Apocalypse Now (1979) *****
In 1979 Francis Ford Coppola unleashed what many consider to be his masterpiece, Apocalypse Now. Despite monumental obstacles in the form of severe weather, postponements resulting in the film taking years to make, budgetary and casting problems (including Marlon Brando arriving overweight and unprepared), improvisation on the part of Coppola in order to get a film that worked, Martin Sheen suffering a nervous breakdown and near-fatal heart attack, and Coppola himself almost being driven as mad as his character Kurtz (all of which is documented in the superb Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)), Coppola did create a masterpiece.
Apocalypse Now is a film that rewards the viewer every time. There's always something new to appreciate or some aspect to be further enriched upon each viewing. Whether it's the incredible cinematography by Vittorio Storaro (the orchestration that must have gone into some shots is mind boggling), the immersive sound design, the bombastic nature of some scenes combined with the quiet menace of others, the brilliant editing (those gorgeous superimposed images), the meditative screenplay by Coppola and John Milius or the total commitment of the actors—the list goes on. There's no other film that captures a hallucinatory nightmare (the...horror...) the way this one does.
I've seen all three released versions of AN—theatrical, Redux, and Final Cut. It's hard to say which is my favorite—while it's cool to see the extra footage in Redux, Final Cut flows better, but then the theatrical, being the shortest (still just shy of 2 1/2 hours long) feels the most concise (and nothing suffers for it). Apocalypse Now is an all-time great film, in any version, which is why it rightfully deserves a place in my Top 100 Films (in the Top 10, in fact). Absolutely goddamn right.
Apocalypse Now is a film that rewards the viewer every time. There's always something new to appreciate or some aspect to be further enriched upon each viewing. Whether it's the incredible cinematography by Vittorio Storaro (the orchestration that must have gone into some shots is mind boggling), the immersive sound design, the bombastic nature of some scenes combined with the quiet menace of others, the brilliant editing (those gorgeous superimposed images), the meditative screenplay by Coppola and John Milius or the total commitment of the actors—the list goes on. There's no other film that captures a hallucinatory nightmare (the...horror...) the way this one does.
I've seen all three released versions of AN—theatrical, Redux, and Final Cut. It's hard to say which is my favorite—while it's cool to see the extra footage in Redux, Final Cut flows better, but then the theatrical, being the shortest (still just shy of 2 1/2 hours long) feels the most concise (and nothing suffers for it). Apocalypse Now is an all-time great film, in any version, which is why it rightfully deserves a place in my Top 100 Films (in the Top 10, in fact). Absolutely goddamn right.
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