Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

4th movie in the series initiated by ¨Planet of Apes¨ that at time of its release regarded as the most extraordinary Scifi in years, in which he simians turn the tables when they carry out a riot in this acceptable but lackluster sequel in which humans battle the apes led by Caesar . Again the Apes along with a modern civilization of human beings living in future , a distant year 1990 and occurs twenty years after the deaths of Cornelius and Zira, the chimpanzees couple who fled the future destruction of Earth by traveling a spacecraft . Passable and stirring science-fiction movie with a first rate Roddy McDowall who plays here the son of the character he first created and special intervention of Ricardo Montalban as kindly circus owner who's hidden him from the humans for long time . This known story is the fourth of the primates sequels, saga that had begun little years before ; it starts on a culture where humans rule over simians and they are divided in three lineage : gorilla , chimpanzee and orangutan . A plague has murdered cats and dogs and people adopted apes as pets , began using them as workers, waiters and hard employments . Militaristic governor (Don Murray) wishes apes to be treated as animal of burden and regarded as scum , slaves and torturing them into submission. The chimpanzee leader named Caesar( Roddy McDowall) meets Lisa (Natalie Trundy replacing the usual Kim Hunter) and falls in love with her . Caesar itching a coup de état but at the ending he thinks otherwise and even agree a peaceful existence with humans . Caesar is son of Cornelius and Zira from ¨Escape from the planet of apes¨ and turns into leader in this ¨Conquest of the Planet of the apes¨ , attempting to ease disputes between apes and men . Meantime , mean gorillas murder violently every human in sight . At the ending happens a spectacular , fierce confrontation between a human army ruled by governor and the simians commanded by Caesar .

This is an average , lackluster sci-fi flick plenty of metaphysical significance with thoughtful reflexion about origin of human being , racism , political pursuit, apartheid, though also packs action, intrigue and entertainment . Although several elements of the screenplay strain credibility to the limit the story turns out to be pretty interesting and amusing . It happens a parallelism between US racial tension ( Kent State slaughter, revolts in York ,Pennsylvania, 1969, and Camden, New Jersey , 1971) and the events described on the flick . Roddy McDowall's distinctive features prove to be recognisable even under John Chambers' wonderful ape make-up . The performers , particularly Roddy McDowall who provides the sturdy central pivot the tale surely needs , Natalie Trundy and Don Murray are pretty good , the characters are well drawn and in spite of makeup they are still oddly convincing . In spite of time and being mostly a regular follow-up of the former stories , some moments of energy remain and results to be a B movie full of action, battles and suspense . Writing credits by habitual Paul Dehn based on the characters from Pierre Boulle novel , however his screenplay is not just clever and was cut , eliminating some violent revolt scenes and obligated to pacific ending . Nice production design with interior sets taken from ¨Voyage to the bottom of the sea¨ and ¨Time tunnel ¨ produced by Irwin Allen and with great visual effects . One of the important attributes of this work, is the magnificent and luminous cinematography by Bruce Surtees who previously did such a good job for Clint Eastwood . Phenomenal creative make-up design by John Chambers, a first-rate expert . Fine musical score though imitating sounds from the great Jerry Goldsmith .The picture is lack budgeted by usual Arthur P. Jacobs , producer of whole saga, along with 2oth Century Fox . It's full of fury and sound , being professionally directed by J. Lee Thompson during four weeks in Los Angeles , at University and a lavish commercial development , using sometimes a nice visual sense. It's followed by ¨Battle for the planet of Apes¨ and a short-lived TV series, in with Roddy McDowall is again on hand as simian to sustain our interest and feeling .