Okay, I admit it. I had never seen Apocalypse Now.
I did, however, feel like I had seen it. After 4 years as a film student, I'd seen every memorable scene, but never the film as a whole. With a cinematic and BluRay re-release looming, I ordered myself an advance copy, booked myself onto the BBC Movie Café, and arranged for Apocalypse Now to make its big(-gish) screen debut on my living room telly.
Based loosely on Joseph Conrad's turn-of-the-century classic Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now was written by John Milius and intended to be directed by George Lucas in collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola during the Vietnam War. After disputes with Warner Bros, Coppola and a move to make The Godfather I and II. When he returned to the script years later, the feature's production trials and tribulations began.
What struck me most about the film was its startling intimacy. Every colour and every wrinkle is captured as though in macro zoom. Though we'd rather languish farther behind, the camera brings us close, too close, into the green eyes of Willard; their long looks paired with his slow, desperate, punctuated speech. This physical closeness is impacted further by all manner of oppression: oppressive heat, oppressive lies, oppressive secrets, and that thick, heavy jungle air.
As I watched, I wondered, how would this look in 3D? The constant smoke adds depth rather than obscuring as it does in contemporary 3D cinema. Here, though, it's part of the atmosphere and not the spectacle. The turquoise ocean spread beneath a convoy of helicopters blasting Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries is yesterday's troop of tanks rolling in an explosion of Drowning Pool -- something timeless co-opted by something so iconic that it becomes timeless in itself. The debris, death, and destruction that batter your eyes and ears, these explosions of flimsy wooden everything, are a cinematic experience that transcends time.
Timeless too are the smaller moments, and a favourite of mine is Robert Duvall's Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore. Willard says that you can tell Kilgore will never get a scratch in 'nam, and that's exactly how Kilgore moves. The mania around him merits naught but a glance, his movements smooth as those around him jerk, turn, and duck. Walking upright through a minefield and rueing the imminent end of the war with a disappointed grimace, he revels in the madness of war in a stark contrast to its upcoming tragedies. It's a confident quietness that is soon replaced with unmerciful filmmaking - the quiet sadness of death. These palpable shifts between acts are like the 3 stages of darkness laid out in Conrad's novel. Between the shivering drunken insanity of Willard and the deeply ideological madness of Kurtz, there lie this pair of moments -- one of strength, and one of sadness. These are the moments that split the war into acts: three dimensions of darkness into which we descend, waiting for the moment when we miss the bottom step.
Apocalypse Now is re-released in UK cinemas on Friday 27 May, and on BluRay on 13 June.
I'm giving away 1 copy of the new, remastered Apocalypse Now on 3-Disc BluRay from Optimum Releasing.
Featuring the remastered film, Apocalypse Now Redux, making-of documentary Hearts of Darkness, and a boatload of brand new extra features. All you have to do is:
- Leave a comment telling me the name of a classic film you're embarrassed not to have seen.
- For an additional entry, leave a comment & Tweet the following: "Win Apocalypse Now on BluRay at Uncultured Critic! http://bit.ly/m3Xx8X"
Which classic film you're most ashamed not to have seen?
One winner will be selected at random next Friday, 3 June.
Good luck!
Far too many to choose from.
ReplyWe'll keep it simple and go for The Godfather Part 2.
*so ashamed*
(I have never seen Apocalypse Now either, come to that.)
A strong start - thanks Henry!
ReplyBirth of a Nation. Put off by all the racism :(
ReplyI'm the same never seen Apocalypse Now or The Godfather Part 2. Think what really embarrasses me tho is I've never seen Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs although I've seen all the iconic scenes in both of them.
ReplyWow, that's some very willing multiple admissions going on there. I'm gonna keep it simple with the one that I always feel bad about: Lawrence of Arabia. There, I've said it.
ReplySee, I had this and I was so ashamed by liking films and somehow never having seen Citizen Kane, It's a Wonderful Life, Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca et al that I made a point of working my way through the entire imdb top 250 last year. So I've seen most of the obvious ones, but I give you this:
ReplyEVERY Bond film prior to Goldeneye, and I think I've a 100% record from that point. So I have seen The World is Not Enough but not the Connery ones. I'm not sure how this happened.
I've never seen Psycho!!!
ReplyShock horror!!!
Well, I love the smell of Blu-Rays in the morning so -
ReplyAkira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai - I really should have seen it by now.
I've never seen Shawshank Redemption. What started out as a filmic oversight has now become a one man fight never to watch it!
ReplyI'm proud that I've seen 'On the Buses' but never seen Shawshank - well not proud exactly...!
Wow. This is embarrassing, but I've never seen any of The Godfather Trilogy. No particular reason. Love Apocalypse Now though.
ReplyGone with the wind is probably my biggest 'faux pas', although I generally haven't seen many films from before the mid-1970s... And I call myself a critic!!!
ReplyAlso, remember you've still got a bonus Paragraph Film Reviews post to use and abuse as you see fit!
i've been watching Twin Peaks.. which highlighted that I never saw the 80's horror classic Hellraiser.
ReplyI haven't seen Seven Samurai but the bigger crime is I often allow people to think I have. When it is brought up I nod wisely, offer up a redundant chunk of Kurosawa trivia, and swiftly move the conversation to safer ground. I don't ever say "I've seen it" but it's still fairly shocking.
ReplyI have an absolute shocker for you - E.T.
ReplyI'm serious, even though I know all about it and know specific scenes from it I have never actually watched it properly from start to finish. So pretty much the same situation as you with Apocalypse Now, Nicola.
I should be pretty damn ashamed about never having seen what is a firm childhood favourite for a lot of folks.
I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen Schindler's List...yet.
ReplyI'll go with Psycho and Casablanca. I have no excuses for either, seeing as I have them both in my flat...
ReplyAn alternate would be Platoon, sticking with the 'Nam vibe.
I'm not particularly embarrassed, but I've not seen any of the Lethal Weapon films or the Godfather ones.
ReplyI've never seen any of the Christian Bale Batman films either, and I refuse to watch The Dark Knight anyway simply to see if people will still get offended at that notion =P
Actually, if there's a film I'm embarrassed to not have seen, it would most definitely be Scarface... or Casablanca... and maybe even all of Alfred Hitchcock's films (I've seen Psycho though, though I am ashamed to have had the ending spoiled by one of my school teachers. I'll shut up now)
I love comedy, especially boozed up/stoner comedies, and pride myself on having seen most of the classics. But I have never seen Withnail and I. It's the biggest hole in my movie geekery and is a source of constant shame to the extent that I sometimes bluff or lie about it. Until now. Publicly shamed. Also never seen Heart of Darkness, hence the reason for my self-outing here.
ReplyMiss Balkind, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you? I've never seen The Graduate.
ReplyMaybe I am not as much of a movie snob as I like to imagine. Because I do not like apocalypse now. I like some of it, but it gets really long towards the end. I thought his wife's doc was way more interesting.
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