A Review of "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes"

"Caesar this is getting out of hand!" "What gave that away?" "Oh I don't know, the fire? The
guns? The batons? The screaming?" "Clearly you've never been to Baltimore, before!"

Happy Friday! Welcome back to another edition of our Ape-thology review series. See? I could've made that the name of these reviews, but I didn't until just now. I thought about it right this second. Should I go back and add that as the series name? TOO LATE!

So far we've seen Planet of the Apes get followed up by a lackluster, bizarre sequel in Beneath the Planet of the Apes and then a dull follow-up to some supporting characters in Cornelius & Zira in Escape from the Planet of the Apes... yet here we are. It's 1972, and even though we've had two sequels that haven't really lived up to the hype and love of the original, they still want to crank out another one and try and press their luck. Serving as a sequel to Escape's storyline about the baby Cornelius and Zira had, this is 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Boy, these titles are just getting cheesier and cheesier. I love it, but I had to say; sitting down to watch this one I was weary because I had not really cared for any of the sequels up to this point, so the thought of sitting down for another sequel seemed like a waste of time. I knew only had two sequels to go before starting the next series... so I muscled through it. HOLY SCHMOLY, I'm glad I did. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is easily the best since the original so far. It's so well written, acted, and plays out so grimly it's like this series got its cajones back! I loved Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, so let's figure out why!

"WE. MAKE. HOLES IN YOUR TEETH. WE
MAKE. HOLES IN YOUR TEETH."

Following a North American pandemic from a space-borne disease that wiped out all dogs and cats in 1983, the government has become a series of Schutzstaffel-patterned police states that took apes as pets before establishing a culture based on ape-slave labor. These events were foretold in 1973 during the events of Escape from the Planet of the Apes as testimony by two chimpanzee scientists, Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) and Zira (Kim Hunter), before they were killed. Widely believed to be dead, their baby was secretly raised by the circus owner Armando (Ricardo Montalbán) as a young horseback rider. In 1991, now fully grown and named Caesar (also Roddy McDowall), the ape is brought to one of the cities to distribute flyers for Armando's circus. During their trip, Armando advises Caesar not to speak in public for fear of his life. Question: if Armando needed Caesar to lay low and not draw attention to the fact he's the intelligent child of Cornelius and Zira, why would he bring him to a crowded city which would irk him by watching his fellow apes be tortured and mistreated? Not a great plan, Mr. Armando.

Sure enough, after seeing a gorilla being beaten and drugged, Caesar shouts out "Lousy human bastards!" loud enough for the police-state officers to hear him. Armando diffuses the ensuing commotion by taking responsibility for the exclamation. I love this, because the officers even force Armando to shout it again to see if it sounded the same, which causes tension as Armando has a thick Spanish accent so you know he's going to get caught. Armando plans to turn himself in to the authorities to diminish suspicion and bluff his way out while instructing Caesar to hide among the apes for safety. Caesar obeys and hides in a cage of orangutans, finding himself being trained for slavery through violent conditioning. He is then sold at auction to Governor Breck (Don Murray). Caesar is then put to work by Breck's chief aide MacDonald (Hari Rhodes), whose African American heritage allows him to sympathize with the apes to the disgust of his boss. Oh boy... this movie's going to get woefully uncomfortable isn't it? I was like "This movie's going to get real good" but I was worried that it was becoming too predictable.

"DID YOU DRINK THE LAST BANANA SMOOTHIE?!"
"I would like to plead the fifth."

Meanwhile, Armando is interrogated by Inspector Kolp (Severn Darden), who suspects his "circus ape" is the child of Cornelius and Zira, the one humanity has been searching for. Kolp's assistant puts Armando under a machine that psychologically forces people to be truthful. Realizing he cannot fight the machine, Armando jumps through a window and dies. When Caesar learns of Armando's death, he loses faith in human kindness. In secret, he begins teaching the apes combat and has them gather weapons. Unfortunately, Breck eventually learns that Caesar is the ape the police are hunting. Meanwhile, Caesar realizes MacDonald is an ally to the apes' cause and reveals himself to him. MacDonald understands Caesar's intent to depose Breck, but expresses his doubts about the revolution's effectiveness. Caesar is later captured by Breck's men and, in a gruesome and uncomfortable scene, is electrically tortured into speaking. Hearing him speak, Breck orders Caesar to be killed. With MacDonald's help, the heroes manage to trick Breck into believing Caesar died. Once Breck leaves, Caesar kills his torturer and escapes.

To build his numbers and satisfy his lust for a revolt against his human persecutors, Caesar takes over Ape Management. While setting the city on fire, Caesar and the rest of the apes proceed to the command center, killing most of the riot police that attempt to stop them in the process. After succeeding in this, Caesar has Breck marched out to be executed. In the best scene in the movie, and arguably one of the best scenes in the series, MacDonald pleads with Caesar not to succumb to brutality and be merciful to the former masters. Caesar ignores him, deciding to dedicate his life to man's downfall. The original, unaltered cut of the film first submitted to theaters ends here, with the apes under Caesar's leadership clubbing Breck to death while Caesar looks on in gruesome victory, the last shot is on a zoomed in Caesar before cutting to end credits.

"Caesar, you need a bath. You smell like a 
real ape without your body wash."

... only that ending didn't sit too well with test screeners. They found the film devoid of hope and optimism by the ending and didn't like Caesar basically condoning and adopting mass murder to get his point across. So Roddy McDowall was brought back in, the ending was recut for the theatrical release. In the theatrical cut, as the apes raise their rifles to beat Breck to death, Caesar's girlfriend Lisa voices her objection, shouting "No!", becoming the first ape to speak other than Caesar. Caesar reconsiders and orders the apes to lower their weapons, deciding that, after their recent victory, they can afford to be humane.

The movie was definitely a tonal shift in the Apes series. Up to now they've been about exploring, science, and theology... and while the original Planet of the Apes had some dark elements sprout from its twist ending, to me, it was Conquest that really pulled out all the grimness and showed the dark side of human-ape master-slave servitude. Now, all my hats tip to Roddy McDowall, for his portrayal of the tortured but determined eventual martyr for the human-like apes in Caesar. He was dynamite in this movie, absolutely stellar; his ending speech was incredible, and you could feel his determination in ending human control over apes by any means necessary. In the scene where he's speaking to MacDonald after revealing himself, you can hear his desires in the lines "No I am not a myth, but I will tell you what is, the belief that human beings can be kind. Oh, a handful, perhaps, but not most of them. They will not be kind until we can force them to, and we cannot do that until we are free." Ten out of ten performance for Roddy. Great stuff. It's a very yin-yang performance to McDowall's performance as Cornelius, Caesar's father, in the first and third films. Cornelius was kind, gentile, and noble; Caesar wants to be kind and noble, but allows humanity to push him to the brink of becoming a dictator madman. Roddy McDowall plays both parts superbly.

This movie sends powerful messages that are just as strong now as they were in 1972. While it is a little on the violent side with lots of gunplay, a few explosions, and a gut-wrenching torture scene of Caesar, it is a worthy entry into the franchise, and again, I find it to be the best entry so far since the original movie. The story really makes you sympathize with Caesar and the race of oppressed apes, but by the end you're questioning who your allegiance is too, and again, the ending speech helps symbolize the internalized argument we were all having watching the end of the movie. Is Caesar in the right, or has he gone mad?

"Alright Caesar, prepare for the penetrator of TRUTH!"
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

One last thing of note: wait a minute... I thought at the end of Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Cornelius and Zira named their child "Milo" out of memory of the late doctor ape who died after coming back in time to 1973 with them? However in the start of the film, Armando calls him "Caesar", which contradicts Escape and is therefore probably a mistake. Either Armando changed his name, he is not the same ape, or it's a mistake. It is not so far fetched, however, that Armando changed his name. Let's not forget: since this name was well known to the authorities as that of one of the three chimps that had arrived from space in Escape, this would have been a very wise move. When Breck was having Caesar choose a name for himself, Caesar went through the book of names clumsily, as an illiterate ape would, while quickly scanning for his own given name, making it appear that he chose the name "Caesar" randomly.

I loved Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Unfortunately, it isn't a standalone sequel, otherwise I'd say skip to this movie. You do have to see Beneath and Escape to get some details you would otherwise miss. Having each movie lead into the next is nice for those who like to follow the films episodically, but it's also a hindrance one a couple of those films aren't as good. I recommend this one though; it has action, suspense, horrors, sympathy, and revenge. While it isn't necessarily a "feel good" movie, as some messed up shit does take place, it is Caesar's rise to power that is interesting to watch as it does bring the viewer into a moral quandary by the end of the film. Give this one a go if you ever get the chance!