Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)

Amazon.com

I love the smell of a collector's edition in the morning. Everyone's favorite Joseph Conrad adaptation gets the fancy packaging and extras treatment with this release of Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier. Both the original theatrical cut and the 2001 Redux version are included, with enough extras to keep one occupied on a long boat trip. Calling this the "complete" dossier is sure to raise hackles among fans who insist that Eleanor Coppola's lauded documentary, Hearts of Darkness, which chronicled husband Francis's harrowing experience making the film, should have been included. (As of this review, Hearts of Darkness has yet to be released on DVD, so battered VHS copies will have to suffice.) Packaged in a cardboard "dossier" sleeve, the two-disc set includes Marlon Brando reading T.S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men," new production featurettes, and cast member interviews. Owners of previous editions of either of the cuts might consider how much they want all the officially sanctioned information on this edition. For newcomers to the Vietnam epic, this is an edition worth going crazy for. --Ryan Boudinot

Apocalypse Now
In the tradition of such obsessively driven directors as Erich von Stroheim and Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola approached the production of Apocalypse Now as if it were his own epic mission into the heart of darkness. On location in the storm-ravaged Philippines, he quite literally went mad as the project threatened to devour him in a vortex of creative despair, but from this insanity came one of the greatest films ever made. It began as a John Milius screenplay, transposing Joseph Conrad's classic story "Heart of Darkness" into the horrors of the Vietnam War, following a battle-weary Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) on a secret upriver mission to find and execute the renegade Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has reverted to a state of murderous and mystical insanity. The journey is fraught with danger involving wartime action on epic and intimate scales. One measure of the film's awesome visceral impact is the number of sequences, images, and lines of dialogue that have literally burned themselves into our cinematic consciousness, from the Wagnerian strike of helicopter gunships on a Vietnamese village to the brutal murder of stowaways on a peasant sampan and the unflinching fearlessness of the surfing warrior Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), who speaks lovingly of "the smell of napalm in the morning." Like Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God, this film is the product of genius cast into a pit of hell and emerging, phoenix-like, in triumph. Coppola's obsession (effectively detailed in the riveting documentary Hearts of Darkness, directed by Coppola's wife, Eleanor) informs every scene and every frame, and the result is a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon

Apocalypse Now Redux
Digitally remastered with 49 minutes of previously unseen footage, Apocalypse Now Redux is the reference standard of Francis Coppola's 1979 epic. A metaphorical hallucination of the Vietnam War, the film was reconstructed by Coppola and editor Walter Murch to enrich themes and clarify the ending. On that basis Redux is a qualified success, more coherent than the original while inviting the same accusations of directorial excess. The restored "French plantation" sequence adds ghostly resonance to the war's absurdity, and Willard's theft of Colonel Kurtz's beloved surfboard adds welcomed humor to the film's nightmarish upriver journey. An encounter with Playboy Playmates seems superfluous compared to the enhanced interplay between Willard and his ill-fated boat crew, but compensation arrives in the hellish Kurtz compound, where Willard's mission--and the performances of Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando--reach even greater heights of insanity, thus validating Redux as the rightful heir to Coppola's triumphantly rampant ambition. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, this classic and compelling Vietnam War epic stars Martin Sheen as Captain Willard, who is sent on a dangerous and mesmerizing odyssey into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade American Colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has succumbed to the horrors of war and barricaded himself in a remote outpost. Also stars Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper and Harrison Ford.

Customer Reviews:

Hearts + Apocalypse = THE COMPLETE COMPLETE DVD SET OF APOCALYPSE NOW.......2007-07-16

Here's the thing - Hearts of Darkness: a Filmmaker's Apocalypse is brilliant. It stands alone as being the MOTHER OF ALL "MAKING OF" DOCUMENTARIES and guess what? Its not on DVD...thanks to Coppola. Personally, if you haven't seen it, by all means its worth the hunt. Ebay or Amazon has used copies on VHS running for $30. To me it was the best 30 bucks I spent on a crappy VHS ever. Hearts gives Apocalypse Now more crediblity than it already has. Watching the production slumber into 200 or so days of principal photography gives you more appreciation for what Francis Ford Coppola had to go through. Also your probably going to want to buy this edition too since well, after Hearts of Darkness, your going to want to watch the movie again.

I love the idea of a two-disc edition to Apocalypse Now. I personally would double dip ,but one factor prevents me from purchase...NO Hearts. I just think its sad that Hearts of Darkness: A filmmaker's Apocalypse has become a tough film to get a hold of and people like me are not able to find a higher quality version.

There is nothing better than watching back to back Hearts of Darkness/Apocalypse Now double feature.

Apocalypse Now Redux.......2007-07-03

Though both the original and "Redux" are worthy, they suffer from director Coppola's narrative excesses, the longer "Redux" even more so. Still, the new version includes new scenes which clarify some loose ends in the original. Either way, it's an epic, mesmerizing acid-trip of a war movie that melds together the savage themes of Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" with the inherent waste of Vietnam. Grand spectacle, augmented by brilliant use of music. Acting is superb, from Sheen, Duvall and Hopper in particular. Even bald, bloated, incoherent Brando fascinates. Once seen, never forgotten.

Not quite complete.......2007-06-25

This otherwise fantastic DVD edition mislabels itself as "The Complete Dossier" when it is in fact completely missing the brilliant documentary on the making of the film, "Heart of Darkness." Therefore you can rest assured in a few years time that will be added and "Apolcapyse Now" fans will have yet another must-buy edition. This my third. The original theatrical release being the first and the "Redux" version the second.
Why "Heart of Darkness" is not included surely has to do with legal issues that are boring and tedious to film buffs like me.
All that said this is a wonderful DVD positively teeming with special features as well as both versions of the film and optional audio commentary. As many of us learned from "The Godfather" and its immediate sequel, Coopla is one of the very best director commentators. His voice, enthusiasm and forthrightness are ideal accompaniments to a multiple viewings of a film.
The other bonus features include unseen footage, lost scenes, retrospectives and some particularly good featurettes not heretofore available.
Surely you need not be sold on the film itself if you've read this far or at all interested in purchasing it. Nonetheless its worth reminding film fans that is a GREAT film, one of four, along with the first two "Godfather" movies and "The Conversation", that Coppola blessed audiences with in a ten-year period.
From the opening sequence of the juxtaposed jungle, helicopter fire explosions and "Doors" song to the enigmatic ending, "Apocalypse Now" is breath taking cinema.
The Oscar winning cinematography and teh scope of the film are obviously best appreicated on a big screen but for humble TV sets this DVD version will certainly do nicely.
The story, the characters and the events of the movie and Coppola's masterful direction can also be well appreciated.
If you love the movie as I do, you'll soon get over the absence of "Heart of Darkness" and be very happy with the purchase of this DVD.

great deal on a great movie.......2007-06-14

you now can get both versions at a low price so don't waste your money on other editions...
Apocolypse now is a unique adaptation of conrad's novel 'heart of darkness'.. it features excellent direction and editing along with a cast of some of the greatest movie stars of our time.. It is all in all one of the most unique movie experiences of all time..

Apocalypse When!.......2007-06-04

I bought this from the U.K. because the version we had over here was in a word s**t, the packaging is a great extra in the form of a folder and the fact that it features both versions of the films plus commentaries from thw always informative Coppola plus some great extras. throughly worth the money I shed out on it.

Average customer rating:

Viet Nam was never like this
clueless...
Wagner, Elliot and Conrad
GREAT MOVIE TO AD TO YOURE COLLECTION
War is never human, always barbaruc.

Apocalypse Now Redux
Starring: Sam Bottoms , Marlon Brando , Bo Byers , Colleen Camp , and Robert Duvall
Manufacturer: Paramount
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ASIN: B00005OWEG
Release Date: 2001-11-20

Amazon.com

Digitally remastered with 49 minutes of previously unseen footage, Apocalypse Now Redux is the reference standard of Francis Coppola's 1979 epic. A metaphorical hallucination of the Vietnam War, the film was reconstructed by Coppola and editor Walter Murch to enrich themes and clarify the ending. On that basis Redux is a qualified success, more coherent than the original while inviting the same accusations of directorial excess. The restored "French plantation" sequence adds ghostly resonance to the war's absurdity, and Willard's theft of Colonel Kurtz's beloved surfboard adds welcomed humor to the film's nightmarish upriver journey. An encounter with Playboy Playmates seems superfluous compared to the enhanced interplay between Willard and his ill-fated boat crew, but compensation arrives in the hellish Kurtz compound, where Willard's mission--and the performances of Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando--reach even greater heights of insanity, thus validating Redux as the rightful heir to Coppola's triumphantly rampant ambition. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Viet Nam was never like this.......2007-09-11

I know that critics liked this movie about Viet Nam, but I have to disagree. This movie is nothing, I repeat nothing, like Viet Nam. I would not recommend this movie to anyone. If they wanted to know what Viet Nam was like, I would recommend Oliver Stone's 'Platoon,' because that was as close to my experience of Viet Nam that I have seen. Stay away from 'Apocalypse Now,' it is so unrealistic it borders on fantasy, and is very disrespectful to the American soldier. If I could rate this lower, I would rate this "ZERO."

clueless..........2007-05-22

this film never made any sense to me--simply because this director never lived through any of it and does not get the subject. critics who praise this mess are just as misguided as the guy who made this joke of a war flick.
the reason Platoon works for me is because Stone knew what he was talking about; he lived it, spent time in the jungle, was shot at, etc.
what's the use?
get it if you like being conned.

the most hated line in the history of the cinema (for me) is "I LOVE THE SMELL OF NAPALM IN THE MORNING."
I wished someone could have taped the actor's mouth shut for saying something so insidious.

Wagner, Elliot and Conrad.......2007-01-22

Apocalypse Now is number 28 among the best American movies ever, and this Redux version is among the 1000 Best Movies on DVD by Peter Travers. The Redux version adds 49 minutes to the original movie, among them, the dinner scene with the French. The only "extra" in this Redux DVD is a theatrical trailer, which is very poor.
This movie is Coppola's version of the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The movie also leads us to "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot, a great poem Wurtzs (Brando) is reading at the end of the movie. In the middle of the movie, in one of the best scenes in movie history -the helicopters' attack on a village-, we can listen to Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries". A lot of references between the movie, literature, and music (good Rock tracks by The Doors, etc.) that make this movie a great asset of the American culture.
I first watched this movie in the 80's when it was broadcasted on TV. While watching it yesterday, I could remember parts of it. It is really difficult to me to rate this movie fairly. I am torn between a good or excellent rating and a modest one. Is it a masterpice? Is this redux version better than the original one? Today, I am giving this movie 4 stars, or 7 over 10. I found this redux version to be too long. Besides the "egg" scene, and the sex afterwards, the scene dinner with the French is pointless and too long. One of the best assets of this movie is Martin Sheen, who is absolutely great and carries his character in a mesmerizing way. I know nobody is going to like this, but I don't like Marlon Brando. The narrator is, at some points, tiring (is it the same narrator of the video game Max Payne?), and one of the final scenes where they sacrifice a water buffalo is some place between nasty, and ubearable. A disturbing and tough one!
I recommend this movie to the adult public (it is rated R for disturbing images, language, sexual content and some drug use). I honestly think I need to watch this movie several more times, to completely understand it. But as for today, I can't give it more than 4 stars.
P.S. If you like my review vote YES. You can read all my other reviews if you wish to. I modestly write them to help people form an opinion about movies, music and books, but if nobody reads them (if you don't vote I do not know if you did) there is no point in writing them

GREAT MOVIE TO AD TO YOURE COLLECTION.......2007-01-10

This is an extended verssion of the original Apocalypse now version that was edited.This is great to see the rest of the movie.By it you will love it.

War is never human, always barbaruc........2006-10-03

A long awaited version of this cult film. Even Francis Ford Coppola has been submitted to cuts in one of his most important films. They say it was commercial. They know it was not... entirely. One main scene was cut off : the French plantation scene that reveals how the Americans had played a double game during the war in Indochina between the Viet Minh and the French : they had helped the Viet Minh and hence had produced the French defeat. Poor loser's explanation, for sure, and yet not entirely false. Think of the Americans helping Saddam Hussein against Iran, or the Djihad in Afghanistan against the Soviets. We know the results. Double agents are always those who lose in the end. But this full and final cut of the film, though it does not change the meaning of the film, does change the depth of this meaning. We get down into horror little by little as we go up the river. Of the five men on the boat the first to die is the black soldier, and then the second to die is the black sergent. The blacks have been eliminated first : quite a symbolical truth. The third victim will be the white soldier from New Orleans who speaks French. It is also very symbolical today, though maybe less in those days, though it was symbolical of what happened to the French in Indochina : they were defeated. The only two survivors are the two white pure Americans. But what is shown under a new depth is the meaning of this horror. We could have thought Kurtz used the basic and daily horror of those historically-retarded jungle people to impose savagery and total carnal violence. But what appears now is that it is not the savagery of these people that produced their war but it is the war imposed from outside that produced the savagery, or liberated this savagery from its box. In other words a war that comes from outside, and I have the propension to think all wars always come from outside, even the most patriotic and justified defensive war, such a war liberates the deepest layers of the survival instinct in man, not even the animal instinct of survival. These men who commit gratuitously-embellished violence do not plainly aim at surviving which would simply imply killing their adversaries, enemies or challengers.They survive in a completely different way : they have the feeling to be alive because they make the other die in atrocious suffering and in the most barbaric way. It is not so much the dying of the enemy that gives them this feeling of being alive, but the torture, the suffering, the horror in which this death is performed. In other words it is no longer only the survival instinct that is at stake but it is also the pleasure instinct. In other words they transform the cold necessary killing of an enemy into a hot pleasurable sexual event that replaces real sexuality. Killing in such a horrible way becomes a pleasurable intercourse and the victim is seen as fulfilling its destiny, just like the buffalo that is killed at the end of the film. A man who enters such a war is supposed to accept his dying in such a sacrificial way because that is his ultimate function. But then where is the war ? We have regressed to the emergence of humanity from animality, of man from the animal he was before : this dire moment when human beings felt that killing animals had a religious dimension, when human beings felt that killing their enemies had a religious dimension, that is to say in both cases a pleasurable power dimension. That led humanity to inventing religions, religions that originally always justified the killing of enemies and that provided the believers with the conviction that they had special powers enabling them with unfailing and totally justified capabilities, powers. But what will remain after this thrilling sensation of absolute power provided to soldiers by those sophisticated new technologies that kill with a micronic precision ? The horror, nothing but the horror, the haunting and gnawing question : Why did I do this ? Why did I feel pleasure when doing it ? Why does it feel so easy to go beyond limits that should never be trespassed, such as into torturing activities ? And for us the film brings up one question : Is there a Kurtz in each one of us ? Is there an Eichman in each one of us ? Is there an Auschwitz in each one of our memories ? Coppola seems to tell us that war is a Pandora's Box that we better not open. Coppola is in phase with Clive Barker who tells you war, and maybe life, is a secret cube that you must not open because beyond it there is nothing but suffering and the pleasure of inflicting as well as receiving that suffering. The old film was a masterpiece, this new director's cut, or redux is a biblical masterpiece : think of Abraham who is going to sacrifice his own son with the full assent of everyone around him, or at least no protest from them, including the son himself, and God replacing the son with a ram at the very last minute to symbolise that humanity has to move away from any type of human sacrifice, even in war. Human life is sacred and no human being has the right to take one single human life away. That's where Kurtz is wrong : everyone has the right to judge him, to call him a murderer, but no one has the right to perform justice and to kill him to do so, except in a completely perverted version of rightfulness.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Average customer rating:

A total departure from reality
The kind of charismatic film making that only Coppola can provide
Homer without the virtues
Memorable thril ride
The horror ... the horror ...

Apocalypse Now
Starring: Sam Bottoms , Marlon Brando , Bo Byers , Colleen Camp , and Robert Duvall
Manufacturer: Paramount
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ASIN: 6305609705
Release Date: 1979-08-15

Amazon.com essential video

In the tradition of such obsessively driven directors as Erich von Stroheim and Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola approached the production of Apocalypse Now as if it were his own epic mission into the heart of darkness. On location in the storm-ravaged Philippines, he quite literally went mad as the project threatened to devour him in a vortex of creative despair, but from this insanity came one of the greatest films ever made. It began as a John Milius screenplay, transposing Joseph Conrad's classic story "Heart of Darkness" into the horrors of the Vietnam War, following a battle-weary Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) on a secret upriver mission to find and execute the renegade Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has reverted to a state of murderous and mystical insanity. The journey is fraught with danger involving wartime action on epic and intimate scales. One measure of the film's awesome visceral impact is the number of sequences, images, and lines of dialogue that have literally burned themselves into our cinematic consciousness, from the Wagnerian strike of helicopter gunships on a Vietnamese village to the brutal murder of stowaways on a peasant sampan and the unflinching fearlessness of the surfing warrior Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), who speaks lovingly of "the smell of napalm in the morning." Like Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God, this film is the product of genius cast into a pit of hell and emerging, phoenix-like, in triumph. Coppola's obsession (effectively detailed in the riveting documentary Hearts of Darkness, directed by Coppola's wife, Eleanor) informs every scene and every frame, and the result is a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

A total departure from reality.......2007-07-17

It is interesting to read the numerous positive reviews of Apocalypse Now, and certainly it will be to see reactions to this Review. As a Vietnam veteran who spent almost seven years in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, it's difficult to be generous about the views of Martin Sheen, for example, who stated emphatically that this is "...the best Vietnam War film ever." Hardly! If you evaluate the cinematic qualities of the film - for film's sake only, yes, it is a well-made film. Other than that, and in terms of truth and realism, "surrealistic" about covers it. In terms of reality and realism, even "The Siege of Firebase Gloria" - despite some terrible acting - was much better.

The film presents scenarios that are not only surrealistic, they are virtually impossible, such as Kurtz' empire-building situation "up the river." As a former Green Beret, I am a little bothered by such portrayals, but I also realize that "opinions differ." This film is no better than a "1" on the scale of realism.

The kind of charismatic film making that only Coppola can provide.......2007-06-15

In terms of visual impact and scenes that live long in the mind, no war movie can really surpass Francis Ford Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now'. War can be a difficult business for film makers to deal with. There is the possibility of becoming bogged down in poignant, overly sentimental, personal stories among the soldiers, or reveling in the gruesome bodily disfigurement of the battle scenes. 'Apocalypse Now' skillfully sidesteps both of these potential pitfalls to bring a war movie of true originality.

'Apocalypse Now' is infused with a black humour that adds an extra dimension. In a spirit akin to Stanley Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket', the battlefield seems like a playground to some of the GIs, blending off the cuff jokes with brutal killings in a bizarre mix.

Martin Sheen's portrayal of Captain Willard is a compelling one. An experienced marine, who appears intimidated by his mission, but pushed forward by honour and his desire to do his duty. This performance, however, is surpassed by the unforgettable imprint that Marlon Brando leaves on the film. His intense, brooding acting style is an exact match for the persona of the renegade Colonel Kurtz. His famous half-light scene inside his temple is possibly unsurpassed by any other in film in terms of intensity and impact.

'Apocalypse Now' is regarded by many as the greatest war movie ever made. I feel that most people who take the time to enjoy it will come to the same conclusion.

Homer without the virtues.......2007-05-04

Although Joseph Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS is normally cited as the premier literary inspiration for this landmark Francis Ford Coppola film, the voyage up the river is Homeric in its pacing, its cast of characters, and its staging. It is brilliant filming that takes one quickly past his expectation of seeing a 'war movie' and into the psychedelic mind of Coppola. Astonishingly, this film was released just four years after the last American troops left Vietnam, when the wounds were more than open. They were still bleeding.

APOCALYPSE NOW is a psychodrama as much as it is anything else. The men on the boat that winds its way toward Horror are as much battling to maintain their own sanity as they are fighting anything recognizable as Charlie, an organized opposition.

It is the Americans who come off looking most insane, so the relief that comes from seeing Martin Sheen's Captain Willard get back in the boat and head towards civilization is almost purely tribal. He's like us; ergo, he needs to go home.

But Horror is before him as well as left behind in Apocalypse Now, the weird paradise that is hell and must be undone for larger reasons than the 'unsound practices' alleged by those who commissioned Captain Willard's Odyssey.

I waited many years to see this film. It was simply never the moment.

Now, fresh from a much-postponed first viewing, I consider it a fixed reference point for American cinematography *and* for America's long coming to terms with a war that in the end made no sense, even to those sectors of political leadership that had the most invested in it.

The insights into wartime reality that here and there come under the camera's view are a bonus, but they are not this film's focus. It is instead a psychodrama that might possibly have staged its Homeric tale on almost *any* historical stage that was raw enough to bring insanity close to the surface. 'The War', as many of us refer non-adjectivally to the Vietnam conflict, serves that purpose well. But this Homeric tale might have been scened elsewhere.

It it still arguable that America's involvement there made sense. APOCALYPSE now--like HEART OF DARKNESS--is not about that. It's about what's in a man's heart when civilization's thin veneer momentarily rubs away. That, says Coppola with good lineage ancient and modern, is just one thing. Horror.

Memorable thril ride.......2007-05-01

Apocalypse now is a good look at the Vietnam war. Characters like Lance Willard Kurtz and Kilgore are memorable. The trip up river is a rollercoaster of emotions. Playing ride of the valkryes during the attack on the village was one of the best uses of classical music since 2001. The dialouge between Kurtz and Willard is the best Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando ever did. This movie is a thriller i recomand it.

The horror ... the horror ..........2006-08-25

To call Francis Ford Coppola's APOCALYPSE NOW one of the greatest films ever made is a major understatement. It's filmmaking perfection - brilliant, powerful, and beautiful. From the chilling opening - helicopters flying through the Vietnamese jungle, setting it aflame, while The Doors' "The End" plays - to the now-classic closing ("The horror ... the horror ..."), it's an unforgettable journey into the darkest reaches of the human heart. It's unquestionably the greatest and most horrifying film made about the Vietnam War; it may be the best war movie ever. Some could even argue that APOCALYPSE NOW is the greatest film of all time.

The plot is ingenious. During the seemingly endless Vietnam War, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen), a former CIA agent, is given a voluntary mission; as he's been searching for work, he gladly accepts. His mission: float up the Nung River in a Navy boat and terminate (with extreme prejudice) Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-brilliant man who has gone insane and set himself up as a God and the leader of a Vietnamese tribe. As Willard sails further and further up the river, his surroundings and the violence become more and more terrible until he finally reaches the heart of darkness.

Though APOCALYPSE NOW was, in fact, loosely based on Joseph Conrad's novel HEART OF DARKNESS, it is truly Francis Ford Coppola's movie. The story behind the film is legendary; it was turned into an equally-legendary documentary entitled HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER'S APOCALYPSE. From the start the film was plagued by production problems, to the point where Coppola threatened to commit suicide six or seven times. Marlon Brando showed up on the set without having read Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS or the Coppola/John Milius screenplay, demanding a large sum of money, and severely overweight. Filming ran for an incredible 16 months, and editing lasted for roughly two years. Paramount Pictures nicknamed the film "Apocalypse When?". Audiences, critics, studios, and Coppola himself thought that the film would wind up as a disaster, a horrible film that would signal the end of everyone involved. Needless to say, they were horribly wrong.

The film is a masterpiece. More than a film, it's a reflection on humanity and the evil within. Never has the Vietnam War looked so horrifyingly inhumane. Coppola really makes the point that Vietnam was not so much a war as it was a massacre. The most terrifying scene of all involves the slaying of a group of innocent Vietnamese fishermen. Soldier Chef (Frederic Forrest) reluctantly searches the boat for any weapons; the tension is built up while Chef searches as his commander shouts at him and he shouts back furiously. A Vietnamese woman suddenly runs towards him shouting, and a young American soldier (14-year-old Laurence Fishburne) guns down not only her, but every one else on the boat. As it turns out, the woman was running for her dog. All those innocent human beings were murdered because the woman wanted to protect her puppy. And it gets worse - Chef points out that the woman is still alive. As he begins hauling her on the ship, Willard walks over and shoots her in the heart. "I told you not to stop the damn ship," he says.

As far as filmmaking goes, APOCALYPSE NOW is perfection. There's excellent acting from all involved; Robert Duvall is especially great as an eccentric commander who likes to surf and, in one of the most memorable scenes in cinema history, blasts Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries" while attacking enemy villages. A skinny, bespectacled Harrison Ford has a brief appearance, and Dennis Hopper - in another wonderful role, this time as a photojournalist - pops up toward the end. The score is fittingly eerie and mechanical, a synthesized horror composed by Coppola and his father, Carmine Coppola. Vittorio Storaro's cinematography is nothing short of spectacular. APOCALYPSE NOW also features what may be the greatest lighting in film history, particularly toward the end of the film.

Still, despite all this cinematic greatness, APOCALYPSE NOW is more an experience than a film. It's a chilling, brilliant voyage from start to finish. "Never get off the boat," a character states at one point in the film. For we, the audience, APOCALYPSE NOW is the boat, and once we do take the inevitable step off, we will never be the same.

Churning the Sea of Time: A Journey Up the Mekong to Angkor

Average customer rating:

Nice beginning... overall.. a disaster
Piont Of View
Well done
Churning the Sea of Time: A Journey Up the Mekong of Angkor
Churning the Sea of Time

Churning the Sea of Time: A Journey Up the Mekong to Angkor
Starring: John Stubbs, John Sanday, Kin-Po Thai, Les Guthman, Susan Kleinberg Simone Kauffman
Manufacturer: CustomFlix
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

ASIN: B000JUBF3W
Release Date: 2006-10-23

Description

One of the most mythic and potent journeys of our time, up the Mekong River through the exquisite, complicated, surprising terrain of Vietnam and Cambodia to the great ruins at Angkor - the magnificent Khmer temples built from the 9th-13th centuries AD that are being painstakingly restored deep in the Cambodian jungle. Director Les Guthman travels by boat up a river whose raw beauty and power were celebrated by Marguerite Duras in the 1920s. But in our time it became known as "the river of evil memory" as it coursed through Southeast Asia in the second half of the 20th Century. Today, the river in Vietnam is filled with the vibrant life of a young nation free of a century of war. In Cambodia the past weighs far heavier. We travel up the Mekong passed Phnom Penh, once called "the beguiling beauty of SE Asia," toward the Laotian border, then return back to the capital and head northwest up one of the world's great natural wonders, the Tonle Sap River, and across the great Tonle Sap Lake, one of the planet's most abundant fisheries. In Angkor, the World Monuments Fund's John Stubbs and John Sanday describe their 15-year restoration of one of the jewels of a city called "the eighth wonder of the world," the 12th Century temple complex of Preah Khan. And as they take us on an insider's tour of Preah Khan, along with the other major sites of Angkor Wat, Bayon and Banteay Srei, we learn that the story of Stubbs and Sanday's work in Angkor is not only a story of the rebirth of Angkor after the horrors of the Khmer Rouge Era, but it is also a story of the rebirth of Cambodia. A stunningly filmed high definition odyssey up a river far distanced in time from the corridor into the heart of darkness portrayed in Francis Coppola's "Apocalypse Now."

Customer Reviews:

Nice beginning... overall.. a disaster.......2007-09-11

The DVD skips... for starters.
An initial nice, narrative journey turns into a showcase for two effete snobs who 'lord over' what should be a pleasant excursion. Also, the DVD does not begin in Saigon, but distal from there. I have been to Saigon...and the Mekong. This is a major disappointment.
Seek something better.

Piont Of View.......2007-06-08

I believe this give more detail about History Mekong and angkor OF Cambodia,People in the world must see this.This is treasure hid in the world. It's all on DVD (Churning the Sea Of Time: A Jourey up the Mekong to Angkor.)

Well done.......2007-06-04

This DVD has some good footage (and commentary) of the Mekong Delta up into Cambodia, as well as the Angkor ruins.

Churning the Sea of Time: A Journey Up the Mekong of Angkor.......2007-04-13

This is a beautiful film. Unfortunately it is marred somewhat by the narrator's glaring misprounuciation of key place names like "Angkor" which he persists in calling "angor" despite the fact that some of the experts featured pronounce it correctly. He also calls the temple Banteay Srei something like "Banteay Serei, which has a completely different meaning in Khmer. In addition, he makes a glaring error in his pronounciation of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta town My Tho, as most foreigners do. It would have been quite simple to check and correct these errors prior to release of the film and one has to wonder why such an apparently professional producer did not bother to do this. I still recommend the film highly, in part because there are no real alternative choices for those interested in Cambodia and the Mekong Delta.

Churning the Sea of Time.......2007-03-26

The title of this seems to be a blend of John Swaine's River of Time and The Churning of the Ocean of Milk, a Hindu myth depicted in bas-relief in a gallery of Angkor Wat. This is a very interesting travelogue, with the Mekong as its focus, strating the journey in Vietnamese delta and progressing to Cambodia. There are interviews with ruin restorers in the Angkor Thom complex as well as shots of the rare Mekong dolphin around Kratie. There are constant references to Copplola's Apocalypse Now but this does not detract from the narrative. An excellent DVD.

Average customer rating:

Uncanny X-Men: Apocalypse Now- Again!
Starring: X-Men
Manufacturer: Marvel Digital Comics/Allegro Corporation
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000RMJ5WK
Release Date: 2007-09-04

Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier - Three-Disc Limited Edition (Contains Rare Bonus Disc From Circuit City!)

Average customer rating:

Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier - Three-Disc Limited Edition (Contains Rare Bonus Disc From Circuit City!)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

CONTENTS OF BONUS DISC INCLUDE:
THE ADDED SCENES AND EXPANDED THEMES OF APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX (7:50 MIN) - Features comments from Francis Ford Coppola, Laurence Fishburne, Aurore Clement, Frederic Forrest, & Vittorio Storaro
DESTRUCTION OF THE KURTZ COMPOUND FEATURETTE (6:20 Min) - With Optional Audio Commentary by Francis Ford Coppola
1979 THEATRICAL TRAILER (3:51 MIN)
2001 THEATRICAL TRAILER (2:31 MIN)

ASIN: B000SKW078

Product Description

This edition of the "Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier" with "Bonus Disc" was available exclusively in limited amounts at Circuit City stores in 2006 and is now completely sold out. The bonus disc includes: "The Added Scenes And Expanded Themes Of Apocalypse Now Redux"(7:50 min) - This featurette features comments from Francis Ford Coppola, Laurence Fishburne, Aurore Clement, Frederic Forrest, and Vittorio Storaro; "Destruction Of The Kurtz Compound Featurette"(6:20 min) - With Optional Audio Commentary by Francis Ford Coppola; 1979 Theatrical Trailer (3:51 min); & 2001 Theatrical Trailer (2:31 min). This Special Collectors Edition includes both the 1979 and 2001 editions of the film plus over 2 hours of bonus materials. Features include:, Anamorphic Widescreen Transfers, English DD5.1 Surround, English and Spanish subtitles, Commentary by Francis Ford Coppola, Watch Apocalypse Now with Francis Ford Coppola, Marlon Brando's complete reading of T.S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men", Lost "Monkey Sampan" Scene, Additional Scenes: Saigon Streetlife, Military Intelligence Escorts, Intelligence Briefing (two extensions), Willard Meets the PBR Crew, Letter From Mrs. Kurtz, Booby Trap, Do-Lung Bridge "...That Road Is Open", The Photojournalist, Colby, The Tiger Cages, "Special Forces Knife", The A/V Club, The Post Production of Apocalypse Now: A Million Feet of Film: The Editing of Apocalypse Now, The Music of Apocalypse Now, The Sound of Apocalypse Now, The final Mix, A/V Club: The Birth of 5.1 Sound, Ghost Helicopter Flyover, "The Synthesizer Soundtrack" by Bob Moog, Technical FAQ, "PBR Streetgang" Cast Members' Reunion, "Apocalypse Then and Now" Retrospective, The Added Scenes and Expanded Scenes of Apocalypse Now Redux, The Color Pallet of Apocalypse Now.

Average customer rating:

A total departure from reality
The kind of charismatic film making that only Coppola can provide
Homer without the virtues
Memorable thril ride
The horror ... the horror ...

Apocalypse Now
Starring: Brando , and Sheen
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

ASIN: 6305609713
Release Date: 2004-04-06

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

A total departure from reality.......2007-07-17

The kind of charismatic film making that only Coppola can provide.......2007-06-15

Homer without the virtues.......2007-05-04

Memorable thril ride.......2007-05-01

The horror ... the horror ..........2006-08-25

Average customer rating:

Apocalypse Now Redux

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
Product Features:

Widescreen version
Dolby digital
English subtitles
interactive menus
scene selection

ASIN: B000RRDC4C

Average customer rating:

A total departure from reality
The kind of charismatic film making that only Coppola can provide
Homer without the virtues
Memorable thril ride
The horror ... the horror ...

Apocalypse Now [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000050HNS

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

A total departure from reality.......2007-07-17

The kind of charismatic film making that only Coppola can provide.......2007-06-15

Homer without the virtues.......2007-05-04

Memorable thril ride.......2007-05-01

The horror ... the horror ..........2006-08-25

APOCALYPSE NOW: THE COMPLETE DOSSIER (2PC) / (WS) - APOCALYPSE NOW: THE COMPLETE DOSSIER (2PC) / (WS)

Average customer rating:

APOCALYPSE NOW: THE COMPLETE DOSSIER (2PC) / (WS) - APOCALYPSE NOW: THE COMPLETE DOSSIER (2PC) / (WS)

Manufacturer: ANTOnline
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000FP2IXC

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