From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beneath the Planet of the Apes
film poster by Tom Chantrell
Directed by	Ted Post
Produced by	Arthur P. Jacobs
Written by	Pierre Boulle (characters) Paul Dehn and Mort Abrahams (story) Paul Dehn (screenplay)
Starring	James Franciscus, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, Charlton Heston, Linda Harrison
Music by	Leonard Rosenman
Cinematography	Milton R. Krasner
Studio	APJAC Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	May 26, 1970 (U.S. release)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$3,000,000 (estimate)
Gross revenue	US$18,999,718
Preceded by	Planet of the Apes
Followed by	Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Beneath the Planet of the Apes is a 1970 American science fiction film directed by Ted Post, and the first of four sequels to 1968's Planet of the Apes. The film stars James Franciscus and Kim Hunter, and features Charlton Heston in a supporting role.

Plot

The film story begins at the conclusion of Planet of the Apes, with the discussion between Dr. Zaius and Taylor about mankind and the quotation from the apes' sacred scrolls read by Cornelius (Roddy McDowall via scenes from the original POTA):

The opening credits are shown with Taylor (Charlton Heston) and Nova (Linda Harrison) riding through the desert of the "Forbidden Zone". Suddenly, fire walls spring up from nowhere, and even the remaining landscape around them changes inexplicably. Taylor investigates a cliff wall and suddenly disappears before Nova's eyes, who, with nowhere else to go, attempts to return to Zira (Kim Hunter) and Cornelius (David Watson).

Elsewhere in the Forbidden Zone is a severely damaged spacecraft which has crash-landed. It contains two survivors: an astronaut named Brent (James Franciscus) and his skipper Maddox (Tod Andrews), who are, as it turns out, part of a search party who were sent on the trail of Taylor and his crew and now are stranded in the far future as well. The skipper succumbs to his injuries and dies. After burying him, Brent is approached by Nova who is wearing Taylor's metal I.D. tag. Hoping that Taylor may still be alive, Brent mounts the horse behind her and they ride out of the desert into the greener, cultivated area outside of Ape City.

They sneak to an amphitheater filled with cheering apes. Addressing the crowd is General Ursus (James Gregory), leader of the Ape Army, who wants the Apes to invade the Forbidden Zone, conquer it, and use it as a potential food source, despite the objections of Doctor Zaius. While leaving the amphitheater, Brent is wounded by a patrolling gorilla soldier. Nova takes him to the home of Cornelius and Zira, who explain the situation to Brent and treat his wound. When Dr. Zaius arrives, Brent and Nova hide and overhear how Zaius protected Cornelius and Zira from charges of heresy and treason months before, but now scolds Zira for her behavior during the meeting. He informs them that he will be joining Ursus on the invasion of the Forbidden Zone.

Brent and Nova quickly leave Ape City, but are captured by a gorilla patrol. They are taken back to Ape City, passing squads of gorilla soldiers going through military exercises using humans for targets. At the compound, they are spotted by Zira who feigns scientific interest to save them. However, General Ursus has authority over Zira, and orders Brent and Nova to be used for target practice. As they are loaded back into the wagon, Zira pretends to double-lock the door but actually unlocks it, enabling Brent to escape and overpower the driver.

After escaping, Brent and Nova hide in an unnatural-looking cave which Brent soon recognizes was formerly Queensboro Plaza station, and he begins to realize where he actually is. Brent and Nova go deeper into the tunnels, following a humming sound. Brent hears voices that compel him to kill Nova, but he resists them. Entering the remains of St. Patrick's Cathedral, he finds a still-intelligent and parapsychically endowed human kneeling before the high altar and reciting a hymn. However, the object of worship fills Brent with horror - an intact nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile.

Brent and Nova are subsequently captured, and the city rulers Albina (Natalie Trundy), Caspay (Jeff Corey), Mendéz (Paul Richards), Ongaro (Don Pedro Colley), and Verger (Gregory Sierra) barrage Brent with telepathic questions. When Brent remains evasive, they torture Nova psychically, and Brent is forced to reveal that the apes are marching on the city. The psychics prepare to repel the invading army with telepathic illusions (like they attempted with Taylor before), but Dr. Zaius recognizes their nature and charges through, confirming the falsehood. With their failure to dissuade the apes, the mutants have no choice but to prepare to detonate the “Divine Bomb”. The mutants hold a worship service in the cathedral; Brent and Nova are given robes to wear and attend. At the height of the ceremony, the mutants in unison remove masks which have concealed their true, grotesque appearance after centuries of radioactive fallout.

Afterward, Brent is separated from Nova and put in a jail cell with Taylor. Under Ongaro's telepathic control, Taylor and Brent are forced to fight each other to death. Hearing the sound of the fighting, Nova escapes her guard and runs to the cell. She screams, "TAYLOR!" and the sound of her voice breaks the mutant's concentration, freeing Brent and Taylor from his control and they kill him. While Taylor is patching up Brent's wounds, Brent describes the missile to Taylor. Taylor recognizes as a "doomsday bomb", a nuclear device of the ultimate sort: if it is launched, it will destroy the entire planet.

At this time, the apes have entered the tunnels of the city. The ape soldiers start smashing up the busts of Méndez and gunning down the Forbidden Zone residents. One gorilla manages to kill Nova before being killed by Brent and Taylor.

The apes force their way into St. Patrick's Cathedral to be confronted by Méndez. Méndez explains how the bomb is his god, momentarily stunning the ape soldiers to see a talking human. The missile rises into launch position, and Taylor and Brent arrive just in time to see Méndez gunned down before he is able to detonate the bomb. Brent and Taylor attempt to stop General Ursus from accidentally setting off the weapon, but Taylor is shot. Seeing this, Brent goes into a rage and starts killing gorilla soldiers, beginning with General Ursus himself. Eventually, however, Brent's rifle empties and the gorillas kill him in a barrage of gunfire.

As this is going on, Dr. Zaius confronts Taylor. The mortally wounded man pleads with Dr. Zaius for help, but Dr. Zaius contemptuously refuses stating "You ask me to help you?! Man is evil, capable of nothing but destruction!". With this remark, Brent's rifle empties and the gorillas kill him in a barrage of gunfire. With his last words, "You bloody bastard...", Taylor dies and his outstretched hand falls on the control switch that triggers the bomb. As that final scene whites out, the film ends with a narration (spoken by veteran voice actor Paul Frees):

Cast

James Franciscus as Brent

James Gregory as General Ursus.

• James Franciscus as Brent
• David Watson as Cornelius
• Roddy McDowall (uncredited) as Cornelius (opening)
• Kim Hunter as Zira
• Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius
• Linda Harrison as Nova
• Paul Richards as Méndez
• Natalie Trundy as Albina
• Jeff Corey as Caspay
• Gregory Sierra as Verger
• Victor Buono as Fat Man
• Don Pedro Colley as Ongaro
• James Gregory as General Ursus
• Charlton Heston as Taylor
• Tod Andrews as Maddox
• Thomas Gomez as Minister
• Paul Frees (uncredited) as the Narrator

Production

The sets of the mutant's council chamber and the temple of the bomb were redresses of the 42nd Street–Grand Central (New York City Subway) and hotel lobby sets from the film Hello, Dolly!. Contrary to myth, the council chamber set was not redressed as a pool in the movie Superman as Beneath was filmed in the United States and Superman was filmed entirely in the United Kingdom (with the exception of some location shooting in Canada and New York City and some background plates of desert land). The pool set was later used again in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Last Action Hero.^{[1] [2]}

Relation to the Planet of the Apes series

• Roddy McDowall could not return for his role in this sequel, as he was in Scotland directing Tam Lin. Actor David Watson portrays Cornelius through most of the film. Although uncredited, an edited version of the ending of the first movie was used in "Beneath", making McDowall the only actor to appear in all five "Ape" movies. The animated TV series is the only original Apes project of which McDowall is not a part.
• Actress Natalie Trundy appears in all four of the sequel movies.
• Charlton Heston showed little interest in reprising his role as George Taylor from the first movie, agreeing to briefly appear with the provision that Taylor be killed at the story's start and that instead of being paid the producers donate it to charity. Although Heston did not profit from this film, Taylor disappears at the story's start, only to be reunited with Brent much later in the movie and die at the end.^[3]
• Heston claimed it was his idea that Taylor detonate the ΛΩ bomb. He hoped that would end the series; not so, three additional sequels were made by APJAC Productions. An alternate script idea was for Taylor to escape with Nova and father a race of intelligent humans.^[4]
• This movie mentions the "Hasslein Curve", a rift in time that returned Taylor's and Brent's spaceships to Earth, far in its future. This is the second reference to Dr. Otto Hasslein, who appears in the next sequel, Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
• There was a continuity error. In the first movie the chronometer of Taylor's ship reads 3978, but in "Beneath" and "Escape" the year of Taylor's arrival is said to be 3955, some twenty-three years earlier.
• The origins of the Cult of Mendez, the mutants' headwear, their reverence for the Alpha-Omega bomb are given at the end of the fifth and final film, Battle for the Planet of the Apes.

In popular culture

• In the Futurama episode "I Second That Emotion", Bender, Fry, and Leela must venture into the sewer to rescue Leela's pet Nibbler. They soon discover a race of mutants living in the sewer system who worship a Cold War era nuclear missile similar to the one in the movie. When questioned by Fry about their religion one of the mutants replies "No one's really that observant. It's mainly a Christmas and Easter thing". As an additional nod, the control surfaces of the weapon are marked with the same Alpha-Omega markings as the "Divine Bomb" in Beneath.

• The Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode The Deadly Mantis features host segments in which intelligent apes, the rulers of the Earth 500 years in the future, visit pale humanoid neighbors of theirs who worship a broken thermonuclear device. Mike Nelson accidentally gives the apes advice on how to fix the bomb, which subsequently explodes and destroys the planet.

• In Fallout 3, people belonging to the "Children of the Atom" religion in the town of Megaton worship an undetonated but still functional atomic bomb, which the player can decide to either detonate or disable.

• dZihan & Kamien sample James Franciscus lines from the movie in their "Brent's Gotta Get Out" The lines are "I gotta get out"....."I'm not staying here" from the moment when Brent first sees the Ape Assembly from concealment

• Dead Prez sample Maurice Evans lines from the movie in their 2000 Album, "Let's Get Free". The lines "You ask me to help you?! Man is evil, capable of nothing but destruction!" begin their song "Animal in Man" on the album

Novelization

• The novelization of the film by Michael Avallone, retained the original scripted ending. Brent does not kill General Ursus. Taylor confronts him and Dr. Zaius. As Taylor tries to reason with Zaius, Zaius condemns him and Ursus repeatedly shoots Taylor with his pistol; Brent's rifle empties and the gorillas kill him. Ursus is horrified, telling Zaius that he has emptied the pistol into Taylor; he should be dead, but he still lives. Knowing he is dying, Taylor (after Zaius refuses to help him) decides to stop the violence by detonating the bomb. This he does, destroying the Earth itself.^[5]

References

External links

• Beneath the Planet of the Apes at the Internet Movie Database
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes at Allmovie
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes at Rotten Tomatoes
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes at Box Office Mojo

From Wikiquote

Beneath the Planet of the Apes is a 1970 film starring James Franciscus, Kim Hunter and Charlton Heston.

Taylor

• The doomsday bomb. Another lovely souvenir from the 20th Century. They weren't satisfied with a bomb that could knock out a city. They finally built one with a cobalt casing, all in the sweet name of peace.
• Burn the planet to a cinder. How's that for your ultimate weapon?

Ursus

• The only good human is a dead human!!
• Brutal butchery! I swear those responsible shall pay with torture and with death!
• I can't order them to do what the Lawgiver has forbidden! Ape shall not kill ape.
• He bleeds! The Lawgiver bleeds!!

Brent

• Those bloody fools! They don't know what they've got. They pray to the damn thing. If they shoot it off at some of those apes, it could set off a chain reaction in the whole atmosphere.

Zaius

• The spirit of the Lawgiver lives. We are still God's chosen. This is a vision!! And it is a lie!!
• You ask me to help you?! Man is evil! Capable of nothing but destruction!!

Narrator

• In one of the countless billions of galaxies in the universe lies a medium-sized star. And one of its satellites, a green and insignificant planet, is now dead.

External links

• Beneath the Planet of the Apes quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes at Rotten Tomatoes

Wikipedia has an article about:

Beneath the Planet of the Apes