I liked the original movie and Conquest of the Planet of the apes the most.
Picking between those two for a favorite is tough. But I choose the original movie if I have to.

You can read more about each of the Apes productions at

Planet of the Apes
http://movieprop.com/tvandmovie/Planetofth...etoftheapes.htm

Beneath the Planet of the Apes

http://movieprop.com/tvandmovie/PlanetoftheApes/Beneath.htm

Escape from the Planet of the Apes
http://movieprop.com/tvandmovie/PlanetoftheApes/escape.htm

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
http://movieprop.com/tvandmovie/PlanetoftheApes/conquest.htm

Battle for the Planet of the Apes
http://movieprop.com/tvandmovie/PlanetoftheApes/battle.htm

Planet of the Apes TV series
http://movieprop.com/tvandmovie/PlanetoftheApes/apestv.htm

Animated Return to the Planet of the Apes
http://moieprop.com/tvandmovie/PlanetoftheApes/animated.htm

Tim Burtons Planet of the Apes
http://movieprop.com/tvandmovie/PlanetoftheApes/newmovie.htm

has to be the original movie....and then escape....I think these were the first two I saw as a child, so its hard to be subjective when you're sentimental.

Very hard to choose. For some reason, as much as I love Apes 1 (I think it's mainly the spaceship intro I love, and the first chase sequence with Taylor in the ape museum), for pure escapism, I love Conquest. I think because it's the one I can watch over and over again just for pure fun. I also love those night time shots of Caesar bein gchased by the military police. You can just imagine this shit going down in your neighbourhood that it feels real but strange. I think that's what I love about it. I've also been to irvine campus, where part of it was filmed. Plus, there's nothing more fun than watching Caesar get mad. In the final analysis, Conquest (in my mind) is the perfect mirror pairing of Apes 1, which makes it so fascinating, because now you are identifying with the aliennated ape rather than the human, and you love them both and feel for them both equally.

By the way, has anyone heard the so-called audio commentary on the new (`05) apes DVD? the extras are realy great, btu that audio com is a complete con. its all stuff which was looped from the other documentaries. And there are HUGE gaps. The other audio com is of Jerry Goldsmith - kudos to him for bothering (I really appreciated it) - but after he's said all he can about woodwinds and kettle drums filled with water, it gets embarrassing as he's then left to make commentary on things that aren't really his field of expertise; like the apes makeup. He's sorely in need of someone to bounce off of.

Since Conquest of the Planet of the Apes was heavily edited to get its family friendly rating. It would be nice to have an unrated version released someday. I imagine the battle scenes at the end were more graphic before all the editing into the final form we have today.