Battle For The Planet Of The Apes (1973)
After conquering the oppressive humans in "Conquest for the Planet of the Apes", Caesar must now keep the peace among the humans and apes. Gorilla General Aldo views things differently, and tries to cause an ape civil war. In the meantime, other human survivors learn of the ape city, and decide they want to take back civilization for themselves, thus setting the stage of warring ape factions and humans.
The final chapter in the incredible Apes saga. The most suspenseful showdown ever filmed as two civilizations battle for the right to inherit what's left of the earth!
Virgil: All knowledge is for good. Only the use to which you put it can be good or evil.
Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant - 12000 Vista del Mar, Playa del Rey, Los Angeles, California, USA
(Destroyed city sequence)
20th Century Fox Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA
(Ape City and battle scenes)
Los Angeles County Hyperion sewage plant., California, USA
(Destroyed city sequence)
Mr. MacDonald (Hari Rhodes in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)) was also meant to return, but after Rhodes refused, the character was changed to his brother, and Austin Stoker was cast.
This is supposedly the film that inspired Tony Mendez to create the operation "Argo" during the Iran hostage crisis from 1979 to 1981 in which he traveled to Iran in disguise as a film producer and had the hostages disguised as a film crew in order to flee the country. As such, a clip from the scene in which Caesar, MacDonald and Virgil arrive in the Forbidden City is shown in Argo (2012).
During the battle at Ape City, there are many scenes of tree houses exploding in flames. In reality, due to budget constraints, only one tree house was blown up. However, this explosion was filmed from multiple angles. These shots were then divided and edited into multiple places in the finished film to give the illusion that many tree houses had been blown up.
Roddy McDowall and Natalie Trundy are the only cast members to appear in four of the five original "Planet of the Apes" movies. McDowall appeared in all except the first sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), unless you include the flashback at the beginning for which he received an uncredited appearance. Natalie Trundy did not appear in the Planet of the Apes (1968), but appeared in all four sequels. McDowall also starred in the television series Planet of the Apes (1974). William Beckley (the British newscaster on "Escape From the Planet of the Apes" (1971)) and Woodrow Parfrey (Dr. Maximus on "Planet of the Apes" (1968)) both appeared as chimpanzees on the series' pilot, and Bobby Porter (Cornelius on this film) appeared as a young chimp on two episodes (the pilot being one of them).
All five original "Planet of the Apes" movies were #1 at the U.S. box office when released. "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" spent two weeks as the #1 top grossing film: the week of June 17, 1973 it made $4,864,355 and the week of June 24, 1973 it made $4,294,934.
Continuity
When the humans from the dead city and two of Aldo's gorillas meet in the desert, Governor Kolp watches the gorillas through his binoculars. He then issues orders to shoot the gorillas with a cannon. The cannon fires in a completely different direction to the way he was looking, but hits them anyway.
When Aldo returns on horseback after the big battle, Caesar is seen standing very close next to Virgil in a close-up. In the next shot, Caesar is still walking towards Virgil.
Factual errors
While in the destroyed city, Virgil states that the radiation level is 300 roentgens. At that intensity, it would have killed Kolp and his people long before the events of this film.
Like too many films with battle scenes, mortars and grenades are shown doing explosive damage only. The purpose of such weapons is not to damage by explosives, but the explosive charge to disperse shrapnel fragments used to maim and kill.
A fall from that height would not kill a chimpanzee or a gorilla.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
When teacher Abe speaks the word "No" to General Aldo, he is told that this is a banned word and no human is allowed to say this word to an ape ever again. Minutes later, in Caesar's hut, Caesar asks MacDonald whether his parents are still alive and he answers "No". There is no negative reaction from Caesar because he knows MacDonald is simply answering a question, not giving an order.
Revealing mistakes
Caesar's famous "Now, fight like apes!" line is marred by his ape lower-mouth appliance beginning to fall off, revealing his own human mouth inside. The director tried to hide this by blurring those frames of film at the lower end of the screen. What looks like dust on the camera was intentional.
When Caesar and his search party pause on summit of a sand dune and first see the Forbidden City in the distance, a place where no one supposedly visits, we see them continue their approach on a well-traveled sandy path full of fresh footprints ahead of them.
When the governor opens the silo doors it is obvious that they are barely big enough to let the main body of the missile through, but not big enough to let the fins out as well.
During the final battle, several of the explosions are really the same single pyrotechnics gag (a blast that destroys a tree house and splits the tree in two) shown to us from different angles.
When the apes escape the ruined city, sand dunes can be seen on the horizon - a line can be seen running down the sand dune background, revealing it to be a matte painting.
Anachronisms
When McDonald plays clips of Zira and Cornelius speaking, there is sound, but the images are video stills. There is no reason for such files to be edited to use a video still with sound, so the method that the clips are stored with is an oddity.
Crew or equipment visible
During the final battle scene, a pyrotechnic charge and the cable leading to it are clearly visible at the bottom of the screen (at around 14 mins). The holes in which other pyrotechnics charges are buried are visible before they explode.