The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #12-"Escape from the Planet of the Apes"

2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #12

by Xavier E. Palacios

"Escape from the Planet of the Apes"

4 out of 5

Directed by Don Taylor

Rated "G"

In the second sequel to the original Planet of the Apes, the future Earth where talking, intelligent apes dominate dumb, animalistic humans has been destroyed by nuclear conflict between the two species. Salvaging the remains of the spaceship that brought Taylor, the first film's twentieth century protagonist, to this era, only three chimpanzees escape death: the doomed Milo (Sal Mineo) and the husband-and-wife scientists who first befriend Taylor, Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) and Zira (Kim Hunter). The shockwave of the apocalypse has sent their ship two-thousand years into the past; Los Angeles, 1970. At first, Cornelius and Zira are treated as celebrities and respected dignitaries of another time and place. They swiftly befriend fellow scientists Lewis Dixon (Bradford Dillman), Stephanie Branton (Natalie Trundy), and, later, circus leader Armando (Ricardo Montalbán). But when the Federal agent, Dr. Otto Hasslein (Eric Braeden), and his cohorts learn of Zira's pregnancy and uncover the enslaved fate of humankind by the apes, Cornelius, Zira, and their newborn become fugitives, and tragedy draws near.

From The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz, a cherished book I have previously discussed in these film journals:

          Oscar remembers having a dream where a mongoose was chatting with him. Except the        mongoose was the Mongoose.

         What will it be, muchacho? it demanded. More or less?

         And for a moment he almost said less. So tired, and so much pain — Less! Less! Less! — but then in the back of his head he remembered his family. Lola and his mother and Nena Inca. Remembered how he used to be when he was younger and more optimistic. The lunch box next to his bed, the first thing he saw in the morning. Planet of the Apes.

         More, he croaked.

          — — —, said the Mongoose, and then the wind swept him back into darkness.

I thought about this passage while watching Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Gosh. "Remembered how he used to be when he was younger and more optimistic." That book will continue to haunt me.

I have been a low-key huge fan of the Planet of the Apes series for a while. My transformation finished when I saw the franchise's latest picture, War for the Planet of the Apes, in theaters back in 2017, which eruptively sparked me and my brother's imaginations. When I say "low-key", I mean that my love for, say, the Alien series is pronounced. (I still swear I will get my best friend, Phillip, to watch Alien and Aliens). In contrast, I do not often talk about Apes as much. Yet whenever the subject pops up in any form, a giddiness, eagerness, and somewhat obsessiveness comes over me.

I grew up knowing about the series in the periphery of my life; probably beginning when the 2001 remake came out. Another instance of exposure was reading Adrian McKinty's book, The Lighthouse War, which has a scene where a self-denying uber-nerd remembers losing a date during the middle of a Planet of the Apes marathon but forgets during which film the lady left him. I became very hyped up for the release of the first installment of the reboot series, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, back in high school. That was when I found myself watching the very original 1968 film.