Customer Reviews

Apocalypse Now (Three-Disc Full Disclosure Edition) (Apocalypse Now / Apocaly...

5 star:		(265)
4 star:		(72)
3 star:		(46)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

A warning to anybody who cares, I bought this Full Disclosure edition yesterday at HMV Megastore in Montreal. Here are the problems with the Canadian release (handled by Maple Pictures): it didn't come with the 48 page booklet (none do). Disc 1 and Disc 2 are mislabelled as Disc 2 and Disc 1(this error applies also to the 2 disc edition). Maple knows about the problems and have recalled both sets. It seems the corrected editions will be in stores next week, hopefully!
Another big problem is that both movies are missing the credit reels at the end of the movie. The movie disc label says 153 minutes and 202 minutes but they end up actually being 147 minutes and 196 minutes. weird...

I remembered seeing Apocalypse Now in 1979 when I was 14 and was completely blown away with this flick, so much so that I saw it four times over a two week period. The gloom and doom atmosphere, the brilliant Vittaro Storaro cinematography, the battle scenes which were choreographed like a madman's ballet and the journey up the Nung River with it's unexpected twists and turns, all made for a tour de force motion picture experience. This movie always remained a favorite of mine and cemented Coppola's standing amongst modern day directors. Sure, you have your George Lucas with a money making machine like Star Wars but Coppola took chances with his movies and experimented with different genres. The Full Disclosure Edition brings me back to 1979 as if I'm seeing the movie for the first time. Simply put, this movie looks beautiful, even on my 60 Hz flat screen. I can only imagine how it would look on a 120 Hz TV. Plus, this collection has everything a true fan of Apocalypse Now could ask for, the 1979 theatrical release, the 2003 Redux and one of the best documentaries of any movie, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmaker's Apocalypse, filmed by Coppola's wife Eleanor and is just as good and surreal as the actual movie. This is a must have Blu-Ray set for any collector.

This is exactly the collection that I've been hoping to find for years. Finally, it's available on Blu-Ray, but perhaps more importantly it includes both the original theatrical version of Apocalypse Now that's extremely hard to find on DVD, plus Apocalypse Now Redux, which is the longer version with additional scenes that were cut from the theatrical release. And that's just on the first disc!

Disc 2 is packed with extras, including interviews with Francis Ford Coppolla and John Milius, looking back at the film from thirty or so years later, plus the original radio broadcast version of Orson Welles's reading of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."

As if that's not enough, Disc 3 contains "Hearts of Darkness", the documentary of the making of the film, as it was being made, filmed and narrated by his wife Eleanor. It's the most powerful account I've seen of the difficulties involved in the making of a film. The stories of the problems with Martin Sheen's health and Marlon Brando's attitude, as well as the problems dealing with the Phillipine army are all covered in detail. After watching this feature length documentary, you'll wonder how the film was ever finished.

Altogether, it's probably the best boxed set collection ever released, and at the price it's actually a bargain compared to just buying the three films individually on DVD. I highly recommend it, and surely is a must-have for any serious film buff.

"Apocalypse Now Redux" is an extended version of the 1979 classic "Apocalypse Now"; in this version, the director Francis Ford Coppola added 49 minutes of footage that was deleted in the original release. There are two major new segments and new little bits that help to understand better the surreal story of the film. The little bits of scenes are great and sure make the movie more pleasant. However, the scenes with the playboy bunnies doesn't help too much in the narrative and the pace of the film, perhaps they should have been trimmed a little bit for better results. But the segment of the french plantation is just horrible, pointless and boring, the director should have kept these scenes on the editing room once again.

However, "Apocalypse Now Redux" is a good addition to any movie collection, the picture and the sound quality are very good, and the movie by itself it's a fascinating classic, the great parts outnumber the flawed scenes; perhaps the longer segments doesn't help too much, but at least contribute to understand better the story. There are very few extras on this DVD, but as I say before, the movie by itself is worth the money. If you liked the original "Apocalypse Now", give a chance to this new version, if you haven't seen this movie yet, start with the original, and if you like it, go get "Apocalypse Now Redux". Absolutely recommendable to every one who loves the classic movies.

I think the original version of Apocalypse Now is vastly superior to the needlessly long Redux, although the additional scenes of the latter (the French plantation, Playboy bunnies, Willard stealing the surfboard) are interesting in and of themselves. So now we can have both, in a single, bargain-priced and handsomely packaged edition. As with most DVDs, the bonus deleted scenes are pretty much a waste of time, although they do help a person understand the choices Coppola made in editing, and in that sense, it really drives home the magnitude of his achievement in creating the original masterpiece. I don't like that the movie is broken into two parts; why couldn't they have put the original on one disc, and Redux on the other? But then again, in a long movie most people have to take a bathroom break at some point anyway, and the sampan massacre is an appropriately dramatic scene with which to end part one. All told, The Apocalypse Now Complete Dossier 2-disc special edition is well worth buying.

a very good movie and quite long but very well done, be sure to have plenty of time to watch it, arrived on time as specified and in very good shape. I recommand it o all my friends

Back before Charlie Sheen had made it to Vietnam in his own film and before Martin Sheen became President, there was this film, Apocalypse Now. The history of the film is as fascinating as the characters who comprise the film (both on and off screen), as is also true of the subject matter -- the controversial and star-crossed venture of America into the dense jungles of southeast Asia.

While the director, Francis Ford Coppola, will be remembered for his involvement in many major films (such as American Grafitti, the Godfather series), this film will most likely be the most enduring not only of his works, but also of American war films. There is a darkness, an eerie mystery that is woven throughout the tale of Captain Willard (Sheen) going into the jungle on a mission he can't tell anyone about, and as we come to learn, this is not merely because he is sworn to secrecy, but discovers that he himself doesn't know what is happening much of the time. Even as confused and mysterious as the war seemed to the American people (and, as it turns out, the American government), it was no more clear to the soldiers in-country, many of whom developed their own sense of loyalty, community and hierarchies of significance quite independent of the leadership's intentions or the overall war strategies. Colonel Kurtz has taken off in deep inland areas, and set himself up as a tribal leader and godlike figure for the indigenous peoples, over and against the invaders, who were more the Americans than anyone else. Willard task was to eliminate Kurtz, but falls under the spell of both the jungle and Kurtz's megalomanical personality. The crew accompanying Willard gets killled off one by one during the journey and at the camp, until it becomes an epic battle of the spirit, as confused and as ferocious as the Vietnam war itself.

This is a film full of stars in minor roles -- Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall (whose line 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning' is perhaps the quintessential quotable-quote of the film), Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburn -- even an uncredited R. Lee Ermey ('Full Metal Jacket') appears, as does a cameo by Coppola himself. Of course, virtually every role in the film is minor save two, that of Sheen (as Captain Williard) and Marlon Brando (as the prey, or is it hunter, Colonel Kurtz).

The Redux version is nearly an hour longer than the 'original' cut, already a long film at 2 1/2 hours. This one comes in a hour longer, with footage that fills the gaps in the plot of the original, including an important section at a country villa that the original colonials, the French, never gave up in the generla retreat from the country.

The effects are dark and foreboding, spectacular without being overdone or unrealistic. From the relentless trip up river to the blowing of the bridge and the air strikes, everything seems both real and unreal, as is often reported about actual combat from experienced soldiers. That the film won best Oscars for cinematography and sound attests to the quality here, which the DVD experience enhances. The film was also nominated for best film, best supporting actor (Duvall), and director (among other categories), and won numerous awards around the world in other venues.

The inspiration from Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' is clear -- the war's absurdity has driven everyone mad -- the French villa's inhabitants demonstrate a gentle and sad insanity, Kurtz exhibits the rebellious dictatorial insanity, Willard the establishment insanity, and all around are mad in their own rights. This is a journey into hell, but one discovers that hell was also the starting point. There is no redemption here, and the ending, while more clear and explicit in this Redux version, still leaves the viewer wanting explanations that, much like those for the war itself, simply do not exist. The horsemen of the apocalypse, bringing disease and war and death, virtually gallop through this film.

To watch this film is not to understand the war, but perhaps one will appreciate it better. Every war is an apocalypse; every war represents the end to peace and hope. Yet there is a world on the other side for those who will survive -- the question becomes, who wants to survive to remember?

Director Francis Ford Coppola shot some two hundred hours of film to create APOCALYPSE NOW, and even though the 1979 version clocked in at just short of three hours at 153 minutes Coppola complained that it did not fully present the film as he himself saw it. APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX adds 49 minutes of previously cut footage, giving the film a final running time of just over three and a half hours at 202 minutes. According to DVD notes, the additions involve fourteen never-before-seen scenes.

But does this make for a better movie than the original cut? Loosely based on the famous Joseph Conrad novella "The Heart of Darkness," APOCALYPSE NOW was both widely praised and widely condemned in 1979. Transposing the Conrad tale from Colonial Africa to the height of the American war in Vietnam, it offered the story of a Special Ops captain (Martin Sheen) who is sent upriver into Cambodia to assassinate a general (Marlon Brando) who has gone insane and created a savage personal fiefdom in the midst of the jungle.

The additional footage does not undercut the original film's highly praised assets, but neither do they actually resolve any of the original film's flaws. All the sequences are interesting (and the scenes with the French Colonials most particularly so) but they do not change the tone or clarify the intent of the film. This is a particular disappointment re a scene with Marlon Brando near the end of the film: although it does give you a better idea of the character's motivations, it does not cast Brando's performance (which is extremely weak) in a better light nor does it resolve what many have called an extremely awkward and very anticlimactic conclusion.

It comes down to this, really. If you are a great fan of APOCALYPSE NOW, you will certainly want to add REDUX to your collection. If you like the film, you may be interested, but you're likely to watch the film--but you're also likely to find it overlong. And if you never liked it to begin with, this re-cut won't change your opinion. A further word of caution: with the exception of a trailer, there are no extras of any kind, and you may want to hold out for a possible future multi-disk release.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Can anyone really believe that Francis Ford Coppola wanted this film to be an unmercifully drole three stooges comedy?
Was it only the editor's work that formed a soul-numbing drama out of frivolous and meandering vignettes of military life in Viet Nam?
This version cannot be supported by reasonable film-making concepts. It fails the test of a 'redux' work; if a new viewer has not seen the 'original', this film is a disappointment and engenders no lingering respect.
My advice is to hold on to your VHS original version, even have it transferred to DVD if you can, because it is the version with the most cinematic power. The only improvement 'Redux' can provide is in the soundtrack.

Coppola should have stayed away from the cutting room floor. This "redux" is an extremely poor attempt. I can only guess that Coppola needs the money. If I could sue him for littering upon my DVD, I would.