Behind the Planet of the Apes Page #11

But try to walk a little more|like a primitive chimpanzee.

After 20 years, you've picked up|evolved habits from me.

That could be dangerous. Even fatal.

(PA) Attention. Attention.|Disperse apes gathering in the mall.

(Ricardo Montalban) Facing Roddy, the way|he Iooked couId be a IittIe distracting.

So I had to concentrate more on thinking|of him as an actor, not as a monkey.

I remember very distinctIy|the rapport with Roddy...

..when he's dying to speak in rebeIIion...

..of the mistreatment|of his brothers and sisters.

(ape moans)

Lousy human bastards!

The theme was so important to make|a paraIIeI to the terribIe thing of sIavery.

Who said that?

l did.

He's a performing ape for my circus.

- A talking ape?|- lt's right! The ape spoke!

- (crowd) Yeah!|- No! No, they're mistaken.

We better take him|to headquarters for interrogation.

When Armando is arrested,|Caesar hides among the ape servant cIass...

..and is subjected to a brutaI training process.

Take a good look at this specimen.

Caesar soon finds himseIf|the prized object in a sIave auction...

- Buy him.|- 1500!

1500 from Mr MacDonald!

For His Excellency, Governor Breck.

..and becomes a servant to the governor,|pIayed by Don Murray.

Name yourself.

''Caesar.''

A king.

Working in proximity|to the human seat of power,...

..Caesar Iearns the vaIue of power...

No!

..and force.

(screams)

About your sworn statement|that the circus ape is incapable of speech.

Hell, no!

Armando's death|at the hand of the government...

..kiIIs any notion that Caesar has|of man's potentiaI for good.

(roars)

He begins to pIot a revoIution,...

..whose purpose is|the uItimate destruction of mankind.

(screaming)

Action!

With a budget of onIy $1.7 miIIion, the|producers had difficuIty finding a Iocation...

..where they couId fiIm|an epic revoIution in a city of the future.

But, as Iuck wouId have it,...

..there was a recentIy compIeted|commerciaI and residentiaI compIex...

..right next to the studio.

CaIIed Century City,...

..it had been buiIt on Iand that was formerIy|part of Twentieth Century Fox's backIot.

It was pretty new and had a Iot of|concrete stone and nice sharp angIes.

So it became a kind of a naturaI thing|that, if we couId shoot there,...

..we couId create a city of the future,|but not so far removed from today.

The main band of rioting apes are,|at this very moment, marching on the city.

Commander, l understand the situation.

Assemble as large a force|as you can and follow them.

(Roddy McDowall) Conquest aIso had|striking costume and coIour design,...

..making it Iook unIike|any other fiIm in the series.

(Frank Capra Jr)|The bIack costumes conveyed...

..this rigid and|not-so-pIeasant worId of humans.

Not necessariIy a dictatorship, but|it seemed to be a pretty controIIed society.

- They've reached the Plaza.|- Good God! They're armed!

And organised.

No!

(J Lee Thompson) We definiteIy|set out to give it a city Iook.

I suppose you'd caII it,|in its day, a modern Iook. And...

..we went for certain coIours.

Ready!

BIack and red were|the primary coIours we used in the fiIm.

Aim!

At night we wouId highIight|the costumes with cross-Iighting...

..and opened it up as much as was possibIe.

And I think that heIped the picture|Iook more expensive than it was.

Fire!

(Roddy McDowall) In the scenes where|the ape revoIution reaches its zenith,...

..director Thompson pushed|for a IeveI of on-screen vioIence...

..that had never been seen|in an Apes fiIm before.

In the first preview at Phoenix,...

..mothers took their chiIdren, running down|the aisIes, to get out of the theatre...

..because of the bIoodiness of the riots.

Shoot them! Shoot them all!

(gunfiire)

(Frank Capra Jr) We made a conscious|decision to go to more action-adventure.

It was feIt that that wouId be|a successfuI turn for the series.

We were aIways concerned about|the IeveI of vioIence we couId put in...

..because it was stiII a young peopIe's picture.

The censor wouIdn't|pass the fiIm the first time.

Too much bIood and too much gore.

Fox wanted to try and retain|the famiIy audience...

..and they made us cut it a great deaI.

It was a vioIent fiIm,...

..and poIiticaIIy very disturbing.

(Roddy McDowall) Dehn and Thompson|modeIIed the apes' revoIt...

..on the 1965 Watts Riots,...

..an event that had Ieft an indeIibIe|impression on the American Iandscape.

(Eric Greene) In 1972, there's no way|any major studio was gonna reIease a fiIm...

..where the hero was|the Ieader of the Watts Riots.

But you couId reIease a fiIm where the Ieader|of an ape-sIave revoIution is your hero.

You can capture the audience's attention,|and try to get peopIe...

..to maybe rethink the way they were|Iooking at the current events of the time.

That's one of the beauties of|weII-done science fiction.

Why did you turn us into slaves?

Because your kind were once our ancestors.

And there's still an ape|curled up inside of every man.

The beast that must be|whipped into submission.

You are that beast, Caesar.

When we hate you, we're...

..we're hating the dark side of ourselves.

(J Lee Thompson)|We had quite a Iot of discussion...

..about the poIiticaI aspect of the fiIm.

EventuaIIy, we showed it in IngIewood...

..and a IargeIy bIack audience cheered.

Caesar!

- By what right are you spilling blood?|- The slaves'right to punish his persecutors.

Caesar. l, a descendant of slaves,|am asking you to show humanity.

But l was not born human.

The African-American audience was very|vocaI. They'd get up and yeII and scream,...

..aII on the side of the apes.|It was Iike: revoIution has come.

Where there is fiire, 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.

And we shall 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!

(Roddy McDowall)|As originaIIy shot, Caesar's finaI speech...

..was a miIitant caII for revoIution.

(whimpers) No.

But, responding to test audience reaction,...

..the studio and producer Jacobs decided|to aIter this speech in postproduction.

I was caIIed in to record some additionaI|Iines, ending the fiIm on a more hopefuI note.

But now...

Now we will put away our hatred.

Now we will put down our weapons.

And we, who are not human,...

..can afford to be humane.

lf it is man's destiny to be dominated,...

..it is God's will...

..that he be dominated with compassion.

So, cast out your vengeance.

Tonight, we have seen...

..the birth of the Planet of the Apes!

(screeching)

War, urban vioIence, raciaI unrest.

Issues that were strongIy infIuencing|popuIar movie entertainment in 1972.

FiIms Iike Dirty Harry,...

..The French Connection,...

..Shaft, and yes,...

..even Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

(trailer) Watch the screen explode|as man faces ape...

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