‘‘Escape from the Planet of the Apes” 50 years later.

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by wayneklein, Apr 29, 2021.

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  1. bluearmy78

    bluearmy78 Living in real gangster times.

    Location:
    England
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  2. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"


    Yeah the article forgot to mention the uncut Conquest but my 'source's at the time confirmed that was the impetus for him to go rouge.
    He like most Hollywood people collected films forever.
    It started in late 1972 but the raid came a few years later.

    I just woke up but hopefully I will get into it later. Thanks for Fact Checking. John...
     
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  3. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"

    No, unbelievably.
    Conquest made about 10 million in U.S. Made much in rest of world to a total of about 25 million in 1972$$. On a 1.43 million budget.

    I'm sure you know the public figures were always undercut,taxes, and snowballed when needed in those headydays.
    The five original films from 1968-1974 Go Ape festivals made almost 500 million worldwide which in today's money is about 3 billion today. John
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2021
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  4. The rental of a school bus must not have been cheap then.
     
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  5. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"

    Battle was a mess.
    The longer cut on the 2008 blue ray makes the movie much better. The mutant/ atomic bomb scenes were put back and those parts make for why and how the future mutants in 'Beneath' are- especially in their beliefs.

    The Apes films were trailblazer movies during this time. Sci-fi was always low brow to the masses, Kubrick notwithstanding, and a series of films with abysmal budgets to become as much a part of American Cinema history and still engaging young people today is very satisfying.

    They must get a proper redo like 2001 before most of us who care fade away. Oh well my memories are glorious and I have documents, publicly, talks with Fox execs, that were and are truly revelatory. John M.
     
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  6. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"


    When I say 'redo' I of course say a proper 4k hdr on disc which were prepared in or about 2017-18.
    The whole 5 feature films were shown in Manhattan on August 2018 in an OK revival theater but Fox did no exploitation as far as I can tell but those who saw them say it was 4/5 experience.

    "First 5 Planet of the apes in Manhattan" Google from Home theater forum iirc.
    All remastered in 4k HDR and Disney is sitting on them:confused::tsk::realmad: John M.
     
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  7. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    I hope I'm wrong about it, but I don't see the mouse doing much with the Apes films.

    They did license out the franchise to the revived Mego Corporation though, so there is that at least-By that I mean they're not just totally letting the franchise stagnate.
     
  8. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"

    Theirs the new Pota sequel in preproduction at Disney with Wes Ball that's supposedly to hit theaters around 2023 with Andy Serkis in some role as Caesars descendent.

    A sequel to War for the Planet of the Apes centuries later. Some rumours also had somebody like Dan Stevens in the Taylor role. He's good. I don't count on anything till I see it and I can't stand Disney. Hoarding all those 1000's of Fox titles and doing nothing with them. Disgusting! John M.
     
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  9. bluearmy78

    bluearmy78 Living in real gangster times.

    Location:
    England
    l do hope this is true. I don't want the ape franchise to die. Trouble is, l just don't trust Disney.
     
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  10. Scowl

    Scowl Forum Resident

    Location:
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    For decades I didn't even know that Battle for the Planet of the Apes existed. I never even saw it on TV. The Planet of the Apes marathon that I went to as a teenager in my town even skipped Escape From... (which I did see on cable years later) and ended with Conquest.
     
  11. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"

    Conquest was really to be the end. It came full circle. Worldwide it made like 15 times it's production cost so one more Apes film was ordered.

    Battle had problems with story/screenplay because it's creator Paul Dehn was ill and they brought in the substandard Bill/Joyce Corringtons and on order of Fox had to make a "kids" film because of the controversy of Conquest. It still made 10 times it's production cost.

    When Battle was released in 1973 the previous Apes films were revived in different combos and orders to entice moviegoers -it worked.

    The following year, 1974, the "Go Ape" festivals got on the way and what a great time for us fans.
    The money flowed. $100 million alone in June to August that year. Now a TV series was in production, not to mention the record breaking ratings of the first 3 Apes films in 1973 on CBS that Fall.

    Rod Serling was interested but Fox tv in its infinite wisdom dumbed down the premise in order to make it kid friendly. Moronic.
    Anyway Apes live on and is rightfully loved with all its faults and their seems no end in sight though in Disney's hands it is very precarious. John M.
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2021
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  12. Scowl

    Scowl Forum Resident

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    The marathon (I guess I should call it a "festival") I went to happened in 1980. It was at a sad second-run movie theater struggling to stay in business and apparently theaters got a deal if they rented three Apes movies at the same time. It was great to be in an air conditioned theater for nine hours during a really hot summer weekend.
     
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  13. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"

    After 1974 the Apes films were relegated to minor revivals since TV was to be where they now resided. It didn't help that the era of the blockbuster was in full bloom with disaster movies and great films like "Jaws", "The Excorsist", and of course "Star Wars".
    For us Star Wars was a nail in the coffin for Apes (both Fox properties) but with home video the Apes films found a second life and as early as 1984 stirrings of new Apes started first with Adam Rifkin then Oliver Stone with Arnold Schwarzenegger and on on and on till the present.
    What a long strange trip it's been....John M.
     
  14. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    The Apes films were popular with children , but how did children react to the very bleak ending of Escape?
     
  15. David Egan

    David Egan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oakland CA
    Kids don't have a lot of preformed notions in their heads and I think they tend more to just absorb. Anyway that's all I did at the end of a THX-1138 / Beneath double bill. Much as I did after talking my dad into getting me into The Wild Bunch or seeing Diana Rigg take one to the bean at the end of my first James Bond. It just seemed to be the way of things.

    Famous Monsters of Filmland covered Escape and included a still of Z & C lying facedown with the caption "Are they dead or just knocked out?" They looked dead. I was more invested in the heroes this time and didn't feel good about it. Of course George Lucas was waiting in the wings to relieve us of all this grimness but if Star Wars had come out in 1971 it would have ended with Leia getting lasered in the face.
     
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  16. RJ3000

    RJ3000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milton, MA
    Same for me. In the late '70s Channel 7 in New York would have "Planet of the Apes Week" for the 4:30 movie and they split the original film into two parts over Monday & Tuesday, so the week ended on Friday with Conquest which I naturally assumed was the final film in the sequence. I was stunned when I found out about Battle many years later.
     
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  17. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI

    I never lived in the NY area, so I have no memories of viewing the films on the 4:30 movie-However, I used to be part of a now defunct APES group on Yahoo! and a couple of the people on there referred to the airings of the APES films as "clip shows" because so much was cut out for commercial time.
     
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  18. KevinP

    KevinP Forum introvert

    Location:
    Daejeon
    Ha. That reminds how the now-cliche 'Take your strinkin' paws off me, you damn dirty ape' had the 'damn' muted on the 3:30 (my time) Movies.

    I think 'Lousy human bastard!' from conquest was just 'Lousy humans...!'

    ('Because I loathe bananas' just didn't have any punch, did it?)
     
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  19. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"

    I was one of those kids. At 11 years old I thought 'holy s#$t" especially when the baby gets plugged 4 times.
    Cornelius (McDowall) shots Dr.Hasslein (Eric Braeden) and blood hits the panavision lens protector Cornelius fall three stories with Zira(Kim Hunter) all shot up and to us and the rest of the audience it was just a dynamic truth of the times that a film series that appeals to youngsters could/would be violent.

    This was the new Hollywood as they say and anything goes as long as it's truthful and not exploitive. Remember all except Conquest were rated 'G' which on early publicly material was rated 'GP' then in May '72 the MPAA switched it to 'PG'.

    My generation saw films with our parents (mostly Dad) from Eastwood, Bronson, new directors like Coppolla, Scorcese, and lots of foreign spaghetti films and were very acclimated to this new cinema. It is what it is.

    What we all witnessed on TV, Vietnam, Manson murders, Riots, Political Assassinations, major cities decaying, and the loss of trust in political leaders, of course films were going to be a mirror of the times- and the movie going public- imho loved and appreciated its frankness.
    It all got too puritanical a decade later or should I say films described above would be 'R' rated at the least and sometimes out of reach of more sophisticated young viewers. John M.
     
  20. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"

    I frequented that Apes site (PotaGoatly) and was censored many times cause I tended to loath the toy doll aspect of its patrons. I had many discussions with 'Rory' who passed away a few years ago because he and I appreciated the more technical, political, and historical aspect of these films though he mostly only cared for Pota1968. I also made a good friend who resided in California. Shame what Yahoo did but nothing surprises me anymore. JohnM.
     
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  21. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"

    In sorry for 'hijacking' this thread with Conquest but thankful for the OP for starting it. Thanks all..
     
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  22. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI

    Yes, I recall you being on that message board.

    I remember Rory, and I know of whom you speak when you mention the guy in California. Toward the end, there wasn't too much in terms of new posts, but I still didn't like to see it come to an end.
     
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  23. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI

    I'd have to dig out my DVD of "Behind the Planet of the Apes" for the exact quote, but I remember Ricardo Montalban saying something like "The endings of the 'Planet of the Apes' films weren't to make you sad, but to say that's just how things are" or something like that.
     
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  24. apesfan

    apesfan "Going Ape"

    Very good!
    My California friend , how can I forget his name, Jeff? maybe ,no their was a 'K' involved with his screen name.
    He sent me Christmas cards that he drew very well. He also was close with Natalie Trundy (Stephanie Branton -Escape) till her passing a couple of years ago. I even spoke with her on the phone and it was a great conversation especially about APJAC.
    I just said posited how those films defined and molded us 'boomers and caused many of us to try to get into Hollywood one way or another. Through writing (me), music, cinematography any old way.
    Yes, as I'm writing Jeff K Veetus, great guy, wonderful soul. I hope he's doing well and I hope I haven't convoluted his name.
    Thanks for reminding me. John M. Conquestador...was my name I think.

    Fox never even gave her a single $ with the approximate 2 billion the Apes features/reboots made from 2001 on.
    Sure they were under no obligation since Arthur sold the Apes rights back to Fox in 1973 shortly before his death, but c'mon she was almost destitute. It was Natalie that pushed Arthur to purchase the rights to "Le Planat des sange" (sp)..
    If not for her husband in 1963 none of us would be what we are, for good or ill:winkgrin::love:.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2021
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