Archives Of The Apes: Beneath The Planet Of The Apes (1970) 50th Anniversary

THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IN THE END IS POWER. NAKED, MERCILESS FORCE!

Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, the first sequel to Planet Of The Apes (1968), premiered in Los Angeles fifty years ago today.

Cast

James Franciscus (Brent)

Kim Hunter (Dr Zira)

Maurice Evans (Dr Zaius)

Linda Harrison (Nova)

James Gregory (Ursus)

Paul Richards (Mendez)

Don Pedro Colley (Ongaro)

Victor Buono (Adiposo)

Jeff Corey (Caspay)

Natalie Trundy (Albina)

Thomas Gomez (Minister)

David Watson (Cornelius)

Tod Andrews (Skipper)

Eldon Burke (Gorilla Sergeant)

Gregory Sierra (Verger)

Charlton Heston (Taylor)

and featuring Hank Robinson, Erlynn Mary Botelho, Army Archerd, Edward Bach, Stan Barrett, Bruce Fleischer,

Paul Frees, Angelina Bauer, Dick Bullock, James Bacon, Lou Wagner and Roddy McDowall.

Contemporary review by A. H. Weiler from the New York Times, 29th May 1970

As almost everyone knows, Charlton Heston, an astronaut who crashed into a future, engrossingly imaginative, action‐filled, simian‐dominated world first made by the novelist Pierre Boulle in Planet of the Apes two years ago, is practically indestructible. But most of that same, strange populace — and James Franciscus, an astronaut dispatched to find him in Beneath the Planet of the Apes — are proof, in living color, that Heston is vulnerable and that a sequel to striking science fiction can be pretty juvenile. The film opened yesterday at Loew's State 2 and Loew's Orpheum.

Anyway, it is no secret that Heston turned up on a “planet” that really was New York and environs decimated by atomic warfare and peopled by ruling, warlike gorillas and scientific chimps and the cowering, speechless humans in thrall to them. Franciscus is the sole survivor of the crew searching for Heston, and his observation, “It's a bloody nightmare,” is extravagant. Not too interesting is more like it.

It is not ungallant to note that Heston does turn up again and that he and Franciscus, in the company of a mute, Linda Harrison, looking like the undraped Raquel Welch of One Million B.C., are constantly escaping from the clutches of gorillas, only to fall into the clutches of the Forbidden Zone people, pacifist superscientists and mutant victims of atomic blasts, who know all about “thought control” and own “a cobalt casing” atomic bomb as their ultimate weapon.

What becomes increasingly obvious is that Beneath the Planet of the Apes is not an original, but a derivative melodrama. It has a few amusing, unusual, creative scenes to its credit. Among these are a grove of pickets, chimps, that is, carrying signs asking people to “Unite in Peace” and views of stalactite‐filled subways, including the Queens Plaza Station, the New York Public Library at 42d Street and St Patrick's Cathedral, as the subterranean sanctuary of the Forbidden Zone crowd and their “bomb,” which ends it all with a bang, not a whimper.

The basic credit must go to John Chambers's makeup of the principals. Heston, Franciscus, Miss Harrison and Kim Hunter and Maurice Evans, as the leading simian scientists; James Gregory, as the gorilla general, and some of those “Forbidden” types sadly enough run a poor second to Hollywood's artistic disguise. It all takes place in A.D. 3955, not a date to look forward to, to judge by this “Planet.”

Notes

adapted from IMDb and The Sacred Scrolls

Charlton Heston (George Taylor), Kim Hunter (Zira), Maurice Evans (Dr Zaius) and Linda Harrison (Nova) are the only actors to reprise their roles from Planet Of The Apes (1968).

In the steam room scene, Zaius and Ursus are wearing only towels, yet they seem to have twice as much body mass naked than when they are wearing their costumes.

Beneath was the first film in the original series not to have the 20th Century Fox logo at the beginning of the film. This would become a trademark of the films that would continue for all the following entries in the original film series.

At the beginning of the film, where Brent meets Nova for the first time, two taped position markers (bright white letter “T”s) can clearly be seen on the ground behind Brent. These markers appear and disappear between shots.

James Gregory and Gregory Sierra also appeared in Sanford And Son (which in 1974 was in direct competition with the Planet Of The Apes TV series) and Barney Miller (1975).

As Brent and Nova start to ride away from the wrecked spaceship, a white paper cup blows from the camera position. It blows along the ground into the centre of the frame and then around behind the horse.

When Brent first encounters a mutant, he can see the Alpha / Omega fins of the doomsday bomb. He turns and runs back to the double doors, turns around to respond to the mutant’s thought transference, and in this impossibly short time the bomb has already been lowered into the silo.

Ernest Borgnine was considered for General Ursus.

When Brent and Nova are being transported in the cart and Nova has her hands through the side of the cage, you can see that she has a set of finely manicured nails.

Several sources reveal Brent's first name as 'John'. His dying fellow astronaut, credited as “Skipper”, wears a name tag which, when magnified in freeze frame, appears to be Maddon or Maddox. Don Pedro Colley's character is named "Ono Goro" in the script. Colley was bemused to discover that he was credited as "Negro" in the end titles.

During Ursus's speech to the Ape Council, James Gregory is very animated. He is so animated, in fact, that near the end of the speech he turns and lifts his head, revealing his throat and Adam's apple.

Orson Welles was offered the role of General Ursus, which he turned down. Burt Reynolds was considered for the lead role of Brent, before James Franciscus was cast due to his perceived resemblance to Charlton Heston. Don Medford agreed to direct the movie, but walked out after the budget was halved.

When originally released in the UK, the film was heavily cut to receive a lower certificate from the BBFC. This version excised most of the violent and horrific scenes, most notably from the last third of the film, including both scenes where Brent is forced to attack Nova, the revelation of the underground humans' true appearance, the fight Brent and Taylor are forced to have in the prison cell, the killing of the mutant guard on a spiked door, and much of the shoot-out at the film's climax. This cut version was later shown on British TV, c.1991, even though all UK video and DVD releases have been fully uncut and rated '15' since 1987.

When Ongaro is crushed to death against the bars of the cell, one of the spikes wiggles when he touches it, revealing it is made of rubber.

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, and involved a human uprising against the apes, following which they revert back to their primal state. The studio chose to ignore his concept, and made this movie instead.

When Brent and Nova are caught in a net by apes, they are clearly seen wearing flesh-coloured loafers on their feet.

Charlton Heston donated his salary to charity.

Although Cornelius and Zira were indicted for heresy in Planet Of The Apes, there is no mention of this fact in Beneath. Since the events of the first film, they have gone from being enemies of Dr Zaius to trusted colleagues without explanation.

Originally, there was going to be a scene featuring a half-human/half-ape child. However, the producers were afraid that not only would the scene be too confusing, but that they would also lose their "G" rating.

Taylor and Nova (and likely many apes as well) would have heard and seen Brent's spacecraft as it flew over and crashed.

Despite the original being a significant success, the budget was slashed for this sequel. It went from $5 million to $2.5 million in one fell swoop. This was mainly due to 20th Century Fox teetering on the brink of bankruptcy following some expensive failures, such as Hello, Dolly! (1969), Star! (1968) and Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). The recruiting of Ted Post as director was instrumental here as he was used to minimal budgets and shortened schedules from his work on television.

(The film’s official budget is $3 million. However, director Ted Post stated the budget was $2.5 million. Another historian claims it was $4.7 million.)

After Ongaro falls to the stone floor after being impaled on the spike cell door, a sheet of plastic can be seen underneath his outer robe by the back of his legs.

When Brent tries to get the reins from the runaway horses you can see an extra set of reins going into the paddy wagon through the holes in the wall, to a hidden driver. After Brent stops and dismounts, the reins disappear.

20th Century Fox producer Irwin Allen used the tiled tubular set of subterranean New York City for an episode of Land Of The Giants (1968), and as an electrical power-duct in his TV movie City Beneath The Sea (1969). In both cases, panels of red lights were inset into the tiled tube making it more useful in these later projects. The same set would be used in Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972) as corridors between sections of the Ape Management complex.

A close up of a gorilla soldier shows that his rifle has a solid barrel. There is no bore for the bullet to come out of.

The sets of the mutants' council chamber are redressed sets from Hello, Dolly! (1969).

When Brent is shot in the arm by a gorilla patrolman, a bird is seen flying away. Yet in the first Planet Of The Apes movie, Cornelius argues with Taylor that flight is a scientific impossibility, and Taylor makes a paper aeroplane to prove his point.

Contrary to urban myth, the council chamber set was not reused in Superman (1978). Beneath The Planet Of The Apes (1970) was filmed entirely in the USA, while Superman was made in the UK.

When Brent fights the gorilla on top of the jail transport cart, the gorilla stands on his neck, but is knocked of the cart by a tree branch. He then lands on some hay. The cable pulling him backwards and onto the hay is visible.

This was the first appearance of Natalie Trundy (Albina) in the Apes series. She and actor Normann Burton are the only actors to play both a human and an ape in the series.

When Brent and Nova are shown in a cutaway hiding in Zira's back room, there are blood drops on Brent's arm but no bullet graze that breaks the skin.

Due to the smaller budget of this film, many of the extras cast as apes wore pull-over masks instead of the famous ape makeup. These are particularly evident during Ursus's speech to The Ape Council.

When Brent finds the pay telephone in the subway he hits the stone wall and it gives, revealing it is made of foam.

When Brent is shot in the chest during the final scene, the squib that is placed underneath the cloth wrapped around him becomes visible once the squib is detonated.

James Franciscus, who had spent most of his career playing doctors and lawyers, welcomed the opportunity to wear a costume that could best be described as minimal. Franciscus was a natural athlete and keen tennis player, so was in great shape for the shoot.

When Taylor and Nova are riding through the lightning, in one shot there are tyre marks on the right side of the frame.

All five original Planet Of The Apes movies were number one at the US box-office when released. Beneath spent two weeks as the number one top grossing film in 1970: the week of 31st May it made $3,595,936, and the week of 7th June it made $3,146,395.

The ladder in the subway station begins a few feet above the floor. When Brent beckons Nova to follow him up, the side shot of her shows how she would have to step/grab very high up to reach the bottom rung. However, the overhead shot of her shows her stepping on the first rung as if it was a few inches off the floor.

Archive footage of Roddy McDowall as Cornelius is shown in the film’s pre-title sequence, and David Watson plays the character in the film proper. Despite this, McDowall is often pictured on video and DVD packaging for this film.

David Watson as Cornelius

Roddy McDowall was unable to appear in the film as he was in Scotland directing The Devil's Widow aka Tam Lin (1970).

When Brent and Nova are running along the hillside after the horse is shot, his arm bandage clearly falls off, but in the next shot it's back on again.

Beneath was Thomas Gomez's final appearance in a film, and Gregory Sierra's first.

The name and topographical configuration of the underground subway station are inconsistent. The real Queensboro Plaza station in New York City is above ground, serving elevated tracks. The nearby Queens Plaza station and tracks are located underground.

There were two series of Planet Of The Apes action figures released in the 1970s. General Ursus was included in the second; the only character of that line not featured in the Planet Of The Apes TV series.

During the prison-cell fight between Taylor and Brent, you can clearly see during certain shots that Brent's stunt double does not have a beard.

Three actors in this film were villains in the 1966 Batman series. Maurice Evans (The Puzzler), Roddy McDowall (The Bookworm) and Victor Buono (King Tut).

When Taylor looks back at the ship's clock for Earth in Planet Of The Apes, it reads 25th November, 3978. However, Brent tells his dying commander that the year is 3955. This inconsistency is repeated in Escape from the Planet Of The Apes.

The film went through extensive rewrites, including one by James Franciscus.

In Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971), it is stated that Dr Milo raised Taylor's ship from the inland sea where it crashed and sank, and then studied it and learned how to operate it. For the timing to make any sense, Dr Milo would have had to be working on it during the events of this film.

Charlton Heston was reluctant to reprise the role of Taylor for this movie. He eventually agreed on condition that his scenes had to be shot within a two week period. He also insisted that Taylor had to be killed at the beginning of the film. He agreed to a compromise in which he'd disappear in the beginning 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.”

When Dr Zaius is visiting Cornelius and Zira, he refers to them as “you two psychologists”. Cornelius is an archaeologist.

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.

From seeing the Moon in the daytime to recognising plants and animals which exist on Earth to hearing the apes speak English, Brent is unaware that he's on Earth until he arrives at the ruins of the Queensboro subway station, in what used to be New York City, several days after he arrives.