Is CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Good or Nah? First Time Watching/REACTION!

[@derworfnet]

The original cut of this movie was more brutal and it ended with the Apes bludgeoning Breck to death. It didn’t go over to well in a test screening and so, to make it more marketable, the ending was redone even though no money was available to do so: Roddy McDowall recorded an addition to his speech where he orders the apes to lower their weapons, deciding that they can afford to be humane, and the speech was put to screen using editing tricks (including footage played backwards in one case)

[@craigmarin2074]

On the bluray they show the original ending the word "No" and the following part of speech not there. Ends with Apes beating humans to death

[@tofersiefken]

Roddy McDowall was a huge influence in my childhood because of his work in this franchise. I also enjoyed his role in a short-lived "Sliders" styled television series The Fantastic Journey (1977).

[@RandySmith-e6s]

Fantastic Journey is on dvd i bought it

[@Shilohpreston]

Thanks for continuing watching this franchise. Don Murray has his debut in 1956 in "Bus Stop", film with Marilyn Monroe. Natalie Trundy here plays the one Cesar loves (she playes the same role in "Battle for the planet of the Apes". J. Lee Thompson - the director also directed f.ex. ""The Guns of Navarona" (1961) based on Alistair MacLean's novel, starring Gregory Peck, original "Cafe Fear" (1962) starrring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum, "Battle for the Planet of the Apes", slasher movie "Happy Birthday To Me" (1981) and "King Solomon's Mines" (1985) starring Richard Chamberlaine and Sharon Stone. Looking forward for your reaction to "Death Becomes Her". Nice new place you have there. Are you planning to watch some movies from my list? ff. The movie has two endings: firstly it was about to end when Caesar says "now!!", but the Warner Bros owners said it's too brutal as all those people except MacDonald were killed (Breck's body wasn't shown). So they told the scriptwriter to add "No" by the female Ape and the other part of Ceasar's speach. The original ending was released on DVD many years later.

[@beanheaddd3764]

Conquest was my favourite as a kid

[@RealRecognizeReel]

Me too. Still is.

[@dunringill1747]

I'm glad you are going through this franchise. The low budget and limited special effects of the day means we get more of our story through dialog and speculation. Social commentary remains strong through the entire franchise. IMPORTANT POINTS: History has changed. We are seeing an alternate timeline. We learned from 'Escape' that Aldo the Gorilla was the first ape to say "NO!" Aldo led the Ape Rebellion. That led to the future we saw in the 1st & 2nd movie. Now it isn't Aldo leading the rebellion. It is Caesar. When Aldo said "No!" it was out of hatred. Here we see the female chimp say "no." but for a completely different reason. It was clear she disliked the violence and saw how dark Caesar had become. The female chimp said "no" out of compassion for humans. She moved Caesar to lessen his anger and speak from a more compassionate position toward humanity. SPECULATION: The space virus that wiped out dogs and cats may have had an effect on apes and man as well. The servant training alone doesn't really explain how the apes are becoming more intelligent. The training alone doesn't explain why apes would physically develop the ability to speak. Apes seem to have lost much of their prodigious strength and walk more upright. We saw from the first movie that Taylor was able to physically match the apes of the future. In 'Conquest' we saw the governor able to match strength with some of the apes. Perhaps the space virus had an effect on humans as well? Perhaps the virus is slowly affecting our ability to talk and think? We didn't seen to have much strategy against Caesar's rebellion.

[@bsharp3281]

The story behind production reveals how difficult it was to make this movie. It's worth checking out 😊

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

You've certainly matured in a good way over the past 2 years ! Very nice video and review!

[@Thewingkongexchange]

'Conquest' is arguably the best sequel. I saw this as a kid and loved it. Wish they'd gone with the darker ending though.

[@IggyStardust1967]

Okay, second reply to answer your questions: 2:05 - Ceasar was the only "advanced" ape, but if you think about the "virus" from the newest trilogy, it could be said that it spread amongst the apes once he'd made contact with some, which could explain how they not only "got smarter", but grew to a more "human-like" stature over the 18 years since Zira and Cornelius arrived. It's also possible that the variant from 2000 years in the future no longer affects humans like it did at the start. Now do you see why I believe the new trilogy (well, quadrilogy?) could be the "original timeline" before Taylor's ship arrived back on Earth, setting the events of these movies off and creating a new timeline? That's my "head canon", and I'm happy with it. Also, yeah, the studio kept cutting the budget for these movies, despite their repeated successes. It was because they kept putting out other movies that didn't do well at the box office. 3:05 - Yeah, there was a "name change", if you think back to the previous movie. Zira wanted to name him "Milo" after the chimp that died at the zoo's infirmary. However, "Ceasar" is a much more appropriate name. 3:40 - Humans have always desired "free labor", and since the apes aren't human, laws against such things as slavery can be gotten around, since "human rights" are reserved for humans. (A Star Trek: Next Generation episode touched on that, too, referring to "disposable beings to do the dangerous jobs")... also, have you noticed yet that North America has become a bit on the "fascist" side of things? 4:42 - Fun fact: The ape that looks back at Ceasar is played by Natalie Trundy, who played a mutant human in Beneath, and "Stevie", one of the vets in Escape. Here, she is playing "Lisa". 4:50 - In this timeline, cigarettes had been rendered "carcinogen free", which is why that woman said that. Which, if you think about it, takes the danger (hence, the "fun") out of smoking them. 5:10 - Zelda was doing as apes do.... checking her hair for fleas. (No, I'm not joking) 5:25 - Humans protesting about apes taking their jobs away. (I wish I was joking about that) 7:45 - Spoken like slave masters of olden times... Also, when one of the guards said that McDonald was sympathetic to the ape slavery, he said, "Don't it figure?" He was referring to slavery in the US, and noting that "of course he's sympathetic to them... his ancestors were slaves." 8:23 - Not yet... they are being sent to "Ape Management" to be "conditioned" (trained) before being sold to humans. You'll see in a few minutes. But also, Ceasar made an error in judgment here, since the Orangutans were being imported from (the country then known as) Borneo, and chimpanzees aren't native to that country. Of course, Armando sheltered Ceasar from "the world" for nearly 2 decades, so of course he simply didn't know. 9:09 - They are being "conditioned" to not be affected by such lights, sounds, fire, beatings, etc. This, of course, turns out to be a REALLY bad idea... 9:33 - Negative... they are conditioning them to fear the word "NO!". Absolute negative reinforcement. When a human says, "NO!", it means they are in for a painful experience if they don't comply. 11:40 - You hit the nail on the head. But if you remember, these movies came out during the height of the Civil Rights movement, as well as the rise of Women's equality. Social commentary is pretty heavy in these movies. Remember the chimp protests in Beneath, the "anti-war" stuff? 14:25 - Basically, it's a Lie Detector. 15:45 - If it was a human, it would be "littering", or maybe "disorderly conduct" for overturning a trash can and jumping up and down on the mess that would result in a citation... but when a slave ape does it...... back to Ape Management for reconditioning for you! 21:30 - Going back to the whole "social commentary" subject, this was also a bit of a statement about the Watts riots, and others going on around that time. People were fed up with how they were being treated, and rebelled to a point. IIRC, there were even riots in my home town of Baltimore when I was a young child. There was a lot of social upheaval in the 60s and 70s. 22:15 - When you condition someone to not fear fire.... you can't use fire to defend yourself with. Remember when I said "that was a bad idea"....? 25:20 - The fire is simply to "hide" where the apes actually are. Kinda like what the military uses smoke grenades for in real life. You can't "aim" at a target on the other side of the fire, you have to shoot randomly. Also, I just noticed the sword on the wall behind you. I'm a sword collector, so I'm curious if that's a real weapon, or a replica of something specific? 26:35 - Remember, apes are MUCH stronger than humans. 28:10 - There were actually two endings filmed for this movie. The "original" ending saw the gorillas beating that guy to death. Test audiences had different reactions depending on where they lived. Black audiences loved it, and cheered for his demise, and white audiences were horrified by it. So, a slightly less dark ending was added, where he survived, Lisa said, "N-n-n-no..." which brought Ceasar to his senses. Roddy McDowell recorded his closing monologue, which was over-dubbed on the existing scene which is why you don't see his lips move. Those test audiences truly brought the social commentary to life. Minor spoiler: You'll find out the result of this "revolution" in the next movie... but you probably figured that out already.

[@xavierharris9065]

Nooo!! Do!!! This one is my favorite. I use to say these to my nephews all the time. 😂😂

[@КиануДепп]

6. Planet of the Apes, (1974) ❤❤❤

[@ThePeoplesMic]

This one is the 3rd best in the series to me. It goes 1, 2 & 4 in my opinion. I saw these as a child and was blown away. They still hold up

[@maestro80smusic93]

This one grew on me... One of my favorites of the sequels... Bluray has an R-Rated Director's Cut with a different ending

[@themotleycollector]

I got a life-size bust model of Caesar's head at a garage sale. Incredible lifelike detail (like the makeup in the movie!). Unfortunately, it had his expression near the end of the movie when the riot is taking place. After a week or so of having it on display, I got bothered by the hatred showing in its eyes every time I would catch its glance (like I said, lifelike!). I ended up selling it because I couldn't stand having it around looking at me.

[@joebloggs396]

I thought you'd feel this way and I agree. The good news is the last one brings us back to the more fantasy setting of the first two. Though you'll likely feel the lack of budget with the editing of the action sequences still.

[@pierrevaillancourt1803]

I remember when I was in high school I played hooky and went to the local video store and rented all of the ape movies. Far better use of my time lol

[@tofersiefken]

Before you knew him as Khan Noonien Singh, before you knew him as Mr. Roarke, he was Armando, and he ran a glorious circus with a unique draw.

[@RandySmith-e6s]

this is the best Ape film out of all of them.

[@IggyStardust1967]

Hey, Ollie! Only one more to go (Battle), unless you're going to do the documentary "Behind the Planet of the Apes", which I do recommend, even if it's not for the channel. Question: Are you going to check out the Planet of the Apes television series from that era? It's only like 13 episodes (40 minutes each).... and I can send you a link to the episodes so you can watch them online without a subscription. It's "episodic", where basically each episode is self-contained, but does have a kinda loose overall story arc. I'd be here for it. Roddy McDowell is one of the stars of the show, playing a different chimpanzee other than Cornelius or Ceasar. Minor spoiler: He plays "Galen", who befriends two astronauts (Ron Harper and David Naughton) and end up on the run. The thing is, the series is in a different timeline that these movies. I loved the show as a kid (yes, I watched it when it aired, and still have all of my trading cards from it). You might say, "I went Ape over the franchise". ;)

[@richardvinsen2385]

I had the trading cards too. I’d forgotten all about those.

[@Flappingcluck]

I prefer the original ending, they kill the oppressors and win. But nooooo white amerika was too scared of it

[@tomyoung9049]

It makes more sense they would take him out

[@joshuatitsworth9190]

All the dogs and cats die, and humans decide an animal that can break their femur like a celery stick is a good replacement.

[@redmatter]

Some of these voices are familiar… I think some of these humans played apes in the earlier movies?

[@the-NightStar]

I really like this movie, but I don't like how they altered the original ending from the one they shot.

[@ThomasReeves-s7u]

Lots of mention of the originally intended more militant ending. The Black Power movement et alia I think had made the history of slavery etc more in the public mind by this point. I thought I'd read the original more militant ending was partly changed due to aspects of the climate of the time. (The Black Panthers were still around, "The Republic of New Afrika" looks to have been raided in 1971 leading to a gunfight, etc.) Like concern that the topic of a species or race violently overthrowing their oppressors might be a bit too explosive considering actual 1970s political violence. But it looks like maybe it was just that it tested poorly.

[@Sopmylo]

By the time this came out, the Apes series was seen as kinda forgettable B movies

[@LukeLovesRose]

After the prequel trilogy with Andy Serkis, these movies really seem silly

[@donkfail1]

A little late to this one. I watched your reaction to the first when it "aired" but the other three ape-movie reactions just now. The fifth is the only one I don't like. It felt almost unnecessary unless you see it as the link to make this a five movie timeline loop. In the other sequels they worked around the fact that for every movie the budget was basically cut in half. In the fifth it really showed in a bad way. But I still hope to see a reaction.

[@shallowgal462]

You're right. In the early '70s, they couldn't have anticipated Ronald Reagan becoming President. Under his economic policies, inflation rose higher & faster than it had in a century. Record high.

[@auntvesuvi3872]

Thank you, Oliver! 🦧 I'm glad you more appreciate ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES (1971) in retrospect. CONQUEST definitely has pacing that wouldn't occur in a modern movie. It would benefit from skilled editing.