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Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
21 May 1971 (USA) moreTagline:
Meet baby Milo who has Washington terrified. morePlot:
The world is shocked by the appearance of two talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a U.S. spacecraft. They become the toast of society; but one man believes them to be a threat to the human race. full summary | add synopsisNewsDesk:
Blood, Bats and Future Shock - Chosen Survivors(From Fangoria. 24 June 2009, 1:45 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
Paradox of the Apes more (68 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Roddy McDowall | ... | Cornelius | |
| Kim Hunter | ... | Zira | |
| Bradford Dillman | ... | Dr. Lewis Dixon | |
| Natalie Trundy | ... | Dr. Stephanie Branton | |
| Eric Braeden | ... | Dr. Otto Hasslein | |
| William Windom | ... | The President | |
| Sal Mineo | ... | Milo | |
| Albert Salmi | ... | E-1 | |
| Jason Evers | ... | E-2 | |
| John Randolph | ... | Chairman | |
| Harry Lauter | ... | General Winthrop | |
| M. Emmet Walsh | ... | Aide | |
| Roy Glenn | ... | Lawyer (as Roy E. Glenn, Sr.) | |
| Peter Forster | ... | Cardinal | |
| Norman Burton | ... | Army Officer |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
98 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)Certification:
Australia:PG (TV rating) | Brazil:Livre | Australia:M | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-12 (original rating) | Norway:12 (1972) | Sweden:11 | UK:PG (video rating: 1987) | UK:U (original rating) | USA:G | Singapore:PGFun Stuff
Trivia:
The film's villain, Dr. Hasslein, is briefly mentioned at the beginnings of the two first films. moreGoofs:
Revealing mistakes: When Cornelius, Zira and Milo are first taken to the zoo, Roddy McDowall's neck is visible underneath his makeup. moreQuotes:
Reporter: Dr. Hasslein, as the President's Senior Science Advisor, what do you expect to experience from this historic meeting?Dr. Otto Hasslein: Fear.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The Big Bang Theory: The Pancake Batter Anomaly (#1.11)" (2008) moreFAQ
A NOTE REGARDING SPOILERSmore
more (68 total)
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Following the cataclysmic finale of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, there was only one logical direction for the series to go---> back to the future. The result is an illogically conceived and satirical prequel that will amuse and delight and ultimately devastate with its bleak Shakesperean tragedy.
When Taylor's spacecraft unexpectedly splashes down in 1973 and is retrieved by a military envoy, the three astronauts that emerge from the capsule are not revealed to be Taylor, Landon and Dodge, but rather the astonishing simian ape-chimps Cornelius, Zira and Milo... the third of which is a completely disposable character who is appropriately killed off very early by a caged zoo gorilla who was probably jealous that the talking simian chimpanzees were getting all of the attention. With Milo out of the picture, the story focuses on the relationship between Cornelius and Zira in ways that were not afforded the opportunity in the two previous films and is filled with tongue-in-cheek episodes inspired by Pierre Boulle's original novel as Cornelius and Zira go around "aping" 20th century human culture (a subtle and clever mockery of our own) in an attempt to make themselves fit in to our society.
While Cornelius and Zira make themselves at home as cultural "celebrities" they are being carefully monitored under the watchful auspices of the nefarious Dr. Otto Hasslein played by recognizable character actor Eric Braeden (of Young and the Restless fame) who listens with great interest to what the talking chimps have to say about where they came from during a Presidential Inquiry and how they managed to arrive in Taylor's spacecraft as Cornelius explains that the capsule was found when it washed ashore and was repaired by Milo -- an implausibility which is the film's glaring continuity error since Taylor's spacecraft sunk into the depths of the Forbidden Zone it is a far fetched conclusion that they somehow managed to not only find, retrieve and repair it (even if they had repaired Astronaut Brent's crashed spacecraft from Beneath which was overlooked as well) with engineering far in advance of their own intellectual ape intelligence (which Milo only "half-understood" as Cornelius describes it) but managed to do so and escape within a very small window of time before the planet was obliterated by the shock-wave of destruction catapulting them backwards in time and arriving at roughly the same destination and era as Taylor's original point of departure (it could be argued that these narrative inconsistencies support evidence of "Hasslein's Observed Time Curve" which suggest that a predestination paradox created alternate intersecting timelines as illustrated by the incongruent timeline of events between Conquest and Battle). Nevertheless, once you get past the major plot hole and just go with it, Escape is a fun and dramatically intense film but is my least favorite second only to the weakest link in the evolutionary Apes chain; Battle For The Planet of the Apes.
When Zira announces that she is pregnant, the film takes a dark and conspiratorial turn when the government realizes the consequence a race of intelligent talking apes will have on the future of our human society. In an effort to protect their newborn, Cornelius and Zira find refuge with Armando, a sideshow circus entertainer played by the extravagant Ricardo Montalban who gladly welcomes the simian family with open arms, but it isn't long before Dr. Otto Hasslein picks up the fugitives' trail and hunts them down in a tragic and inevitable climax that sets up the paradox of the entire Planet of the Apes chronology.