Battle For The Planet Of The Apes

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

Runtime: I saw the version that was 97 minutes long

Directed by: J. Lee Thompson

Starring: Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Austin Stoker, Paul Williams, Severn Darden

From: 20th Century Fox

This is the perfect time for me to finish watching this franchise before it went dark for many years (aside from a television show... which flopped). Note that I watched the unrated version rather than the theatrical version. From the IMDb, I know the theatrical version is not the way to go, as some scenes are missing and that's an issue as those scenes actually resolve important plot points.

This movie is set sometime after the events of the previous sequel, Conquest... the year was never stated and I'd like to say it was 2017, but from a line of dialogue I'll guess it was around 2020 or so. War has already F'ed up the Earth and it is apes who are now smart and rule everything, although humans are not the dumb creatures they were in the original Apes film. They have an uneasy alliance and like in Dawn of... there's a trouble-making gorilla General who is a rabble-rouser , and also there is an underground city with mutated humans... yes, like in Beneath... although they don't have those psychic powers.


Unfortunately, the story is underbaked and underdeveloped, so I can only say that it's average at best, and it feels inconsequential despite the stakes. The obvious low budget did not help matters either. A shame, as this could have been pretty interesting. There is indeed a battle in the final act and it was entertaining but even then I can't rate this as a whole any higher. It was nice to see the returning faces and some new famous faces (Lew Ayres, Claude Akins, Austin Stoker, and even Paul Williams) and John Huston has a small role playing a character referenced in previous films, so I guess they figured they might as well have that character appear... but that leads to a final shot which is rather eye-rolling, and that is being generous. I guess it was time to wind the franchise down.