RODDY MCDOWALL IN 'ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES'

Roddy McDowall in Escape from the Planet of the Apes Year: 1971 Score for ESCAPE: ***** Score for BENEATH: *

The title ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES hardly fits the actual original third APES vehicle since we begin with them having already landed in the current earth's 1973 ocean/beach, so there's no actual literal escape except what's explained later... and really, what this is an escape from is Charlton Heston's ludicrous demand to — in the second feature BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES not worthy enough to even be reviewed — have the world blow up from a worshiped nuclear warhead, mounted by a cult of zombie-like humans while the b-story above involves warring gorillas as the chimpanzees remain neutral...

Well actually, they were also pretty busy since franchise stars Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter as Cornelius and Zira with an even smarter scientist in Sal Mineo's Dr. Milo had rebuilt Heston as Taylor's original spaceship, thus explaining how they arrived to present-day Earth... a brilliant idea to restart the series from scratch as ESCAPE is the original 1968 classic in reverse...

Roddy McDowall in ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES with Kim Hunter & Sal Mineo

Instead of a lone human in a world where apes reign and verbally communicate in the English language while primitive humans cannot, the first act has the astronaut trio — having met friendly/helpful humans Bradford Dillman and Natalie Trundy as veterinarian psychologists — become what poor Taylor never amounted to, since the ape world of the first movie was basically a prehistoric future, lacking the means that turn these talking chimps... soon only McDowall and Hunter... into beloved celebrities, from televised meetings to worldwide television news...

The best scenes have Cornelius and Zira adapting into the 1970's era... from experiencing boxing matches to giving feminist speeches... where it's both outwardly comedic and underline suspenseful: the latter because of a truly formidable villain in the White House's science-chief Eric Braeden as Dr. Otto Hasslein...

Roddy McDowall in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

His professional interplay and cool manner toward the chimps begins somewhat politely, ultimately thrust into an exploitation style showdown at an abandoned shipyard... yet his previous scenes, like a standout moment debating his president employer William Windom on the difference between political euthanasia and outright murder, provides a similar brand of cerebral philosophy from the original, only without a preachy message involved...

While Francis J. Schaffner's groundbreaking PLANET OF THE APES is still the greatest of the APES franchise, ESCAPE... directed in a briskly economical pace by former NAKED CITY actor Don Taylor... is the best since its primary goal — beyond igniting the further adventures leading to an inevitable simian uprising — is to simply (yet still deeply) entertain. 

Kim Hunter in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Roddy McDowall in Escape from the Planet of the Apes with Kim Hunter & Sal Mineo

Kim Hunter in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Kim Hunter in Escape from the Planet of the Apes with Bradford Dillman

Kim Hunter in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Bradford Dillman and Natalie Trundy in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Roddy McDowall in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Eric Braeden in Escape from the Planet of the Apes with John Randolph

Eric Braeden in Escape from the Planet of the Apes with Bill Bonds

Kim Hunter in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

William Windom in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Albert Salmi in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Kim Hunter in Escape from the Planet of the Apes with Jason Evers & Roddy McDowall

Eric Braeden in Escape from the Planet of the Apes with Bradford Dillman & Jason Evers

Eric Braeden in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Roddy McDowall in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Harry Lauter and M. Emmett Walsh in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

M. Emmett Walsh and Roddy McDowall in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Harry Lauter and M. Emmett Walsh in Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Roddy McDowall in Escape from the Planet of the Apes with Ricardo Montalban