One of the greatest films ever made
The original "Apocalypse Now" is an awe-inspiring masterpiece and is my all-time favorite film. Memorable scenes abound, starting with the mind-blowing opening with Willard (Martin Sheen) having a mental breakdown in his sweltering Saigon hotel room to the tune of The Doors' "The End."
Speaking of Sheen, people overlook the fact that he expertly carries the film. His haunting commentary is one of the most effective narrations in cinematic history and hooks the viewer into the nightmare-adventure.
I could go on and on about the noteworthy scenes, but I'll resist, except to comment on Col. Kurtz: Was he really insane or actually a bold genius? General Corman informs Willard: "He's out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct. And he is still in the field commanding troops." And, yet, Kurtz was accomplishing what the US military couldn't or wouldn't do because of political complications and niceties. I bring this up because, as I've aged, I've come to see that I'M Kurtz in some ways -- operating "out there" beyond the parameters and restrictions typically linked to my work.
The script was written by John Milius with alterations by Coppola as he shot the film whilst the narration was written by Michael Herr. The meaning of the story is obvious: The trip up the river led by Capt. Willard exposes him to two extreme viewpoints of war represented by the two colonels he encounters on his long journey, both of whose names start with 'K,' which is no accident:
Lt. COL. KILGORE (Duvall) is a romantic who embraces war as a lifestyle and even feeds off it, i.e. glorifies it. The fact that he's a romantic can be observed in the air-raid on the village where he literally plays Wagner as a prologue. He feeds off the war to the extent that he "loves the smell of napalm in the morning." War is just another day to him so why not go surfing? Since he lives off of the war there's no way it can kill him or even give him a scratch. Kilgore naturally has the support of the top brass because he's part of the system and plays the game of war.
COL. KURTZ (Brando), by contrast, sees through this hypocrisy. He realizes that being in a state of war is humanity gone mad. It's living horror and therefore must be ended through the quickest means possible at whatever cost. He refuses to play the game of war as he expertly takes out double agents, etc. Of course the brass can't have this so they put out a hit on Kurtz via Willard. The existential Kurtz becomes increasingly disillusioned -- even crazy -- after jumping ship from the system and now has no sanctuary. Death is the only way out. His consolation is that Willard will tell his son the truth.
The "Redux" version was put together by Coppola and released in 2001 with the addition of 49 minutes of material that he originally cut, not to mention placing Clean's surfing scene later in the story.
Coppola made the right decisions with his original 1979 edit of the film (2 hours, 33 minutes) since the extra footage of "Redux" tends to drag the film down with 1 or 2 scenes being dubiously scripted, e.g. the theft of Kilgore's surf board. Not every idea that is birthed during the creative process is worthy of the final product and "Redux" illustrates this. Thus the new footage of "Redux" should've arguably been relegated to the "deleted scenes" section.
That said, I've warmed up to "Redux" and feel it's a worthy version of the film, but only if you've watched the Theatrical Cut and want more . "Redux" successfully fleshes out the characters and gives them more dimension, especially Willard and Kurtz. Plus the sequence involving Kurtz reading a couple of TIME magazine articles illustrates beyond any shadow of doubt that he wasn't insane and that the brass simply slandered him as crazy in order to justify the assassination of a decorated American officer.
Coppola's preferred cut of the film is the "Final Cut," released in 2019, which runs a half hour longer than the Theatrical Cut. In other words, it trims the fat off of "Redux." There's also a "First Assembly" version, a bootleg, that runs 4 hours, 49 minutes.
The film was shot in the Philippines.
GRADE: A+
