Escape from the Planet of the Apes (74%)

A New Generation Of Incredible Apes In The Most Exciting Suspense Film Of Them All

Ever since I first saw the Planet of the Apes movies the third one always stuck out from the rest of the sequels. I loved it and it was cemented as my favorite of the series except of course for the original. To make things even better, of all the sequels Escape from the Planet of the Apes seemed to play the most on television. And I watched it every time. It would be interrupted by commercials every ten to fifteen minutes, was missing almost half the image, and the image that I did get was scratched to shit. Yet every time I watched it I continued to love it.

Even still it has been many a few years since I had seen it last. So now having just watched Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes was I ever excited to sit down and watch the next in the series; cleaned up with no scratches and no dirt and in glorious widescreen on a large flat panel TV. So how was Escape from the Planet of the Apes? Was it as good as I remembered?

I'll start of by answering that last question. It wasn't as good a film as I remembered it to be. With that said, I still rank it higher than Beneath. It's got more originality, is paced better and has a wallop of an  ending that sets up the series perfectly. Sure it's more kid friendly and the science behind the story is a lot more far fetched than before but it's put together real well and the leads are really engaging.

Escape from Planet of the Apes has Zira (Kim Hunter) and Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) having gone back in time to 1973 in Taylor's (Charlton Heston) spaceship that they found and fixed and were inside floating in space just before Taylor bushed the button and set off the bomb that destroyed the planet. It's a ridiculous concept that shouldn't really work, but it sets the right tone from the beginning and it really is one hell of a clever way to continue the series considering how the last one ended.

Hunter and McDowall, making a welcome return, are at their best here. They have the lead roles for the first time and the carry the picture perfectly. They are engaging and funny and pull off some amazing emotional feats considering there faces are covered the whole time. The rest of the cast is engaging to, with a great performance by Eric Braeden as the chief villain. The always great and charismatic Ricardo Montalban makes a small but memorable appearance. And, of course, then there is the small side characters that have a line or two of dialogue. Once again it is wooden and stilted and just plain bad, but having happened in both the previous films I've come to expect it and it's become almost part of the series charm, almost.

Don Taylor does a much better job directing Escape from the Planet of the Apes than Ted Post did for Beneath. His film flows better, and doesn't have any of those overlong scenes that plagued the second film's second half. It also doesn't have any unnecessary scenes as every scene is integral to the rest of the story. Don Taylor, together with his editor, put together a perfectly paced film that is helped considerably by the great widescreen cinematography and the excellent music by Jerry Goldmsith, who like McDowall, also makes a welcome return.

The budget for this third entry in the Planet of the Apes series is obviously lower than the last two films but the story itself lends for a lesser budget. It's set in "modern day" 1973 and it only has three ape costumes. It is unfortunate though that they couldn't spend a little bit more on that shoddy gorilla outfit in the zoo. It looks terrible and it being 1971 is not an excuse.

The story itself is much simpler and lighter than the last two entries but it still breezes by at an incredible pace. It progresses nicely, with a lot of laughs on the way, to a wallop of a conclusion that like the first two films, has stuck with me for a very long time. It really brings the story full circle, setting up events that we have already seen (in the first two movies) perfectly. And when I say the film as a whole is generally lighter than the previous entries it's ending is still rather sad and down-heartening in true Planet of the Apes Style.

Escape truly has lots going for it. It's funny; It's fun; It's got to engaging leads; It flys by in no time; It's clever story plays well into the framework that was set before it; It's got Ricardo Montalban. It's a better made, and a better scripted movie than Beneath. It's a little cheesier and a little more dated than the first two (the first especially) but it still tugs at all the right strings and hits all the right notes to make Escape from Planet of the Apes a worthy continuation to the series. And even though it's not quite as good a movie as a remember it, it still holds up well to scrutiny and still remains stronger than the second film.

Film Rating: 74%

Breakdown (How Escape from the Planet of the Apes scored 74%):

Production Design: 8 out of 10
Cinematography: 7 out of 10
Re-playability: 8 out of 10
Originality: 7 out of 10
Costumes:  7 out of 10
Directing: 7 out of 10
Editing: 7 out of 10
Acting: 7 out of 10
Music: 8 out of 10

Script: 8 out of 10