Opinions on Apocalypse Now

[terp_fan99]

Hey everyone, I was just curious as to what you all thought of this movie? I got in an argument with someone who said it was the greatest war movie of all time. I'm not saying it's not a good movie, but it is such a horribly inaccurate depiction of the war it's about, I don't know how it could be considered the greatest war movie. I mean it basically takes the novel Heart of Darkness and changes the backdrop from Africa to the Vietnam War. Any Vietnam veteran will tell you their experience was nothing like this movie depicts. I know it's supposed to be a great intellectual masterpiece, but I just can't call it the greatest WAR movie.

[jhiggy23]

It's undoubtedly one of the greatest movies of all time. However, I really don't consider it a war movie. It just isn't a genre picture, the way Black Hawk Down or Platoon are. It goes far beyond that.

[kpkelley]

When I first saw this movie, I was far too young to understand it. As such, I didn't like it. In that respect I find it to be a lot like A Clockwork Orange in that initial viewings can be deceptive because of the graphic nature of the filmmaking and extremely offputting elements of the drama at the heart of the stories.

On subsequent viewings, I was able to overcome the shock of some of the imagery and plot points and focus on the characters and their drama throughout. As character studies, these films can be quite profound on both an individual and societal level.

[tiger roach]

It is a great movie IMO.

I would agree with the OP though that it isn't an accurate depiction of Viet Nam. Nor was it intended to be. It used an abstract representation to make its points about the war.

[donaldheil]

I don't think the movie pretends to be an accurate representation of Vietnam (or any other specific war). It uses Vietnam as a background for something more simbolic. The madness of war, things like that.

Not an action war movie, but a war movie nonetheless (a very good one).

[BJMRamage]

ehhh, maybe i will watch it again sometime and see it differently. i heard about it in Film 101 and rented it. felt long. and just ehh for me.

haven't seen it since.

[Elvis]

Great film in my top films of all time. Now I know that this will rub some people wrong but I prefer the theatrical over the Redux. It was nice to see the Redux (and I do own both) but I feel the French Settlement and some other scenes are really not needed and slows the film way down. I am not of the school "more is always better" because I can name a number of films I think longer versions actually detract from the pace of a film.

Oh Hearts of Darkness is a great Docu on making the film. Hopefully when it does arrive on Blu it will have both versions and Hearts of Darkness.

*I have spoken with several Vietnam War Vets and all have told me to a man that Apoc Now picks up on the "confusion" that the war in 68/70 eventually became better than any other film including Platoon.

[surfdude12]

As always it comes down to expectations, or what you expect to get out of the film. "we determine our own experience" through expectations. If i expect it to be a Band of Brothers on vietnam, then yes, of course I won't like it. But if i expect it to be a psychological character study within a war backdrop? different result. IMO, this movie wasn't about "war" , but more fundamentally about that brittle line of human psyche beyond which, there is no going back. expectations, expectations, expectations!!!

One of my all-time favorites. Just speaking for myself, but I don't sit down to watch Apocalypse Now (or any war movie for that matter) to educate myself on war. If the movie ends up doing that, great, but its not my primary intention. A war movie can be very accurate on the psychology and psychological effects of war, without necessarily being accurate as to how many bombs were dropped here, or how many soldiers were over there. Honestly, I'm watching a film for one reason: entertainment. Books are better for educating myself on war.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Elvis

Great film in my top films of all time. Now I know that this will rub some people wrong but I prefer the theatrical over the Redux. It was nice to see the Redux (and I do own both) but I feel the French Settlement and some other scenes are really not needed and slows the film way down. I am not of the school "more is always better" because I can name a number of films I think longer versions actually detract from the pace of a film.

Oh Hearts of Darkness is a great Docu on making the film. Hopefully when it does arrive on Blu it will have both versions and Hearts of Darkness.

Elvis, you're not rubbing me the wrong way. I watched Redux 2 weeks ago and the French scene was uncomfortably long. There was an extra 10-15 mins of Sheen bobbing his head while they were talking to him that was blatantly unneeded IMO.

[tiger roach]

I also prefer the theatrical cut.

[Grand Bob]

I would say that it's more of a psychological profile of how people with different personalities react when confronted with the absurdities present in a wartime scenario. That being said, it is one of the finest presentations of the fine line that exists between sanity and madness that I have seen with regard to the acting performances and the way the subject matter is handled. It would be difficult to top Coppola's gem.

[Quad]

Went to the premiere (not the hollywood one) in NYC back in the day. I was in high school, the film really shook me the first time I saw it. I believe Coppolla was going more for a film that conveyed the insanity of war than an accurate depiction of what really went on there.

I didn't really like redux, maybe because I saw the theatrical version first.

[Elvis]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

Elvis, you're not rubbing me the wrong way. I watched Redux 2 weeks ago and the French scene was uncomfortably long. There was an extra 10-15 mins of Sheen bobbing his head while they were talking to him that was blatantly unneeded IMO.

The chick was Hawt though!

[SDon1969]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

Elvis, you're not rubbing me the wrong way. I watched Redux 2 weeks ago and the French scene was uncomfortably long. There was an extra 10-15 mins of Sheen bobbing his head while they were talking to him that was blatantly unneeded IMO.

I agree, the scene at the French house didn't add much and for me, disrupted the flow and pace of the movie (it came to a screeching halt, practically!). And didn't the extended cut add a bit of Brando weirdness, as well? This is one of those cases where I prefer the theatrical cut, I think.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Elvis

The chick was Hawt though!

yeah too bad it took her getting naked, pole dancing and talking dirty to even snap Sheen out of Kutrz-mode

[terp_fan99]

Originally Posted by Elvis

*I have spoken with several Vietnam War Vets and all have told me to a man that Apoc Now picks up on the "confusion" that the war in 68/70 eventually became better than any other film including Platoon.

A Vietnam vet that came to speak to our class in high school was almost annoyed when someone asked him if Vietnam was like the movie, he said it wasn't even close. It seems the overall opinion is that Vietnam vets can't relate their experience overseas to this movie or the Deer Hunter. Of course, the Deer Hunter isn't accurate but I still appreciate it because it's supposed to be about the consequences that war has on the lives of the people involved either directly or indirectly. Maybe I need to watch Apocalypse Now again, but I found it long and extremely boring. It actually took me two days to finish it.

Then again, maybe I just don't "get" movies. I still haven't figured out the hoopla behind Blade Runner and I've watched it 3 times.

[sasquatch]

I didn't see this movie until about 5 years ago. I didn't think it was all that. I saw it once, and that was enough for me. Have no urge to ever want to see it again.

[Duffy12]

My number TWO favorite movie of all time which would be the theatrical version over the 'Redux' one. However I love Kilgor's entrance into the movie on the 'Redux' version though.

Now if I remember correctly when Coppola was showing the movie at the Cannes Film Festival he was quoted as saying somthing like-

"This film is NOT about the Vietnam War, it IS the Vietnam War."



And IMO the BEST scripted movie ever.



Kurtz: Did they say why, Willard, why they want to terminate my command?
Willard: I was sent on a classified mission, sir.
Kurtz: It's no longer classified, is it? Did they tell you?
Willard: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.
Kurtz: Are my methods unsound?
Willard: I don't see any method at all, sir.
Kurtz: I expected someone like you. What did you expect? Are you an assassin?
Willard: I'm a soldier.
Kurtz: You're neither. You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.


.

[Ernest Rister]

I don't think Apocalypse Now is a character study at all. Willard is pretty much a blank slate who drfits through a series of vignettes. The narrative structure of Apocalypse Now is little different than a ride at Disneyland. In this way, Willard is not a character, he is a witness, a vehicle through which we witness the surrealism of Coppola's imagined Vietnam.

I think it is an extraordinary movie, but I don't think it is a character study.

[AKORIS]

[QUOTE=Elvis;2833181]Great film in my top films of all time. Now I know that this will rub some people wrong but I prefer the theatrical over the Redux.


actually I completely prefer the theatrical cut-- I bought the redux version on dvd and was disappointed with the additions.