Monday, July 25, 2011
Coming Attractions: BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES (1970) Original Theatrical Trailer
Here's the trailer for the first Planet Of The Apes sequel, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes. When I first saw this movie as a kid, it really freaked me out. The mutants flat-out terrified me, and the explosive ending simply blew my little mind and disturbed the hell out of me. Then, for a long time, this was actually my favorite of the films, probably because of the apocalyptic ending and the film's overall nihilistic tone. I also dug the effects of the underground ruins and James Franciscus' more action-driven hero.
Nowadays, I like Conquest best among the sequels, but I'm still very fond of this one (all of them, actually). Enjoy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This brings back such fond memories. I saw this in 1970 in a movie theater in Ocean City, MD, while I was on vacation. I was 9 years old, but I was allowed to go by myself (those were the days!). I didn't realise the beginning footage with Taylor was from the first film, having never seen it. The film gave me that exciting feeling of being transported somewhere else. I remember walking out of the theater in sort of a daze, then running back to my parents and giving them a blow-by-blow recap while it was still fresh in my memory. I also made many attempts to draw Brent's very cool spaceship from memory. Good times.
ReplyDeleteI'm a total Planet of the Apes fan. I remember seeing this for the first time and being totally engrossed.
ReplyDeleteYOu;re not the only one with this movie in mind of late.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blackgate.com/2011/07/23/glory-be-to-the-bomb-and-to-the-holy-fallout/
I go back and forth between this and Conquest as my favorite films in the series. This is the most "science fictiony" of the series. I have fond memories of creating my own underground mutant ruined city for my Planet of the Apes action figures, complete with a toy Volkswagon that I smashed just to have a suitable ruined vehicle.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Conquest is such a compelling story, and to put it bluntly the human dictatorship is striking in the way its presented, with the population all wearing the same turtlenecks and jackets (presumably by peer pressure), the stark white architecture and glass-and-chrome style, and those not-quite-Gestapo uniforms for the police. Very visually compelling in a Leni Riefenstal sort of way.
If someone took Linda Harrison away from me, I'd blow up the whole planet as well.
ReplyDeleteThe Apes series was the best film series before Star Wars. At least I thought it was! A local tv station that used to have a weekday afternoon movie timeslot from 3-5 pm showed them all back to back a few times, and except for the first 15 minutes when I was riding the schoolbus home, I got to see all the films a few times. (Once they showed it Labor Day week, so I got to see the beginning of the first film.)
ReplyDeleteAwesome, awesome memories!
Gordon Long
BATTLE was the first Apes film I saw, and the only one I saw in a cinema. Then (for me) came the TV series and, almost simultaneously here in the UK, the Marvel Apes comic.
ReplyDeleteMy first encounter with BENEATH was in the comic, where it was beautifully adapted, with really gruesome looking mutants.
It would be several years before British TV finally got around to showing BENEATH.
"Beneath" is still my favorite Apes sequel, and yes, the mutants freaked me out as well when I was a kid!
ReplyDeleteSo have you evere wondered why the apes kept such a large army? Doesn't seem like they needed that many soldiers just to hunt down feral humans, and there was never mention of ape vs. ape war...
ReplyDeleteAs a kid growing up in the early 70's, I was very familiar with The Planet of the Apes. Of course, they seldom played the movies in any kind of order, so you just had to catch them when you could. Sometimes they would come on a late night movie and other times a Saturday afternoon T.V. matinee. I saw the original movie first, but I missed the entire opening because my mom made me take a bath that night. It wasn't until 1987 that I saw Taylor's ship crash for the first time. Then I saw bits of Battle and Conquest on late night T.V. Beneath was one of those that I caught on a Saturday and my friends and I were horrified that the Earth was destroyed. But that's what we had as kids -- because you never saw networks run the shows in order (in most areas). Fortunately, TBS, WGN and other superstations started to run marathons in the late 80's. And I'm thankful to finally have seen the films in order. What a great time that we live in!
ReplyDelete