Indeed. Sometimes it’s making ends meet. Drawn to a paycheck, needing the work, or helping others out. Inspiration isn’t always the lure. And often it shows. Jaws: The Revenge (1987)? Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1988)? On Deadly Ground (1994)?
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Thing is, Fu Manchu was a series of movies. And then they did two Sumuru movies, as well. Whatever we think of these movies now, there was very much an audience for them back then.
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There was and then like many series the quality receded as it went. Like Planet of the Apes, the sequels felt increasingly inferior.
Minor quibble, strictly my opinion.
I thought Conquest of the Planet of the Apes was quite a bit better than the other sequels in the series.
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I prefer Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971). Second best film in the franchise. Starring Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter. It reverses the concept. Eric Braeden, Bradford Dillman, Ricardo Montalban. Strongly directed by Don Taylor. Escape comes closest to Planet (1968). Conquest (1972) and Battle (1973) are next. Those suffer from less budget and cutting corners. Conquest is the lynchpin of the Apes Mythology and 88 minutes is not enough. Outside Roddy, every other character pales and J. Lee Thomson misses the mark. Conquest? Okay but not much happens.
Order?
1, 3, 4, 5, 2.
Fox’s cheapening of the films detract as it goes. Beneath (1970) is the worst. Escape resets the story and proved popular. Conquest and Battle die on the vine as B Pictures not given the love they required. With the exception of 3, the flicks wilt film by film and as Fox loses interest so do we. Conquest is disappointing. It had potential. For me it fails. Escape works because the premise is the present and most everyone is human. It feels real unlike any of the sequels. The first worked because the makeup, Heston, and everything was just right. After that, 20th slowly backed away and the results dwindled. At least for me.
The best sequel to Planet of the Apes is the one with Professor Bobo.
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That plot didn’t work for me.
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He was strung out on pancakes through the whole thing.
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