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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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My new favorite.
WOW! What an improvement. When I first saw the original, I thought:here's finally a movie for Vietnam vets. The cinematography and acting were great, but it looked like it had been edited with a hacksaw. Why is Lance water-skiing with Air CAv shorts before they run into the 1/9? And where did he get 'em? Where does he get that compact when he's putting on the camo face paint? Is that standard issue on a PBR? What's Kilgore's surfboard doing on the boat? How did it get there?Why is Clean so trigger-happy when they stop the sampan? And what happens to him after he's killed? They just throw his body overboard? That seems unlikely given the elaborate send-off Lance gives the Chief after he's wasted.
These questions and more are answered in this greatly expanded version of what's now my favorite movie. Alot has been made of how much the French Plantation Scene slows down the action. But I find it analogous to the Night Music in Stavinsky's Rite of Spring: after all the violence and discord you get a few minutes of breathing space before the insanity starts again. I speak French so maybe it's easier for me to relate to what's going
Unfortunately, not much can be done with the bizarre and incoherent last 20 minutes( the included deleted scenes at least show us what happended to the Photo-journalist and Colby and even give us the very interesting Monkey Sampan). But getting there has been maded so much more enjoyhable.
Anyway, this is a considerable improvement on an already great movie. Now, if they'd just bring it out in Blu-ray.
Rating: -
Quite possibly one of the most important films of all time...
The films title alone, `Apocalypse Now', is synonymous with classic; even to those who have never seen it. All the praise and admiration that has been heaped upon this film over the years has embedded in us the very idea that it must be `that' great. I personally had never seen this movie until this past holiday weekend when I was sick with the flu and in bed for three days (I watched like 30 movies, so I'm cool with it). All I have to say is that `classic' doesn't even begin to explain just how amazing this movie really is.
I want to be clear about one thing. War movies have never really been my thing. I love the whole `swords-and-sandals' epics; sure. `Ben'Hur' and `Gladiator', two of my favorite movies, but the Vietnam, guns and bullets, hiding in trenches, bombing buildings bit; never truly been that interested. My perspective on the genre changed a bit when I witnessed Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece `Full Metal Jacket', a film that is truly astonishing, but understandably very `love it or hate it'. With my interest pricked I decided to explore the genre a little more. There were some that turned me off a bit (not a huge fan of `The Thin Red Line') and there were some that really impressed me (actually floored by my adoration of Oliver Stone's `Platoon') and then there was this little ditty that just left me spellbound.
Yes, let it be said' `Apocalypse Now' may very well be the definitive `war movie'.
The film follows Captain Benjamin L. Willard, dispatched the find rogue Colonel Walter E. Kurtz who has drifted into savagery. The film basically moves along with Willard as he travels upriver towards his eventual destination. One is brought into the mentality of one ravaged by war, and the mental and emotional deterioration is overwhelming; especially once Willard comes face to face with Kurtz.
The film, to me, is shot much like a wartime film noir, with Martin Sheen narrating the film, filling in the complete story for the audience. Frances Ford Coppola is a fantastic director who savagely moves from location to location, painting a horrific picture (`the horror') that stimulates our senses and engages our minds. I remember thinking just how crisp this movie feels, its richness spilling over every sequence. The script is brilliantly crafted in a way that engages you from start to finish, never bogging us down and boring us in any way but always keeping our interest.
And then there are the performances.
Martin Sheen does a fine job here, but much like his son Charlie in `Platoon', he becomes more of an afterthought when you consider the cast of characters he shares the screen with. Robert Duvall (who was nominated for an Oscar) is extremely memorable as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore. His `napalm in the morning' phrase is probably one of the most quoted movie phrases of all time, but his one liners are not the reason his performance is so flawless. He truly captures the man that was Kilgore and emulates a human passion on the screen. Duvall is not the best performance here though; for that belongs to Marlon Brando. There are many reports about the issues Coppola had working with Brando (his excessive weight gain, his drinking problems, his apathetic attitude and his not knowing of his lines) but when all is said and done Brando pulled out a passionate and devastatingly haunting performance as the renegade Kurtz. His semi-religious almost prophetic approach to his characters revelations paint the picture that is `Apocalypse Now' and quite honestly, his character is what makes this movie so important.
This film is a very dark and treacherous journey through the mind of a man pushed to brink of his sanity due to actions that make no sense. What is so imperative about films like `Full Metal Jacket', `Platoon' and `Apocalypse Now' is that, instead of paying homage to the men in uniform (I'm not saying they don't deserve respect so don't read this wrong) they portray war as a facet of our lives better left alone, a part of our culture that does nothing but harm; physically, emotionally and mentally. Coppola's masterpiece is a film not to be missed for it relays a message that is all to real.
Rating: -
Masterpiece
Apocalypse Now is a masterpiece that every civilized person must see. In that respect it is just like Citizen Kane, Taxi Drive, Chinatown and Casablanca. There are scenes from the movie, and phrases spoken in the movie, that have entered our popular language. If you do not know (i) "I love the smell of napalm in the morning"; (ii) how to hum the first few bars of The Ride Of The Valkyrie; and (iii) "the horror, the horror," then you are not a member of our civilized society (plus you'll fail at any game of Trivial Pursuit). This is a move that must be seen again after a few years as it grows better with time, like a fine madeira.
Rating: -
Smells like Victory!
Whether or not Apocalypse Now accurately characterizes Vietnam is beyond me, and I concede my ignorance out of respect and admiration for the men and women who sacrificed their real lives and real limbs in Vietnam --I judge only the cinematic merits of this great film.
The film opens in a small greasy hotel room in Saigon. Counterintelligence operative Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) has trouble readjusting to civilian life. His room is helter-skelter. He drowns himself with alcohol and drugs. Sometimes he'll lie on his back and gaze at the ceiling; the revolving blades of the ceiling-fan remind him of helicopter propellers. One day, two uniformed men show up at his room; they take him to Nha Trang. There, Com Sec Intelligence briefs Captain Willard. Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando), Operations Officer 5th Special Forces, is wanted for murder. In 1964, Kurtz returned from Vietnam a changed man and wrote a report on what he saw in Vietnam; his report--addressed to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Lyndon B. Johnson--was restricted. At 38 years of age, Kurtz made three requests to airborne training in Fort Benning, Georgia and was finally accepted. He joined Special Forces in 1966 and returned to Vietnam. Shortly after joining the Special Forces, Colonel Kurtz became unstable in his ideas and methods. He crossed into Cambodia where he lords over a tribe of natives who worship him like a god; Kurtz crossed into Cambodia to avoid arrest after he executed some Vietnamese Intelligence agents whom he believed were double agents. Captain Willard is to proceed up the Nung River in a Navy patrol boat, to pick up Kurtz's path at Nu Mung Ba, and to follow Kurtz's path. Upon finding Kurtz, Captain Willard is to infiltrate Kurtz's army and to terminate Kurtz with extreme prejudice.
Captain Willard has killed many men, but this is the first time that he is ordered to kill an American soldier.
He looks over Kurtz's dossier: top of his class, Korea, Airborne; almost 1,000 decorations; third generation graduate of West Point; Master's degree, Harvard University--there, Kurtz wrote a thesis on American foreign policy in Southeast Asia.
From Nha Trang, a helicopter transports Captain Willard to his patrol boat. Chef, a machinist and saucier from New Orleans; Lance, a gunners-mate and surfer from south Los Angeles; Clean, a gunners-mate and 17 year old African American male from the South Bronx; and Phillips, the chief and captain of the patrol boat--these men accompany Willard on his journey up the Nung River.
Willard and his crew rendezvous with Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall), a gung-ho war-tested officer. Kilgore's 9th Air Cavalry escorts Willard to Vinh Kinh Drap, a heavily fortified village controlled by Viet Cong peasants. Vinh Kinh Drap sits at the mouth of the Nung River
Six foot swells roll into Vinh Kinh Drap; likewise, the Air Cavalry thunders over Vinh Kinh Drap. Armies of screaming Bell UH-1D Huey's fan out of the rising sun. Bombs and bullets rain out of the sky; on the ground, 50-caliber machine-guns bristle out of trees and huts. The surging battle cry -- Ride of the Valkyries--gains momentum. The village of Vinh Kinh Drap washes into a splintered soup of trees, huts, and human corpses. A quartet of low-flying jets rushes by spraying napalm; underneath those jets, liquid flames devour a swath of trees and brush. Officer Kilgore admires the distant fires. He closes his eyes and swells his bare chest. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning," he crows.
Kilgore and 9th Air Cavalry gives Willard's boat to the Nung River. The Nung River presents a bristling throat of trees, brush, and hidden dangers. As the patrol boat moves up the Nung River, Willard walks in Kurtz's shoes and sees what Kurtz saw.
A small sampan drifts towards Willard's boat. Willard and his crew detain the sampan. Food--mangos, fish, rice, etc.--and livestock--a couple of goats and some chickens--pack the hold of the ramshackle boat. Peasant farmers--several men and a young woman--occupy the small boat. Whether they are Viet Cong is less obvious to Willard and his cautious group. Phillips, the captain of the patrol boat, orders Chef to search the boat. Crates shatter and vegetables fly about; the peasants helplessly watch as Chef ransacks their boat. The animals on the boat become anxious. Chef and Phillips quarrel over the din of noisy animals. Everyone's nerves--the peasants, Willard and his men on the patrol boat--are taut. Clean and Lance machine-gun the boat. Rattling bullets jumble peasants, livestock, fruits, and vegetables into an oozing salad. Phillips and his men find nothing on the peasant's boat; however, this incident tells Willard more about Kurtz.
Nung River slowly pulls Willard's boat to Do Lung Bridge, the last army outpost. Strands of light-bulbs sag off of the broken bridge. The river vibrates around the patrol boat. Shooting flares tangle the night sky overhead. Gunshots and bombs reverberate. Bunkers dot the outpost. Soldiers spray wild bullets into the darkness; the darkness retaliates. Willard stumbles upon a bunker called Beverly Hills. He asks the soldiers for their commander; they don't have a commander. Willard and his men abandon the outpost and proceed down the Nung River. This incident tells Willard more about Kurtz.
The men on the patrol boat receive their mail. In a one-page letter, Com Sec Intelligence adds another wrinkle to Willard's mission. Several months ago, a man was ordered on a mission that was identical to Willard's mission. Com Sec Intelligence believes that Captain Richard Colby is operating with Colonel Kurtz. As Willard reads this letter, the other men on the boat are festive and rowdy. The surfer, Lance, celebrates by lighting a flare and waving its purple haze around the boat. On top of this error, it's also broad daylight. The 17-year-old boy named Clean is on the back of the boat quietly reading a letter his mother sent him from home. The purple haze billowing out of the boat informs the enemy. Gunshots attack the boat. Gunsmoke and purple haze clog the narrow river way. Phillips races the patrol boat up the river and out of danger. Out of the danger and out of the smoke, the boat is riddled with holes. Clean is sprawled at the back of the boat. He's dead. This incident tells Willard more about Kurtz.
As a film, Coppola's Apocalypse Now has the same flavor as Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. In both films, external forces cause men to evolve. In Apocalypse Now, the Vietnam war changes the heart of Kurtz; in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the sudden appearance of a planed monolith inspires primitive apes to evolve into modern man. Screenwriter John Milius adapted Apocalypse Now from Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness. Apocalypse Now became notorious for its myriad production difficulties involving its soaring budget and its troubled cast. Coppola shot the film in the Philippines during the monsoon season; subsequently, a typhoon destroyed many of the film's sets. Coppola used the profits from his Godfather films to rebuild sets destroyed by the typhoon. Actor Martin Sheen, who played Captain Willard, was an alcoholic and suffered a near fatal heart attack during the film. Also, actor Marlon Brando, who played Colonel Kurtz, showed up on the set overweight. Coppola suffered from severe depression and with marital problems resulting from the stresses of filming the movie. He threatened to commit suicide on three separate occasions. Thankfully, he persevered and finished his movie. The `70's was a freakish decade for Copolla. In one decade, he made three films that are among the best films ever made. Has any director had a decade as successful as Copolla had in the `70's? Apocalypse Now is one of the great films of the last century. See it.
author of Gotta Be Down!
Rating: 
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Apocalypse when?
I gave "Apocalypse Now" 3 stars based on Robert Duval's wonderful performance, alone. He captures the wild and reckless nature of certain officers in Vietnam, perfectly. He rides into battle in helicopters blaring 'Ride of the Valkyries' because 'It scares Hell out of the Slopes.' The war is a beach party in La Jolla. 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning...." On the lips of anyone else, this line would have been unremarkable even foolish. Duval, however, makes it the truth.
Other than that, the movie is forgettable. Increasingly surreal, with pointless combat and unconvincing firepower, we venture into the 'heart of darkness' to meet Kurtz, a man who is synonymous with warfare for the sake of nonending combat. Interestingly, I met the fellow on which Kurtz was reportedly styled. He waged something of a private war against the North Vietnamese using Montagnard guerillas. Unlike the madman, Kurtz, of 'Apocalypse', he seems to have integrated quite successfully into peacetime tranquility.
Ron Braithwaite, author of novels,--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico
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