What's the AFI Project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here: http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx
Apocalypse Now is on the following AFI lists:
The Original Top 100 (#28)
100 Movie Quotes (#12 - Colonel Kilgore: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning.")
The Revised Top 100 (#30)
I borrowed this film again from my parents; I think they live in the 70s sometimes. This is the second time I watched Apocalypse Now. The first time, I fell asleep. The second time, I almost fell asleep - in a different spot - but still, the eyes were droopy. I'm not sure why that is. The second time, I definitely enjoyed the film much more. Like Citizen Kane, it seems to get better with age and multiple viewings, though that's a bit problematic to me when you're watching films that are supposed to be the greatest of all American movies...
I digress - and recognize my own biases in that statement. Apocalypse Now is based on Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness, which I read before watching the film, several years ago. I really enjoyed the book. I found it to be a compelling depiction and study of the human psyche in extreme situations. Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay and directed this film adaptation, simply takes key plot points from the story and the larger themes, applies them to the Vietnam War, and, through a legendary all-star cast, runs with them a few miles, creating an intense, distrurbing, and well-constructed film that actually deserves very much to be on these greatest lists (and, perhaps, a few others on which it wasn't included).
Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is a special ops officer in the Army who has already undertaken a few classified and suspicious assignments and served at least one tour in Vietnam. While clearly afflicted with post-traumatic stress and waiting in Saigon, a broken man married to the mission if not to his wife, Willard is tapped by high-ranking officers (including one played by Harrison Ford) to "terminate" an AWOL colonel, Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Kurtz made his name as something of a renegade officer, devising and undertaking successful campaigns, but he began crossing lines, losing his capacity for reason and restraint in the process. Thus, Willard, escorted by a battalion commanded by Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), who would rather surf than shoot, and aboard a navy boat staffed by some green officers (including a very young Laurence - I mean, Larry - Fishburne) with the exception of the boat's pilot, navigates the Vietnamese jungle on-river, headed toward Cambodia, where Kurtz has allegedly set up a cult-like stronghold with followers who seem to worship him. Dennis Hopper also plays a disciple photojournalist, whom Willard encounters upon reaching Kurtz's camp.
Let me start by focusing on what Apocalypse Now won Oscars for - and so deservedly. I think this movie must have some of the greatest cinematography in all of film. Others have said it, and I'm just going to jump on this bandwagon, but the photography in this film is beyond words breathtaking, and what's really cool is that I got to rewatch this film on a widescreen TV. The use of the camera, the lighting, the color hues - this film is one of the best shot films that I can remember, and I doubt there are many competitors. From the opening frames, when the helicopters appear from nowhere on opposite sides of the screen, to the panoramic shots of the air assault led by Kilgore, to the night scenes in the camps they visit, to Kurtz's nightmarish stronghold, this film is kind of beautiful in an intensely disturbing way. Great care was taken with the photography to completely envelop the viewer in this insane place.
The sound is also really good, and since I was able to experience this film in a home theater set up, I particularly noticed it. There is constant background noise from machine guns to grenades to jungle noises to explosions to thunder - the only time the film grows truly quiet, notably, is when Kurtz is delivering his monologue about morality and judgement. The use of sound - and also, the renowned soundtrack including the opening use of the Doors' "The End" - did more to suspend my disbelief than any other aspect of the film. It helped to tangibly immerse me into this crazy place and time known as the Vietnam War quite effectively.
The performances were also brilliant. Martin Sheen apparently suffered a heart attack while making this film, and I can certainly see why. Despite the legendarily fraught-with-problems film shoot, his character was one of extreme intensity, and he seemed overtaken by Willard and vice-versa. This is, as hindsight informs us, truly the role of his career. Everyone was good, though, from Duvall to Hopper to Albert Hall (the Chief). The only performance that felt a little less connected, a little less real, was actually Brando's, but that could be owing to the character he was trying to play. Kurtz is an exemplar of when moral ambiguity becomes no longer ambiguous, and Brando infused him with a kind of collected insanity that was all at once disarming and disaffecting - it's hard to say whether it was the man or the character in the end.
My only problem with this film - my only problem - is how the pacing slows to a dead crawl when Willard finally reaches Kurtz. The film is already slow, deliberately building in intensity toward an outcome to be anticipated and feared and allowing the audio and visual components to work themselves into the viewer's brain, but when Willard encounters Kurtz for the first time, the film sputters to a halt. As a result, the ending - the entire ending - feels anticlimactic. You know what's going to happen, you just don't know how. The All Movie Guide says it best (see below): "Apocalypse Now is an elaborate but often haphazard construction that starts to run out of gas at the three-quarter point without delivering a satisfying ending, and Marlon Brando's often lackadaisical performance as Col. Kurtz never lives up to the massive buildup the story gives it." This statement summarizes exactly how I felt about the movie once it faded to a credit-less close (but then I watched the tacked-on credits afterward).
Like AMG notes, this film is filled with moments that make it a bona fide classic. In fact, I'm surprised it didn't make more lists - I thought for sure it would have been on the heart-pounding list. The scene at the bridge - the boundary to Cambodia - is one of the scariest in the whole picture, not to mention the final sequence beginning with Willard, emerging like a snake from the fire-hued water. I also would have expected this film to pop up on the Best Songs list - "The End" wasn't written for the film, but there are songs on this list that weren't originally attached to their corresponding movies, and this song was so perfect and utilized in such a perfect way. Who knows why the AFI voted the way it did?
Now onto personal ratings: I've thought about this long and hard, and the bottom line is the disjointed nature of the last quarter of the film knocks it down from being a masterpiece or even perfectly entertaining for me. I think it deserves an 8.5 for being between very good and perfectly entertaining - I was tempted to give it a straight (but crazy) 8, but the cinematography and technical elements of this film are so good, it seems a shame to rate the film only an 8. Yet, I can't bring myself to love the film. It's close - but I don't love it. I love the first three quarters, but I got frustrated in the back nine, and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. Thus, it can't really past the test. Also, because of the seemingly sleep-inducing nature, I don't know if I could hope to stay awake trying to watch it again, and it's kind of an intense film that really can't be pulled out for a giggle when one is looking for a movie to watch.
In any event, whether you find the film a masterpiece or a flawed execution of an idea and/or concept, what I truly feel about the film is that it still executes exactly what it intended. The re are moments in this film that are so absurd, so disturbing, so beyond description, they paint a searing portrait of the absurdity of Vietnam and war in general - and make them mythic at the same time. This is a rare quality and renders the film recommendable for that reason alone. So, watch Apocalypse Now - but don't watch it before bedtime. Trust me.