Apocalypse Now U.S. (1979)

APoCAlYPSE NoW U.S. (1979) Director Francis Ford Coppola Producer John Ashley Screenplay John Milius, Michael Herr (from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness) Cinematography Vittorio Storaro Music Carmine Coppola, Richard Wagner, The Doors Cast Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Albert Hall Apocalypse Now was shot over four years on the Philippines under disastrous conditions—with the set burning down and the main actor (Sheen) having a heart attack. Originally based on a screenplay by John Milius, who wrote it as a modern adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s classical novel Heart of Darkness, the book was constantly rewritten and altered by Michael Herr during the shoot. The version Coppola presented in 1979 to a stunned audience was always considered an “interim” version but hit the theatres nonetheless. In disturbingly beautiful images the film tells the story of army-executioner Willard’s journey into the heart of the jungle to find and exterminate a former U.S. Colonel named Kurtz who Marlon Brando seemingly has gone mad. Together with a small platoon Willard was offered a drives down the river and continuously faces his own abyss. then-unheard When he finally meets Kurtz he realizes this very sophisticated of fee of $3.5 man has established a kind of neo-barbarian kingdom in the million for one jungle, and crowned himself to be the god-king. month’s work, only to arrive totally The first half of the film focuses on the madness of the unprepared and, Vietnam war, showing U.S. soldiers on drugs, loaded with famously, hugely modern equipment and weaponry, unable to even see the overweight. The 1970s 253 Steven Jay Schneider is a film critic, scholar and producer with M.A. degrees in Philosophy and Cinema Studies from Harvard University and New York University enemy. In the most famous sequence the helicopter squadron respectively. He is editor of 1001 Movies of Col. Kilgore bombs a small and peaceful village just to go You Must See Before You Die, 101 Horror surfing on the beach. Coppola shows this sequence in dynamic Movies You Must See Before You Die, and montage, scored by Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” 101 Sci-Fi Movies You Must See Before You The second half of the film is the philosophical part: Willard Die. He is also the author and editor realizes that he has left modern civilisation behind and now of many other books on film. faces the mythical age of archaic barbarism. Kurtz achieves his “everyone gets everything he wants. i wanted a mission, and for ISBN-10: 0-7641-6275-6 my sins, they gave me one.” willard ISBN-13: 978-0-7641-6275-6 Pub: October 2009 ultimate goal when Willard unleashes the final “apocalypse”, Trim: 4 1/2" x 6" calling the air force to bomb Kurtz’s compound, then replacing Price: $14.99, Can$17.99 him. The fact that the film actually begins with the burning Flexbinding w/jacket jungle scored by the song “The End” by The Doors suddenly becomes more important: the circle is closed. In the strict sense of enlightened modern culture Kurtz is the incarnation of evil: He turned back towards the mythical age Willard was played and established a kingdom of human sacrifice and bloody by Martin Sheen, who was not rituals. He really is the “heart of darkness.” At the same time he available for extra knows he has to die: He reads James Frazer’s mythological voiceovers during book The Golden Bough, which focuses on the ritual killing of Coppola’s lengthy the king. He also cites T. S. Eliot’s poem The Hollow Men which editing process. His begins with a quote from Conrad’s novel: “Mista Kurtz he dead.” brother Joe Estevez Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. was used instead, Apocalypse Now may be considered a radical mythological 250 Wireless Blvd. Hauppauge, NY 11788 but never credited. allegory on the eternal presence of war in human history. MS www.barronseduc.com 254 The 1970s Printed in China.

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