APOCALYPSE NOW - 1979
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Robert Duvall, Albert Hall, Laurence Fishburne, Sam Bottoms, Dennis Hopper, G.D. Spradlin, Harrison Ford, Jerry Ziesmer, Scott Glenn, and Marlon Brando
Genre: War Drama (Audio clip)
Up until recently, I had only seen chunks of this film but never the entire feature at once....and now having seen it, I also can't help but be reminded of the craziness that went on behind the scenes when watching this. And finally having seen SO many other Vietnam stories on film to this point, that skews things even further....bottom line it's difficult to watch such a seminal film like this entirely for the first time and be fully objective about it. That said, it's a damn impressive piece of filmmaking - Coppola had a hell of a 1970's as a director while I don't think I like this QUITE as much as his other three classics from that decade, I feel like it at least belongs in The Conversation. š (pun intended)
It's just not as conventional a narrative as those other three - not discounting that 'Part II and The Conversation didn't take their own share of narrative leaps - but the characters in those films were more clear-cut as were their themes. This was clearly Coppola (and co-writer John Milius) going for something more experimental and I think they succeed for the most part - the whole structure of this film feels more like a series of vignettes and most of them happen to have beautifully executed from visual and audio standpoint.
Thereās the Do Lung Bridge sequence just over halfway through...just an amazing use of darkness, flashes of light and shadows to convey the true chaos of war, I find it the most harrowing scene in the film. Martin Sheen gives an amazing performance as Captain Willard and this scene is one of his highlights - he really pulls off the tricky balance of playing someone who spends most of his screen time simply reacting to those around him though never coming off as passive. And watching the growing anguish on his face as Willard stumbles through this darkly lit battle and realizes there REALLY is no CO in charge...well I think it nails the themes of the film as well any other portion.
Yes that includes the final half hour - probably the most debated part of this movie - when Willard finally gets to the end of the river to meet Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando...the less you know about the background of his performance, the better) - I'm not sure if all of the imagery and dialogue of this conclusion lands as well as it should. The imagery of Kurtz' cult (or tribe) and the eerie quiet that it's given is VERY effective but Kurtz himself....well Iāll get to that in just a bit.
That said, most of the performances are pretty amazing including Duvall's now legendary stint as Colonel Kilgore, a young Albert Hall who is effective at playing probably the most grounded character in the film as the PBR Captain, and wow....a 14-year old Laurence Fishburne apparently pretending to be 17 as Private Clean?? š¤ 'Fish is just a wirey ball of nervous energy who almost DOES seem too young to be in the shit with the rest of these guys but he's fun to watch....and the conclusion of his character is very effectively done. A great film that also happens to have some flaws but great nonetheless.
Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):
As tempting as it is to go with Wagner for THAT sequenceā¦.well Iāll save that for another category because the opening needle drop for this story is the one which still packs the biggest punch for me. And yes Iām fairly confident that by ā79, it already had to feel somewhat on-the-nose to play The Doors over a montage of Vietnam footage but I just donāt care because it simply WORKS! (Audio clip)
And to refer to as a āVietnam montageā likely oversimplifies things a bit. No to open the film, Coppola and crew present us with some rather calm imagery of just the Cambodian jungle filling the frameā¦ā¦with yellow powder spreadingā¦.and then explosions of fire. And the sound we hear is just the whir of helicopter blades gradually transitioning into the opening sitar chords and snare drum of this iconic song. And over this image of this burning forest, we then shift into gliding shot of Martin Sheenās faceā¦..upside down as heās laying down sweatingā¦..before the came passes over close-up images of everything around him including alcohol, pictures of family, his face sweatingā¦.smokingā¦.and the camera eventually closes in on a revolver on his bed which he MIGHT have been planning on using?? :o Itās a haunting note to open this story with and the song is of course the āgothic rockā anthem from The Doorās self-titled debut album released in 1967ā¦..all eleven minutes and forty-one seconds of it! Iām referring to āThe End.ā (Audio clip)
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):
Now about Brandoā¦.yup sorry maybe itās become clichĆ© at this point but heās the weakest part of this movie. I'm not going to get deep into the constraints Brando himself put on this production with his own behavior but they don't help matters. He's mostly filmed in shadow, most of his dialogue was improvised, and it shows - would it have helped to not know the on-set backstory before watching these scenes? Probably if I'm being honest but it's hard not to notice - the way Kurtz as a looming presence is built up through the first two hours of this movie with narration about him and clippings and files, it's SO effectively done that when he see Brando himself barely audible at times and shown mostly in shadow, it just feels like a bit of let-down.
Some of Brando's line readings ("The horror...the horror") are good but this should have been John Doe at the end of Seven or hell....Ned Beatty towards the end of Network and it's just NOT on that level sadly. š It doesn't kill the power of the movie for me but it weakens it.
Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
Yup Iām going to do the cliched thing again but come on! Thereās only once choiceā¦..the "Ride of the Valkyries" bombing sequence has been so often discussed and imitated for obvious reasons: it's jaw-droppingly exciting...probably among the Top Five action set-pieces in the history of cinema. Helicopters strafing along the coast deploying the min-guns eventually leading to jets flying well over heads dropping napalm - we had never seen anything quite like this on screen before and it still holds up against anything you would see in blockbuster cinema today (Audio clip)
Of course Wagnerās original music plays a big part as do top-flight technical contributions in the two areas which this film won Oscars forā¦..Best Sound and Best Cinematography from one of THE true legends of modern cinema, Vittorio Storaro who manages to help the imagery look both beautiful AND terrifying at the same time. It sets the standard for helicopter use within a movie, classical music needle-drops, AND an unparalleled ability to shift POVās within an extended action sequence so seamlessly! (Audio clip)
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
As if there could be ANY other choiceā¦.he nearly sacrificed his sanity and his life to achieve his vision. What resulted is undeniably one of the most iconic films of the 1970ās AND one of the most influential war films of all time. Francis Ford Coppola is the MVP.
Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
And just to be clear, the version which I have reviewed here is the original theatrical cutā¦.I have heard mixed things about the various other cuts of this film and I do hope to eventually catch them as well. Beyond that, it should also go without saying that a wonderful companion piece with this film is the pretty ground-breaking documentary released in ā91 which chronicles the tumultuous production behind itā¦.Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakerās Apocalypse.
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And that ends another PSYCHEDELIC review!
