Escape from the Planet of the Apes *** (1971, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Bradford Dillman, Ricardo Montalban, Natalie Trundy, Sal Mineo, Eric Braeden) – Classic Movie Review 5751

Director Don Taylor’s 1971 Sci-Fi action thriller is the welcome part three in the original Ape saga, in which educated monkeys Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) and Zira (Kim Hunter) flee in a capsule from the holocaust of part two, Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970).

They land with Milo (Sal Mineo) off California, where ironically they are despised just as the humans were on their planet. Circus boss Armando (Ricardo Montalban) hides them from bad guys like the President’s aide Dr Otto Hasslein (Eric Braeden).

There is more of the same intelligent sci-fi action just as before to provide great pleasure for the series’s many fans, with Paul Dehn’s screenplay quality and the entertainment level both still commendably high.

Also in the cast are William Windom, Albert Salmi, Jason Evers, John Randolph, Harry Lauter, M Emmet Walsh, Roy E Glenn Sr, Peter Forster, Norman Burton, Tom Lowell and Gene Whittington.

It follows Planet of the Apes (1968) and Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970).

It is followed by Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).

The series continued on TV in 1974 as the Planet of the Apes series that only ran for 14 episodes before Planet of the Apes (2001) was revived as a one-off by Tim Burton, and rebooted in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, followed by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5751

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