taken from
http://www.cinescape.com Two decades and two years after its big release in 1979, Apocalypse Now has finally gotten the expanded version it demanded. But has Francis Coppola put back in the missing goods or just padded out an already schizophrenic war picture?
The saga of Apocalypse Now‘s gaining 49 "new" minutes was, fittingly, a torturous and controversial journey. Since 1976, when Coppola, fresh from his two GODFATHER successes, first journeyed to the Philippines to make the definitive Vietnam film, Apocalypse Now has remained the most talked about film (press wise anyway) of our generation.
And by Coppola’s own account, journeying up the river he and his crew, like the film’s participants, went a little mad. At one point, after getting waylaid by typhoons, his leading man having a heart attack, and endless rewrites, the film was so over budget Coppola was forced to put his own house up for collateral. The resulting movie, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979, was quickly called a flawed masterpiece. The helicopter attack was an instant classic, Brando’s shadowy portrayal of the villain, muddled.
Loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s HEART OF DARKNESS turn of the century novella, with parts of Homer’s THE ODDESSY tossed in, Apocalypse told the story of Willard (Martin Sheen), a CIA trained assassin sent up a river in Vietnam to kill a renegade Colonel (Marlon Brando) who’d set himself up like a mad killing king.
Over the years the film’s stature grew, and even highly honored films of the time like COMING HOME and THE DEER HUNTER faded away. While Coppola always maintained there was no longer version ala THE GODFATHER SAGA, by the mid 90s bootlegs of a five-hour "rough assembly" surfaced around Hollywood and were the source of a cover story in Film Threat Magazine (which, oh yeah, I happened to be editor of at the time.)
Within the five-hour version were wonders untold. Of a rainy tryst between Willard’s men and the Playboy bunnies. Of a French plantation dinner scene that turned into a philosophical debate on the nature of war. Of Duvall’s part being expanded to show both a human and humorous side. And most surprising of all, several scenes from the Kurtz compound, including Scott Glenn’s full performance, Dennis Hopper’s death scene, Brando reading Time Magazine to Willard (in broad daylight!) and Willard’s savage attack to get to Kurtz.
With all this was also endless shots of helicopters flying about and a bit that went nowhere of Willard being paraded around in a bamboo cage. But this was, after all, a rough assembly; even the score was a temp track of half a dozen Doors’ songs.
Taking it all in in one big gulp, you were struck by several things. 1) Without the Michael Herr after-the-fact narration, the film was more lyrical and hypnotic. 2) With the images of Willard killing he became a more believable bad ass. 3) The end segment made a lot more sense once you saw Glenn’s part and Hopper’s demise.
So imagine my salivating when word came down last year that Coppola was going to restore the film. And imagine my disappointment when I saw it. Back in are the Duvall scenes, the Bunny’s in the rain, the French plantation half hour and Brando’s daylight blab.
Duvall’s character benefits from a more three dimensional portrayal and inclusion of Willard laughing and joking around offers a more complete picture of his dynamic with the others on the boat (Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms and Laurence Fishburne).
But the bunny scene is over-the-top bad and the French plantation stuff brings the film to a full halt. It goes on forever and Coppola even botched the sex scene that follows with Willard and a French matriarch played by Aurore Clement. It’s just sexual filler, and at least in the rough cut it climaxes with the following exchange: Clement: "Why do you fight and kill?" Willard: "Because it feels good."
Glenn’s part is still all build up and no delivery, the Hopper death scene hasn’t been added, nor has Willard’s killing spree (which included skewering a child to get to the soldier behind him). Adding to the problems is some new music for the new scenes that make the film sound like a dated horror movie, and a funeral scene that’s downright corny. And the narration, while well written, is still superfluous. (Coppola should have taken a tip from what Ridley Scott did with the BLADE RUNNER re-release and just dropped it all together.)
Now, as the film snakes around the country in its limited theatrical release to promote the DVD coming this fall, critics are falling all over themselves in praise of this mess. Imagine how ga-ga they’d be if Coppola had put back in the right stuff?
