11 Hated Sci-Fi Movies That Became Cult Classics

The fourth entry in the first iteration of Planet of the Apes films didn't quite make the lasting impression as the first, but perhaps it should. After all, given that the current new trilogy hews closer in plot to the uprising that slave ape Ceasar (Roddy McDowall) orchestrates here, it's more in tune with what audiences want now. We've seen the Statue of Liberty on a beach one too many times, here the studio did something smart by taking a tangent in a forgotten sequel and making it the basis for a whole trilogy.

Not that Conquest is bad on its own ground, just slightly under the necessary budget necessary to create the kind of riotous chaos such a revolt should get. For after Ceasar's master (Ricardo Montalban) sacrifices himself rather than tell the humans that his ape can talk and understand English, vengeance is all that the ape desires. And the direction, from Cape Fear helmer J. Lee Thompson, is as good as the budget allows.

Though there are flaws in pacing and a compromised "peaceful" ending where Ceasar decides to show mercy to the villainous Governor, it deserves more than it got upon release.