her husband and dying by his side.
The survivors, however, are unaware of the real fate of the infant ape; Cornelius, Zira, and Armando switched babies before their final escape. Armando now watches over the infant Milo. The film ends by showing the baby ape Milo sitting in a cage, plaintively speaking the words "Mama? Mama?" with the voice of a human child.
Several elements of the plot are attempts to reconnect with the original book,
Planet of the Apes, with human and ape roles switched. In the original book, the protagonist Ulysse Mérou came to the planet of the apes, was experimented on, and proved his intelligence. He then became a celebrity among the apes, and fathered an intelligent human child.
Cast
- Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English-born actor and photographer. He is known for beginning his long career as a child actor. His best known role is in the "Planet of the Apes" films and TV series from 1968-1974.-Early life and career:McDowall was born in Herne Hill,...
- Cornelius
- Kim Hunter
Kim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire. -...
- Zira
- Bradford Dillman
Bradford Dillman is an American retired film and television actor and author.-Early life:Bradford Dillman was born on April 14, 1930 in San Francisco, California, the son of Josephine and Dean Dillman, a stockbroker. He studied at Town School for Boys and St. Ignatius High School, and at...
- Dr. Lewis Dixon
- 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...
- Dr. Stephanie Branton
- Eric Braeden
Eric Braeden is a German-born film and television actor, best known for his role as Victor Newman on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Braeden won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the role....
- Dr. Otto Hasslein
- William Windom
William Windom is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his work on television, including several episodes of The Twilight Zone; playing the character of Glen Morley, a congressman from Minnesota like his own great-grandfather and namesake in The Farmer's Daughter; the character of John...
- President
- Sal Mineo
Salvatore Mineo, Jr. , better known as Sal Mineo, was an American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause....
- Dr. Milo
- Albert Salmi
Albert Salmi was an American actor.- Biography :Albert Salmi was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Finnish immigrant parents, and following a stint in the Army, took up acting as a career, studying Method acting with Lee Strasberg. In 1955, Salmi starred in Bus Stop on Broadway...
- E-1
- Jason Evers
Jason Evers was an American actor.Evers was born Herb Evers in New York City, New York. After quitting high school to join the United States Army, Evers was so inspired by stars like John Wayne that he decided to try acting...
- E-2
- John Randolph
John 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...
- Chairman
- Harry Lauter
Herman Arthur "Harry" Lauter was an American character actor.He came to be a familiar presence in low-budget films, serials , and television programs in the 1950s, though he only once really came close to a stardom, as one of the leads in the...
- General Winthrop
- M. Emmet Walsh
Michael Emmet Walsh is an American actor who has appeared in over 100 film and television productions.-Life and career:...
- Aide
- Roy Glenn
Roy E. Glenn, Sr. was an American character actor.-Biography:...
- Lawyer
- Peter Forster
Peter Forster may refer to:* Peter R. Forster, British Anglican clergyman, current bishop of Chester* Peter Forster , appeared in the film The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze...
- Cardinal
- Norman Burton
Norman Burton , occasionally credited as Normann Burton, was an American film and television actor.Born in New York City, Burton was a student of The Actor's Studio...
- Army Officer
- William Woodson
William "Bill" T. Woodson is an American voice artist. He has a small onscreen appearance in the 50s scifi film "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" as a newscaster. He can be heard in the opening narrative of the 1970s television series The Odd Couple, explaining how it is that Felix and Oscar ending...
- Naval Officer
- Tom Lowell - Orderly
- Gene Whittington - Marine Captain
- Donald Elson - Curator
- Bill Bonds
Bill Bonds is an American television anchor and reporter, best known for his work at WXYZ-TV in Detroit.A native of Detroit and a graduate of the University of Detroit, Bonds came to fame initially as a reporter for the city's Contact News on WKNR-AM, known as Keener 13. The station also featured...
- TV Newscaster
- Army Archerd
Armand "Army" Archerd was a columnist for Variety for over fifty years before retiring his "Just for Variety" column in September 2005. In November 2005, Archerd began blogging for Variety and was working on a memoir when he died.-Life and career:Archerd was born in The Bronx, New York, and...
- Referee
- James Bacon
James Bacon is an American author and journalist who has also worked as a actor in film and television. He has written historical accounts of his years observing Hollywood and a biography of Jackie Gleason....
- General Faulkner
- Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG , was a Mexican-born American radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning seven decades and multiple notable roles...
- Armando
Continuity
The story of the plague that killed off all dogs and cats, as well as that of Ape slavery and subsequent uprising, is a
retconRetroactive continuity is the deliberate changing of previously established facts in a work of serial fiction. The change is informally referred to as a "retcon", and producing a retcon is called "retconning"...
of both prior movies, wherein the apes do not know of their true past. Cornelius's claim that he had read history scrolls (kept secret from the masses) that detail the human downfall could be a way to rationalize the change, but fails to explain why he is as clueless as the rest of Ape society in the previous movies. He may have had access to them, off screen, during the period between "Planet" and
Beneath, when Zaius made Cornelius his proxy, or while he and Zira were traveling in the spaceship. Another conflict is that, according to Cornelius, the day of Aldo speaking the word "No" is an annual observance in their society.
Cornelius and Zira's account of the future itself conflicts with the events depicted in the sequels. According to Cornelius, it takes apes two centuries to make the transition from pets to servants. Zira adds that it takes another three centuries for the apes to "turn the tables on their masters," by beginning to revolt. Cornelius continues that after the revolt began an ape named Aldo articulated his refusal by saying, "No."
In this movie, news commentators note that the craft that brought the apes was one of two that disappeared two years earlier, it is specified that it is Taylor's ship. The timeline of the movies' history suggests that American spacecraft were considerably more developed than in real life, given that the two ships were capable of travel near the speed of light.