Behind the Planet of the Apes Page #10

Alter what you believe to be the future|by slaughtering two innocents,...

..or rather three, now that|one of them is pregnant?

Herod tried that and Christ survived.

Do you want their progeny|to dominate the world?

The commission unanimously recommends...

..that the birth of the female ape's|unborn child should be prevented.

Savages! They are savages!

This is a major change in the series...

..because now the apes are|predominantIy the heroes...

..and humans have become the antagonists.

And Zira and CorneIius, now they're|the strangers in a strange Iand.

kind of an inverse of TayIor's situation.

They treated you like dirt.

Ma'am. Sir. Chow time.

You better have your soup and oranges|for the sake of that... little monkey...

The apes killed their orderly.

- Where are they?|- On the run.

Now they've killed,|and for that they must be killed.

Because they bring it back|to modern-day America,...

..it shifts the focus away from the future|to the present, to the here and now.

- Cornelius, what have you done?|- l didn't mean to kill him.

- Please believe me.|- l do, Cornelius, l do. But they won't.

And it opens the door for a much more direct|address to the America of the time.

We'll catch 'em sooner or later.

That's what l'm worried about- later.|Later we'll do something about pollution.

Later we'll tackle the population explosion.

Later we'll do something about|the nuclear war.

We think we got all the time in the world.

How much time has the world got?

l think my pains have begun.

Let me get this straight.

You are asking me to risk imprisonment|for the sake of two fugitive apes?

The answer is a thousand times... yes.

(Roddy McDowall) CorneIius and Zira|find temporary refuge in a traveIIing circus.

Look. Look at Heloise.

She's showing an expectant mother|what to expect.

Mama. Mama.

- Xira...|- l'm getting into practice.

The sympathetic circus owner, Armando,|was pIayed by Ricardo MontaIban.

I identify very much|with this man's compassion...

..for these so-caIIed beasts,...

..which were remarkabIy|good and wonderfuI and kind.

(Lewis) There, that's good.

Come on.

Because the message, to me,|was man's inhumanity to man,...

..that we have not conquered prejudice.

Are we ever going to|conquer prejudice? Ever?

That's a very powerfuI theme.

You have done enough|to make us grateful to you for ever.

l did it because|l like chimpanzees best of all apes.

And you, the best of all chimpanzees.

And if it is man's destiny|one day to be dominated,...

..then, oh, please God,|let him be dominated by such as you.

Thank you.

(Roddy McDowall) The cIimax of the fiIm|takes pIace on an abandoned freighter...

..as CorneIius and Zira|are brutaIIy hunted down.

Xira.

l want that baby.|lf you won't give it to me, l'll shoot.

- My God, stop him!|- (gunshot)

(Ricardo Montalban) What's interesting to me|about the Planet of the Apes is that...

..the endings were reaIIy not happy.

- (gunshots)|- No!

(wails)

But in a science fiction fiIm,|you have a IittIe more margin...

..to be abIe to express certain things.

So the pubIic accepted the unhappy ending|because it was truthfuI.

It wasn'tjust to make you sad.

It was:
that's the way it is.

It's a Iove story. PauI and I - PauI Dehn,|that is - we both said that to each other.

He said ''That's what I wrote.''

And a Iove story aIways ends unhappiIy.

Most Iove stories do.

That's what makes them a Iove story.|So, there you are.

(Roddy McDowall) The fiIm's ending caused|much debate amongst the production team,...

..the biggest question being: what if|the studio asks for another sequeI?

(Armando) All hands on the guy lines.

- Drop the bail ring!|- Come on, let's go!

As soon as you get that canvas packed,|l want every hand in the menagerie tent.

Producer Jacobs and screenwriter Dehn...

..decided not to paint themseIves|into another corner this time.

lntelligent creature.

But then, so were your mother and father.

Mama.

Mama. Mama. Mama.

(trailer) Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

Their adventures are|completely fresh, completely new.

ReIeased in May, 1971,...

..Escape from the Planet of the Apes|proved to be another box-office success.

AduIt audiences Ioved the humour|and subtIe sociaI commentary of the fiIm,...

..and the eIements of fantasy and adventure|continued to captivate chiIdren.

The Apes fiIms were stiII considered|ideaI famiIy entertainment.

Planet of the Apes was becoming|a fuII-grown franchise...

..and there seemed to be no end in sight.

PIanning began for another instaIment.

But, this time, the fiImmakers wouId find|themseIves going down a darker path...

..than they ever had before.

One that threatened to Iose them|their IoyaI and profitabIe famiIy audience.

The fourth Apes fiIm|began shooting on January 31st, 1972...

..under the direction of J Lee Thompson.

You just take the book.

He was a proIific craftsman whose credits|incIuded The Guns of Navarone,...

..the originaI Cape Fear,...

..and Arthur Jacobs'|first production, What a Way to Go.

(Thompson) keep Iow. keep Iow.

Once again, the script|was provided by PauI Dehn.

The titIe was|Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

The fiIm is set in a city of the future|which resembIes an oppressive poIice state.

- Go!|- (screams)

A mysterious pIague has wiped out|aII dogs and cats from the face of the earth.

Do.

Apes have been domesticated|to take their pIace...

..and trained to perform Iike sIaves.

No!

The main focus of the story|is on a new centraI ape character.

- Are you authorised to dress him like that?|- Oh, yes, sir.

He is Caesar, the now fuIIy grown|chiId of CorneIius and Zira.

A circus ape, huh?

- Circuses are past history.|- Not while l live and breathe.

- All right, Senor Armando. Go ahead.|- Thank you.

Come, come.

Owing to the IoyaIty of Arthur P Jacobs,|I was given the Ieading roIe...

..and had the unique opportunity|of pIaying my own son.

That was the great Ieap for Roddy,|and that was wonderfuI because...

..it stiII brought his personaIity|to the character.

Maybe he's not the same exact individuaI,|but it's stiII his spirit coming through.

And then he became so identified with the|series that the continuity to an audience is:

''Roddy McDowaII in Planet of the Apes.''

Well, for heaven's sakes! A circus!

- (gorilla grunts)|- (Caesar screeches)

Home, Lisa.

Making her third appearance in the series|was NataIie Trundy.

This time, however, she joined me behind the|makeup for her roIe as the chimpanzee Lisa.

(Natalie Trundy) Arthur said ''NataIina...''|He used to caII me NataIina.

I said ''I know what you're gonna ask.''

I reaIIy didn't wanna pIay an ape,|having seen what everyone went through.

You know, for the makeup, there were|hours and hours of that... crap. (laughs)

Of course I did it.

(Roddy McDowall) Ricardo MontaIban aIso|returned as kindIy circus owner Armando,...

..Caesar's mentor and conscience.

- Did l do all right?|- Yes, yes, yes.

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