Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now (1979) comes from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, with the story moved from the Congo to Vietnam. Captain Willard is given an assignment: find Colonel Kurtz, who has built his own army deep inside Cambodia, and kill him. Willard goes up the river, and each stop shows the war in a slightly more deranged state. The production is more famous than the film. A six week shoot ran to sixteen months. A typhoon destroyed the sets. Martin Sheen had a heart attack on location at thirty six. Marlon Brando arrived overweight and had not read the novel, so Coppola had to shoot him in darkness and shadow. Coppola put up his own money and his house as collateral. All of it was recorded by Coppola's wife Eleanor and later became the documentary Hearts of Darkness, generally counted among the best films ever made about making a film. The opening helicopter assault was shot to Wagner, and it remains the most imitated moment in war cinema. It shared the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1979 with The Tin Drum. There is more than one cut: the 1979 release, Redux in 2001 and the Final Cut in 2019. Running times range from 147 to 202 minutes. Good for: war films, landmark cinema, and Coppola. Less good for: it contains violence, drug use and the real slaughter of an animal. It is not an easy watch.