Battle for the Planet of the Apes
1973  PG  SCIENCE FICTION  1h 33min
CAST— Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Natalie Trudy, Severn Darden, Lew Ayres, Paul Williams
MUSIC— Leonard Rosenman  DIRECTOR— J. Lee Thompson

     Planet of the Apes (1968) meets The Road Warrior (1981) in the final installment of the original Apes franchise. Caesar is now a wise leader of a ragtag group of apes and humans, living in harmony away from the devastation of the cities. But when a former city engineer informs Caesar that there is surviving archival footage of Caesar’s parents in the rubble of the city, Caesar begins an expedition to see his parents for the first time. Upon arrival the city is a twisted mess of ruined metal and concrete. Unbeknownst to them there is a teeming mass of survivors living therein, and these guys shoot first and ask questions later. Though the apes escape they are followed by the mutated madmen who wage all-out war against the ape city, and they turn out to be pretty solid at battle. Caesar tries to stay organized despite the chaos… but then there are the mutinous, bloodthirsty gorillas to contend with. Fair amounts of philosophical tirades on the peaceful coexistence of ape and man are juxtaposed by plenty of battle scenes between humanized ape and mutated man. All in all a solid entry in the series and a fine conclusion to the saga. Extended version also available.
OUR RATING— ***
PRECEDED BY— Planet of the Apes (1968), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)