Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - August 11, 1971]

Growing up I was somewhat of a staunch contemporist when it came to my viewing preferences. I preferred watching movies that featured indoor plumbing, paved roads, automobiles, and electricity.

Which means that, for a short period of time, my favorite entries in the first Planet of the Apes saga were Escape from the Planet of the Apes and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. No desert vistas. No sweaty, stanky people in loin cloths. No horses. Just the beloved and familiar creature comforts of the world I was oh so lucky enough to enjoy, and take for granted, as a child.

After destroying the world, at Charlton Heston's request, in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, there was only one way for the franchise to go... back to when it began.

It amazes me at just how well this movie pulls off its ludicrous storyline and the insane levels of mythology-building necessitated to have these events start the ball rolling toward the what, where, and when of the first and second films.

The whole affair is strange, silly, and satirical... until, all of a sudden, it turns dead serious and sticks a downbeat ending that works. Making Escape from the Planet of the Apes, arguably, the best of the four sequels to the original film.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - July 23, 1972]

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes was released a couple of weeks after my fifth birthday. The 'first' time I saw it may or may not have been when it made its network television debut, although I had my doubts about that.

Because memories of my having seen several key scenes in the film on the big screen, such as the interrogation and tragic end of Armando (Ricardo Montalban), came to mind as the movie unfolded. 

These memories went beyond mere déjà vu, though. I could remember sitting in a movie theater and watching the damn thing.

Yet my parents were adamant that they had never taken me to see the movie. That this was the first time any of us had ever watched it.

Perhaps they had not taken me to see the movie, but someone else had? Because I remember sitting in what might have been the Alameda Showcase, before it became the Southshore Twin, and watching this movie.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - June 24, 1970]

My introduction to the first sequel to Planet of the Apes came via its truncated edit on The 3:30 Movie. The bleak, nihilistic direction the film took left me shocked, shook, and slack jawed. I also loved it for what it did, of course.