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Bud Brewster
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
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 Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 3:18 pm Post subject: Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) |
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Roddy McDowall is the only member of the original cast that saw the Ape series through to the very end (although he didn't actually appear in #2, he just dubbed his voice over the actor who wore the ape makeup!).
Battle for the Planet of the Apes starts out with an integrated group of friendly apes and humans listening to a lecture on ape/human history being delivered by "The Law Giver" (a cameo by John Huston), the revered ancestor who wrote the sacred scrolls so often quoted in the first film.
The plot focuses on the apes' final victory over the ape-hating human forces that want them exterminated. Friendly humans serve as allies, and in the end they band together to create a new world.
In the last scene, Huston poses the question of whether or not humans and apes will continue to live in peace.
The film seems to be suggesting that the war that nearly wiped out the human race was between apes and humans. This is a serious departure from what the original film seemed to being saying; that humans blew themselves up and then apes rose to take their place.
This is the last of four sequels inspired by the first film, and by this time McDowall's original character had been killed off, so he wound up playing the son he and Hunter had in number 3. Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
The series as a whole does a nice job of bringing the plot line full circle so that at the end of this film the stage is set for the events that occurred in the first one (remember: time travel was used in Escape from the Planet of the Apes, looping the narrative back over the series origin to eventually make it the story-line conclusion).
Directed by J. Lee Thompson.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Jul 17, 2022 11:37 am; edited 6 times in total |
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17637
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 11:38 am Post subject: |
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Never having been a true "Apes" fan myself, the rubber masks used in the franchise look less impressive than ever, after seeing the remarkable "image capture" performances in the recent reboots of these movies.
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__ Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973 Trailer)
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958) |
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scotpens
Space Sector Commander
Joined: 19 Sep 2014
Posts: 919
Location: The Left Coast
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| Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Bud Brewster wrote: |
Never having been a true "Apes" fan myself, the rubber masks used in the franchise look less impressive than ever, after seeing the remarkable "image capture" performances in the recent reboots of these movies. |
In fact, the makeup for the 1968 Planet of the Apes and its sequels was so advanced for the time that makeup artist John Chambers was awarded an honorary Oscar -- before the Academy even formally recognized a "best achievement in makeup" category.
Each makeup consisted of several custom-molded foam pieces individually glued to the actor's face. The principal "ape" actors spent three to four hours in the chair having the makeup put on; another hour and a half was spent removing it. Full head masks were used for ape extras in crowd scenes.
Roddy McDowall found that he had to make constant little facial movements and tics to keep the prosthetic makeup from looking stiff and phony. I always used to wonder why those apes were so twitchy! |
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