Details

Release year: 1970

Storyline

The sole survivor of an interplanetary rescue mission searches for the only survivor of the previous expedition. He discovers a planet ruled by apes and an underground city run by telepathic humans.

Top credits

Directors

Ted Post

Writers

Cast

James Franciscus — John Brent
Kim Hunter — Zira
Maurice Evans — Dr. Zaius
Linda Harrison — Nova

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Did you know

• Charlton Heston was reluctant to reprise the role of George Taylor for this movie, believing that Taylor's struggles were what drove the first movie, and that story had already reached its conclusion. A sequel, in his opinion, would be a lackluster "Adventures amongst the monkeys". He eventually agreed to appear on condition that his scenes had to be shot within a two week period. He also insisted that Taylor had to be killed. He agreed to a compromise in which he'd disappear in the beginning of the film and reappear to die at the end. Heston claims in the documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes (1998) that he personally suggested the ending, saying, "Why don't I just set off this bomb and destroy the world. That's the end of the sequels."

• An alternate ending was written where Taylor, Brent and Nova escape the underground city prior to the detonation of the bomb, which was not a doomsday device as it is in the finished film. They return to Ape City and, along with Zira and Cornelius, release the humans from the cages and a new order is begun. The script ends hundreds of years later with the Lawgiver teaching a group of ape and human children, who sit in harmony together. The final shot of the script shows a mutated gorilla emerging from the underground and fatally shooting a flying dove. (The "Lawgiver Scene" was resurrected as the framing structure for Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).)

• Pierre Boulle, author of the original novel, wrote a screenplay entitled "Planet of the Men" in his native French. It featured a messianic Taylor fourteen years after the events of Planet of the Apes (1968) and involved a human uprising against the apes, following which they revert back to their primal state. The studio obviously chose to ignore his concept and used a new script for the film instead (which did feature an uprising - the chimpanzees against the other apes, but was changed prior to filming, possibly due to the reduced budget).