Yes absolutely, the river and the journey is a metaphor for the descent both into madness and hell, the hell of war. For example at the Do Lung Bridge scene where the soldiers are wading through the water screaming for them to take them is a rendering of Homers odyssey by boat through Hades, there is a painting of the souls screaming and trying to get on the boat, out of hell. A number of occasions both Chef and Willard reference never getting off the boat. The boat is a metaphor for sanity and civilisation so getting off it means fully leaving your sanity behind - Willard say Kurts got off the boat, and split from the entire program, meaning once you cross a line you are never coming back - you are utterly destroyed as a human being by war and how obscene it is. Willard wonders what Kurts saw that sent him down this path, into insanity - then when he meet Kurts reveals the incident of they children's arms being cut off, thats the final straw where he loses his mind and humanity - he says he wants to tear his teeth out, his brain simply cant compute or cope with that horror and obscene cruelty - what happens is this turns him into the monster. But yet it is still not that simple because at every point we have seen women and children mown down and sliced to bits, schools and villages napalmed while soldiers surf, Playboy bunnies appear and Lances water skies behind the boat - is this not insane, isn't everyone insane who decides the lines of morality? Willard never entirely gets off the boat, he never entirely loses himself, he is irrevocably damaged but unlike Kurts he knows this and understands how war has changed him but holds onto humanity, he never entirely gets off the boat. This is what the opening scene is about, he is so torn and damaged by what he has done and seen but he is aware of this and is going towards self destruction but manages to hold on somehow, he certainly is unable to function back at home. This is required for the story because Willard is our moral conscious, as the narrator he has to explain the utter immorality of those in charge and their hypocrisy - what they require means the young men fighting are destroyed physically and mentally and emotionally, putting swear words on your jet fighter is bad but dropping napalm on children and civilians is good. By clinging and always returning to the boat on we hope Willard is able to return home and explain to Kurts's son what the war, the politicians and senior leaders did to him and what this meant - and hopefully in a small way prevent Vietnam or similar happening again, perhaps a shred of hope remains as a shred of humanity remains in Willard.
kind of like in the old vietnam era song called Eve of Destruction where it sings "You're old enough to kill but not for votin'" it is seriously messed up. in america you probably cant drink alcohol when you're 18 but government happily sends you to a war no problem.
@@johnnymclaneutahmodern first world society’s are the best they’ve ever been in human existence but war can never be modernised or sanitised but these governments try because of the rules outside of war like the drinking age for example does that matter if your country’s gonna get invaded or you are fighting for a reason, Vietnam was an issue because there was no reason for America to be there.
@daquaviousbinwgleton9763 Thank the French, we owed them from numerous occasions, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, etc. Vietnam was under their control, until they got the boot, so, we were called to aid our ally. Strange how we trained Ho Chi Minh and supplied him just to have them kick out the French in the first place, then come in acting like saviors. I think it was in part also because of the "Dominoe Effect" aka the red scare. To say for no reason, well, that isn't true. Also money was to be made by corrupt politicians (LBJ, NIXON). Hope this helped, please I implore you to look more into this affair because of all the elements at play making it a blueprint of how we would fight our future wars.
Fun fact: the "TV journalist" telling the captain and soldiers to "run through...act like you're fighting." was the movie's director, Francis Ford Coppola.
The sacrifice of the cow was real because it was a real tribe in the Philippines that lived by that ritual. Like Native Americans, they eat and use every part of that cow after each sacrifice. In the documentary, Coppola was clearly disturbed, just like you, when he first witnesses that tribe doing that. But he understood that it was how they lived and could also see it as a metaphor for the brutality and cruelty of war. That's why he chose to film it later when they performed that ritual again.
Watching her almost cry over the puppy when they grabbed at it was sort of laughable... I wonder if she knows it was stored among all the other food items for a reason.
@@Mr.Ekshin It's not funny, it just makes you a condescending clown because you think it makes you smarter than she is and you think it's funny that people eat puppies. I really don't give a shit what you think because you sound like an idiot. Her reaction was fine.
Well it is not a cow, technically, it's a water buffalo. They still sacrifice water buffalo like that throughout many of those regions in southeast asia, the phillipines, indonesia, nepal etc. IN Nepal they have a slaughter festival/ritual, in praise of Gadhimai -- the goddess of power. on the first day, they slaughter about 10,000 male water buffalo calves, on the 2nd day they kill about 150,000 goats.
@@USCFlash Right. Do they even have cows in the Philippines? My family is from the Philippines. I don't remember seeing any cows, like we have in the U.S., when we went to visit. Only water buffalo.
No there was no animal cruelty in the movie, the whole crew, actors and extras were all vegetarians. Lol. Young people living in cities, untouched by the reality of life and existance are so incredibly deeply mislead, that it is hopeless for them. A child growing up in rural areas, on farms, by 18 knows how food chain works, how houses are built, how drinking water is made, knows the plants, animals around us. The most important life lessons. Meanwhile in the cities childs are watching movies and astonished if they see a chicken prepared to cook, as if it would be a corpse desacration. Even schools are not showing kids about life, they just edicating scholars for cities. Also quite sad, that ladies like this very one has no clue of 'nam, while veterans still alive and around us. She cannot even relate to them. How could she, if she's not even taught in at least high school about that. Could be a typical 'american problem'.
"You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill." Definitely one of my favorite lines! I have seen this movie many times(First time on VHS! 😆). Loved your reaction😊..You are very good at this! Sorry it made you feel unwell! I have terrible anxiety and depression issues since forever..I definitely need to be in the right mood and feelin well to put this film on. Someone should have warned you!😢
"Charlie don't surf!" Has always been my favorite line from this movie. There was a similar line that was used when I was in the Marines. "Hadji don't surf!"
I've seen quite a few reactions to this film but I can say, without question, yours is the best ever. You really thought about every step the film was taking and then you would express those thoughts so well. A very real pleasure watching you watch this film. Bravo! As we say in Texas; y'all be safe.
Agreed, alot of reactors while enjoyable do miss some of the undertones of this movie. This girl was on it from the start and it was really cool seeing her experience it for the first time.
I used to talk to a guy online who was ex-Special Forces and had served in Vietnam. He had PTSD, so he'd never watched a Vietnam war movie in his life. One day he told the "chopped-off babies' arms" story as an anecdote of something he'd seen personally. When it was pointed out to him that the story was used in Apocalypse Now, he looked up the production team, and it turned out that a guy who was with his unit that day was a military advisor on the film... So, as far as I know, it was a real story...😧
To me the unsung hero in this film is the boat captain. I dont know who that actor is or where that accent comes from but as a veteran, I can tell you he gave the most authentic performance. His demeanor and attitude is exactly like that of a man who has authority and responsibility thrust upon him and is managing the best that he can under extreme pressure. I saw this movie for the first time right after I was discharged and the boat captain left the biggest impression on me.
Interesting. In a way, every character is coping with this extreme experience in their own way. The way I see it, The captain is somehow the one that tried the hardest to keep his shit together while the rest of the crew is disassosiating in one way or another. Still ,in the end you can see that the captain's coping strategy, of trying to walk the line, is ultimately failing too. The disaster when they shoot up the family on the boat, is mostly the captain's fault because he insisted on following protocol, when it was obviously uncalled for. It was his attempt to regain some authority when his crew was degenerating. The search was objectively pointless, and everyone else knew it. After that point, he has lost the last of his authority, and you see even further disintegration of discipline. The captain's fate can symbolize that you can't survive if you try to follow the rules, whereas Lance, who completely gives in to madness, is the one that makes it out alive. This is of course the movies' standpoint. I can't say that it reflects reality in any way.
"I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream; that's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor... and surviving." _--(Kurtz)_ Genius-level, both the writing, and the delivery of the line! You _feel_ that line, as if the snail is really one of the lobes of your brain, being sliced by that unforgiving metal edge. Surreal!
The book its based on, Heart of Darkness, is also worth a read; its about a seaman going to the Beliguim-controlled Congo, in the 19th century, and telling of the horrors he seen there. The book also revolves around the mysticism of Kurtz and the narrator's obsession with him.
The game Spec Ops The Line is also based on Heart of Darkness. The whole trio, book, movie and game are a trilogy of experiences that really complement each other.
Throwing in a slightly alternate take. Yes the basic structure of the film is Conrad's "Heart Of Darkness" but after watching it soo many times I was struck by the feeling that a lot of the atmosphere and tone is far more Lovecraftian in nature. A good mix of both.
Interestingly, there is a book called Dispatches by Rolling Stone writer Michael Herr, who spent months in the siege at Khe Sanh. Herr later acted as a consultant on Apocalypse Now & the bridge scene is actual based on what Herr witnessed; the Marines were stranded with no leadership. In the book he describes a black soldier using an M-79 tiger striped grenade launcher to take out the enemy without even aiming.
Brando was suppose to be dying of malaria but when he showed up on the set he weighed 300 lbs, so they kept him in the shadows. The young black gunner on the boat was Lawrence Fishburne (Morpheus). There is a back story of many difficulties making this movies including some of them really getting malaria, rain, military needing their helicopters back, Martin Sheen was going through a real divorce (that he didn't want), so in the opening scene in the motel he broke down.
This film is a cinematic MASTERPIECE which will be studied for years to come. It's also nice to see you taking the time after seeing the film to investigate it further on IMDB. The cinematography in this film is mind blowing. So many UA-cam reaction channels just move on to the next film and never really acknowledge or fully appreciate the people who make these films we hold in high regards.
I love the song and I love the movie, this movie was one of my dad's favs and him and I watched it together many times. It's absolutely impossible for me to hear The End without picturing that opening scene and thinking about my dad. That song will always be synonymous with Apocalypse Now. We'll never see a movie like this made ever again.
yeah, and think of the irony! in the book "Heart of Darkness" (from which the movie was made) the sailor in the book goes back to report to Kurtz's fiancee. in the movie, Kurtz wants the captain to report to his son. there was much more of the movie to be made! BUT with being over budget and long past the allotted time to be produced, the movie ends abruptly! at this point in the movie, don't the Doors sing, "This is the end...."....
I am deeply moved by the compassion and emotions you feel, for the hell that soldiers and veterans live and die with, whenever you watch a war movie. You cry for their pain, their fear, their loss and for the sacrifices that so many of them have made. You often acknowledge how much we owe to those in uniform. I am a veteran. And your genuine sincerity touches me more than the almost obligatory "thank you for your service" that people nowadays just blurt out like a conditioned response. For YOU, and people like you, it was my honor to serve.
Agreed, and the whole "thank you for your service" thing has ran its course. Please people, we're sure you mean well but I can't think of a single person that served who likes that phrase or even wants to hear it now.
Your reaction and reasoning feel beyond the average persons perceptions, being a veteran and having experienced this time in our history your ideas and reality comfort and warm my heart. Thank you.
WOW!!! SUCH REACTIONS! WHAT REACTIONS! the man filming the documentary was Francis Ford Coppala! he placed himself in the movie. President Kennedy saw the hopelessness of the Vietnam War and was going to stop it. they didn't want it to end, so they killed him. Kennedy's murder divided America. the division has extended to the division of America we have today. you asked about the cost of the movie, it went over budget and Coppola used his own money to finish the film. Coppola had all of the cast read "Heart of Darkness" written by Joseph Conrad. it gives GREAT insight into this movie. it too has a river which gets narrower and narrower, and darker and darker to the main character of the book, a man named "Kurtz". Krurtz tells the author of the book to go tell his fiancee the real story of what was going on (just as Kurtz in the movie wanted the captain to tell his son what was really good on! the book "Heart of Darkness" was an English Literature Classic and really helps you understand the "Vietnam War". OH!!! and before I forget, at the end of the book, Kurtz's fiancee wanted to know, what were Kurtz's last words.
I saw this in theaters in is first run and it pretty crazy. It was in the early days of surround sound so the sound effects really were stunning. That freaking tiger attack sounded like it was coming from behind us and scared the crap out of everyone. "Apocalypse Now!" Is painted on the rocks at Kurtz' camp to establish copyright. In order to establish copyright, the title of the movie has to appear in writing but Copola wanted to show the film without credits. That was against the rules of either the directors or editors guilde (i forget), which caused him to be suspended for a while. Instead they handed out a booklet, dozens of pages, with credits, and details of the filming. I wish so much that i had hung on to that! The movie was filmed in the Philippines. The hardships were unbelievable. They rented helicopters and pilots from the Philippine military. They were fighting a guerilla insurgency at the time so they would have to paint the choppers each day for filming then repaint them for the military to go on missions. They built the village you see get attacked by the Duvall's company and the other sets. But most of it was destroyed by typhoon and had to be rebuilt. The Part of Willard was supposed to be played by Harvey Keitel but when they got in site, Coppola realized he wasn't right for the role and got Sheen to step in. There are some scenes in the boat where it is Keitel but you can't see his face. Sheen was really doing a lot of drugs and accidently punched the mirror, cutting his hand, but they kept filming. Sheen had a heart attack which delayed production. Brando showed up way overweight, freaking Coppola out. He decided to shoot Brando in shadows to hide how big he really was.
All things considered, one of a handful of the greatest movies ever made. I think easily among the top five. I’m glad you chose this version. The extended cuts are an example of misguided effort. You really should react to Coppola’s ‘The Conversation’, which along with this one and Godfathers 1 and 2, are worthy of long indulgence and many viewings. And The Conversation is still quite rare among reactors.
Absolute cinematic masterpiece!! Life was imitating art, as Copolla was clearly losing his mind during the endless filming, as documented in his wife's documentary, Hearts of Darkness. I seen this in the theater twice during periodic re-releases and I felt kinda sad knowing that there will probably never be a movie made that looks this awesome on screen. I grew up right as Vietnam was ending, but I clearly remember seeing the trauma and anguish that many soldiers experienced both during and after the war. Copolla brilliantly captured the horrors of Vietnam with Apocalypse Now.
Great MOVIE. I have spoken with a guy who was actually in the 1st Air Cavalry in Viet Nam. He said the movie was bullshit in that respect, but he liked the movie generally speaking.
Vietnam was in our living rooms in a way that no longer happens. Enjoyed your reaction. Young Marlon (A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, the Wild One) established Marlon as a leading man.
To me this film has very little to do with the Vietnam war, it's just the setting used to tell a story. To me it's more like a re-imagining of 'Dante's Inferno'. The sin of man and the layers of hell they reside in. The boat ride is a trip deeper into depths of insanity, where Kurtz exists and few make it that far. The best example, to me, is the scene of Do Lung bridge. It's more like the river Styx. One side is men who are desperately looking to leave, attempting to swim to the boat. The other side are guys who are absolutely lost in the insanity of the situation, they've adapted and are surviving in it.
I watch that movie when I was a kid. Now seeing it again as a adult I understand it. Movies back then had meaning and hits you in different ways. War is dark. People change.
I watched this the first time when I was 18, I just thought “explosion, the horror! It’s so badass” Now a decade later I understand how it really touches on how these conditions can destroy a humans psyche & soul.
Apocalypse Now is the greatest film ever made, in my eyes. The brilliance of the script, the amazing acting performances, the mind-blowing cinematography and rich sound design. it's just a visual and story telling masterpiece. I really enjoyed your reaction and analysis of the film - you are very observant and that really makes your content enjoyable.
Excellent reaction, Ames, as usual. I've seen this movie more than a few times and, for some reason, the one part that never fails to give me chills is Kurtz's letter to his son. On one hand, you have this soldier who, as thanks for his years of loyal service, is falsely accused of a crime and targeted for assassination by his own government, and the hypocrisy is infuriating. On the other hand, it's pretty clear by the tone of the letter that he's lost at least some perspective on who he is, or who he used to be, and you can't help but feel gratitude that his son will never have to read it because the disconnect is heartbreaking. This is a hard watch but thanks for putting yourself through it, because it was an awesome reaction!
This masterpiece was based loosely on The Heart of Darkness (a novella) and all of your observations were very insightful. I've seen it multiple times and I still notice or hear something new every time. I was impressed by your insights because you're so young and weren't present during the Vietnam era...or when guys were coming home from Vietnam (horribly wounded, disabled, psychologically destroyed), and we as a country completely dropped the ball on helping them....or even hospitable treatment of them in many cases. If you want to learn about the "causes", you have to go back further and study WWII, which led to the Cold War....which led to the West's determination to stop the spread of communism wherever they saw it, et al. I think Coppola does a superb job at immersing the viewer into the horror of true human nature at its most primal level, basically forcing your participation, if that makes any sense. Who is capable of "the horror"? Anyone and everyone. Civilized norms and behaviors are constructs that are very fragile, but we just largely take for granted at our own potential peril. Side Note: I don't know whether or not they had the strict laws about animal treatment at this time. I'm sure glad they do now.
John Milius was a huge influence on Francis Ford Coppola doing this movie. In fact during the Vietnam War when hippies were wearing buttons that said "Peace Now!" with the peace symbol. John Milius would wear a button that said "Apocalypse Now!" with a picture of a B-52 Bomber.
I'm sorry. I accept some cultures still sacrifice animals as part of their rituals. Unfortunately, I'm one of those annoying (yes, I realize we are annoying) animal lovers that hates to see them suffer. I realize this is hypocritical as the way they are treated and slaughtered in "civilized society" is so horrific. You can be sure, I hate that too.@@slightlySuperior
I was a battlefield of good and evil. The end was so confusing I didn,t care Ijust wanted it to end, I craved the end, though I expected to die. This is a good movie I don't need to watch. I lived it.The Kurts character was more sane than his superiors.
My first year in college in the mid 80's in a semi rural town, i lived in student apartments and we only had reception for 2 local t.v. channels so we got a VHS player. We had only 2 VHS tapes and we had them playing nonstop all day long everyday whether anyone was watching or not so we basically had the 2 films memorized. The 2 films were Caddyshack and Apocalypse Now, two of the most quoted films for decades by the way.
Honestly, your reaction to Apocalypse Now is the best I've seen so far. Indeed, there are many philosophical topics and questions that this film raises, such as the question of human nature. The horror that Kurtz refers to is our dark side, which emerges in a hostile and violent environment such as war. That is why he expresses his admiration for the villagers who cut off the arms of the inoculated children. We can say that Kurtz took that idea to the extreme. This movie is definitely a masterpiece. The cinematography and music match the dark and ominous tone of the story perfectly.
Michael Herr wrote the voice over. As a reporter in Vietnam he wrote the book “Dispatches”. The book isn’t long, however, the experience of reading this book will not leave you.
Fantastic book, but not for the faint-hearted. The docu that Coppola's wife shot while on set when the film was made is just as fascinating as the actual film. I also recommend reading the Peter Biskin book "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" that talks about Coppola and this as well as other films. The late sixties and the entire seventies were wild. Cheers 🍺
@@McBrannon1000 Based off photographer Tim Page. There are a few elements from Dispatches in Full metal Jacket as well (trigger-happy helo gunner). Incredible book.
based on Heart of Darkness (1899)-a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad - goes to show you how the classics of literature can still resonate today - read the novella - it is free on the internet and it is amazing
The scene where he gets drunk in his room is legit. Martin Sheen was shit faced and FFC just kept filming him ... even after he cut himself hitting the mirror and bled everywhere :(
I was 17 when I saw this in the theater and I was just young enough to have missed the draft. This movie made a tiny portion of the real horror of war real to those of us that never served in combat. Especially combat in Vietnam. Every friend I had that had been to Vietnam had been changed and would never look at life the same again. They stood out in a way and those that i knew were the good 8nes.
Oh! About Robert Duvall: If you haven't seen them yet, I recommend the movie "Open Range" and the Western series "Lonesome Dove." I am a huge Robert Duvall fan and HIGHLY recommend them. You will also see some very familiar faces in those as well. Trust me.
Excellent reaction, Ames. I always really enjoy your observations on and appreciation for the actual filmmaking during these videos. The making of Apocalypse Now is as interesting as the final product honestly, it's well worth seeking out Hearts of Darkness on your own time. Before a screening at Cannes, Coppola said "My film is not about Vietnam, it *is* Vietnam." For a lesser film that would sound so pretentious, but Apocalypse Now really does live up to that hype. I can't think of another movie from a mainstream filmmaker that captures such a visceral sense of insanity and dread, and forces it onto the audience
Saw this in the theater at the time- been stuck in my head ever since. You look like, in one sitting- got the lion share figured out. You are quite perceptive!
Great Reaction! It's a shame that you didn't get to see this film as it was meant to be seen, in a darkened movie theater, on the Big Screen, in Surround Sound, with an audience around you sharing the experience. This film in a way, was like the final act of the Vietnam War, that the American Public had watched every night on the News for 10 long years. It helped the public understand why their Sons, Husbands and Brothers, were so damaged when they returned. One day they were in the Jungle fighting to survive, and some one would tap them in the shoulder and tell them, "Your orders came through, you're on the next chopper out." And it was over, 2 days later they were sitting on the couch in their childhood home.
@@filton12 Have you seen the "Redux" directors cut? I really liked the additional part at the French Plantation. I understand why they edited it out in the Original, it slowed the pace and would have made for an overly long movie with the other added scenes.
Coming home for most was worse than the war, to survive that nightmare and then come home to be hated, shunned, and scapegoated by a nation that projected its collective guilt onto the teenaged soldiers ordered to fight, in a no-win war, in an atrocity-producing environment, where the measure of success was measured by counting dead Asian bodies. I remember sitting on the couch after coming home, my mom had a welcome home party for me. The trouble was, I sat on the couch while the women talked around the dining room table while the men talked in the back yard. My father threw me out of the house when he found out I was against the war. America has never recovered from the Vietnam War.
@@davisworth5114 The WWII Veterans didn't make it any easier for returning Vietnam Vets, generally. Because it was not a "Declared War" but was considered a ,"Police Action" groups like the VFW didn't accept Vietnam Veterans as members. Veterans of Korea were also excluded. Vietnam vets spent a much larger by percentage of their time in actual combat than most WWII Vets. I was in the last Lottery for the Draft, and though the War had wound down and my year wasn't selected to go, it was something that was always in the back of our mind as a teenage Male. My Random Sequence Number was 56, so I knew I would be in the first group selected if the War continued or expanded into Cambodia, which looked like a possibility at the time
'CinemaTyler' has been doing an awesome behind the scenes and making of series. Thanks for sharing your reactions! What a roller coaster. One of favourite movies.
Great reaction to this movie. I believe you really got it. I was in high school when this came out and remember hearing about all of the challenges faced by the production crew and director and anticipation for its completion was high. If you're interested in another war movie highlighting the surreal and maddening effect of war on soldiers I would highly suggest you consider Catch-22. It was a bit overshadowed by MASH, which came out around the same time. Really enjoyed this.
That opening scene was shot after the grueling struggle of shooting the entire film. What you are watching is a man having a complete and total breakdown on film with Coppola egging him on the entire time. And he really did cut himself on that mirror.
Note the rigors of shooting this movie were two much for Sheen. He actually suffered a heart attack in the middle of shooting and had to take a lot of time off to recover. The start of the movie was filmed at the end. Sheen was completely drunk and while Coppola knew Sheen had injured himself he just pushed the crew to just keep rolling film. In addition to large amounts of alcohol, heroin and cocaine were pretty much available to everyone on the set all the time. Dennis Hopper (then 42 years old) actually pretty much pushed Laurence Fishburne (who was just 13 & 14 years old for most of the shoot, and never had any drugs before) into drinking and getting addicted to heroin. Sheen's bother, Joe Estevez, actually ended up doing some stand in work and the voiceover and post-production dubbing for the film; he was never credited.
A classic. There's a great documentary about the production called 'Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse' that is worth a watch. It was an intense production, injuries, heart attach and metal breakdown, and that was just Sheen.
Movies at that time dared much. The German movie "The Tin Drum" ("Die Blechtrommel") did share the "Palme d'Or" with "Apocalypse Now" in Cannes 1979 - and is a wild ride as well!
Spectacular reaction video, Ames. You have a vast knowledge of not only cinema, but historical events as well. One of the best Vietnam War themed films. My personal favorite of this sub-genre is Stanley Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket.' That one excelled on every single level for me, cast, direction, cinematography, soundtrack, etc.
"Do you know that 'if' is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you"
This post is never gonna reach the intended reader, but for anyone else interested. The best documentary on Vietnam is Ken Burns The Vietnam War. As all of his work, it's a masterpiece. If you're a documentary buff. Anything Ken Burns or Adam Curtis is gonna blow your mind. Can't get you out of my head
To appreciate this movie read Joseph Conrad’s novel, “The Heart of Darkness,” upon which this is based. Duvall’s character is based on Col. Dave Hackworth (see, “About Face”). Kurtz was drawn from the character of Kurtz in the novel and Hackworth. You might also consider watching, “Apocalypse Now Redux,” which is longer and contains footage cut from the theatrical release.
@@slightlySuperior No it's not. The original is easier to digest (i.e. more pleasant to watch), but the overall effect of the REDUX version on the brain reflects the madness of reality much better. And that is the main focus of this movie.
@@jefflewandowski7559 I am not convinced that every beeing on this planet needs to watch every single one of the three versions 🙂 But I have to check out this "complete" thing and if it's available in my language.
you made some great point about Madness, in fact Coppolla himself almost has a nervous breakdown during the filming. It really was " a journey into madness"
The mission is ordered by your hierarchy. Returning alive is never ordered. I saw the 1st cavalry division returning from Vietnam in 1973, and stopping on our airbase in southern France. Great souvenir. (A French officer 1970-2000)
No one seems to have mentioned, but the budget overrun was LEGENDARY, in fact, the schedule delays were so well-known that a parody called "Pork Lips Now" was made in the immediate afterglow of its release. Coppola was as out of his mind as Kurtz.
Evidently there was a lot of problem with Marlon because he was pretty well drunk all the time. Also the scene with the mirror was true and if I'm not mistaken he was drunk and that was his real blood.
This was the very Best reaction to a movie that I also watched 50+ times This movie also explores the juxtaposition of how Kilgore fought the war and how Kurtz fought the war. Kilgore used the beach parties and surfing to distract him from the horrors of war while Kurtz embraced the horrors and fought it like in his monolog; doing what had to be done, awake without judgment. Kurtz also joined the Special Forces at 38 (which fought along indigenous troops, guerrilla style) after the "inoculation realization." He likely felt it was the most viable way to win the war.
Martin Sheen had been drinking all day in preparation for the "Saigon Hotel" sequence. He really was nearly unable to stand up while doing his martial arts kata in front of the mirror, with Director Coppola egging him on to a very dark place. Sheen truly struck the very real mirror which actually did split open his hand. That blood everywhere was actually Sheen's blood. Coppola yelled cut and called for a doctor, but Sheen insisted they keep going. He literally had a nervous breakdown letting out a lot of demons he was experiencing- all caught on camera. The tension became so high the crew had no idea what Sheen would do- at one point he looked as if he might attack the cameraman or Coppola himself. The next day Sheen told everyone he didn't remember a thing from last night's shoot. However in a 1990s documentary he admitted he remembered all of it.
When in the jungle or the woods like that, you can always tell when something or someone is coming. The animal noises stop. The birds stop singing, the monkeys stop making noise. That's when you know you're in a world of hurt, when in a combat situation. Here's something for you to try. Go out into the woods camping on a nature trail or whatever. Don't make any noise and then just sit and listen to the sounds around you. Listen to the insects, the birds singing, squirrels making noises. When those noises stop, you know someone is coming. The birds will also fly away, because they're scared. I was taught that by my father when I was a child. When hiking, don't make a lot of noise. That's how you get to see wildlife if that's your thing. Edit: Also, if you smoke or don't smoke you can always tell when someone lights up. You can smell it. At nighttime you can see the flame and the glow of the cigarette for quite a ways. In combat when you see this, that's what you aim for, and more often than not, you'll hit the person. That's why most of the time in a combat situation you never use a regular flashlight. You use a flashlight that has a red lens cover. Red can't be seen too far. Also, in a combat situation at night, you don't light a cigarette, as that's another way for the enemy to find you, with the smell. Everyone is innocent when they first go into a combat situation. Then you lose your innocence very quickly the very first fire fight you get into.
In my opinion greatest movie of all time, just insane how complete it is, from camp, jungles, river, french house to one of most epic visuals of ending tribal encounter... visual masterpiece. it felt like book reading, everything about this movie just class.
I don't know if you caught it, but the kid on the boat was a 17 year old Laurence Fishburne from "The Matrix" and "John Wick" and "What's Love got to do with it".
Great reaction, Ames. This movie came out when I was a high school freshman, and as someone who wanted to join the military, I dwelt on this movie a lot through all four years of high school. With over 500 comments so far, most of the points I would make have been touched upon. Except the sampan scene. Haven't seen comments on that yet, so... Clean started shooting because the woman made a quick move back into the sampan toward Chef. Tension was definitely high right at that moment. Think back to the helicopter attack when the Vietnamese woman threw the grenade into the helicopter loaded with wounded soldiers. In that split second on the sampan, how could Clean know that the woman wasn't going to do something bad to Chef? I'm not saying he was right for shooting. But I am saying that we put young men into high stress situations like that and expect them to make the correct decision 100% of the time. Can't happen that perfectly, and the consequences for those decisions are severe. Hence, PTSD.
I felt the same way as you when I first watched it……the film is more relevant today than ever, sadly. I really enjoyed the thoughtful commentary. And glad to see you are such an animal lover like myself.
After I saw this movie, I became a vegetarian. I didn't think that I could eat animals anymore after witnessing the actual killing of the water buffalo.
@@davidgibson9405 - The water buffalo? How about the puppy that was stored with all the other food items in that sampan? This was Vietnam, and dogs are nothing but livestock there.
Coppola certainly knows how to begin a movie without any opening credits, "Godfather", "Apocalypse Now". He once said that his involvement with "Patton" (he wrote the script) showed him how impactful it could be to begin a movie that way.
@@menachem2521 Wait, am I actually speaking to someone who, at the same time, loves Apocalypse Now AND ignores that there are multiple cuts of the movie? :D You've never heard of Apocalypse Now Redux? The Final cut is recent, but this one has been out there for twenty years!
@@SCharlesDennicon lol. I love the movie but I watched whatever came up on the website I was using. I'm not a movie nut, I just watch whatever I get my hands on.
Filmed near my hometown in the Philippines. The building in the middle of the rice paddies with the large red star in a circle was for Caltex Gas. It was a site I would see during my long commutes to college and back. During the filming of the movie the helicopters often flew overhead in real combat missions against insurgents. My grandparents often scared us to behave lest the insurgents come out of the jungle and enter the town. One urban myth during filming was that the helicopters were often unavailable for filming as they were on real combat missions. One story that was passed around was that crews told filmmakers there was no need to simulate battle damage on the helicopters as they would return with real ones. The disturbing scene of the killing of the water buffalo (Carabao) was done by the Igorot tribe, which were done on weddings or funerals. It is a ritual I grew up with where livestock or poultry were ‘prepared’ on the day of the feast or festivals as meat was rarely stored in the freezer. The blood and injury on Martin Sheen were real. I first saw the film after I moved to Canada. In one of my first social gatherings of Filipinos in Toronto, Apocalypse Now was being discussed. And I heard the stories I heard in the Philippines now being passed on in Canada. This is not the original version I saw. The ending had Martin Sheen calling in the B-52 air strike, wiping out every man, woman and child in that village. As the end credits rolled fireballs destroyed the village and the jungle. This film has a ‘permanent’ spot in my top 5 favorite films.
Robert Duvall has many great roles. However, some of his best were not leading roles. I do recommend The Great Santini and if you are up for another miniseries, I cannot recommend Lonesome Dove highly enough. I think it's Duvall's best performance ever
Agree 110%. Never liked Westerns until I saw Lonesome Dove. Now I watch it at least once a year. Duvall and Gene Hackman make even mediocre or poor movies watchable.
+1 for The Great Santini, also from 1979. Doubt it is on any of the streamers, but absolutely worth running down. Also recommend Open Range - Boss Spearman is the Omega to Col Kilgore's Alpha. Somehow he is always 100% Robert Duvall and simultaneously 100% not Robert Duvall. The Duvall Paradox.....
If you're a fan of Robert Duval, another great Acadamy award nominated performance is "The Apostle"(1997). There's very few reactions to this one on youtube.
This was a great reaction. You were very thoughtful and insightful, and I really felt the growing darkness as you made your way up the river with Willard. Amazing. Thank you.
Thank you, great reaction. On this same topic, I recommend "We Were Soldiers", the story of the first use of helicopters in battle in Vietnam. Excellent video as always.
I’ve only just come across your channel, but I have to say of all the ‘First time reactors’ out there, you’re the best I’ve come across. You are intelligent, insightful and down to earth. I like the fact you’re aren’t over the top like a lot of other people.
Morality is the key. Without morality, there is only horror. War is a conflict of moral values. Peace is built from the moral common ground. This movie question the morality of war and art. Coppola wrote about moral conflict of war, but also faced moral conflict with his artistic decisions to show the sacrifice of the water buffalo, to mortgage his house to finance this film, and apparently turned down an offer to use real human cadavers for the dead bodies at the Kurtz compound.
This is my favourite film of all time. I first saw it when I was 17, I knew about the film's reputation beforehand as one of the best films ever made and I was already a fan of Coppola's work in general, so I was hyped from the get go. The opening scene of the film completely blew my mind and I knew right there and then that I was going to love this film. I remember sitting watching in awe as the jungle blows up with Jim Morrison's vocals in the background and I think I actually just said "Wow" out loud, because I felt like I'd never seen a film open like that before ever. I don't think you need to have a lot of understanding about the Vietnam War, because I feel like this movie has as much to do with authentically portraying the Vietnam War as much as Star Wars has to do with the reality of space travel. Apocalypse Now is supposed to be a modern version of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, so the Vietnam War itself is just a backdrop for the main story which is the eventual confrontation between Willard and Kurtz as well as the descent into madness along the way (the latter of which does highlight a lot of absurdities about the Vietnam War). If you want a film that is much more grounded in the reality of the Vietnam War, I recommend Oliver Stone's Platoon which coincidentally stars Charlie Sheen in the lead role.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning😂. My 2 fave movies w narration overlayed are “Snatch”2000 and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” ‘98. Worth watching if u haven’t seen.
Robert Duvall's very favorite part was Augustus McCrae in Lonesome Dove...it is am absolute career defining performance. Based on real events, you will not believe the things that happen in this story. Taken from the 800 page book the only Western ever to win a Pulitzer Prize, it had to be a miniseries so this is just for you if it's too long to put on here. With Tommy Lee Jones, once watched you never forget the story of their friendship, their love, for each other. An unbelievable movie that I really hope you'll treat yourself to. If you're a reader, this is book 3 in the 4 book saga of thede men's lives from the time they were young men to their old age. It's many peoples favorite movie of all time. You'll see why. I very rarely rewatch movies more than once but Ive probably watched this over 50 times!
Great reaction to this beautiful and harrowing war movie! I saw it in the cinema when it was released in 1979, just after I had finished high school. I went to see it with a friend and we were both left speechless and emotionally overwhelmed and exhausted at the end. I have seen it a few times since, and the emotional wallop is always there, along with astounding acting, cinematography, sound design and soundtrack, etc. No CGI in this one, as far as I know...
This movie is based on the book by Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness. It's not long and very much worth the read. You will see the parallels between the movie and the book.
So the Vietnam War was a very strange war in terms of what and why the US was there. After the stalemate in the Korean war the US felt it was loosing hold of the democratic stronghold in southeast Asia. They decided to try to rekindle some of the colonial era stabilization, not by creating colonies, but by influencing political uprisings and replacing them with puppet/pro-west leaders. Using a lot of the skills we learned from WW2 and Korea the CIA created a plan of covert action throughout the area. It started by using Thailand as a major beachhead in which to organize operations. Then its setup programs to train rebel groups in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, etc. The difficulty came in getting them supplies and weapons. In a cold war you cannot just give weapons and supplies made in the US to rebels you are helping overthrow governments, you need to find other sources of weapons/supplies so that it doesn't look like you are directly interfering (this would be illegal under US law, and be seen as potentially acts of war). So we did the one thing we could claim to be innocently providing: transportation logistics. The CIA setup shell companies and issued contracts to setup supply depots, air bases, ship harbors, road building, to transport goods for people cheaply under a guise of improving infrastructure for humanitarian aid and policing trade. A big one was Air America, which was a group of civilian pilots who flew helicopters and airplanes throughout the area. Now one of the biggest industries to move mass amount of cargo for, besides supplies and weapons, happened to be the opium industry. So the CIA started by just looking the other way when shipping drugs around. But eventually it became more and more of an active role. This money from the drug trade would then go into recruiting more fighters, more weapons, more training, more bases to support them, etc. However the more we interfered in countries operations the more burden we placed on the normal people. So as this continued more and more of the local people started viewing the American trained rebels as the source of the problem, driving more people to just do anything to get us to leave. Most people in Vietnam stopped caring they just were looking for basic survival, and so there was no longer distinct sides, we were both suppling aid and killing the exact same people. Eventually we kept failing so much in getting successful rebellions that the United States became committed. We couldn't really just disclose why we kept needing more money and having issues and what was going on there. So we convinced congress to allow the CIA "training advisors" to be accompanied by the US Military to continue policing activities. Eventually we kept facing more and more resistance as China and Russia were supplying the other side just as much. This then turns into the stuff revealed in the leaked "Pentagon Papers" which showed that the US felt it could not loose its pride by admitting another stalemate or defeat to communist forces. This then eventually lead to the president seeking a formal declaration of war from congress, and us drafting troops to cover up for our failed covert actions. That is why the war is so controversial overall, we were sending thousands of Americans to their deaths to cover the shame of the covert forces, and to try to hide the fact that we were attempting to build empires without approval from congress and the American voter. This is also why there are so many covert actions here (secret assassinations, troops in countries we "are not in", secret armies in the jungle. Kurtz did what they wanted him to do, create an elite killing force that was actually committed to win, but in doing so he stopped taking direct orders and thus needed to be terminated.)
The intro to this movie is the most accurate visual interpretation of the phycological effects on someone who's been in violent conflict for long periods, I have known too many friends who have basically said "I think I'm going to wake up in the desert...when I'm here I wish I was there... every time I'm here I wish I was home." Sheen was absolutely brilliant during this film he even had two near brushes with death during filming, one was a massive heart attack. This is still one of the best portrayals of the Vietnam War and what it's like to go through such violent polarized conflict and come home. I have friends and relatives that can't watch this without having to leave the room and calm down. There are so many scenes which actually happened during Vietnam "the horror...the horror"
the scene around 12:30 you skipped with everybody piling out of the helicopters is amazing. those tail rotors will take your head off, those are some well disciplined stunt people jumping out of a very powerful machine while its moving.
I saw this in the theatre when it was initially released. I was 10 (yes, different times). At the film's end, I walked out of the theatre feeling heavy, like I was on that boat going through the journey and horrors of war alongside the crew. I didn't have all the wonderful insight you had after viewing it and didn't understand parts of it, but I have never forgotten that feeling after seeing it.
Yes absolutely, the river and the journey is a metaphor for the descent both into madness and hell, the hell of war. For example at the Do Lung Bridge scene where the soldiers are wading through the water screaming for them to take them is a rendering of Homers odyssey by boat through Hades, there is a painting of the souls screaming and trying to get on the boat, out of hell. A number of occasions both Chef and Willard reference never getting off the boat. The boat is a metaphor for sanity and civilisation so getting off it means fully leaving your sanity behind - Willard say Kurts got off the boat, and split from the entire program, meaning once you cross a line you are never coming back - you are utterly destroyed as a human being by war and how obscene it is. Willard wonders what Kurts saw that sent him down this path, into insanity - then when he meet Kurts reveals the incident of they children's arms being cut off, thats the final straw where he loses his mind and humanity - he says he wants to tear his teeth out, his brain simply cant compute or cope with that horror and obscene cruelty - what happens is this turns him into the monster. But yet it is still not that simple because at every point we have seen women and children mown down and sliced to bits, schools and villages napalmed while soldiers surf, Playboy bunnies appear and Lances water skies behind the boat - is this not insane, isn't everyone insane who decides the lines of morality? Willard never entirely gets off the boat, he never entirely loses himself, he is irrevocably damaged but unlike Kurts he knows this and understands how war has changed him but holds onto humanity, he never entirely gets off the boat. This is what the opening scene is about, he is so torn and damaged by what he has done and seen but he is aware of this and is going towards self destruction but manages to hold on somehow, he certainly is unable to function back at home. This is required for the story because Willard is our moral conscious, as the narrator he has to explain the utter immorality of those in charge and their hypocrisy - what they require means the young men fighting are destroyed physically and mentally and emotionally, putting swear words on your jet fighter is bad but dropping napalm on children and civilians is good. By clinging and always returning to the boat on we hope Willard is able to return home and explain to Kurts's son what the war, the politicians and senior leaders did to him and what this meant - and hopefully in a small way prevent Vietnam or similar happening again, perhaps a shred of hope remains as a shred of humanity remains in Willard.
Was supposed to be directed by George Lucas, but we got lucky and that never happened.
Because he decided to make Star Wars instead.
“We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write 'fuck' on their airplanes because it's obscene.”
One of the most powerful moments in the movie because that statement is packed with TRUTH.
kind of like in the old vietnam era song called Eve of Destruction where it sings "You're old enough to kill but not for votin'" it is seriously messed up. in america you probably cant drink alcohol when you're 18 but government happily sends you to a war no problem.
@@johnnymclaneutahmodern first world society’s are the best they’ve ever been in human existence but war can never be modernised or sanitised but these governments try because of the rules outside of war like the drinking age for example does that matter if your country’s gonna get invaded or you are fighting for a reason, Vietnam was an issue because there was no reason for America to be there.
@daquaviousbinwgleton9763 Thank the French, we owed them from numerous occasions, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, etc. Vietnam was under their control, until they got the boot, so, we were called to aid our ally. Strange how we trained Ho Chi Minh and supplied him just to have them kick out the French in the first place, then come in acting like saviors. I think it was in part also because of the "Dominoe Effect" aka the red scare. To say for no reason, well, that isn't true. Also money was to be made by corrupt politicians (LBJ, NIXON). Hope this helped, please I implore you to look more into this affair because of all the elements at play making it a blueprint of how we would fight our future wars.
Fun fact: the "TV journalist" telling the captain and soldiers to "run through...act like you're fighting." was the movie's director, Francis Ford Coppola.
That is Correct! Back to insane...
I watched this for the millionth time last night and just noticed that lol
Captain Willard, had a heartattact.
..And cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
Really? you had to mention that?! LMAO
The sacrifice of the cow was real because it was a real tribe in the Philippines that lived by that ritual. Like Native Americans, they eat and use every part of that cow after each sacrifice. In the documentary, Coppola was clearly disturbed, just like you, when he first witnesses that tribe doing that. But he understood that it was how they lived and could also see it as a metaphor for the brutality and cruelty of war. That's why he chose to film it later when they performed that ritual again.
Watching her almost cry over the puppy when they grabbed at it was sort of laughable... I wonder if she knows it was stored among all the other food items for a reason.
@@Mr.Ekshin It's not funny, it just makes you a condescending clown because you think it makes you smarter than she is and you think it's funny that people eat puppies. I really don't give a shit what you think because you sound like an idiot. Her reaction was fine.
@@PauloHernandezXD You're laughing at the sexual abuse of children, to clarify your idiotic and pretentious comments.
Well it is not a cow, technically, it's a water buffalo.
They still sacrifice water buffalo like that throughout many of those regions in southeast asia, the phillipines, indonesia, nepal etc.
IN Nepal they have a slaughter festival/ritual, in praise of Gadhimai -- the goddess of power. on the first day, they slaughter about 10,000 male water buffalo calves, on the 2nd day they kill about 150,000 goats.
@@USCFlash Right. Do they even have cows in the Philippines? My family is from the Philippines. I don't remember seeing any cows, like we have in the U.S., when we went to visit. Only water buffalo.
Dennis Hopper as the whacked-out reporter/photographer is phenomenal.
Because Dennis Hopper was actually whacked out he dont even remember filiming this movie at all. Lol
06:53 "he's so young" Indeed. Laurence Fishburne lied about his age to get the part and was only 14 when the production began
he was 26 when the film finished.
@@robertwood9532 lol
He was 17.
He was born in July '61, production began in March '76. Holy Crap.
The Doors' "The End" during Kurtz's death is perfect.
Playing the end at the beginning. Looping what happens after the movie is over to fade into the intro.... that's a master stroke.
“There isn’t any animal cruelty in this movie, is there?” - 😬
Human beings have raised themselves above animal status. . Lol.
No there was no animal cruelty in the movie, the whole crew, actors and extras were all vegetarians.
Lol. Young people living in cities, untouched by the reality of life and existance are so incredibly deeply mislead, that it is hopeless for them.
A child growing up in rural areas, on farms, by 18 knows how food chain works, how houses are built, how drinking water is made, knows the plants, animals around us. The most important life lessons.
Meanwhile in the cities childs are watching movies and astonished if they see a chicken prepared to cook, as if it would be a corpse desacration.
Even schools are not showing kids about life, they just edicating scholars for cities.
Also quite sad, that ladies like this very one has no clue of 'nam, while veterans still alive and around us. She cannot even relate to them. How could she, if she's not even taught in at least high school about that. Could be a typical 'american problem'.
"You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill." Definitely one of my favorite lines! I have seen this movie many times(First time on VHS! 😆). Loved your reaction😊..You are very good at this! Sorry it made you feel unwell! I have terrible anxiety and depression issues since forever..I definitely need to be in the right mood and feelin well to put this film on. Someone should have warned you!😢
"Terminate with extreme prejudice." is one of my favorites. The only line the government suit says but very powerful.
"Charlie don't surf!" Has always been my favorite line from this movie. There was a similar line that was used when I was in the Marines. "Hadji don't surf!"
"Never get out of the boat. Absolutely God Damn right!!!"
Shit...Charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500
I've seen quite a few reactions to this film but I can say, without question, yours is the best ever. You really thought about every step the film was taking and then you would express those thoughts so well.
A very real pleasure watching you watch this film. Bravo!
As we say in Texas; y'all be safe.
Agreed, alot of reactors while enjoyable do miss some of the undertones of this movie.
This girl was on it from the start and it was really cool seeing her experience it for the first time.
I just left a comment saying pretty much the same thing. Such a good reaction.
As a Navy-man: Never fucking Leave the Boat!
@@petrusinvictus3603 Yeah, for real.
I read the Book. About Kongo river...
I used to talk to a guy online who was ex-Special Forces and had served in Vietnam. He had PTSD, so he'd never watched a Vietnam war movie in his life. One day he told the "chopped-off babies' arms" story as an anecdote of something he'd seen personally. When it was pointed out to him that the story was used in Apocalypse Now, he looked up the production team, and it turned out that a guy who was with his unit that day was a military advisor on the film... So, as far as I know, it was a real story...😧
To me the unsung hero in this film is the boat captain. I dont know who that actor is or where that accent comes from but as a veteran, I can tell you he gave the most authentic performance. His demeanor and attitude is exactly like that of a man who has authority and responsibility thrust upon him and is managing the best that he can under extreme pressure.
I saw this movie for the first time right after I was discharged and the boat captain left the biggest impression on me.
I had a MSG in the Army who was just like that. So professional and even at Battalion S3 everyone listened to him more than any officer.
Interesting.
In a way, every character is coping with this extreme experience in their own way. The way I see it, The captain is somehow the one that tried the hardest to keep his shit together while the rest of the crew is disassosiating in one way or another. Still ,in the end you can see that the captain's coping strategy, of trying to walk the line, is ultimately failing too. The disaster when they shoot up the family on the boat, is mostly the captain's fault because he insisted on following protocol, when it was obviously uncalled for. It was his attempt to regain some authority when his crew was degenerating. The search was objectively pointless, and everyone else knew it. After that point, he has lost the last of his authority, and you see even further disintegration of discipline.
The captain's fate can symbolize that you can't survive if you try to follow the rules, whereas Lance, who completely gives in to madness, is the one that makes it out alive.
This is of course the movies' standpoint. I can't say that it reflects reality in any way.
Yep, he had his shit wired tight at all times.
In terms of acting yes I agree.
It’s a Caribbean accent. Many Caribbeans were able to get US citizenship joining going to Vietnam. So, many sub stories in this film.
"I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream; that's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor... and surviving." _--(Kurtz)_
Genius-level, both the writing, and the delivery of the line! You _feel_ that line, as if the snail is really one of the lobes of your brain, being sliced by that unforgiving metal edge. Surreal!
The delivery is terrible. Too much slurring by Brando in this movie.
The book its based on, Heart of Darkness, is also worth a read; its about a seaman going to the Beliguim-controlled Congo, in the 19th century, and telling of the horrors he seen there. The book also revolves around the mysticism of Kurtz and the narrator's obsession with him.
as is the making of the film of the same name hearts of darkness which nearly broke the director and actors
@markleitch9932 If I'm not mistaken, Martin Sheen did so much blow he had a heart attack.
One of the few honest US films! Especially when it comes to war.
The game Spec Ops The Line is also based on Heart of Darkness. The whole trio, book, movie and game are a trilogy of experiences that really complement each other.
Throwing in a slightly alternate take. Yes the basic structure of the film is Conrad's "Heart Of Darkness" but after watching it soo many times I was struck by the feeling that a lot of the atmosphere and tone is far more Lovecraftian in nature. A good mix of both.
“do you know who’s in charge here?”
“…yeah”
That scene goes so HARD
Interestingly, there is a book called Dispatches by Rolling Stone writer Michael Herr, who spent months in the siege at Khe Sanh. Herr later acted as a consultant on Apocalypse Now & the bridge scene is actual based on what Herr witnessed; the Marines were stranded with no leadership. In the book he describes a black soldier using an M-79 tiger striped grenade launcher to take out the enemy without even aiming.
Brando was suppose to be dying of malaria but when he showed up on the set he weighed 300 lbs, so they kept him in the shadows. The young black gunner on the boat was Lawrence Fishburne (Morpheus). There is a back story of many difficulties making this movies including some of them really getting malaria, rain, military needing their helicopters back, Martin Sheen was going through a real divorce (that he didn't want), so in the opening scene in the motel he broke down.
Yeah, Sheen suffered a heart attack on set and the mirror he punched was real glass, tearing up his hand in the process. 😬
I don’t think Martín was going through a divorce. He has been married to the same woman since 1961.
Ya they shot this movie in the middle of the Philippines Civil war
yeah, Brando was in the movie for 8 minutes. at a salary of $8 million, some have said Brando made a million dollars a minute.
This film is a cinematic MASTERPIECE which will be studied for years to come. It's also nice to see you taking the time after seeing the film to investigate it further on IMDB. The cinematography in this film is mind blowing. So many UA-cam reaction channels just move on to the next film and never really acknowledge or fully appreciate the people who make these films we hold in high regards.
That intro with the Doors has honestly stuck in my head ever since I saw this back in the day
I love the song and I love the movie, this movie was one of my dad's favs and him and I watched it together many times. It's absolutely impossible for me to hear The End without picturing that opening scene and thinking about my dad. That song will always be synonymous with Apocalypse Now.
We'll never see a movie like this made ever again.
yeah, and think of the irony! in the book "Heart of Darkness" (from which the movie was made) the sailor in the book goes back to report to Kurtz's fiancee. in the movie, Kurtz wants the captain to report to his son. there was much more of the movie to be made! BUT with being over budget and long past the allotted time to be produced, the movie ends abruptly! at this point in the movie, don't the Doors sing, "This is the end...."....
Same here. When I first this film on HBO back in '83, the intro alone had me saying to myself: "What the hell kind of movie is this gonna be?"
I am deeply moved by the compassion and emotions you feel, for the hell that soldiers and veterans live and die with, whenever you watch a war movie. You cry for their pain, their fear, their loss and for the sacrifices that so many of them have made. You often acknowledge how much we owe to those in uniform. I am a veteran. And your genuine sincerity touches me more than the almost obligatory "thank you for your service" that people nowadays just blurt out like a conditioned response. For YOU, and people like you, it was my honor to serve.
Agreed, and the whole "thank you for your service" thing has ran its course. Please people, we're sure you mean well but I can't think of a single person that served who likes that phrase or even wants to hear it now.
Your reaction and reasoning feel beyond the average persons perceptions, being a veteran and having experienced this time in our history your ideas and reality comfort and warm my heart. Thank you.
WOW!!! SUCH REACTIONS! WHAT REACTIONS! the man filming the documentary was Francis Ford Coppala! he placed himself in the movie. President Kennedy saw the hopelessness of the Vietnam War and was going to stop it. they didn't want it to end, so they killed him. Kennedy's murder divided America. the division has extended to the division of America we have today. you asked about the cost of the movie, it went over budget and Coppola used his own money to finish the film. Coppola had all of the cast read "Heart of Darkness" written by Joseph Conrad. it gives GREAT insight into this movie. it too has a river which gets narrower and narrower, and darker and darker to the main character of the book, a man named "Kurtz". Krurtz tells the author of the book to go tell his fiancee the real story of what was going on (just as Kurtz in the movie wanted the captain to tell his son what was really good on! the book "Heart of Darkness" was an English Literature Classic and really helps you understand the "Vietnam War". OH!!! and before I forget, at the end of the book, Kurtz's fiancee wanted to know, what were Kurtz's last words.
I saw this in theaters in is first run and it pretty crazy. It was in the early days of surround sound so the sound effects really were stunning. That freaking tiger attack sounded like it was coming from behind us and scared the crap out of everyone.
"Apocalypse Now!" Is painted on the rocks at Kurtz' camp to establish copyright. In order to establish copyright, the title of the movie has to appear in writing but Copola wanted to show the film without credits. That was against the rules of either the directors or editors guilde (i forget), which caused him to be suspended for a while. Instead they handed out a booklet, dozens of pages, with credits, and details of the filming. I wish so much that i had hung on to that!
The movie was filmed in the Philippines. The hardships were unbelievable. They rented helicopters and pilots from the Philippine military. They were fighting a guerilla insurgency at the time so they would have to paint the choppers each day for filming then repaint them for the military to go on missions. They built the village you see get attacked by the Duvall's company and the other sets. But most of it was destroyed by typhoon and had to be rebuilt.
The Part of Willard was supposed to be played by Harvey Keitel but when they got in site, Coppola realized he wasn't right for the role and got Sheen to step in. There are some scenes in the boat where it is Keitel but you can't see his face.
Sheen was really doing a lot of drugs and accidently punched the mirror, cutting his hand, but they kept filming. Sheen had a heart attack which delayed production.
Brando showed up way overweight, freaking Coppola out. He decided to shoot Brando in shadows to hide how big he really was.
All things considered, one of a handful of the greatest movies ever made. I think easily among the top five. I’m glad you chose this version. The extended cuts are an example of misguided effort. You really should react to Coppola’s ‘The Conversation’, which along with this one and Godfathers 1 and 2, are worthy of long indulgence and many viewings. And The Conversation is still quite rare among reactors.
Absolute cinematic masterpiece!! Life was imitating art, as Copolla was clearly losing his mind during the endless filming, as documented in his wife's documentary, Hearts of Darkness. I seen this in the theater twice during periodic re-releases and I felt kinda sad knowing that there will probably never be a movie made that looks this awesome on screen. I grew up right as Vietnam was ending, but I clearly remember seeing the trauma and anguish that many soldiers experienced both during and after the war. Copolla brilliantly captured the horrors of Vietnam with Apocalypse Now.
See Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse. It was a memoir on film created by Coppola's wife.
I second the motion. Hearts of Darkness is a great doc about the film ❤
Great MOVIE. I have spoken with a guy who was actually in the 1st Air Cavalry in Viet Nam. He said the movie was bullshit in that respect, but he liked the movie generally speaking.
Some of this masterfilmmaker's greatest work.
Vietnam was in our living rooms in a way that no longer happens. Enjoyed your reaction. Young Marlon (A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, the Wild One) established Marlon as a leading man.
To me this film has very little to do with the Vietnam war, it's just the setting used to tell a story. To me it's more like a re-imagining of 'Dante's Inferno'. The sin of man and the layers of hell they reside in. The boat ride is a trip deeper into depths of insanity, where Kurtz exists and few make it that far. The best example, to me, is the scene of Do Lung bridge. It's more like the river Styx. One side is men who are desperately looking to leave, attempting to swim to the boat. The other side are guys who are absolutely lost in the insanity of the situation, they've adapted and are surviving in it.
I watch that movie when I was a kid. Now seeing it again as a adult I understand it. Movies back then had meaning and hits you in different ways. War is dark. People change.
I watched this the first time when I was 18, I just thought “explosion, the horror! It’s so badass”
Now a decade later I understand how it really touches on how these conditions can destroy a humans psyche & soul.
Same here couldn't agree more
Movies nowadays still have meaning...
Apocalypse Now is the greatest film ever made, in my eyes. The brilliance of the script, the amazing acting performances, the mind-blowing cinematography and rich sound design. it's just a visual and story telling masterpiece. I really enjoyed your reaction and analysis of the film - you are very observant and that really makes your content enjoyable.
Excellent reaction, Ames, as usual. I've seen this movie more than a few times and, for some reason, the one part that never fails to give me chills is Kurtz's letter to his son. On one hand, you have this soldier who, as thanks for his years of loyal service, is falsely accused of a crime and targeted for assassination by his own government, and the hypocrisy is infuriating. On the other hand, it's pretty clear by the tone of the letter that he's lost at least some perspective on who he is, or who he used to be, and you can't help but feel gratitude that his son will never have to read it because the disconnect is heartbreaking. This is a hard watch but thanks for putting yourself through it, because it was an awesome reaction!
Thank you for including the classic line..... "'I asked for a mission and for my sins they gave me one..."".... Thank you
This masterpiece was based loosely on The Heart of Darkness (a novella) and all of your observations were very insightful. I've seen it multiple times and I still notice or hear something new every time. I was impressed by your insights because you're so young and weren't present during the Vietnam era...or when guys were coming home from Vietnam (horribly wounded, disabled, psychologically destroyed), and we as a country completely dropped the ball on helping them....or even hospitable treatment of them in many cases. If you want to learn about the "causes", you have to go back further and study WWII, which led to the Cold War....which led to the West's determination to stop the spread of communism wherever they saw it, et al. I think Coppola does a superb job at immersing the viewer into the horror of true human nature at its most primal level, basically forcing your participation, if that makes any sense. Who is capable of "the horror"? Anyone and everyone. Civilized norms and behaviors are constructs that are very fragile, but we just largely take for granted at our own potential peril. Side Note: I don't know whether or not they had the strict laws about animal treatment at this time. I'm sure glad they do now.
John Milius was a huge influence on Francis Ford Coppola doing this movie. In fact during the Vietnam War when hippies were wearing buttons that said "Peace Now!" with the peace symbol. John Milius would wear a button that said "Apocalypse Now!" with a picture of a B-52 Bomber.
The documentary of the making is on YT.
ua-cam.com/video/pFYzVsrrPjE/v-deo.html
I'm sorry. I accept some cultures still sacrifice animals as part of their rituals. Unfortunately, I'm one of those annoying (yes, I realize we are annoying) animal lovers that hates to see them suffer. I realize this is hypocritical as the way they are treated and slaughtered in "civilized society" is so horrific. You can be sure, I hate that too.@@slightlySuperior
I was a battlefield of good and evil. The end was so confusing I didn,t care Ijust wanted it to end, I craved the end, though I expected to die. This is a good movie I don't need to watch. I lived it.The Kurts character was more sane than his superiors.
Wow,the emotions were raw comin out of you.awesome reaction.you have an eye for details.loved it
My first year in college in the mid 80's in a semi rural town, i lived in student apartments and we only had reception for 2 local t.v. channels so we got a VHS player. We had only 2 VHS tapes and we had them playing nonstop all day long everyday whether anyone was watching or not so we basically had the 2 films memorized. The 2 films were Caddyshack and Apocalypse Now, two of the most quoted films for decades by the way.
Honestly, your reaction to Apocalypse Now is the best I've seen so far. Indeed, there are many philosophical topics and questions that this film raises, such as the question of human nature. The horror that Kurtz refers to is our dark side, which emerges in a hostile and violent environment such as war. That is why he expresses his admiration for the villagers who cut off the arms of the inoculated children. We can say that Kurtz took that idea to the extreme.
This movie is definitely a masterpiece. The cinematography and music match the dark and ominous tone of the story perfectly.
Michael Herr wrote the voice over. As a reporter in Vietnam he wrote the book “Dispatches”. The book isn’t long, however, the experience of reading this book will not leave you.
Fantastic book, but not for the faint-hearted. The docu that Coppola's wife shot while on set when the film was made is just as fascinating as the actual film. I also recommend reading the Peter Biskin book "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" that talks about Coppola and this as well as other films. The late sixties and the entire seventies were wild.
Cheers 🍺
And the photographer is based off Dana, I can't remember his last name. He was one of Mr. Here's friends while in-country.
Dispatches is a must-read.
@@McBrannon1000 Based off photographer Tim Page. There are a few elements from Dispatches in Full metal Jacket as well (trigger-happy helo gunner). Incredible book.
based on Heart of Darkness (1899)-a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad - goes to show you how the classics of literature can still resonate today - read the novella - it is free on the internet and it is amazing
The scene where he gets drunk in his room is legit. Martin Sheen was shit faced and FFC just kept filming him ... even after he cut himself hitting the mirror and bled everywhere :(
I heard he got a heart attack doing it too.
@@wetwilly01Being a cocaine addict didn’t help any. He was only 39!
Sheen was not acting, he had a nervous breakdown on-screen, the blood was real.
@@wetwilly01
Yeah he got a heart attack during the shooting of the film. Don't know if it was during this particular scene though.
Absolutely Goddamn right.
I was 17 when I saw this in the theater and I was just young enough to have missed the draft. This movie made a tiny portion of the real horror of war real to those of us that never served in combat. Especially combat in Vietnam. Every friend I had that had been to Vietnam had been changed and would never look at life the same again. They stood out in a way and those that i knew were the good 8nes.
Oh! About Robert Duvall: If you haven't seen them yet, I recommend the movie "Open Range" and the Western series "Lonesome Dove." I am a huge Robert Duvall fan and HIGHLY recommend them. You will also see some very familiar faces in those as well. Trust me.
Excellent reaction, Ames. I always really enjoy your observations on and appreciation for the actual filmmaking during these videos. The making of Apocalypse Now is as interesting as the final product honestly, it's well worth seeking out Hearts of Darkness on your own time. Before a screening at Cannes, Coppola said "My film is not about Vietnam, it *is* Vietnam." For a lesser film that would sound so pretentious, but Apocalypse Now really does live up to that hype. I can't think of another movie from a mainstream filmmaker that captures such a visceral sense of insanity and dread, and forces it onto the audience
Saw this in the theater at the time- been stuck in my head ever since.
You look like, in one sitting- got the lion share figured out.
You are quite perceptive!
Your emotional intelligence, and sense of empathy are impressive. You're very smart, and it makes the reaction.
Great Reaction! It's a shame that you didn't get to see this film as it was meant to be seen, in a darkened movie theater, on the Big Screen, in Surround Sound, with an audience around you sharing the experience. This film in a way, was like the final act of the Vietnam War, that the American Public had watched every night on the News for 10 long years. It helped the public understand why their Sons, Husbands and Brothers, were so damaged when they returned. One day they were in the Jungle fighting to survive, and some one would tap them in the shoulder and tell them, "Your orders came through, you're on the next chopper out." And it was over, 2 days later they were sitting on the couch in their childhood home.
I saw it at the movie theater, I came out shaking. I've tried to watch it on the small screen many times since, just doesn't move me the same way.
@@filton12 I saw it in the theater at 10 years old in 1980
@@filton12 Have you seen the "Redux" directors cut? I really liked the additional part at the French Plantation. I understand why they edited it out in the Original, it slowed the pace and would have made for an overly long movie with the other added scenes.
Coming home for most was worse than the war, to survive that nightmare and then come home to be hated, shunned, and scapegoated by a nation that projected its collective guilt onto the teenaged soldiers ordered to fight, in a no-win war, in an atrocity-producing environment, where the measure of success was measured by counting dead Asian bodies. I remember sitting on the couch after coming home, my mom had a welcome home party for me. The trouble was, I sat on the couch while the women talked around the dining room table while the men talked in the back yard. My father threw me out of the house when he found out I was against the war. America has never recovered from the Vietnam War.
@@davisworth5114 The WWII Veterans didn't make it any easier for returning Vietnam Vets, generally. Because it was not a "Declared War" but was considered a ,"Police Action" groups like the VFW didn't accept Vietnam Veterans as members. Veterans of Korea were also excluded. Vietnam vets spent a much larger by percentage of their time in actual combat than most WWII Vets. I was in the last Lottery for the Draft, and though the War had wound down and my year wasn't selected to go, it was something that was always in the back of our mind as a teenage Male. My Random Sequence Number was 56, so I knew I would be in the first group selected if the War continued or expanded into Cambodia, which looked like a possibility at the time
'CinemaTyler' has been doing an awesome behind the scenes and making of series. Thanks for sharing your reactions! What a roller coaster. One of favourite movies.
Great reaction to this movie. I believe you really got it. I was in high school when this came out and remember hearing about all of the challenges faced by the production crew and director and anticipation for its completion was high. If you're interested in another war movie highlighting the surreal and maddening effect of war on soldiers I would highly suggest you consider Catch-22. It was a bit overshadowed by MASH, which came out around the same time. Really enjoyed this.
Martin Sheen was indeed on something for real in the opening scene. One of the greatest films.
That opening scene was shot after the grueling struggle of shooting the entire film. What you are watching is a man having a complete and total breakdown on film with Coppola egging him on the entire time. And he really did cut himself on that mirror.
@@briannaamore1383 very interesting.
@@tigerwarsaw99 You should find the behind the scenes documentary "Hearts of Darkness".
Note the rigors of shooting this movie were two much for Sheen. He actually suffered a heart attack in the middle of shooting and had to take a lot of time off to recover. The start of the movie was filmed at the end. Sheen was completely drunk and while Coppola knew Sheen had injured himself he just pushed the crew to just keep rolling film. In addition to large amounts of alcohol, heroin and cocaine were pretty much available to everyone on the set all the time. Dennis Hopper (then 42 years old) actually pretty much pushed Laurence Fishburne (who was just 13 & 14 years old for most of the shoot, and never had any drugs before) into drinking and getting addicted to heroin. Sheen's bother, Joe Estevez, actually ended up doing some stand in work and the voiceover and post-production dubbing for the film; he was never credited.
He was drunk and they filmed it
A classic. There's a great documentary about the production called 'Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse' that is worth a watch. It was an intense production, injuries, heart attach and metal breakdown, and that was just Sheen.
Documentary is great
It's almost more crazy than the film it was documenting
Movies at that time dared much.
The German movie "The Tin Drum" ("Die Blechtrommel") did share the "Palme d'Or" with "Apocalypse Now" in Cannes 1979 - and is a wild ride as well!
Echoing others here, the documentary of this movie is phenomenal as well and a must see for filmmaking buffs.
Spectacular reaction video, Ames. You have a vast knowledge of not only cinema, but historical events as well. One of the best Vietnam War themed films. My personal favorite of this sub-genre is Stanley Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket.' That one excelled on every single level for me, cast, direction, cinematography, soundtrack, etc.
How would you know which movie is best if you weren't even there??
"Do you know that 'if' is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you"
This post is never gonna reach the intended reader, but for anyone else interested. The best documentary on Vietnam is Ken Burns The Vietnam War. As all of his work, it's a masterpiece.
If you're a documentary buff. Anything Ken Burns or Adam Curtis is gonna blow your mind. Can't get you out of my head
To appreciate this movie read Joseph Conrad’s novel, “The Heart of Darkness,” upon which this is based. Duvall’s character is based on Col. Dave Hackworth (see, “About Face”). Kurtz was drawn from the character of Kurtz in the novel and Hackworth.
You might also consider watching, “Apocalypse Now Redux,” which is longer and contains footage cut from the theatrical release.
Huh how does it make us appreciate the movie? Or just wanted to sound smart?
There's actually 3 versions of this movie, the original, redux and the complete Dossier.
All three need to be watched.
@@jefflewandowski7559amen! Absolutely true… ❤
@@slightlySuperior No it's not. The original is easier to digest (i.e. more pleasant to watch), but the overall effect of the REDUX version on the brain reflects the madness of reality much better. And that is the main focus of this movie.
@@jefflewandowski7559 I am not convinced that every beeing on this planet needs to watch every single one of the three versions 🙂 But I have to check out this "complete" thing and if it's available in my language.
“You’re in the a**hole of the world, Captain.”
{ “That doesn’t sound good…” }
😂
you made some great point about Madness, in fact Coppolla himself almost has a nervous breakdown during the filming. It really was " a journey into madness"
The mission is ordered by your hierarchy. Returning alive is never ordered.
I saw the 1st cavalry division returning from Vietnam in 1973, and stopping on our airbase in southern France. Great souvenir.
(A French officer 1970-2000)
No one seems to have mentioned, but the budget overrun was LEGENDARY, in fact, the schedule delays were so well-known that a parody called "Pork Lips Now" was made in the immediate afterglow of its release. Coppola was as out of his mind as Kurtz.
Evidently there was a lot of problem with Marlon because he was pretty well drunk all the time. Also the scene with the mirror was true and if I'm not mistaken he was drunk and that was his real blood.
And he had a Heartattack on set.
@@Sariz38 actually I didn't know that. Wow, thanks for the update.
This was the very Best reaction to a movie that I also watched 50+ times
This movie also explores the juxtaposition of how Kilgore fought the war and how Kurtz fought the war.
Kilgore used the beach parties and surfing to distract him from the horrors of war while Kurtz embraced the horrors and fought it like in his monolog; doing what had to be done, awake without judgment.
Kurtz also joined the Special Forces at 38 (which fought along indigenous troops, guerrilla style) after the "inoculation realization."
He likely felt it was the most viable way to win the war.
Thanks soo much for your comment! This movie is a trip
Martin Sheen had been drinking all day in preparation for the "Saigon Hotel" sequence. He really was nearly unable to stand up while doing his martial arts kata in front of the mirror, with Director Coppola egging him on to a very dark place. Sheen truly struck the very real mirror which actually did split open his hand. That blood everywhere was actually Sheen's blood.
Coppola yelled cut and called for a doctor, but Sheen insisted they keep going. He literally had a nervous breakdown letting out a lot of demons he was experiencing- all caught on camera. The tension became so high the crew had no idea what Sheen would do- at one point he looked as if he might attack the cameraman or Coppola himself.
The next day Sheen told everyone he didn't remember a thing from last night's shoot. However in a 1990s documentary he admitted he remembered all of it.
As I recall hearing, Sheen was drinking because it was his birthday.
When in the jungle or the woods like that, you can always tell when something or someone is coming. The animal noises stop. The birds stop singing, the monkeys stop making noise. That's when you know you're in a world of hurt, when in a combat situation. Here's something for you to try. Go out into the woods camping on a nature trail or whatever. Don't make any noise and then just sit and listen to the sounds around you. Listen to the insects, the birds singing, squirrels making noises. When those noises stop, you know someone is coming. The birds will also fly away, because they're scared. I was taught that by my father when I was a child. When hiking, don't make a lot of noise. That's how you get to see wildlife if that's your thing.
Edit: Also, if you smoke or don't smoke you can always tell when someone lights up. You can smell it. At nighttime you can see the flame and the glow of the cigarette for quite a ways. In combat when you see this, that's what you aim for, and more often than not, you'll hit the person. That's why most of the time in a combat situation you never use a regular flashlight. You use a flashlight that has a red lens cover. Red can't be seen too far. Also, in a combat situation at night, you don't light a cigarette, as that's another way for the enemy to find you, with the smell. Everyone is innocent when they first go into a combat situation. Then you lose your innocence very quickly the very first fire fight you get into.
The book this film was based on, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, is even better. One of the most harrowing psychological journeys ever.
In my opinion greatest movie of all time, just insane how complete it is, from camp, jungles, river, french house to one of most epic visuals of ending tribal encounter... visual masterpiece. it felt like book reading, everything about this movie just class.
I don't know if you caught it, but the kid on the boat was a 17 year old Laurence Fishburne from "The Matrix" and "John Wick" and "What's Love got to do with it".
Great reaction, Ames. This movie came out when I was a high school freshman, and as someone who wanted to join the military, I dwelt on this movie a lot through all four years of high school.
With over 500 comments so far, most of the points I would make have been touched upon. Except the sampan scene. Haven't seen comments on that yet, so...
Clean started shooting because the woman made a quick move back into the sampan toward Chef. Tension was definitely high right at that moment. Think back to the helicopter attack when the Vietnamese woman threw the grenade into the helicopter loaded with wounded soldiers. In that split second on the sampan, how could Clean know that the woman wasn't going to do something bad to Chef? I'm not saying he was right for shooting. But I am saying that we put young men into high stress situations like that and expect them to make the correct decision 100% of the time. Can't happen that perfectly, and the consequences for those decisions are severe. Hence, PTSD.
Falling Down 1993 is good film to watch with Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall...
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning” is such a raw line.
I felt the same way as you when I first watched it……the film is more relevant today than ever, sadly. I really enjoyed the thoughtful commentary. And glad to see you are such an animal lover like myself.
After I saw this movie, I became a vegetarian. I didn't think that I could eat animals anymore after witnessing the actual killing of the water buffalo.
@@davidgibson9405 - The water buffalo? How about the puppy that was stored with all the other food items in that sampan? This was Vietnam, and dogs are nothing but livestock there.
"You know, someday this war's going to end." - Robert Duvall Best line in the movie.
Robert Duvall - 1979 - "The Great Santini"
The Apostle, Lonesome Dove.
Tender Mercies
Apocalypse Now. The Godfather.
Open range
Coppola certainly knows how to begin a movie without any opening credits, "Godfather", "Apocalypse Now". He once said that his involvement with "Patton" (he wrote the script) showed him how impactful it could be to begin a movie that way.
Hey Ames, I'm so glad you finally reviewed this movie!
Thanks a lot!
It's a bit frustrating that she did the theatrical version, though.
@@SCharlesDennicon what's the other version?
@@menachem2521 Wait, am I actually speaking to someone who, at the same time, loves Apocalypse Now AND ignores that there are multiple cuts of the movie? :D You've never heard of Apocalypse Now Redux? The Final cut is recent, but this one has been out there for twenty years!
@@SCharlesDennicon lol.
I love the movie but I watched whatever came up on the website I was using. I'm not a movie nut, I just watch whatever I get my hands on.
@@SCharlesDennicon what are some of the differences?
Filmed near my hometown in the Philippines. The building in the middle of the rice paddies with the large red star in a circle was for Caltex Gas. It was a site I would see during my long commutes to college and back. During the filming of the movie the helicopters often flew overhead in real combat missions against insurgents. My grandparents often scared us to behave lest the insurgents come out of the jungle and enter the town. One urban myth during filming was that the helicopters were often unavailable for filming as they were on real combat missions. One story that was passed around was that crews told filmmakers there was no need to simulate battle damage on the helicopters as they would return with real ones. The disturbing scene of the killing of the water buffalo (Carabao) was done by the Igorot tribe, which were done on weddings or funerals. It is a ritual I grew up with where livestock or poultry were ‘prepared’ on the day of the feast or festivals as meat was rarely stored in the freezer. The blood and injury on Martin Sheen were real. I first saw the film after I moved to Canada. In one of my first social gatherings of Filipinos in Toronto, Apocalypse Now was being discussed. And I heard the stories I heard in the Philippines now being passed on in Canada. This is not the original version I saw. The ending had Martin Sheen calling in the B-52 air strike, wiping out every man, woman and child in that village. As the end credits rolled fireballs destroyed the village and the jungle. This film has a ‘permanent’ spot in my top 5 favorite films.
Robert Duvall has many great roles. However, some of his best were not leading roles. I do recommend The Great Santini and if you are up for another miniseries, I cannot recommend Lonesome Dove highly enough. I think it's Duvall's best performance ever
Agree 110%. Never liked Westerns until I saw Lonesome Dove. Now I watch it at least once a year. Duvall and Gene Hackman make even mediocre or poor movies watchable.
I think his best cameo was "invasion of the body snatchers."
Were you really Mack Sledge? Yes ma'am...i guess i was
+1 for The Great Santini, also from 1979.
Doubt it is on any of the streamers, but absolutely worth running down.
Also recommend Open Range - Boss Spearman is the Omega to Col Kilgore's Alpha.
Somehow he is always 100% Robert Duvall and simultaneously 100% not Robert Duvall. The Duvall Paradox.....
The making-of documentary, "Hearts of Darkness", is even better. Making this movie was as crazy as what's on screen.
I laughed out loud when she asked "we're going to go into the deep psychological side of things aren't we?"
If you're a fan of Robert Duval, another great Acadamy award nominated performance is "The Apostle"(1997).
There's very few reactions to this one on youtube.
“Area Girlfriend Still Hasn't Seen Apocalypse Now.” - The Onion, 2000
I really enjoyed your reaction to this film. I’ve watched this movie a dozen times or more, and its emotional impact never subsides.
If you want more Duvall I highly recommend Tender Mercies!
This was a great reaction. You were very thoughtful and insightful, and I really felt the growing darkness as you made your way up the river with Willard. Amazing. Thank you.
Thank you, great reaction. On this same topic, I recommend "We Were Soldiers", the story of the first use of helicopters in battle in Vietnam. Excellent video as always.
Lousy film, don't watch, read the book.
I’ve only just come across your channel, but I have to say of all the ‘First time reactors’ out there, you’re the best I’ve come across. You are intelligent, insightful and down to earth. I like the fact you’re aren’t over the top like a lot of other people.
Oh, the opening...Martin Sheen really did cut his hand open, but told everyone to keep filming.
Morality is the key. Without morality, there is only horror. War is a conflict of moral values. Peace is built from the moral common ground. This movie question the morality of war and art. Coppola wrote about moral conflict of war, but also faced moral conflict with his artistic decisions to show the sacrifice of the water buffalo, to mortgage his house to finance this film, and apparently turned down an offer to use real human cadavers for the dead bodies at the Kurtz compound.
This is my favourite film of all time. I first saw it when I was 17, I knew about the film's reputation beforehand as one of the best films ever made and I was already a fan of Coppola's work in general, so I was hyped from the get go. The opening scene of the film completely blew my mind and I knew right there and then that I was going to love this film. I remember sitting watching in awe as the jungle blows up with Jim Morrison's vocals in the background and I think I actually just said "Wow" out loud, because I felt like I'd never seen a film open like that before ever. I don't think you need to have a lot of understanding about the Vietnam War, because I feel like this movie has as much to do with authentically portraying the Vietnam War as much as Star Wars has to do with the reality of space travel. Apocalypse Now is supposed to be a modern version of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, so the Vietnam War itself is just a backdrop for the main story which is the eventual confrontation between Willard and Kurtz as well as the descent into madness along the way (the latter of which does highlight a lot of absurdities about the Vietnam War). If you want a film that is much more grounded in the reality of the Vietnam War, I recommend Oliver Stone's Platoon which coincidentally stars Charlie Sheen in the lead role.
Tears running down my face just hearing The End at the beginning of the film :(
I love the smell of napalm in the morning😂. My 2 fave movies w narration overlayed are “Snatch”2000 and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” ‘98. Worth watching if u haven’t seen.
Fear and loathing is phenomenal, Johnny Depp sound exactly like hunter Thompson.
“We went into the jungle, there were too many of us; we had too much money, too much equipment and, little by little, we went insane”
- Coppola.
Robert Duvall's very favorite part was Augustus McCrae in Lonesome Dove...it is am absolute career defining performance. Based on real events, you will not believe the things that happen in this story. Taken from the 800 page book the only Western ever to win a Pulitzer Prize, it had to be a miniseries so this is just for you if it's too long to put on here. With Tommy Lee Jones, once watched you never forget the story of their friendship, their love, for each other. An unbelievable movie that I really hope you'll treat yourself to. If you're a reader, this is book 3 in the 4 book saga of thede men's lives from the time they were young men to their old age. It's many peoples favorite movie of all time. You'll see why. I very rarely rewatch movies more than once but Ive probably watched this over 50 times!
He was awesome on joe kidd with clint Eastwood.
I have yet to see Lonesome Dove, but the book is outstanding.
Lonesome Dove is outstanding and a much watch
He was good in The Great Santini too.
Great reaction to this beautiful and harrowing war movie! I saw it in the cinema when it was released in 1979, just after I had finished high school. I went to see it with a friend and we were both left speechless and emotionally overwhelmed and exhausted at the end. I have seen it a few times since, and the emotional wallop is always there, along with astounding acting, cinematography, sound design and soundtrack, etc. No CGI in this one, as far as I know...
Thank u so much for watching ! Means a lot to me!
robert duvall movie, try "falling down" also has michael douglas in it :)
This movie is based on the book by Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness. It's not long and very much worth the read. You will see the parallels between the movie and the book.
So the Vietnam War was a very strange war in terms of what and why the US was there.
After the stalemate in the Korean war the US felt it was loosing hold of the democratic stronghold in southeast Asia. They decided to try to rekindle some of the colonial era stabilization, not by creating colonies, but by influencing political uprisings and replacing them with puppet/pro-west leaders. Using a lot of the skills we learned from WW2 and Korea the CIA created a plan of covert action throughout the area.
It started by using Thailand as a major beachhead in which to organize operations. Then its setup programs to train rebel groups in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, etc. The difficulty came in getting them supplies and weapons. In a cold war you cannot just give weapons and supplies made in the US to rebels you are helping overthrow governments, you need to find other sources of weapons/supplies so that it doesn't look like you are directly interfering (this would be illegal under US law, and be seen as potentially acts of war). So we did the one thing we could claim to be innocently providing: transportation logistics.
The CIA setup shell companies and issued contracts to setup supply depots, air bases, ship harbors, road building, to transport goods for people cheaply under a guise of improving infrastructure for humanitarian aid and policing trade. A big one was Air America, which was a group of civilian pilots who flew helicopters and airplanes throughout the area.
Now one of the biggest industries to move mass amount of cargo for, besides supplies and weapons, happened to be the opium industry. So the CIA started by just looking the other way when shipping drugs around. But eventually it became more and more of an active role. This money from the drug trade would then go into recruiting more fighters, more weapons, more training, more bases to support them, etc. However the more we interfered in countries operations the more burden we placed on the normal people. So as this continued more and more of the local people started viewing the American trained rebels as the source of the problem, driving more people to just do anything to get us to leave. Most people in Vietnam stopped caring they just were looking for basic survival, and so there was no longer distinct sides, we were both suppling aid and killing the exact same people.
Eventually we kept failing so much in getting successful rebellions that the United States became committed. We couldn't really just disclose why we kept needing more money and having issues and what was going on there. So we convinced congress to allow the CIA "training advisors" to be accompanied by the US Military to continue policing activities. Eventually we kept facing more and more resistance as China and Russia were supplying the other side just as much. This then turns into the stuff revealed in the leaked "Pentagon Papers" which showed that the US felt it could not loose its pride by admitting another stalemate or defeat to communist forces. This then eventually lead to the president seeking a formal declaration of war from congress, and us drafting troops to cover up for our failed covert actions.
That is why the war is so controversial overall, we were sending thousands of Americans to their deaths to cover the shame of the covert forces, and to try to hide the fact that we were attempting to build empires without approval from congress and the American voter. This is also why there are so many covert actions here (secret assassinations, troops in countries we "are not in", secret armies in the jungle. Kurtz did what they wanted him to do, create an elite killing force that was actually committed to win, but in doing so he stopped taking direct orders and thus needed to be terminated.)
The intro to this movie is the most accurate visual interpretation of the phycological effects on someone who's been in violent conflict for long periods, I have known too many friends who have basically said "I think I'm going to wake up in the desert...when I'm here I wish I was there... every time I'm here I wish I was home." Sheen was absolutely brilliant during this film he even had two near brushes with death during filming, one was a massive heart attack. This is still one of the best portrayals of the Vietnam War and what it's like to go through such violent polarized conflict and come home. I have friends and relatives that can't watch this without having to leave the room and calm down. There are so many scenes which actually happened during Vietnam "the horror...the horror"
fun fact laurence fishburne was only 15 when he auditioned for the part.
*14 I believe
the scene around 12:30 you skipped with everybody piling out of the helicopters is amazing. those tail rotors will take your head off, those are some well disciplined stunt people jumping out of a very powerful machine while its moving.
Hi Ames! Another real good Robert Duvall movie is "Open Range" in it he stars a long with Kevin Costner. I highly recommend it to anyone.😀
I saw this in the theatre when it was initially released. I was 10 (yes, different times). At the film's end, I walked out of the theatre feeling heavy, like I was on that boat going through the journey and horrors of war alongside the crew. I didn't have all the wonderful insight you had after viewing it and didn't understand parts of it, but I have never forgotten that feeling after seeing it.