In a futuristic world that has embraced ape slavery, Caesar, the son of the late simians Cornelius and Zira, surfaces after almost twenty years of hiding out from the authorities, and prepares for a slave revolt against humanity.Screenwriter Paul Dehn wrote the film incorporating references to the racial conflicts in North America during the early 1970s. This is evident, as the theme is about apes becoming servants and slaves. Now, it is not really explained how the chimpanzees go from being normal chimps to the more humanoid apes we see in this film. But I guess we are supposed to just pretend these are all real chimps.The message is a bit strong, but maybe made more sense at the time. Today it seems like they tried too hard and it almost seems silly.

I am going back and revisiting the Apes films from the original series. I had only seen the first three before and so this is the first time I am seeing it and WOW. 'Conquest' is a violent shift in tone. The 'Apes' films were always sort of political but this one is on a whole other level. The story finds Caesar, son of Zira and Cornellius, grown to manhood in a dystopian future where apes are used as slaves. Over the course of the film he is constantly abused and goes mad and leads an ape revolution. This is a dark and angry film and it's hard to believe Fox didn't get scared and cut the thing even more so than it is (the ending is butchered in the editing room). Its hard not to infer Marxist metaphor in the story of Caesar's revolution and his hatred of slavery. Does it work? Yes and no. Roddy McDowell gets a far more juicier role to the play. He's great. The movie isn't fun though. There's no sense of humor or camp value to anything. It just gets kind of depressing seeing men in ape costumes endure abuse. I suppose it achieves everything it sets out to do but camp fun and self aware humor is what made this series. The original is a very funny and biting satire despite it's political undertones. This one is 100% earnest.

20 years after the events of "Escape from the Planet of the Apes", circus owner Armando (Ricardo Montalban) is trying to help Caesar (Roddy McDowall), the offspring of the late Cornelius and Zira, attain freedom, knowing full well that his power of speech will mark him as dangerous to the future of man. Of course, things naturally go from bad to worse in a hurry. The story shows how in the year 1983, all cats and dogs died off, and apes replaced them as family pets. But the apes evolved and grew a great deal in eight years, and mans' inhumanity to his fellow creatures has turned many apes into mistreated slaves. Ultimately, Caesar will lead a revolt."Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" is a typically interesting entry in this generally well regarded series. Some people will inevitably be turned off by the grisly violence (which is even more pronounced in the unrated version), but those with stronger stomachs will find this to be a rousing and potent entertainment. It's not exactly subtle about its themes, and messages, but it proves to be utterly compelling just the same. One can't help but side with the apes, and despise human villains such as hard-driving, ape-hating Governor Breck (Don Murray) and his flunky Kolp (Severn Darden). It's very well paced, clocking in at a reasonable 87 minutes (88 minutes in unrated form), and has some well staged action. It gets off to quite an energetic start, and offers little in the way of let-up. The viewer easily sides with the apes, and enthusiastically cheers them on. It may be uncomfortable to witness their ultimate blood lust, but it's still understandable.McDowall is great as usual. His final monologue is pretty powerful. Murray is rather over the top, but is also amusing with the way that he over enunciates words at times. Montalban is so wonderful that you miss the character once he's written out of the story. Hari Rhodes is excellent as a man named MacDonald, who more than anybody understands where the apes are coming from. Familiar faces in small roles include John Randolph, John Dennis, and Gordon Jump. Supporting player Lou Wagner was a series veteran; Buck Kartalian had also appeared in the classic original film.Very well directed by J. Lee Thompson, this is solid entertainment that offers a scathing indictment of human ignorance, bigotry, and fear.Eight out of 10.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is the fourth of the Apes series. It is my third favorite of the films and a pretty dark and entertaining film.Armando takes Caesar to the city where Caesar witnesses how humans mistreat apes. Caesar curses at a few humans who torture a chimpanzee and Armando takes the blame for it since any ape who can talk would be known to be the offspring of Zira and Cornelius. Eventually Caesar starts to lead a ape rebellion.I like the story and tone of this film. It is set in a cold dark setting so that makes you want to root for Caesar. It is definitely the darkest of the first five ape films and has a lot of parts that might disturb younger audiences. I kind of like how dark it is, I always was a fan of darker films sometimes.Another thing this film has going for it is that Roddy McDowall returns to play Caesar this time. Its cool that he plays Caesar as he also played Cornelius so he is playing his own son. He gives one of his best performances in this film, maybe his best from the apes series. Roddy is always great in these films.Supporting characters are OK. I liked Mcdonalds character as he sympathizes with the apes. Also Ricardo Montalbon is great again as Armando. The rest of the characters are OK. Nothing too special.Towards the end this film has some good action packed scenes. But they really lead up to it and build suspense as you see the apes start rebelling and smuggling weapons.A few complaints. Some of the apes in the background clearly are just wearing masks. Caesar and the main apes look great, but not all of them do. That was probably due to budget restraints though. Also like I said before there are some pretty dark parts that show apes being tortured so I don't think this is the most kid friendly ape film. Its not the worst thing out there, but from the first five it definitely has the most disturbing scenes with torture.Overall I really liked this film. It is dark and that makes it stand out. Roddy McDowall is also great. I recommend it.