Beneath the Planet of the Apes *** (1970, James Franciscus, Charlton Heston, Linda Harrison, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans) – Classic Movie Review 5484

Director Ted Post delivers the welcome 1970 second movie in the original five-film Planet of the Apes saga, with more fascinating monkey business just a notch down from the first film, 1968’s Planet of the Apes.

Picking up the story from where that left off, astronaut Brent (James Franciscus) is sent on a rescue mission to find missing fellow American astronaut George Taylor (Charlton Heston) and discovers mutated renegade humans living beneath the planet in the underground ruins of New York City, now a fortress known as the Forbidden Zone.

Clever ideas in the story and screenplay by Paul Dehn with Mort Abrahams (story only), tough action and a superior production make for intelligent, suspenseful, often exciting sci-fi entertainment. The action climaxes in a powerful battle between the apes and the human survivors. There’s a much lower budget this time, about half the original’s $5,800,000 at $3,000,000, but it doesn’t show too much.

Also in the cast are Linda Harrison, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, Paul Richards, Victor Buono, Jeff Corey, James Gregory, Thomas Gomez, Natalie Trundy, David Watson, Gregory Sierra and Lou Wagner as Lucius (in archive footage).

It is based on the characters created by Pierre Boulle.

After the original five-film Planet of the Apes saga, Planet of the Apes (2001), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) followed.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5484

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