Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Film poster by Tom Chantrell
Directed by	Ted Post
Screenplay by	Paul Dehn
Story by	Paul Dehn Mort Abrahams
Produced by	Arthur P. Jacobs
Starring	James Franciscus Kim Hunter Maurice Evans Linda Harrison Charlton Heston
Narrated by	Paul Frees
Cinematography	Milton R. Krasner
Edited by	Marion Rothman
Music by	Leonard Rosenman
Production company	APJAC Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	May 26, 1970 (1970-05-26)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$3 million
Box office	$18,999,718

Beneath the Planet of the Apes is a 1970 American science fiction film directed by Ted Post and written by Paul Dehn. It is the second of five films in the original Planet of the Apes series produced by Arthur P. Jacobs. The film stars James Franciscus, Kim Hunter, and Linda Harrison, and features Charlton Heston in a supporting role.

In this sequel, another spacecraft crashes on the planet ruled by apes, carrying astronaut Brent who searches for Taylor and discovers an underground city inhabited by mutated humans with psychic powers. Beneath the Planet of the Apes was a success at the box office but met with mixed to negative reviews from critics. It was followed by Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

Plot

Following the events of Planet of the Apes, time-displaced astronaut Taylor (Charlton Heston) and the mute Nova (Linda Harrison) are riding on horseback through the desert of the Forbidden Zone. Without warning, fire shoots up from the ground and deep chasms open. Confused by the strange phenomenon, Taylor investigates a cliff wall and disappears before Nova's eyes.

Elsewhere in the Forbidden Zone, a second spaceship has crash landed after being sent to search for Taylor and his crew. Like Taylor's ship, it has traveled into Earth's distant future. However, surviving astronaut Brent (James Franciscus) believes he has traveled to another planet. He encounters Nova and notices she is wearing Taylor's dog tags. Hoping Taylor is still alive, he rides with her to Ape City, where he is shocked to discover the simian civilization. He observes the gorilla General Ursus (James Gregory) leading a rally calling for the apes to conquer the Forbidden Zone and use it as a potential food source, against the objections of the orangutan Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans). Brent is wounded by a gorilla soldier and taken by Nova to the home of the chimpanzees Cornelius (David Watson) and Zira (Kim Hunter), who treat his wound and tell him of their time with Taylor. The humans hide when Dr. Zaius arrives and announces that he will accompany Ursus on the invasion of the Forbidden Zone.

Attempting to flee the city, Brent and Nova are captured by gorillas. Ursus orders they be used for target practice, but Zira helps them escape. They hide in a cave which Brent soon discovers is the ruins of the Queensboro Plaza station of the New York City Subway, making him realize that he has travelled through time to Earth's post-apocalyptic future. After following a humming sound deeper into the underground tunnels, Brent begins to hear voices telling him to kill Nova. Entering the remains of St. Patrick's Cathedral, he finds a population of telepathic humans who worship an ancient nuclear bomb.

Brent and Nova are captured and telepathically interrogated, and Brent reveals the apes are marching on the Forbidden Zone. The telepaths attempt to repel the apes by projecting illusions of fire and other horrors, as they had done to Taylor and Nova. Dr. Zaius sees through the illusions, however, and leads the ape army to the ruined city. With the apes closing in, the telepaths plan to detonate their "Divine Bomb" as a last resort. They hold a religious ceremony, at the height of which they remove their masks to reveal that they have been grotesquely mutated by centuries of exposure to nuclear fallout.

Brent is separated from Nova and taken to a cell, where he finds Taylor. The mutant Ongaro (Don Pedro Colley) uses his telepathic powers to force Brent and Taylor to fight each other to the death. Nova escapes her guard and runs to the cell, screaming her first word: "Taylor!" This breaks Ongaro's concentration, freeing Brent and Taylor from his control. They then overpower and kill him. Brent describes the bomb the mutants worship and Taylor recognizes it as a "doomsday bomb", capable of destroying all life on the planet.

The apes invade the subterranean city, killing Nova and making their way to the cathedral. They are confronted by Méndez (Paul Richards), who raises the bomb into activation position before being gunned down. Brent and Taylor attempt to stop Ursus from accidentally setting off the weapon, but Taylor is shot. Brent manages to kill Ursus before being shot dead by the gorillas. The mortally wounded Taylor pleads with Dr. Zaius for help, but Zaius refuses, saying that man is only capable of destruction. In his last moment, Taylor brings his hand down on the activation switch, triggering the bomb and wiping out all life on Earth.

Cast

• James Franciscus as Brent
• David Watson as Cornelius
• Roddy McDowall as Cornelius (uncredited, opening archive footage from Planet of the Apes)
• Kim Hunter as Zira
• Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius
• Linda Harrison as Nova
• Paul Richards as Mendez
• Natalie Trundy as Albina
• Jeff Corey as Caspay
• Gregory Sierra as Verger
• Victor Buono as Fat Man
• Don Pedro Colley as Negro
• James Gregory as General Ursus
• Charlton Heston as Taylor
• Tod Andrews as Skipper
• Thomas Gomez as Minister
• Paul Frees (uncredited) as the Narrator

Production

Charlton Heston showed little interest in reprising his role as George Taylor from the first movie, agreeing to briefly appear with the provision that Taylor be killed at the story's start and that, instead of being paid, the producers donate money to charity. According to Associate Producer Mort Abrahams, Heston refused initially to appear in the sequel but "he made so much money out of the first one" that studio head Richard Zanuck asked Heston to do a cameo as a favor. Although Heston did not profit from this film, Taylor disappears at the story's start, only to be reunited with Brent much later in the movie and die at the end. Heston claimed it was his idea that Taylor detonate the "ΑΩ" (Alpha Omega) doomsday bomb. Taylor and the mutants and apes would die when the bomb, as Taylor says in the film, would "Burn the planet to a cinder. How's that for your ultimate weapon?" Fox studio exec Richard Zanuck agreed. Heston hoped that would end the series. This turned out not to be the case, since three additional sequels were made by APJAC Productions. An alternate script idea was for Taylor to escape with Nova and father a race of intelligent humans.

The project was originally offered to up and coming actor Burt Reynolds who turned down the film. The film had its budget reduced and went through extensive rewrites including one by star James Franciscus to help clarify the actions of and give depth to the character of Brent. Director Ted Post also spent considerable time working on the script writing numerous memos to Associate Producer Mort Abrahams suggesting story ideas to fix some of the narrative problems in Paul Dehn's script. According to screenwriter Dehn the idea for "Beneath" came about from the end of the first movie which suggested that New York City was buried underground.

Roddy McDowall could not return for his role in this sequel, because he was in Scotland directing Tam Lin. Actor David Watson portrays Cornelius through most of the film.

Orson Welles was offered the role of General Ursus, but he turned it down. The part ultimately went to James Gregory. The most famous line he would speak in the film was "The only good human is a dead human!!" In an interview with Phantom of the Movies' Videoscope magazine, Gregory noted that he often signed publicity photos of himself as Ursus with that phrase.

The sets of the mutant's council chamber and the temple of the bomb were redresses of the Grand Central – 42nd Street station and hotel lobby sets from the film Hello, Dolly! Contrary to myth, the council chamber set was not redressed as a pool in the movie Superman as Beneath was filmed in the United States and Superman was filmed entirely in the United Kingdom (with the exception of some location shooting in Canada and New York City and some background plates of desert land). The pool set was later used again in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Last Action Hero.

Novelization

The novelization of the film by Michael Avallone retained the original scripted ending. Brent does not kill General Ursus. Taylor confronts him and Dr. Zaius. As Taylor tries to reason with Zaius, Zaius condemns him and Ursus repeatedly shoots Taylor with his pistol; Brent's rifle empties and the gorillas kill him. Ursus is horrified, telling Zaius that he has emptied the pistol into Taylor; he should be dead, but he still lives. Knowing he is dying, Taylor (after Zaius refuses to help him) decides to stop the violence by detonating the bomb. This he does, destroying the Earth itself.

Reception

Beneath the Planet of the Apes grossed $18,999,718 at the box office. The film holds an 41% "Rotten" approval rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 22 reviews.

External links

• Beneath the Planet of the Apes at IMDb
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes at AllMovie
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes at Rotten Tomatoes
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes at Box Office Mojo