Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

North America, 1991; following a pandemic from a space-borne disease that wiped out all dogs and cats in 1983, the government has become a series of police states that took apes as pets before establishing a culture based on ape slave labor. These events were foretold in 1973 as testimony by Cornelius, prior to him and his wife Zira being killed. While it appeared their baby was also killed, he evaded death and was secretly raised by the circus owner Armando as a young horseback rider. Now fully grown and named Caesar, Armando brings him to one of the cities to distribute flyers for the circus's arrival, explaining to the curious ape the events that led to their new reality while advising him not to speak for fear for his life.

Seeing apes performing various menial tasks and shocked at the harsh discipline inflicted on disobedient apes, Caesar shouts out "lousy human bastards!" after seeing an ape messenger being beaten and drugged. Though Armando takes responsibility for the exclamation while defusing the situation, Caesar runs off in the commotion. Finding Caesar hiding in a stairway, Armando tells the ape that he will turn himself in to the authorities and bluff his way out while instructing Caesar to hide among a group of arriving apes for safety. Caesar follows Armando's instruction and hides in a cage of orangutans, finding himself being trained for slavery through violent conditioning. Caesar is then sold at auction to Governor Breck, allowed by his owner to name himself by randomly pointing to a word in a book handed to him. The chimpanzee's finger rests upon the name "Caesar", feigning coincidence. Caesar is then put to work by Breck's chief aide MacDonald, whose African American heritage allows him to sympathize with the apes to the thinly veiled disgust of his boss.

Meanwhile, Armando is being interrogated by Inspector Kolp, who suspects his "circus ape" is the child of the two talking apes from the future. Kolp's assistant puts Armando under a machine, "the Authenticator", that psychologically forces people to be truthful. After admitting he had heard the name Cornelius before, Armando realizes he cannot fight the machine and jumps through a window to his death after a brief struggle with a guard. When Caesar learns of the circus owner's death, he loses faith in human kindness and begins secretly teaching the apes combat while having them gather weapons.

By that time, through Kolp's investigation that the vessel which supposedly delivered Caesar is from a region with no native chimpanzees, Breck learns that Caesar is the ape they are hunting. Caesar reveals himself to MacDonald after he covered for the ape twice when called by Breck on Caesar's whereabouts. While MacDonald understands Caesar's intent to depose Breck, he expresses his doubts about the revolution's effectiveness along with Caesar being dismissive of most humans. Caesar is later captured by Breck's men and is electrically tortured into speaking. Hearing him speak, Breck orders Caesar's immediate death. Caesar survives his execution because MacDonald secretly lowers the machine's electrical output well below lethal levels. Once Breck leaves, Caesar kills his torturer and escapes.

Caesar begins his revolution by first taking over Ape Management to build his numbers, proceeding to the command center with the apes killing most of the riot police that attempt to stop them, while setting the city on fire. After bursting into Breck's command post and killing most of the personnel, Caesar has Breck marched out to be executed. MacDonald attempts to plea Caesar not to succumb to brutality and be merciful to the former masters. Caesar ignores him and in a rage declares, "Where there is fire, 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. The day when he finally and self-destructively turns his weapons against his own kind. The day of the writing in the sky, when your cities lie buried under radioactive rubble! When the sea is a dead sea, and the land is a wasteland out of which I will lead my people from their captivity! 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!"

As the apes raise their rifles to beat Breck to death, Caesar's girlfriend Lisa voices her objection, shouting "No!". She is the first ape to speak other than Caesar. Caesar reconsiders and orders the apes to lower their weapons, saying, "But now, now we will put away our hatred. Now we will put down our weapons. We have passed through the night of the fires, and those who were our masters are now our servants. And we, who are not human, can afford to be humane. Destiny is the will of God, and if it is man's destiny to be dominated, it is God's will that he be dominated with compassion, and understanding. So, cast out your vengeance. Tonight, we have seen the birth of the Planet of the Apes!"

J. Lee Thompson, who had maintained an interest in the franchise ever since producer Arthur P. Jacobs invited him for the original Planet of the Apes, was hired to direct Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Thompson had worked with Jacobs on two earlier films, What a Way to Go! and The Chairman, as well as during the initial stages of Planet, but scheduling conflicts had made him unavailable during its long development process.[4]

Thompson staged every scene with attention to detail, such as highlighting the conflicts with color: the humans wear black and other muted colors, while the apes' suits are colorful. Don Murray suggested to Thompson his wardrobe with a black turtleneck sweater, and rehearsed his scenes after translating his dialogue into German "to get this kind of severe feeling of the Nazis". Screenwriter Paul Dehn wrote the film incorporating references to the racial conflicts in North America during the early 1970s, and Thompson further highlighted by shooting some scenes in a manner similar to a news broadcast. The primary location was Century City, Los Angeles, that had previously been part of the 20th Century Fox backlot and translated well the bleak future with monochromatic buildings in a sterile ultramodern style.[5] Also used as a shooting location was the University of California, Irvine, in Orange County. In addition, TV producer Irwin Allen contributed props and clothes to the film: he let the makers of 'Conquest' borrow his Seaview jumpsuits from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, brown clothes and computers and cabinets for Ape Management that were used first on The Time Tunnel and other sets and props from other Allen productions.

Of the five original films, Conquest is the only entry filmed in Todd-AO 35 using Arriflex ARRI 35IIC cameras with lenses provided by the Carl Zeiss Group; the other Apes pictures were filmed in Panavision.

Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote that "J. Lee Thompson's direction furiously propels the action in a compact chromium-and-glass setting—and wait till you see that last battle royal."[9] Arthur Murphy of Variety wrote, "McDowall is extremely good as usual in simian character, and Thompson's staging keeps the pace very lively."[10] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 2.5 stars out of four, calling it "excellent in the first half hour," but found "the concluding action sequences run on too long without any original slashing, maiming, or setting on fire."[11] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "may be the best since No. 1, 'Planet of the Apes'," calling it "a self-contained allegory in which man's cruelty to beasts becomes symbolic of man's inhumanity to man. It is a simple but powerful premise, thoroughly developed with a good balance between dialog and action by Dehn and splendidly directed by J. Lee Thompson."[12] Clyde Jeavons of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "This comic-book adventure is a far cry from the provocative Pierre Boulle vision so impressively realised by Franklin Schaffner four films ago; and in spite of some crude allegorical pretensions, it can't really be considered seriously as more than another excuse by APJAC to get maximum wear out of an expensive set of costumes."[13]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 22 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is as angry and relevant as any of its predecessors, but budget constraints and a stale script rob this revolution of the scope it requires."[14]

• List of American films of 1972

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