Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

J. Lee Thompson
1972

Man, each successive installment in the Planet of the Apes franchise just seems to get better and better, and while this enthusiasm may be slightly exaggerated, there's no doubt that each of the first four films are solid worthwhile achievements. Cornelius and Zirra's kid Caesar grows up in a world where apes are pressed into servitude by a mostly unfeeling human race. Caesar is incensed at the injustice and uses his mega-smarts to start an ape revolution! The caveat responsible for the apes slavery, an interstellar plague that wiped out domesticated dogs and cats leaving a void soon filled by ape companionship (and then perverted into forced service), is a pleasantly weird stretch of the imagination, and the film gains much of it's appeal from the inherently inspiring quality underground freedom-fighters possess. Fur and feces fly as liberated apes take up arms and take over the concrete cities of men. A particularly excellent scene involves the apes distributing weapons secretly in a cellar, plotting their overthrow by night.