Battle for the Planet of the Apes

1973 "The final chapter in the incredible Apes saga. The most suspenseful showdown ever filmed as two civilizations battle for the right to inherit what's left of the earth!"
5.4| 1h33m| G| en| More Info
Released: 15 June 1973 Released
Producted By: 20th Century Fox
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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The fifth and final episode in the Planet of the Apes series. After the collapse of human civilization, a community of intelligent apes led by Caesar lives in harmony with a group of humans. Gorilla General Aldo tries to cause an ape civil war and a community of human mutants who live beneath a destroyed city try to conquer those whom they perceive as enemies. All leading to the finale.

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Director

J. Lee Thompson

Production Companies

20th Century Fox

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Battle for the Planet of the Apes Audience Reviews

Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Rijndri Load of rubbish!!
Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
SnoopyStyle It's 12 years after the conquest in the previous movie. This is the 5th and last of the original apes movies. Caesar (Roddy McDowall) rules Ape City trying to live in peace with the second class humans. There are two main rules. Apes do not kill apes. Humans are not allowed to say No to apes. Caesar is married to Lisa with a son named Cornelius. His human assistant MacDonald tells Caesar about an archive in the ruined city. They travel to the radioactive city with orangutan Virgil and find Cornelius and Zira's testimony predicting the end of the world by the gorillas in the 3rd movie 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes'. The surviving irradiated humans chase them away. Gorilla general Aldo is barely literate and plots to overthrow Casesar. Human survivors led by Governor Kolp attack the apes.The story isn't too bad but the battle fails the movie. There are problems in tone especially considering the humans are now second class citizens. The movie is able to mostly finesse that problem. The ruin city is weak. It's no more than a bunch of industrial sets. There are some other weaknesses but it's the battle that is truly weak. The humans walking up to Ape City is silly. The apes winning by ape combat is even sillier. The franchise is no more than a B-movie series aiming to wring the last few bucks.
joshuadrake-39480 I conclude my original PLANET of the APES film series review, with the fifth and final film, BATTLE FOR THE PLANET of the APES.After the success and mixed reaction of CONQUEST OF THE PLANET of the APES, Fox said that this would be the last film in the original series of the APES film. J. Lee Thompson returned as director. Series writer Paul Dehn submitted a treatment, but illness forced him to leave the film before completing the script and John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington to write the screenplay. This film also continued Conquest's focus on racial conflict, like the other two films for me.BATTLE follows Caesar as he leads the apes and their human subjects after a devastating war that destroyed much of the planet. He contends with both an attack by radiation-scarred human mutants and a coup attempt as he attempts to build a better society for both apes and humans.This story is actually, along with BENEATH THE PLANET of the APES, is the second worst of the series. While I like the direction of this film, I could not stand the way the story was written out. The Corringtons just took this story and ruined it in the best way that they possibly can.The make-up and effects -- this was the only movie for me that I think that none of those are really great -- the filmmakers had only a small budget of $1.2. million dollars and that is just cheap. The make-up is stupid, and the visuals are cheesy and out of place.The music in this film was terrible and the pacing of this movie is short, but is way too short. The movie is supposed to be an hour and something minutes long but this movie is just crazy and awkward in the whole darn thing.The acting is just dreadful. Only credit that will be given is to Roddy McDowall as Caesar, he does a great job. The other actors is just out there and makes very little effort to put on good performances. The only performance kind of worth mentioning is John Huston as the Lawgiver, but even then his performance is physically over-the-top.So, overall, I hate BATTLE FOR THE PLANET of the APES as well and this is getting a 2.3 out of 10.
GusF A bit of a curate's egg, really. It's definitely the weakest of the original films but it's very good in places. Its first 30-35 minutes and its last 15-20 minutes are definitely the best bits. The stuff in between seems rather listless. On the bright side, Roddy McDowall is as good as ever and Severn Darden is very good as Kolp, the only villain other than Dr. Zaius to appear in more than one of the films. It's a shame that neither Don Murray nor Hari Rhodes returned though as Breck and the first MacDonald are two of the strongest human characters in the film series. Unfortunately, while I liked him in everything else that I've seen him in, I didn't really enjoy Claude Akin's performance as General Aldo. It was far too over the top, I'm afraid. Natalie Trundy, who appeared in all four of the sequels, is very effective as Lisa. Though they only appear in small roles, Noah Keen, France Nuyen and Paul Stevens are very good as Abe, Alma and Mendez respectively.Of the new characters, Virgil (in particular) and the second MacDonald were my favourites. The film also featured very nice cameos by film legends John Huston and Lew Ayres as the Lawgiver and Mandemus respectively. I watched the version which restored the deleted scenes concerning the Alpha-Omega bomb and, while they are both quite brief, their inclusion helps bring the series full circle as it ties in brilliantly with "Beneath the Planet of the Apes". It also makes the tear from Caesar's statute all the more tragic / poignant since it helps remind us of the world's ultimate fate. (I've always taken the view that Cornelius and Zira were fulfilling their role in history in travelling back in time rather than altering it).While it would have been nice if the film series had ended on a high, the film is still quite enjoyable, if rather uninspired in parts.
Jamie Spraggon In my opinion this film is underrated it is not a great film by any means but is better than Beneath The Planet Of The Apes and Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes. This is the fifth and final chapter in the ape saga and in my opinion it didn't disappoint the planet is a desolated place, Ceasar wants apes and humans to live together however ape has the edge over man as leaders and the humans fight back... This film stars Roddy McDowell, Claude Akins & Natalie Trundy this film was directed by J.Lee Thompson i recommend this film even though it has a low rating on IMDb it is an enjoyable film so watch and enjoy THE FINAL CONFRONTATION***/*****