Apocalypse Now

[Danny99]

I sat down and watched this very very very long movie and at the end was completely confused as to why it's called an epic.

Am I missing some great point?

It's a good movie, don't get me wrong, but it's not some master piece of film work that everyone seems to think it is?

Agree? Disagree?

 

[Harvey]

I think it's a masterpiece. It's definitely one of my favorite films. But I'd be the first to admit that I have rather odd tastes.

What didn't you like about it?

 

[Joeman]

My favorite movie of all time. Did you watch the original version, or the Redux version? The original version became a real mess towards the end, but the Redux version pretty much fixed all of the major problems that I had with it. Redux is even longer, but less of a mess in my opinion. I think the added scenes are all great, and it's much less jumbled and confusing. There really is a vast difference in the two versions.

You should also watch Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. It's very interesting seeing what a nightmare getting that film made was.

 

[Myasishchev]

^Yes. I watched it in the original cut and disliked it, but Redux made it all better--although I suspect the difference in age (~13 and ~20) and maturity between the two viewings may have had more of an impact than the recut. It's one of my favorite films now, and I like it better than Heart of Darkness (the Conrad book, although the movie with Roth and Malkovich is worth watching).

 

[Ethros]

I finally got round to seeing it a few months ago. Overrated to fuck.
I love Vietnam War films, but this I just wasn't invested in one iota

 

[Danny99]

I enjoyed it up to the point of the boat arriving at the French plantation. I got a huge kick out of Robert Duvall as Kilgore and the wacky boat crew. It felt like a war movie.

But then the whole dinner scene with the French people seemed to drag on and on and on. Most of their war commentary seemed heavy handed, even though you could see their motivation to remain.

The last bit with Marlon Brando is just painful and it's not just because of Brando's acting. Again, the rhetoric seems heavy handed. I never understood in a time with air strikes and the fact they gave Martin Sheen a map to exactly where he is, why they couldn't just bomb this huge threat out of existence.

 

[Rii]

The Redux is one of my favourite films. Incidentally, I dislike most 'war' movies.

 

[cardinal biggles]

The original was good, Redux was great. Joeman pretty much covered all my reasons why. The film just seems to make more sense with the added material.

 

[Emher]

Eh, I see why it was influentual, and it has some nice editing. But I don't really care for the story and I find the story of the difficulties of making the movie much more fascinating then the actual movie.

Problem is it's not really a war movie, it's just set in Vietnam. And if I watch a Vietnam war movie, I watch Platoon.

 

[Shatinator]

The story is based on the novel "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, so beyond technical / technique, of the production and artristry of the performers; the core question is do you like the "Heart of Darkness", not do you like "Apocapse Now".

-The Shatinator

 

[Emher]

Yeah and we had to read that in HS. I read it, and did not like it.

 

[Lookingglassman]

I like it, but it dont make any sense. Why kill Colonel Kurtz as long as he was killing VC? They should have written him off as MIA and let him do his thing.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I like it, but it dont make any sense. Why kill Colonel Kurtz as long as he was killing VC? They should have written him off as MIA and let him do his thing.

Because he was outside the tent pissing in. Who's to say that after Kurtz was finished taking on the Viet Cong, he wouldn't turn around and start attacking U.S. and ARVN forces? That's what they were really afraid of.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I enjoyed it up to the point of the boat arriving at the French plantation. I got a huge kick out of Robert Duvall as Kilgore and the wacky boat crew. It felt like a war movie.

But then the whole dinner scene with the French people seemed to drag on and on and on. Most of their war commentary seemed heavy handed, even though you could see their motivation to remain.

The last bit with Marlon Brando is just painful and it's not just because of Brando's acting. Again, the rhetoric seems heavy handed. I never understood in a time with air strikes and the fact they gave Martin Sheen a map to exactly where he is, why they couldn't just bomb this huge threat out of existence.

The whole French sub-plot was cut out of the original version and I could have done without it even in the Redux. Interestingly the original ending by John Milius was supposed to end with an air strike and a battle with Willard and Kurtz fighting side by side.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Which would have been absolutely ludicrious, IMO.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I like it, but it dont make any sense. Why kill Colonel Kurtz as long as he was killing VC? They should have written him off as MIA and let him do his thing.

One of the reasons was Kurtz killing the South Vietnamese double agents embarrassed a lot of people.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I don't see what's so great about it. Maybe I was missing something with the context, but I didn't feel it was that great.

Same can be said with Platoon which I recently saw. When the end came, I was thinking, "Is that it?"

 

[caisson2delta]

I've seen both versions and the Redux version definitely added something to it. The original, even though I enjoyed it, seemed a bit choppy and had some gaps. Not a bad movie and it was a huge movie when it originally came out. It was definitely different.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Yeah, I don't see what's so great about it. Maybe I was missing something with the context, but I didn't feel it was that great.

Same can be said with Platoon which I recently saw. When the end came, I was thinking, "Is that it?"

In the case of Apocalypse Now, I think it was better just to end it. Don't have Kurtz and Willard fight the Americans, don't end it with Willard calling in an air strike, just end it. Willard kills Kurtz, packs up Lance (who is totally out of his mind at this point anyway), and leaves. It's ultimately more in the spirit of Heart of Darkness than either of the alternate endings.

I agree that the Hearts of Darkness story-behind-the-story is just as compelling as the movie itself, and I'm interested in some of the bootleg "rough cuts" that are circulating out there. (According to Wikipedia, there's a 289-minute version and a 330-minute workprint.) Has anyone seen either of those?

 

[Harvey]

I haven't seen the work print, but it is available for (obviously illegal) purchase online.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse is one of the finest documentaries about the making of a film out there. It was released on DVD in 2007, and is absolutely worth watching.