Apocalypse Now

Welcome back everyone to “Vietnam War Movie Month,” where I will be looking at the rest of the Vietnam War movies that I missed out on last year. Let’s get things really started off with the 1979 classic, and one of my favorite films ever, “Apocalypse Now.”

Captain Benjamin Willard says in this movie, “Charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.” This idea can also be put into the thought of reviewing “Apocalypse Now” 39 years after the original release. It’s actually a pointless effort since the movie has already been declared by just about every critic as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, war film of all time. The critical success of the film is way more amazing seeing how it was once thought it couldn’t be made. Jason Zingale said in his review, “Not even the illustrious Orson Welles could tackle such a monstrous undertaking, and so the task of adapting Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” fell upon director Francis Ford Coppola.” Just like a lot of the best war films that came after, “Apocalypse Now” is not really about the real Vietnam War and more about the social and political results that came from it.

Once a really praised military officer with a great career, Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, played by the late Marlon Brando, has finally broken and is now hiding in Cambodia as the leader of a local tribe. As a result, the military calls Special Forces agent Captain Benjamin Willard, played by Martin Sheen, to take on a top secret mission to kill the rebel officer. Making his way through Vietnam on a Navy PT boat, Willard brings along the boat’s operator (Albert Hall) and his team of miserable soldiers – including professional surfer, Lance (Sam Bottoms), New Orleans cook, Chef (Frederic Forrest), and gun-loving teen, Mr. Clean (Laurence Fishburne) – as they try to find a war hero.

The film takes a hilarious twist when the men join the cavalry of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall, a savage air cavalry commander who enjoys surfing and (you guessed it) “Loves the smell of napalm in the morning.” Being Willard’s escort over some of the worse areas of the mission, Kilgore gives everyone a front-row fiery show when he leads an air fight over a small Vietnamese village. Zingale noted, “Scored to the orchestral melody, “Flight of the Valkyrie,” the scene not only stands as one of the greatest cinematic achievements of combining images with music, but it also single-handedly promoted the advent of 5.1 stereo sound in American cinema.”

“Apocalypse Now” starts to break after Kilgore leaves, with a surprising interest in improving the atmosphere into one that highly looks like Lance’s psychedelic drug trip. The flaws aren’t really noticeable until Brando comes on, however. His performance as the Green Beret suffering PTSD is really bad, and it’s easy to see the reasons behind the stories about Brando not wanting to be a part of this. Putting on 40 pounds and failing to read the script before filming, the late actor doesn’t look nearly as lost as he maybe was. Zingale said, “The character of Kurtz comes off more like a sleepy-eyed beatnik than a military man gone mad, and though Dennis Hopper’s memorable performance as a drugged-out photojournalist helps to save the final act from total collapse, it’s hardly enough to make you forget that Brando was an overpaid prima donna who took advantage of his power within the industry however he pleased.”

Still, “Apocalypse Now” gives one of the best character looks in the history of the idea. Not that Willard is badly complex, but it’s interesting to see as he goes from broken man to broken soldier, and from sympathetic companion to a beginning stage of animal that really resembles Kurtz’s own downfall. However, the two men can’t really be compared by the end of the film as they are in the beginning and despite Willard displays some of the same characteristics as the crazy soldier; he doesn’t choose the same path. Or does he? We’re not really sure, since the film never really answers this question, but maybe the answer can be found at the start of the film. Maybe this is all just the start of “The End,” or maybe it’s already done.

The late R. Lee Ermey and Harrison Ford are also in this movie, along with a cameo appearance from director Francis Ford Coppola.

I can’t do this film justice by reviewing it. You just have to see it to believe what had happened. From a film that had suffered from typhoons, nervous breakdowns, Harvey Keitel’s termination, Martin Sheen’s heart attack, extras from the Philippine military and half of the supplied helicopters leaving the middle of scenes to go fight rebels and how Brando was in this film, it was delayed so much. It was made though, but after all these trial and tribulations that came from it, you have to see this and give it so much credit for at least being made. I haven’t seen the documentary film, but I’m thinking I should. Like I said, don’t read my review, just watch the film if you haven’t, this is a must.

Now that we got this classic looked at, look out next week for the continuation of “Vietnam War Movie Month.”