Main Cast: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 203 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Francis Coppola had more than his share of production difficulties while shooting his epic-scale Vietnam War drama Apocalypse Now, including disastrous weather conditions, problems with his leading men (Harvey Keitel was fired after less than two weeks on the project and was replaced by Martin Sheen, who suffered a heart attack midway through production), and a schedule and budget that quickly spiraled out of control (originally budgeted at $10 million, the film's final cost was over $30 million). But Coppola's troubles didn't end when he got his footage into the editing room, and he tinkered with a number of different structures and endings before settling on the film's 153-minute final cut in time for its initial theatrical release in 1979. Twenty-two years later, Francis Coppola returned to the material, and created Apocalypse Now Redux, an expanded and re-edited version of the film that adds 53 minutes of footage excised from the film's original release. In addition to adding a number of smaller moments that even out the film's rhythms, Apocalypse Now Redux restores two much-discussed sequences that Coppola chose not to include in his original edition of the film -- an encounter in the jungle between Willard (Martin Sheen), his crewmates Chief (Albert Hall), Clean (Larry Fishburne), Chef (Frederic Forrest), and Lance (Sam Bottoms) and a trio of stranded Playboy models on a U.S.O. tour, as well as a stopover at a plantation operated by French colonists De Marais (Christian Marquand) and Roxanne (Aurore Clement). Apocalypse Now Redux received a limited theatrical release in August of 2001 after a well-received screening at the Cannes Film Festival -- the same month that the film finally reached theaters in 1979, after a rough cut received a Golden Palm award at the Cannes Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Amidst the thousands of pages that have been written about Apocalypse Now since it was released in 1979, one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who held the opinion that the film really needed to be longer, so the prospect of a new cut of Apocalypse that included nearly an hour of unseen footage seemed highly intriguing without sounding like the best idea Francis Ford Coppola has ever had. Apocalypse Now Redux, Coppola's 203-minute reconstruction of his original edit of the film, manages to simultaneously reinforce what was good and what was bad about the original version of the picture. The two major set pieces that have been restored to Apocalypse -- an assignation between Willard (Martin Sheen), Chef (Frederic Forrest), and Lance (Sam Bottoms) and three Playboy bunnies stranded during a U.S.O. tour, and a visit to a plantation run by French emigres De Marais (Christian Marquand) and Roxanne (Aurore Clement) -- don't add much to the film, and while it's fascinating to see the sequences after reading about them for years, the truth is that the film plays better without them (especially the latter, which manages to further muddy the already fuzzy character of Willard during his liaison with Roxanne). The film's pace has always been erratic following the Do Lung Bridge sequence, and if anything, the new version moves with even less grace or consistency. But the many smaller bits of business that have been restored through the rest of the film are welcome, and the new version allows Albert Hall as Chief several superb moments (particularly during the makeshift funeral for Clean, played by Larry Fishburne), reinforcing his character as the only soldier in the film who seems to take his duties seriously, while Martin Sheen and Frederic Forrest both deliver their best screen performances to date. And the newly restored Technicolor dye-transfer prints are simply dazzling to look at; cinematographer Vittorio Storaro's use of color and depth of field were always impressive, but they've never looked quite so amazing as they do in this version, which demands to be seen on a big screen. Apocalypse Now was a film that grew too big and tried too much for its own good, but the best moments were more than enough to make up for its flaws, and that's even more true of Apocalypse Now Redux -- at nearly three-and-a-half hours, it's an epic with a heart, a mind, and a soul, and even its failures are fascinating, while its successes make it one of the most interesting American films of the 1970s. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Apocalypse Now Redux is an extended, definitive version of the 1979 epic war film Apocalypse Now. Unlike other new cuts of the film, Redux is usually considered by fans and critics, as well as director Coppola, as a completely new movie altogether. The movie adds 49 minutes of all-new material, and represents a significant re-edit of the original Apocalypse Now. The movie came into production when Coppola concluded that his original cut was tame by today's standards. Coppola, along with editor/long-time collaborator Walter Murch, then added several scenes that enhanced the surrealism in the original story. The extended version of the film was distributed by Miramax Films, whilst the original cut was distributed by United Artists.
The movie contains several newly added sequences and alterations to the original film:
In the original film, the PBR Street Gang crew members relax and play around, listening to the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" while Willard first looks at the dossier. The scene plays right before the crew members meet Kilgore. In the Redux version, the scene is moved to later in the film, and Willard is shown reading the dossier without the surrounding activity and music.
In the original version, Willard first meets Kilgore when asking a fellow officer who simply replies "He's over there, you can't miss him". In the Redux, the officer now says "There's the Colonel coming down". We later learn that Kilgore is arriving (via Helicopter) to the scene. When he arrives, he tells an officer riding with him to "Bomb back that tree lines 'bout a hundred yards, give me some room to breathe". He later asks another for his "Death Cards" (which he uses in the original version).
During the raid, Kilgore looks over some of the wounded and dead. He then walks away, simply replying "Jim".
After ordering an air strike, a Vietnamese mother, with her wounded child in hand, runs to Kilgore. Kilgore immediately takes the child and tells his men to rush the child to a hospital (mother as well).
After the helicopter carrying the wounded child leaves, Kilgore hands Lance a new pair of shorts to go surfing in (Note: Throughout the original cut, Lance is wearing them, but it is never explained how he got them).
After giving the famous "Napalm" speech, Kilgore soon learns that the napalm has changed the wind current, ruining the perfect waves. Willard immediately uses this as an excuse to leave. He and Lance run back to the boat. Before they leave, Willard steals Kilgore's surf board.
Before Willard and Chef go to search for mangos, there's a scene where the crew is lying around in a river. Chef asks Willard if he can go get some mangoes and Willard goes with him. In the Redux version, there is a new scene before this. In the scene, it is clear that the crew are hiding from Kilgore, who is trying to get back his surf board. A helicopter soon flies by, carrying a recording by Kilgore, asking Lance for the board back. Chief then changes the subject by asking how far they are going up the river. Willard says it's classified. Chief later asks Willard if he likes it like that, "hot and hairy" (to which Willard replies: "Fuck. You don't get a chance to know what the fuck you are in some factory in Ohio."). Chef later asks Chief if he can get some mangoes.
The day after the playboy bunnies' USO show, we see the crewmembers talking about it. Chef is obsessed he was able to meet "Miss December". Clean then warns Chef not to go crazy with these Playboys, and proceeds to tell the story of a man so obsessed with his Playboys, he kills an officer who ruins his foldouts.
The 'Satisfaction' scene is now moved after the above scene. Afterwards, Willard reads a letter by Kurtz, criticizing the incompetent young soldiers sent to Vietnam, blaming them for their losing.
One point during their travels, the crew stop at a destroyed Medevac. The area is completely wrecked, with no real Commanding Officer (much like the Do Lung Bridge sequence). Willard tries to find someone in charge, but later learns that the Playboy bunnies' helicopter has landed here. Willard then negotiates two barrels of fuel for an hour with the bunnies (along with the rest of the crew). Chef spends his time with his idol, Miss December (now Miss May). Lance also spends his time with the Playmate of the Year. Clean constantly interrupts, trying to get his turn. During one such interruption, a large cooler is upended, revealing a body of a deceased soldier--which visibly upsets the Playmate of the Year.
After the above scene, Chef learns that Clean is a virgin. Chef then makes fun of him for it, only to be stopped by Chief. The argument is only partially heard in the original cut.
After Clean's death, the crew find themselves in a French plantation. Willard tells the head of the plantation (Christian Marquand) that they lost one of their men. He tells Willard that they will bury him (to pay respects to the fallen of their allies). What later follows is a funeral for Clean. Following the recital of a poem by one of the French children (played by Roman Coppola and watched by older brother Gian-Carlo), the crew then has dinner with the new arrivals. Willard, sitting with the family, asks when they are going home. The family soon go into a long and lengthy argument over the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War. Most of the family leaves in anger. After they all leave, one, Roxanne (the only one not in the conversation), apologizes for her family's behavior. She and Willard later talk, smoke opium, and she later explains the conflicts her deceased husband had faced with himself. After she undresses and approaches Willard, she tells him, "There are two of you, can't you see? One that kills, and one that loves". We later see the crew back on the river, and continue towards the mission.
After Chef's death, Willard is kept in a metal hut. Kurtz later enters inside and reads Willard several Time Magazine articles detailing America's success in the war.
Production
Coppola started production for the new cut with working-partner Kim Aubry. Coppola then tried to get Murch, who was reluctant at first. He thought it would be extremely difficult recutting a film which had taken two years to edit originally. He later changed his mind (after working on the reconstruction of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil). Coppola and Murch then examined several of the rough prints and dailies for the film. It was decided early on the editing of the film would be like editing a new film altogether. One such example was the new French Plantation sequence. The scenes were greatly edited to fit into the movie originally, only to be cut out in the end. When working again on the film, instead of using the (heavily edited) version, Murch decided to work the scene all over again, editing it as if for the first time.
Much work was needed to be done to the new scenes. Due to the off-screen noises during the shoot, most of the dialogue was impossible to hear. During post-production of the film the actors were brought back to re-record their lines (known as ADR). This was done for the scenes that made it into the original cut, but not for the deleted scenes. For the Redux version, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Sam Bottoms, Albert Hall, Frederic Forrest, and Aurore Clement were brought back to record ADR for the new scenes.
There was new music also composed for the movie. For the French Plantation scene, there was a romantic interlude between Willard and Roxanne. There was no music composed for this scene (plus no music composed fit the scene). To make matters worse, composer Carmine Coppola had died in 1991. The old recording and musical scores were checked. A track entitled "Love Theme" was found - it turns out that during scoring, Francis Coppola had told his father to write a theme for the scene before it was ultimately deleted. The track was recorded by a group of synthesists.
Vittorio Storaro also came back from Italy to head a new color balance of the film and new scenes. When Redux was being released, Storaro learned that a Technicolor Dye-Transfer Process was being brought back. The Dye-Transfer is a three-strip process, that makes the color highly saturated and has consistent black tone. Storaro wished to use this on Redux, but a problem was that in order to do it, they needed to cut the original prints of Apocalypse Now, leaving Apocalypse Now Redux the only print available. Storaro decided to do it, when convinced by Coppola that this version would be the one that would be remembered.
Reaction
Apocalypse Now Redux originally premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival in May.[1] The screening marked the anniversary of the famous Apocalypse Now screening as a work in progress, where it ended up winning the Palme d'Or. Coppola went to the festival, also with Murch, Stararo, and actors Sam Bottoms and Aurore Clement. The film met with overall positive response.
When it was released, the response from the critics was largely positive, holding a 92% rating at rottentomatoes. Some critics thought highly of the additions, such as A.O. Scott of the New York Times, who wrote that it "grows richer and stranger with each viewing, and the restoration of scenes left in the cutting room two decades ago has only added to its sublimity." [2]
Some critics, however, thought the new scenes slowed the pacing, were too lengthy (notably The French Plantation sequence), and added nothing overall to the film's impact. Owen Gleiberman wrote "Apocalypse Now Redux is the meandering, indulgent art project that he was still enough of a craftsman, in 1979, to avoid." Despite this, other critics still gave it high ratings. Roger Ebert wrote: "Longer or shorter, redux or not, Apocalypse Now is one of the central events of my life as a filmgoer."
The film was given a limited release on August 3, 2001 where it took $4,626,290 overall.[3]
A soundtrack for the movie was released on July 31, 2001 by Nonesuch. The soundtrack contains most of the original tracks (remastered), as well as some for the new scenes ("Clean's Funeral", "Love Theme"). The score was composed by Carmine Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola (with some tracks co-composed by Mickey Hart and Richard Hansen). The first track is an abridged version of The Doors' 11 minute long epic, The End.
