Escape from the Planet of the Apes

"Meet baby Milo who has Washington terrified."

1971 1h 38m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 1,284

ActionScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The world is shocked by the appearance of three talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a spacecraft. Intrigued by their intelligence, humans use them for research - until the apes attempt to escape.

“Meet baby Milo who has Washington terrified.”

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Cast

Roddy McDowall
Cornelius
Kim Hunter
Dr. Zira
Bradford Dillman
Dr. Lewis Dixon
Natalie Trundy
Dr. Stephanie 'Stevie' Branton
Eric Braeden
Dr. Otto Hasslein
William Windom
The President
Sal Mineo
Dr. Milo
Albert Salmi
E-1

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Don Taylor
Writers: Paul Dehn
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.9× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

55 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Planet of the Apes (Original) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Don Taylor, shot by Joseph F. Biroc. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Marion Rothman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter and Bradford Dillman carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Don Taylor directs. Joseph F. Biroc behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Marion Rothman cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 4.9× over at the box office.
355 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Part of the "Planet of the Apes (Original) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Don Taylor, shot by Joseph F. Biroc. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Marion Rothman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter and Bradford Dillman carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Meet baby Milo who has Washington terrified.".
10IMDB entry: tt0067065 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 10 themes, including "spacecraft", "dystopia", "chimpanzee", "pacifism".
12Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Joseph F. Biroc
Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: Marion Rothman
Runtime: 98 min · 1h 38m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,500,000
Box office: $12,348,905
Return: 494% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

Part of

Planet of the Apes (Original) Collection

The original 5 classic films collection.

Also by

Don Taylor

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Potential Kermode2017-03-18
★ 6/10
A picture of the artist painting a picture of the artist painting a picture of the artist painting a picture of the artist painting a landscape. Indeed. Talk, talk and some more talk. Then they all decide to talk some more - taking a break for a little more talking - before finally deciding on talking just a little while longer. These actors must have had sore tongues after the film was completed. Some of them hospitalised with repetitive strain on the jawbone. A very talky film which could indeed lose the interest of younger viewers. Younger viewers don't want to see old men blabbering for 90 minutes - they want gorillas with machine guns. Lots of scenes of people with tobacco stained grey hair talking around 1970's tables and not much action here. Not enough psycho gorilla action. The three chimps should have brought at least one maniac gorilla with them for security reasons. If there weren't enough seats in the ship then I am certain he wouldn't mind standing. Perhaps they feared that once they arrived and they opened the ships hatch on the beach - everything from turtles, whelks and Brian Wilson's surf board would have been riddled with bullets. - Potential Kermode
r96sk2022-02-27
★ 8/10
A very good sequel. 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes' is a clear improvement on (the good) 'Beneath the Planet of the Apes' and isn't that far adrift from the 1968 original. The plot is out there but they make it believable, while the ending is quite something - unexpectedly so! Neat to see Roddy McDowall return to his role from 'Planet of the Apes', while co-star Kim Hunter continues once again. I like those two characters so enjoyed seeing them become 'the stars' of this third release of the franchise. Onwards to 'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes'.
CinemaSerf2023-06-08
★ 6/10
Now quite how, we don't know, but suffice to say that "Cornelius" (Roddy McDowall) and "Zira" (Kim Hunter) manage to find themselves a spaceship and travel back in time to an Earth when humans - here, more specifically, a bunch of rather numb-sculled Americans - rule their continent. On stepping out of their craft, they must sigh the sigh of all aliens whose first glimpse of man is a man with loads of braid and no brains. They are taken to a zoo, fed oranges (?) and then subjected to a presidential inquiry that brings them some fame and celebrity, but also keeps them firmly on the radar of the malevolent "Dr. Hasslein" (Eric Braeden) who becomes doubly suspicious of their portentous storytelling (remember, apes cannot talk in 1971!) when it emerges that "Zira" is expecting an apelet! Things become distinctly perilous for our visitors, but luckily they have allies in fellow scientists "Dixon" (Bradford Dillman) and "Branton" (Natalie Trundy) so maybe they can escape their guilded cage? This is much better than last year's effort. The story is stronger, the morals are there but not over-used and the two lead actors gel well. The visual effects are effective and though I did not particularly like the ending, it offers us some food for thought.