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"'Apocalypse'
New...and Improved"
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| A private little war! A wasted Dennis Hopper taunts a caged Martin Sheen in "Apocalypse Now Redux" |
Hollywood. Damn, I'm still only in Hollywood.
Every time, I think I'm gonna wake up in the middle of a terrible movie. I thought it was bad last year, but this year, it's worse. It's been weeks now, just waiting for a great movie. My brain keeps getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, while every minute a bad movie makes a lot of money at the box office, a hack producer gets stronger.
Everyone gets everything they want. I wanted a great movie, and for my sins they gave me one. It was a real choice movie, and when it was over, I'd never look at movies the same way again. I was going to see a new, longer version of "Apocalypse Now," Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece and what is undoubtedly one of the greatest, most intensely provocative, mesmerizing, and haunting movies ever made.
It's no secret that "Apocalypse Now" was plagued by production problems unlike any a director had ever seen (or would see again until James Cameron's "Titanic" in 1997). In fact, those problems--a typhoon that destroyed the sets, a budget that spiraled out of control, a script that didn't have an ending, a shoot that lasted 238 days, and a star who had a heart attack in the middle of principal photography--were preserved for all to see in Eleanor Coppola's engrossing 1991 documentary "Hearts of Darkness." Ultimately, it didn't matter. It was all worth it. The adversity paid off with a film that ended up being the cinematic equivalent of a religious experience.
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| Mission: impossible! Martin Sheen reaches his final destination in "Apocalypse Now Redux" |
Loosely based on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," "Apocalypse Now" tells the story of Willard (Martin Sheen), an emotionally battered US soldier who drinks himself into oblivion while awaiting orders for his next mission. He finally gets one, and boy is it a doozie. Deep in the heart of the Cambodian jungle, Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) has broken from the program and is recklessly commanding a group of renegade soldiers who worship him like a God. Willard's orders are to proceed up the Nung River into Cambodia, infiltrate Kurtz's compound, and terminate the Colonel "with extreme prejudice." As he sets out on his journey, Willard becomes fascinated by what he learns about Kurtz, but in the process, he confronts his own heart of darkness amidst the horror, the horror of the Vietnam war.
The original version of "Apocalypse Now," which came out in 1979 and clocked in at about 2 1/2 hours, contains what has to be some of the most shocking images in Hollywood history. Who can forget Colonel Kilgore's (Robert Duvall) ambush on the Vietnamese village with "Ride of the Valkyries" blasting from his attack helicopters? Who can forget the riot that ensues after a morale boosting USO visit by Playboy Playmates spirals out of control? Who can forget the haunting and hallucinatory images at the Du Long Bridge, the last outpost before Willard and his crew find themselves in no man's land? Finally, who can forget the moment of truth, when Willard finally confronts an insane Kurtz, whose ominous, bulky figure weaves in and out of the shadows?
As if the original version wasn't effective enough, the new version--renamed "Apocalypse Now Redux"--is something of a holy grail for movie buffs. By remastering the sound and restoring 53 minutes of additional footage, Coppola accentuates what was already an enormously engrossing experience to begin with. The four new scenes--the theft of Kilgore's prized surfboard, a romantic encounter with the Playboy Playmates, a stopover at a Flying Dutchman-like French plantation, and Kurtz's mockery of a news report heralding the end of the war--allows the film to reach bold new political and narrative heights.
If there's any character who benefits the most from the restored footage, it's Martin Sheen's Captain Willard. In the original release, he was simply an observer--a passive character whose only real action took place at the end of the film. In the new version, he's much more proactive, beginning with his theft of Kilgore's surfboard and culminating with his seduction of a young widow (Aurore Clement) at the French plantation. The problem is that even though he was emotionally detached in the original version, at least he was consistent. In the new version, he blows hot and cold, bonding with his crew one minute and shutting them out the next. It's hardly a complaint, but it is worth mentioning.
After the death of Mr. Clean (Laurence Fishburne), the crew--now consisting of Willard, stoned-out surfer Lance (Sam Bottoms), strung-out saucier Chef (Frederic Forrest), and morally-bound Chief (Albert Hall)--encounters what appears to be an abandoned village along the river. Like ghosts from the past, a group of French soldiers welcome them and offer to bury their dead. The patriarch of the compound (Christian Marquand) invites the crew to dine with them, but he soon ends up lecturing them for fighting "for the biggest nothing in history." It's a powerful scene that gives the film tremendous political depth, and it's easy to see why Coppola left it out of the original release.
There's no doubt that the making of "Apocalypse" took the wind out of Francis Ford Coppola's sails, and as a result, many would argue that on a creative level, he--like Kurtz--simply got off the boat. Coppola would never again reach the artistic nirvana that he achieved in the 70's with "The Conversation," both "Godfather" movies, and "Apocalypse Now," and in that sense, it's safe to say that the rest of Hollywood got off the boat as well. The new revolution that defined the decade was over, and in its place was a more conservative mindset that focused on the bottom line. That wouldn't have been such a bad thing if these new filmmakers didn't forget one important rule: When making movies, never get off the boat.
Never get off the boat? Absolutely Goddamn right.
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© Scott Mantz - Scott's Movie Reviews
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