| Front Cover |
Actor |
|
| Marlon Brando |
Col. Walter E. Kurtz
|
| Robert Duvall |
Lt. Col. Kilgore
|
| Martin Sheen |
Capt. Benjamin Willard
|
| Frederic Forrest |
Chef
|
| Dennis Hopper |
Photo Journalist
|
| Samuel Bottoms |
Lance
|
| Albert Hall |
Chief
|
| Harrison Ford |
Colonel
|
| G.D. Spradlin |
General
|
| Bill Graham |
Agent
|
| Robert Duvall |
Lt. Col. William 'Bill' Kilgore
|
| Martin Sheen |
Capt. Benjamin L. Willard/Narrator
|
| Frederic Forrest |
Engineman 2nd Class (EN2) Jay Hicks/'Chef'
|
| Albert Hall |
Chief Quartermaster (QMC) Phillips
|
| Sam Bottoms |
Gunner's Mate 3rd Class (GM3) Lance B. Johnson
|
| Laurence Fishburne |
Gunner's Mate 3rd Class (GM3) Tyrone Miller/'Mr. Clean' (as Larry Fishburne)
|
| G.D. Spradlin |
Gen. R. Corman
|
| Harrison Ford |
Col. G. Lucas
|
|
|
| Movie Details |
| Genre |
Action; Drama; War |
| Director |
Francis Ford Coppola |
| Writer |
John Milius; Francis Ford Coppola |
|
| Language |
English |
| Audience Rating |
R |
| Running Time |
2 hr 33 mins |
| Country |
USA |
| Color |
Color |
|
| Plot |
| One of a cluster of late-1970s films about the Vietnam War, Francis Ford Coppola 's Apocalypse Now adapts the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of Darkness to depict the war as a descent into primal madness. Capt. Willard ( Martin Sheen ), already on the edge, is assigned to find and deal with AWOL Col. Kurtz ( Marlon Brando ), rumored to have set himself up in the Cambodian jungle as a local, lethal godhead. Along the way Willard encounters napalm and Wagner fan Col. Kilgore ( Robert Duvall ), draftees who prefer to surf and do drugs, a USO Playboy Bunny show turned into a riot by the raucous soldiers, and a jumpy photographer ( Dennis Hopper ) telling wild, reverent tales about Kurtz. By the time Willard sees the heads mounted on stakes near Kurtz's compound, he knows Kurtz has gone over the deep end, but it is uncertain whether Willard himself now agrees with Kurtz's insane dictum to "Drop the Bomb. Exterminate them all." Coppola himself was not certain either, and he tried several different endings between the film's early rough-cut screenings for the press, the Palme d'Or-winning "work-in-progress" shown at Cannes, and the final 35 mm U.S. release (also the ending on the video cassette). The chaotic production also experienced shut-downs when a typhoon destroyed the set and star Sheen suffered a heart attack; the budget ballooned and Coppola covered the overages himself. These production headaches, which Coppola characterized as being like the Vietnam War itself, have been superbly captured in the documentary, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse . Despite the studio's fears and mixed reviews of the film's ending, Apocalypse Now became a substantial hit and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Duvall's psychotic Kilgore, and Best Screenplay. It won Oscars for sound and for Vittorio Storaro 's cinematography. This hallucinatory, Wagnerian project has produced admirers and detractors of equal ardor; it resembles no other film ever made, and its nightmarish aura and polarized reception aptly reflect the tensions and confusions of the Vietnam era. — Lucia Bozzola |
| Personal Details |
| Seen It |
No |
| Index |
141 |
| In Collection |
Yes |
| Purchase Date |
8/2/2003 |
| Tape Label |
47 |
|
| Product Details |
| Format |
VHS |
| Region |
Region 1 |
| Release Date |
2003 |
| Nr of Disks/Tapes |
1 |
|
|