Roddy McDowall

Don Murray

Ricardo Montalban

Hari Rhodes

Severn Darden

Lou Wagner

Natalie Trundy

John Randolph

Asa Maynor

Joyce Haber

H.M. Wynant

David Chow

Buck Kartalian

John Dennis

Paul Comi

Gordon Jump

Dick Spangler

Hector Soucy

James Bacon

Rayford Barnes

William Bryant

Jean Byron

Sam Chew Jr.

Francis De Sales

Peter Eastman

Erin Fleming

Daniel Keough

Ron Pinkard

Jeffrey Sayre

Ruth Foster

Paul Dehn

Bruce Surtees

Marjorie Fowler

Alan Jaggs

J. Lee Thompson

Arthur P. Jacobs

Tom Scott

Jack Hirshberg

Don Record

Pierre Boulle

Nick Dimitri

Larry Duran

Paula Crist

Bennie E. Dobbins

Tony Brubaker

Richard E. Butler

Alan Gibbs

Tony Epper

Gary Epper

Gene LeBell

Regina Parton

Regis Parton

Wally Rose

Alex Sharp

Glenn Randall Jr.

Eddie Smith

Paul Stader

Fred Waugh

Richard Washington

George P. Wilbur

Erik Cord

Eddie Hice

Henry Kingi

Whitey Hughes

Frank Capra, Jr.

Troy Melton

Philip M. Jefferies

Norman Rockett

Morton Haack

Jack Barron

Joe DiBella

John Chambers

Daniel C. Striepeke

Verne Langdon

Jan Van Uchelen

Carol Pershing

William Eckhardt

David 'Buck' Hall

Jack Stubbs

Don J. Bassman

Herman Lewis

Johnny Borgese

Craig R. Baxley

Planet of the Apes (Original) Collection

Action

Science Fiction

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

APJAC Productions

20th Century Fox

United States of America

English

army

circus

dystopia

insurrection

**A few guys in rubber masks throwing some chairs around does not make a global conquest.**

I understand the budgetary restraints but come on. Twenty guys running amok with a chair leg is way to weak.

The poster exclaims _a spectacle like never before witnessed_ and what do we get? A small crowd of men in boiler suits wielding a cabbage  at the authorities.

_I swear one of the Apes even threw a comb at a policeman._

A shame the budget wasn't there as the cheapness really restricted the promise.

<em>'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes'</em> is the weakest of the first four films. It's watchable, still.

It shares similarities to <em>'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'</em> from the rebooted 2010s series, though it isn't quite as entertaining or convincing. Serviceable it is, however. Roddy McDowall stays in the franchise, but as a different character in Caesar. McDowall is the clear standout from the cast, the rest of whom are solid if forgettable.

I found the real world parallels a bit too forced in this one, while the long speeches near the end feel over the top. For the early 1970s, though, the look of the film remains pleasant - I do like watching these films, after all this is - in my opinion - still a passable flick; if indeed the weakest so far.

CinemaSerf

Last year, "Cornelius" and "Zira" were back in the 1970s. Now we scoot forward a few millennia and find that the Simian flu has robbed humankind of it's pets. Always in need of something to feed, comb and to take for walks, we have decided to domesticate chimps. The thing is, though, that this plan has started to spiral out of control. The animals have had just about enough of being the substitutes for our erstwhile four legged friends and are beginning to smell freedom. The governor "Brock" (Don Murray) is determined to beat down any rebellion, but hasn't factored in the appearance of "Caesar" (Roddy McDowall playing his own son!) who is the one who could make all the difference - he can talk, after all. Pursued, tortured and enslaved he must escape and rally his kind in their pursuit of freedom. This is quite a decent story because we have plenty of action and we have a baddie to focus on. For that, Murray is quite efficient at garnering our loathing as a typically megalomaniac politician. Ricardo Montalban carries through his role as circus owner "Armando" but frankly adds little to the theme that bubbles along nicely towards a denouement that shows that these former slaves are quite adept with a blow torch - who knew? It's all familiar now, and that allows us to just get on with this latest episode in a perfectly watchable season of movies.

**_Oppressed apes seek freedom in a Schutzstaffel-patterned police state_**

Twenty years after the deaths of Cornelius & Zira, their child (Roddy McDowall) has been raised by a circus owner in secret (Ricardo Montalbán). Meanwhile society has devolved into Nazi-like authoritarianism in which chimpanzees, orangutangs and gorillas are viewed as pets at best and, worse, trained servants. Don Murray, Hari Rhodes and Severn Darden are featured in key roles. 

“Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” (1972) is the fourth entry in the original franchise. It’s the darkest one and is pictorially unique with the focus on despotism and modern urban structures. Don’t expect the desert wilderness or forests of the first two movies.

Regrettably, 20th Century Fox was struggling at the time and so each film in the series had a significantly lower budget than the previous. No matter how you slice it, this can be ‘felt’ while watching “Conquest,” even though I appreciate the distinctive visuals. 

Yet, for me, it’s the story and characters that count and they’re just not very captivating. The next movie, “Battle for the Planet of the Apes” (the final one of the original five), had the lowest budget and, therefore, the weakest sets, but it made up for it with interesting characters and a fairly compelling story, despite the cheesy comic book tone.

This has its points of interest, for sure, but I find it the least of the original series.

It runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot at Century City, Los Angeles, with some exteriors done at the Social Sciences buildings at the University of California in Irvine, which is 51 miles to the southeast.

GRADE: C

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Conquest of the Planet of the Apes( 1972)

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A review by Al Jolson

Written by Al Jolson on Fri Jul 28 2017

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