Apocalypse Now Discussion Thread

[Shane]

Discuss it here.

Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American drama film set during the Vietnam War. It tells the story of an Army captain named Willard who is sent into the jungle to kill a United States Army Special Forces Colonel named Walter Kurtz who has become insane. As Willard's journey upriver becomes increasingly surreal and bizarre, he begins to lose sight of his purpose in the jungle. The film has been read as a metaphor for the United States' war in Vietnam, but it can also be read as a journey into the darkness of the human psyche.

The film was directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script by Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr, which drew elements from Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness. It was also heavily influenced, both sylistically and substantively, by Werner Herzog's highly-lauded 1972 film Aguirre, The Wrath of God.

The film stars Martin Sheen as Captain Benjamin L. Willard (based on Marlow in Conrad's novel), Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz, Dennis Hopper as a perpetually-stoned photojournalist, and Robert Duvall in an Oscar-nominated turn as the gung-ho Lt. Colonel Kilgore. The movie became notorious in the entertainment press due to its lengthy and troubled production. In the end, the director had to finance the film with his own money.

[Rudyard_Kipling's_Ghost]

If you haven't seen it, check out the documentary about the making of the film. It's called Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. It details all the nightmares encounted by Coppola while making the film. Hopper is high all the time, Martin Sheen has a heart attack on the set, and numerous other calamities abound.
Excellent documentary.

[roadHopper]

This still ranks as my favorite film of all time. I think the combination of sheer scale, the way it captures the strangeness of that time, the brilliant adaptation of the novel and the absolutely genius lensing by Vittorio Storaro, make this an absolute masterpiece.

I never had the stomach for the added scenes in Redux - without them the film is tighter and flows much better (no pun intended).

[Shane]

Originally Posted by roadHopper

This still ranks as my favorite film of all time. I think the combination of sheer scale, the way it captures the strangeness of that time, the brilliant adaptation of the novel and the absolutely genius lensing by Vittorio Storaro, make this an absolute masterpiece.

I never had the stomach for the added scenes in Redux - without them the film is tighter and flows much better (no pun intended).

Have you seen Aguirre, the Wrath of God, a 1972 film directed by Werner Herzog? It stars Klaus Kinski as a mad Spanish soldier in search of the legendary city of gold, El Dorado. Coppola has been quoted as saying that the film was a huge influence on Apocalypse Now.

If you haven't, you should check it out sometime. Interesting film, although it's much slower than Coppola's masterpiece and lacks the starpower of Brando, Sheen, Hopper, Duval, etc.

[roadHopper]

yes, I've seen Aguirre and loved it. There are things that seem lifted directly, and things that harken to the tone of Herzog's film. Two things I can directly correlate would be the statement made by the main character of each film by 1) in Aquirre - blowing up the raft of dead soldiers that were to be buried and 2) in Apocalypse Now - Willard shooting the dying Viet Cong civilian after the crew have opened fire on them because of the puppy. Both are very powerful statements of the main character keeping the mission on track... dipping into each's own mania.

Great stuff.