Franklin Film Forum

Science Fiction Part 2:

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

June 27, 2026

From the presenter, Michael Paxton:

For part 2 of our quick trip through the Sci-Fi genre, we will screen the third installment of the Planet of the Apes franchise: Escape from the Planet of the Apes. This slightly sweet, but thought-provoking film continues the saga of those intelligent "apes" we met and got to know well in the iconic first and second films of the series (Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes). In a reverse engineering of the saga, our simian counterparts find themselves in the 1970s version of their planet.

 Comparatively, it is more entertaining than Beneath the Planet of the Apes but not as iconic as the first one (how could it be?). Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter reprise their roles as the intelligent Chimpanzees Cornelius and Zira, and the movie focuses more on character than spectacle or action. The film also stars Fernando Lamas, Sal Mineo, Bradford Dillman, Natalie Trundy, Eric Braeden and William Windom.
 

The Franklin Film Forum is sponsored by Upstate Country Realty  and presented by Michael Paxton, an Oscar-nominated producer and director.

See you then!