War for the Planet of the Apes broader inspirations from films like "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "The Great Escape". Feeling that there was a need to imbue Biblical themes and elements, they also watched Biblical epics like "Ben-Hur" and "The Ten Commandments". The influences and inspirations were made evident in the relationship between Caesar and Woody Harrelson's Colonel, a military leader with pretensions toward godhood. Reeves has compared their relationship to the dynamic between Alec Guinness's British Commander and Sessue Hayakawa's prison camp Colonel in "Bridge on the River Kwai". Another comparison is in Caesar's journey to find the Colonel, flanked by a posse
The Bridge on the River Kwai was said to give a solid characterization and was "easy, credible and always likeable in a role that is the pivot point of the story". Balu Mahendra, the Tamil film director, saw the shooting of this film at Kitulgala, Sri Lanka during his school trip and was inspired to become a film director. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The British Film Institute placed "The Bridge on the River Kwai" as the 11th greatest British film. The 167-minute film was first telecast, uncut, by ABC-TV in color on the evening of 25