Parents Guide for
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) More at IMDbPro »

Sadly, two of the films stars were seen smoking in this film (Roddy MacDowall and William Windom). The most disturbing scene occurs when Armando (Ricardo Montalban) offers Cornelius (Roddy MacDowall) a cigar after the birth of his son... which both smoke around the newborn baby chimpanzee! This happens after Dr. Hasslein (Eric Braeden) acknowledges the risks of smoking around pregnant women when he asks the pregnant Zira (Kim Hunter), "Mind if I smoke? I shouldn't, it wouldn't be good for you." Of course, that didn't stop him from offering her champagne to ply her for inofrmation... or using the recorder cleverly hidden in his cigarette case to tape her interrogation! Using a standardized scoring system, this film received a smoking rating of 4 Butts (on a scale of 0-4 Butts). For more information on the impact of onscreen smoking and the initiation of youth tobacco use, or for more information on the rating system, visit www.smokescreeners.org.

***Spoiler warning*** The first part of this film is lighthearted and actually quite amusing. However, parents should be advised that when it is discovered that the female ape is pregnant, the film takes a darker turn when the government decides that the apes must be assassinated. By the end of the film, the audience has grown to love the two main characters so much that their brutal killing at the end can be quite upsetting. I recall being upset by the ending when I was a child, and I later recall that my younger brother cried at the end when he saw it on TV. Please use discretion when allowing your children to watch this. On the plus side, this is considered the best of the sequels to "Planet of the Apes" (1968).