Beneath The Planet Of The Apes

Starring:Tod Andrews, Victor Buono, Don Pedro Colley, Jeff Corey, Maurice Evans, Thomas Gomez, James Gregory, Linda Harrison, Kim Hunter, Paul E. Richards, Gregory Sierra, Natalie Trundy, Lou Wagner, James Franciscus, Charlton Heston, David Watson
Director: Ted Post
Product Type: DVD

Description

Disk 1: *Planet of the Apes ('68)

Disk 2: *Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Disk 3: *Conquest for the Planet of the Apes

Disk 4: *Battle for the Planet of the Apes

Disk 5: *Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Disk 6: *Behind the Planet of the Apes (bonus disc) *Documentary ?Behind the Planet of the Apes? *Planet of the Apes trailer *Beneath the Planet of the Apes trailer *Escape from the Planet of the Apes trailer *Conquest of the Planet of the Apes trailer *Battle for the Planet of the Apes trailer *Planet of the Apes Cross Promotion trailer *TV Spot for Behind the Planet of the Apes *Fox Interactive Presents: Behind the Scenes of the Planet of the Apes game

Customer Reviews:

Hard to rate a mixed bag, but these films are fun nevertheless.......2007-06-07

Like the Airport Terminal Pack (Airport/Airport '75/Airport '77/Airport '79 - The Concord) the "Planet of the Apes" film series widely ranges in quality. ALL of them are fun enough to watch, however, the last two are extremely campy and very poorly made.

Back in the day when producers made sequels, prior to the VCR/DVD era, the films consistently earned less money with each sequel; therefore, less money was spent on each sequel as the expected turnout and revenues would be less. That is not the case today with the VCR/DVD generation wherein if people missed a film in the theaters, they could rent or purchase it later. This meant a larger audience for a film as it would have, in a sense, multiple releases: first would be the actual theater release, then the plain first edition on VCR/DVD within about six months, then followed by a "special edition" the next year, and then a "director's cut", and "special extended version" followed, and so on. This allows for a film to get a larger following; therefore, sequels and prequels have become big business. This means producers put more money into these films now than they did before to pull in not only the established fans of the film series, but also new fans who may have just caught up with the series by renting or purchasing the prior films.

With that having been said it should be no surprise at all that these films range widely in quality and effort as they were before the VCR/DVD era. Below are my ratings for each film and in the correct order of their release (the disk order is NOT correct in the package):

***** Planet of the Apes: An absolute classic sci-fi film with good special effects and set designs (even by today's standards) and solid performances by all, most notably Roddy McDowell who was in all the films and the short-lived TV series, Kim Hunter, and Maurice Evans who had to portray emotions with their voice, eyes and hand gestures moreso than other actors because of the heavy make-up they wear which is outstanding.

*** Beneath the Planet of the Apes: The effects and make-up are still very good and so is the acting, but the storyline is rather bizarre, convoluted, and just doesn't seem to fit with the Apes series real well.

****Escape From the Planet of the Apes: I loved this sequel which reverses the storyline by having the intelligent talking apes back in our present day rather than in their future world. Naturally, this saved the producers lots of money by only having to put make up on only two actors rather than many. The performances are top-notch by McDowell and Hunter who continue their roles from the first two ape films.

Both the "The Conquest of" and final entry "The Battle for the Planet of the Apes" are cinematic disasters for which I give them both **. The make up had been reduced to laughable rubber masks and the special effects consisted of terrible paintings, obvious minatures, and flimsy cardboard sets. Roddy McDowell's performance had become somewhat pedestrian in the title role by these two final films, but his voice and delivery was always pleasant to the ear. These two films do, however, continue the storyline which ends up explaining how Earth eventually became The Planet of the Apes. To me, that's an important part of any sequel and why I gave these films two stars and not one or zero.

The bonus disk on looking over the "Apes" series is hosted by McDowell, who always looked great for his age, and sadly he died shortly thereafter from cancer. This special was done to re-introduce the "Ape" films to a new generation just prior to the release of the Ape films on tape/DVD and the planned release of the remake by Tim Burton (Planet of the Apes (Special Edition) which was surprisingly original and in many ways superior to the original film with Charlten Heston who has a cameo in the remake.

In any event and in spite of the wide ranging quality of these films the entire series is worth owning and the sequels do build on each other and tell a coherent story (not counting the silly second entry into the series even though the third film still builds upon it). I highly recommend this set and the remake by Burton as well.

The Greatest SC-FI Saga Before Star Wars.......2007-04-19

Planet of the Apes is a legendary SC-FI masterpiece, that made film history & was another smash hit for the legendary Charlton Heston and thats not all, it was followed by 4 sequels spanning across time of ape's place on the planet. Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes & Battle for the Planet of the Apes" all 5 classics boxed in one legacy collection to go ape over. The films star Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Linda Harrison, Ricardo Montalban, James Franciscus & Maurice Evans. If you're a SC-FI fan, this is must have collection.

An amazing collection at an even better price!.......2007-03-01

I can't believe you get all of the movies plus a behind-the-scenes documentary, all for only $25.00! The DVD quality is outstanding, and the movies are timeless. You will not be disappointed if you buy this collection.

All the movies plus a bonus.......2007-02-14

The Planet of the Apes movies were some of my favorites during the Vietnam war years; some I liked better than others, but all of them had a political statement (whether you agreed or not). Racism, the Bomb, mankind destroying itself, it was all there.

I was very happy to be able to find this set, not only for the movies, but for the sixth DVD on the background, from Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel, La planète des singes, through the making of the films, to the final movie; the last DVD is extremely informative and interesting.

I highly recommend this set.

Great Concepts, Great Characters, Classic Moments, Chilling Possibilities.......2007-01-28

I rank the original "Planet Of The Apes" series very high among the plentiful output of science fiction movies of their era. Although the special effects are not brilliant by today's standards (compensated for somewhat by the quality designs of what they were trying to capture, even if the execution seems somewhat hampered in retrospect) and the action sequences are occasionnally rather low-impact, the strengths of the series - a great, thought-provoking and memorable story that weaves through all five movies; solid and impressive characters among both human and ape; a nice job on the photography; and mind-blowing endings to most of the movies; make up for any shortcomings.

The endings have become legendary, especially the finale to the first movie (which I'm certainly not going to give away here, in case anyone reading this is among the 22 or so people on the planet who don't yet know it; they even used to have the final shot on the Cover of one of the editions of the boxed set, for crying out loud). The secrets of the conclusions to "Beneath The Planet Of The Apes" and "Escape From The Planet Of The Apes", however, aren't nearly as well-known by people who haven't seen the movies yet, which is good, because it gives one a chance to have some of the surprises unhampered by foreknowledge. The end moments of "Escape", in particular, are haunting, the kind of thing that can give one chills just remembering it.

It's hard to talk to much about the latter movies in the saga without giving away far too much. The original, "Planet Of The Apes" has Earth astronauts making an emergency crash-landing on an unknown world, where it turns out that apes, not humans, are the dominant species. Captured, the humans - indigineous to the planet but very primitive, in addition to the more scientifically advanced spacefarers - find themselves imprisoned in wooden cages (rudimentary equivelents to the barren metal cages of old, pre-'simulated natural habitat' zoos?). The apes of the world are diverse - there are some who view the human population as mindless beasts without rights, while others are sympathetic to the humans's plight. There is also considerable friction between the three races of apes - gorillas, orangitans, and chimpanzees (notice quite a few real-world parralells yet?).

The series - which continues through "Beneath...", "Escape...", "Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes" and "Battle For The Planet Of The Apes" (disc 6 in the collection is a behind-the-scenes documentary) has some recurring characters, continues to introduce new ones, introduces new concepts and layers and twists to the concept. By the 4th and 5th entries, the series is admittedly losing some steam, but judged on their own each of those is still a good movie. Great price, too. Any fan of adventure movies, science fiction, or movies that offer volumes of fodder for thought and dream, should consider picking this set of classics up.

Average customer rating:

this was a very enjoyable movie
Beneath the Planet of the apes
Bizarre, this one.
"It's Doooooooooomsday!!!"
Top Movie

Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Starring: James Franciscus , Kim Hunter , Maurice Evans , Linda Harrison , and Paul Richards
Director: Ted Post
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (Widescreen Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

ASIN: B000E6ESDK
Release Date: 2006-03-28

Amazon.com

The second--and most horrifying--of the five Planet of the Apes movies, this film goes where few end-of-the-world movies ever dare tread. It's the far future. The mass of humanity has descended into speechless savagery, kept as captive animals by the talking apes who have inherited the world. Two astronauts from our time have landed here, retracing the path of their lost comrade, Captain Taylor (Charlton Heston). Unfortunately, they've landed in the middle of a grim situation. Warlike gorillas are preparing to eliminate the last shards of shattered human civilization, a degenerate, subterranean cult worshipping the greatest of all human achievements--the cobalt bomb. As well as rescuing Taylor, the two men have to stop the gorillas from wiping out humanity ... and stop humanity from fulfilling their self-appointed, self-destructive destiny. This is both thrill-a-minute science fiction and a surprisingly deep reflection on the human condition. Plus, it's got lots of guys in really keen ape suits. --Grant Balfour

Description

In the acclaimed sequel to Planet of the Apes, another astronaut (James Franciscus) crashes through the time barrier searching for the missing Taylor (Charlton Heston). The daring rescue leads to a subterranean city where mutant humans, who practice mind control, worship a weapon capable of destroying the entire planet. Both an action-oriented science-fiction adventure and a wry commentary on today's world, it's imaginative entertainment for fantasy buffs of all ages.

Customer Reviews:

this was a very enjoyable movie.......2007-06-18

i liked this movie a lot and have a copy of the dvd at home unlike the original movie it does not have much of charlton heston in it

Beneath the Planet of the apes .......2007-05-14

Good movie. I have all the movie from the planet of the apes and this one is one of the best from the set.

Bizarre, this one........2006-08-25

You've got to hand it to these guys -- Beneath Planet of the Apes is a unrelentingly bleak bloodbath of a movie, one that not only features bizarre races of evolved earthlings in a battle royale -- but creates a haunting atmosphere that many a subsequent film would be proud to pull off. It's a lot of fun and a lot better than I would have thought given its endless re-runs on KPTV 12. As early-70s sociological sci-fi it's tops.

"It's Doooooooooomsday!!!".......2006-05-15

After the spellbinding revelation of the original Planet of the Apes, the sequel (and subsequent sequels in the landmark series) seemed critically doomed to suffer from substandard mediocrity in the wake of its apocalyptic aftermath, yet Beneath the Planet of the Apes endures as one of the most reverent science fiction films among faithful fans of the series. A seriously flawed, yet brilliantly misunderstood masterpiece that remains as an important testament to behold. What could not be topped by Planet of the Apes' unsurpassable climax, could only be subverted by going beneath it... literally.

After Charlton Heston compromised with producers to only briefly reprise his role as Taylor in the sequel, James Franciscus takes the lead as Astronaut Brent. While Franciscus gives a very strong and worthwhile performance, his character still suffers at the expense of being a poor-man's Taylor. The first half of the film reiterates a lot of the exposition of the first film to bring Brent's character up to speed as he travels with the beautiful Linda Harrison as the mute slave Nova into the Forbidden Zone to find Taylor who mysteriously vanished into a mirage at the beginning of the film. As Brent and Nova begin their descent beneath the subterranean caverns of a post-apocalyptic city, the film takes a much darker and cerebral turn that is both disturbingly bizarre and brutally nihilistic. Brent, while under the telepathic mind-control of the under-dwelling society of mutated humans, shockingly tries to kill innocent Nova... twice. The malevolent Mutants reveal themselves to be a cult of hideously deformed worshippers of an atomic bomb who give praise to its awesome destructive power at an eerie mass in their tabernacle as they prepare for the inevitable confrontation against the surface-dwelling Simians who have ruled over the planet ever since it was ravaged by the inferno of nuclear holocaust two millenia prior and the final battle for control of the Planet of the Apes will be determined by its prophetic Earth-shattering outcome.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes detonates with a shockwave of suspense that reached its apotheosis at the end of the first film and radiates unstoppably towards an inexorable conclusion at the end of the second. A brilliantly twisted and hauntingly cerebral sequel which may have proven itself to have been too intense and intellectual for its G-rated audience who were simply engrossed by the film's adventurous fantasy and captivated by the ape-like wonder of its characters. It would be almost impossible today for a major studio to gamble on making what was considered to be a franchise-killing installment because of its powerfully subversive imagery and socio-political narrative which ironically gives Beneath its characteristically unique dynamic not only as a worthy and important follow-up to its classic predescessor, but a relevant and enduring testament of historic science fiction cinema.

Top Movie.......2006-05-06

The first part of the movie starts out with a spaceship wreck(cool how it's sprawled across the landscape like that) and a horrifing trip through ape city which many people think makes it a pail imitation of the original, but that is not the main part of the movie. After getting chased by the apes, Astronaut Bret(James Fransiscus) and Nova(Linda Harrrison) end up in an underground city and this is where the plot thickens and gets interesting. Heston makes a brief appearence and takes the show to a dramatic end. The ending is a part i didnt like where they all died...seemed a bit silly realy.Especially how Taylor had managed to survive through so much.I hope i didnt spoil the ending for anyone but i thought it sucked.
Being that said it still is quite a good movie,and exciting.

Average customer rating:

this was a very enjoyable movie
Beneath the Planet of the apes
Bizarre, this one.
"It's Doooooooooomsday!!!"
Top Movie

Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Starring: James Franciscus , Kim Hunter , Maurice Evans , Linda Harrison , and Paul Richards
Director: Ted Post
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (Widescreen Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

ASIN: B000EBIOOE

Amazon.com

Description

Customer Reviews:

this was a very enjoyable movie.......2007-06-18

i liked this movie a lot and have a copy of the dvd at home unlike the original movie it does not have much of charlton heston in it

Beneath the Planet of the apes .......2007-05-14

Good movie. I have all the movie from the planet of the apes and this one is one of the best from the set.

Bizarre, this one........2006-08-25

"It's Doooooooooomsday!!!".......2006-05-15

Top Movie.......2006-05-06

Average customer rating:

Good Movie
My Favorite of the 5
Nihilistic Weirdness is surprisingly subversive.
A Movie Reacted Too Differently by Different Viewers!!
"The only good human is a dead human"

Beneath The Planet Of The Apes

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Sci-Fi Action | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (Widescreen Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Behind the Planet of the Apes

ASIN: B0001QNNS4

Product Description

The second installment in the Planet of Apes series. Here, an earthling sent to find the astronauts of the original film discovers not only a world of intelligent, talking apes, but an underground cult of grotesque "humans" who are the survivors of a nuclear blast years ago. Unfortunately, these mutants worship a nuclear bomb, a weapon which not only is the centerpiece of their society, but can be detonated at any time...

Customer Reviews:

Good Movie.......2006-03-01

Let me just say that 'Nova' is played by the actress Linda Harrison who must certainly be the most beautiful woman ever on screen....she's absolutely beautiful and her body in this movie is perfect without compare.

geez

Good movie.

My Favorite of the 5.......2006-02-10

This movie, the second in the series, has everything: Time traveling astronauts, near naked women, and a city of mutant humans with telepathic powers who inahbit the ruined New York subway system, singing church hymns to a doomsday bomb that protects them from an army of walking, talking apes with guns.

I loved the first movie, but for some reason, this more bizarre sequel appeals to me a bit more. The original gave us some of the most memorable lines in movie history -"get your stinkin' paws off me you damn dirty ape"-, but this sequel gave us some of the greatest visuals-the church scene, the unmasking, the bomb going off.

After this, the third and fourth movies really take a dive and were dissapointing at best. The fifth redeems the series, but isn't as good as the first two.

Nihilistic Weirdness is surprisingly subversive........2005-10-23

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The first film is still awesome; But the 2nd one was always my favorite. It has strange desert locations, odd melted cityscapes, telepathic mutants who worship a "doomsday bomb";It has more of Linda Harrison of the fabled fur bikini; It has both Chuck Heston and James Franciscus in loincloths! It has naked apes in steam-baths! I was always shocked by the nihilistic and super-violent ending when I saw this film as a child and watching it again i am surprised to find it still rather abrupt and shocking--the climax is a stunner. The director, Ted Post, also directed the 2nd of the Dirty Harry films and he shows a Peckinpah-like ability to "put the sting back in Death".

What is amusing today is watching the film conclude, as it does, with James Franciscus pinned to a wall with bullet holes stitched across his chest and forehead and Chuck Heston clutching his bloody fingers to the "button" thus leading to the complete destruction of the ENTIRE PLANET...and then an old MPAA rating pops up immediately...telling you you have just witnessed a G-Rated film! The times-they-are-a-changing!

A Movie Reacted Too Differently by Different Viewers!!.......2005-06-07

+++++

(Note that this review is for this movie on DVD that was released by 20TH Century Fox.)

This movie is the sequel to the blockbuster "Planet of the Apes" (1968). Essentially, it is about an astronaut named Brent (James Franciscus) who is sent on a mission to find out what happened to the astronauts who were sent on a mission (the first mission) before him.

This sequel starts off with a flashback to the concluding 10 minutes of the original movie. Doing this serves to remind the viewer what happened and for those who never saw the previous movie, to orientate them. In the final moment of this flashback, we have the two main human characters of the original movie, Taylor the commander of the first mission (Charlton Heston) and the mute woman he befriends named Nova (Linda Harrison), ride off together on horseback to the "Forbidden Zone" (a vast and barren area on this "unknown planet."). It is here that Taylor mysteriously vanishes while exploring. Nova, though horrified at Taylor's sudden disappearance, continues riding on horseback.

It is at this point that Brent's spaceship crash lands in the Forbidden Zone in the year 3955. By an incredible stroke of luck, Brent encounters the mute Nova riding on horseback and he discovers that she knew Taylor. Thus, Brent knows he's on the right track to finding him.

The movie at this point is essentially a condensed version of original movie and lasts for about 45 minutes. Brent and Nova get captured by gorilla hunters and in captivity encounter the friendly chimpanzee scientists Cornelius (David Watson) and Zira (Kim Hunter) as well as the stern orangutan High Minister of Science and Religion Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans). Brent and Nova, however, escape and have to go underground (thus the word "Beneath" in the movie title) to evade the hunting gorillas. It should be mentioned the gorillas in this movie have become more militaristic and want to expand their land ownership into the Forbidden Zone. (Dr. Zaius will lead them.) We get an idea of the gorilla's view of humans when a general of the gorilla military named Ursus (James Gregory) says:

"The only good human is a dead human."

It is in this underground world that Brent and Nova meet human mutants who have special mind powers and worship "a souvenir from the twentieth century." Brent and Nova finally meet Taylor (who was captured by these mutants). As well, the apes have managed to penetrate this underground world. This leads to a violent and somewhat surprising ending.

Those who have not seen the previous movie should enjoy this one. It is filled with action and some good special effects. James Franciscus gives, I feel, a solid performance. Charlton Heston, even though he has limited time on-screen (about 25 minutes), also gives a good performance.

Viewers who have not seen the original movie might give this sequel a rating of (5) stars.

Those who have seen the previous movie will have some problems with this movie. Here, I feel, are some of the main problems:

(1) Brent in this sequel landed on this planet in 3955. According to the original movie, Taylor lands in 3978. In other words, Brent landed 23 years too early when Taylor was still back on Earth!
(2) Zira and Cornelius have only bit parts in this sequel. In the original movie, they had richer and more interesting parts.
(3) Roddy McDowall play Cornelius in the original movie. Contrary to what the other reviews say, he does appear in this movie during the opening flashback scene. As this sequel proceeds, David Watson takes over the role of Cornelius. I found this distracting. Since McDowall was not available, they should have written Cornelius' small part out of this movie.
(4) Dr. Zaius is not nearly the same stern and interesting high official he was in the original movie. He's more like an intellectual gorilla in this movie.
(5) The amazing music of the original movie has been replaced with the more strained music of this sequel.
(6) The fantastic ape make-up of the original movie looks like it has been replaced with masks in this sequel.
(7) The late, great Rod Serling was a screenplay writer for the original movie. You can tell he had no input in the writing of this sequel.
(8) In the opening credits, we're told that this sequel is based on the characters created by Pierre Boulle. This is not absolutely correct. There were no human mutants in Boulle's novel.

Those who previously viewed this movie might give this sequel a rating of (2.5) stars.

My rating of this movie will be an average of the two above ratings and will be shown below.

Finally, there is a sequel to this sequel called "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" (1971). It is available on DVD.

In conclusion, this is a sequel that will be reacted too differently by different viewers. Those who have not seen the original movie should enjoy this movie!!

*** 3/4

(1970; 100 min; widescreen)

+++++

"The only good human is a dead human".......2005-05-26

I hate to tell my age but I saw this in the 70's when it was under
rereleased in the "GO APE" festival. And as with the original this
sequel gets better with each viewing Also for a low budget film it
still had great set designs & the cast which includes most of it's
star players from the first on a minus note they lost McDowell's
"Cornelius" but on the plus side you get James Gregory as "General
Ursus" who adds a great hammyness and for my money probably one of
more memorable characters in the series. Most follow ups rarely do
justice when matched up to thier precessor but I feel that the film
did answer the question of what was beyond the "forbidden zone"
and you can't beat that final solution ending voiced by the one
and only Paul Frees.

Planet of the Apes (2001) / Planet of the Apes - The Evolution (Complete Film Series) / Planet of the Apes - The Complete TV Series

Average customer rating:

Planet of the Apes (2001) / Planet of the Apes - The Evolution (Complete Film Series) / Planet of the Apes - The Complete TV Series
Starring: Mark Wahlberg , Tim Roth , Helena Bonham Carter , Michael Clarke Duncan , and Paul Giamatti
Director: Tim Burton , Franklin J. Schaffner , and Ted Post
Manufacturer: Twentieth Century Fox Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

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Sci-Fi & Fantasy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( P ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000067NNH
Release Date: 2002-05-28

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