Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
PG | 29 June 1972 (USA)
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Trailers

In a futuristic world that has embraced ape slavery, a chimpanzee named Caesar resurfaces after almost twenty years of hiding from the authorities, and prepares for a revolt against humanity.

Reviews
Smartorhypo

Highly Overrated But Still Good

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Invaderbank

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

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Dirtylogy

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

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Blake Rivera

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

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Smoreni Zmaj

I think that this franchise had gone too far. I can not say that this movie sucks. It is good. Very good indeed. But somehow it's too much. It's good that they stopped here and preserved its cult status, cause even one more step in this direction could have buried this franchise forever.7/10

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Ajtlawyer

The fourth of the series, "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" is the 2nd best of the entire run, after the original entry. It is also the basis for the recent re-boot "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". I saw this movie in the theater when I was a kid and the ending scared the wits out of me.The movie had a very small budget but more than made up for it with the very solid writing and some excellent acting by the principal cast, Roddy McDowell, Don Murray, Ricardo Montalban, Severn Darden and Hari Rhodes.Montalban sets up the story very well as Armando, the kindly circus master who has hidden the intelligent ape, Caesar, for a couple of decades. But when Caesar blurts out his anger at the humans who are mistreating an ape, he has to go into hiding while Montalban tries to cover for him, at the cost of his life. The "speciest" gov't is now determined to find the intelligent ape that they feel certain now exists. Caesar goes "native" by becoming a mute simian servant of the humans but fomenting revolution all the while behind the scenes.Hari Rhodes' character is particularly interesting. An aide to the bigoted governor played by Don Murray, as a black man and descendant of slaves his heart is more with the apes than it is with his own people. He provides Caesar some crucial support at key moments in the show and then has to make an appeal to the ape's "humanity" at the end when the apes are about to massacre their human prisoners. But as Caesar points out, he's not a human and simian ideas of justice may not jibe with human concepts.The "Ape" movies were well-known for their downbeat endings. Now nearly every story you see, no matter how grim, has to have some sort of hopeful ending but not the "Ape" series. In episode 1 Taylor discovers that he's on Earth all along in one of the most stunning endings in movie history; in part 2 the world is utterly destroyed in a final war between the humans and apes; part 3 has Caesar's parents being murdered; part 4 the apes have overthrown the human race. Only in part 5 do we finally have a "happy" ending of centuries in the future when men and apes have finally learned to live in peace.

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brennonmackinnon

With most movie franchises, the sequels are often inferior to the originals. While this may also be true for the 'Planet of The Apes' series, the fourth entry in the franchise surpasses the rest. While it may not have been as much of a ground-breaking success as 'Planet of the Apes', 'Conquest' had a social commentary that still resonates today, much like the original. This movie has two different endings, but the best of the two is the Unrated version. 'Conquest' has wonderful special effects, the best of the series. With a wonderful performance by Roddy McDowell as Caesar, this movie is fantastic. Don't ignore the sequels simply because of their bad reputation, give these films a chance.

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JPfanatic93

Third sequel to the original Planet of the Apes film from 1968. After the overall lighter tone from its predecessor Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), the franchise takes a much darker turn in this film, as we finally witness the origin of the apes and their hatred towards mankind. In the not too distant future (1991, so don't worry, it didn't happen), a mysterious disease has wiped out all cats and dogs, so apes are kept as replacements pets, but are soon found to be more suitable for slave labour and as such are ruthlessly exploited by their human overlords in a gritty dystopian setting. The son of former 'future apes' Zira and Cornelius, dubbed Caesar (played by Roddy McDowall, who previously performed Cornelius as well) by his human surrogate father (all too small part for Ricardo 'Khan' Montalban), finds himself without his protector who is viciously brutalized and killed by the human regime – it's not an all too happy future for humans either – after which he finds himself amongst his fellow simians and becomes their Messiah. Under Caesar's command, the apes rise in revolt and violence sweeps the nation as they fight for their freedom and start a conflict that will change the fate of the world. Easily the most controversial and most violent entry into the franchise, as the provocative display of abused and chained apes evokes haunting imagery of human slavery based on racial segregation, which is of course a parallel that has driven the continuing overall plot since the first film, but is most effectively fleshed out here. It is also painfully reminiscent of the race riots of the late sixties and early seventies, something the writers sure were aware of. Despite its convincing and intriguing social parallels, the fairly limited budget and resulting small scale look of the film hinder the impact of the story on a visual level for looking so cheap. Plus, the clear delineation between good apes and bad humans makes for pretty two-dimensional, oversimplified characterization. The plot was partially appropriated to great acclaim by the latest Planet of the Apes reboot, Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), thankfully resulting in grander imagery.

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