January 2000

Apocalypse Now
Reviewed by Doug Schneider
DVD Format

Overall Enjoyment:
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Starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburne

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Theatrical Release: 1979
DVD Release: 1999
Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen (Anamorphic)

Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is somewhat of a cinematic legend. The movie depicts the insanity of war, and the making of the film itself actually mirrors its own content. It’s well known that the movie was fraught with chaotic, near-disastrous production problems. The budget ballooned far beyond expectations, as did Marlon Brando’s bulging midsection. Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack during filming, while Dennis Hopper showed up on set with a series of drug problems. The script went through numerous changes and partial rewrites and many questioned whether or not Coppola could actually finish it. And these disasters are only the tip of the iceberg. For a fascinating, inside look at the making of this film you simply need to turn to the excellent Hearts of Darkness, an outstanding documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now. Despite these problems, Apocalypse Now is an outstanding film and one of the finest war movies ever made. Some may say that The Godfather series is Coppola’s best work, I say it is this.

Martin Sheen plays Captain Benjamin Willard, a military man who desperately wants to go home. However, he’s already been back once and knows when he gets there he’ll want to get back into the action of war. He’s on his second tour in Vietnam, holed up in a dingy motel, drunk, out of control and awaiting his next assignment. His assignment finally comes and it is to terminate the command of Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a brilliant and celebrated military officer who has slipped far into the jungle. Kurtz is now suspected of murder and feared insane since he has taken on a god-like persona and appears to be directing a group of natives and military personnel from a compound he’s created in the jungle. Kurtz’ actions are deemed "unsound" by the military brass and it is agreed that they must be stopped by any means.

Despite some spellbinding battle scenes, this is not an action movie. It is based on a short novel called Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and is more or less an aural and visual event as it traces Willard making his way up the river to Kurtz’ compound. This movie is long, some 2 hours and 23 minutes in length, and plays on the screen more like an opera than a war film. The farther Willard gets into the jungle, the more insane the circumstances become, until, by the end he acknowledges that the army will promote him for what he’s about to do, but mentally he’s no longer part of their world. In fact, he may have even slipped over the edge of insanity himself, as have almost all the other soldiers. Kurtz appears to them at least to have some purpose and even Willard is drawn in by his power

Apocalypse Now is filled with incredible visual landscapes that paint long-lasting pictures in one’s mind. It has a grand-scale vision with gorgeous cinematography that never stops. In a time before rock music videos, Coppola may have helped to define the genre with certain parts of this film. Most memorable is the use of The Doors’ song "The End" when Willard has his final encounter with Kurtz, as well as the beach invasion led by Captain Kilgore to Wagner’s "Ride of the Valkyries."

Besides the high production value, certain performances stand out. While Sheen is wholly satisfactory in his role, it is the supporting actors that shine. Most famous is Robert Duvall’s Colonel Kilgore, a seemingly fearless war-hero who can walk through a minefield without twitching and who can give inspiration to the most reluctant of soldiers before each battle. And yet, during those same battles he orders some of his young soldiers to surf while the others fight. Is he OK or insane? We’re never quite sure. A young Laurence Fishburne is almost unrecognizable as the seventeen year-old Mr. Clean, and Dennis Hopper, who appears stoned through all his parts (and Hearts of Darkness leads us to believe he really was), brings an edgy and almost comedic aspect to his role as a photo journalist. He’s the perfect foil to Sheen’s straight-faced Willard.

Of course, there’s Marlon Brando. He showed up on set grossly overweight, and again according to Hearts of Darkness, seemed unconcerned with learning the existing script. Instead, he practically shut down the filming and forced Coppola to rework his parts of the script. A reluctant Coppola agreed (perhaps for the better?). The strange and sometimes grotesque performance of Brando works exceedingly well. His physical size and demeanor help to create that god-like illusion that is necessary to have us believe that Kurtz has the power to draw the followers in. His twisted logic and occasionally nonsensical speech reinforce the almost surreal image he creates.

This twentieth-anniversary release on DVD is a good one in terms of picture and sound quality. The visual aspects are extremely good and they appear to have used a near-flawless print of the film to do the transfer. The colors are not quite as robust and vibrant as I would like (and as I remember at the theater), but it is well detailed with good color balance. Overall, it is gorgeous to look at. However, there are a couple parts that when played may have some thinking they are seeing digital artifacts, but I would wager they are mostly hardware dependent as some players struggle to decode some screen movement. For example, there is one portion where the camera pans across the ocean and there is an unnatural jerkiness to waves. Another time the camera pans up the page of a book and there is the same type of odd movement. Is it a bad transfer, or perhaps the quality of the DVD player? I say the latter and I plan to investigate with some newer players.

The sound, on the whole, is also very good but not quite up to the standard of the picture – on occasion some distortion sneaks in. Sheen narrates throughout and his voice is clean and tightly focused in the center. It has a rich, realistic and natural tone that sounds as if he’s speaking right in the room. The music has excellent detail and impact and the use of surround effects is outstanding. At one part where they are being attacked in their boat by toy arrows, the arrows sound as if they are whipping from all around, including far behind. Other times, the swirl of the helicopters can be heard sweeping the room to all sides.

DVD extras are good and include things like Director’s Commentary and the destruction of Kurtz’ compound. However, what I found most notable was the ending of the film. For those who have not yet seen Apocalypse Now you may wish to stop reading this paragraph because I will spoil something for you in the next couple of sentences. On the other hand, you may find it interesting so make a choice. When I first watched the DVD I immediately perked up and said, "hey, that’s not the right ending!" Back when I saw this movie in 1979 I distinctly remembered Kurtz’ compound blowing up as the credits rolled. However, a few seconds later a note came on the screen that explained that when the movie made its 70mm theatrical release back in 1979, Coppola released it with no closing credits. Instead, they handed out booklets with the credits printed inside. That’s the way he intended for all to see it so that’s the way the DVD presents it. However, for the 35mm theatrical release of the film (which I saw in the theaters) they added the credits and during the credits they placed the filming of the bombing of Kurtz’s compound which was not really part of the original film. I learned from a review by Roger Ebert that upon completion of the filming, Coppola was required by the Philippine government to destroy the set (Apocalypse Now was filmed in the Philippines). He subsequently filmed it as they blew it up and that’s the film stock he used. Surprisingly, that small difference changes the impression of the film’s ending a great deal.

Apocalypse Now is one of a handful of films that can be termed as great. On its twentieth anniversary it is as relevant and important a movie as ever and one that is a definite asset to any DVD collection -- go get it.

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