I posted this on the "Guy Flicks" conversation, too. The best of the Vietnam pics. Miramax will reissue this film this year, with 53 minutes restored. A great epic journey. Run, don't walk when it returns.
This pic had many problems-a hurricane wiping out all the sets, original star Harvey Keitel bailing, his replacement, Martin Sheen, suffering a heart attack. Final cost was over $30 million, and it took three years from the start of shooting until it hit theatres. I also think it was the first pic released with two different endings (one for 70mm prints, another for 35mm.) Still, with all those problems, this ranks with "The Godfather" as Coppola's best.

I read your post, Mr. Bomb and was inspired to post on the guy flicks board as well.
Apocalypse is one of my all time fav movies, probably my #1. Everything that could go wrong when making a movie did and it's still so brilliant! I can't wait to see the restored version. It might fill the gaps I have in my thesis. Apocalypse Now is actually The Wizard of Oz for adults. With Kurtz being the Wizard, the river is the yellow brick road and Willard, Dorothy. There is even a Toto, but the scarecrow, I mean Lance, is more obsessed with the little dog. "Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my! Never get off the boat! Never get off the boat!" Coward! "The heart" so you have one after all, eh chief? And flying monkies, I mean bunnies. The only thing I havn't figured out is, who are the witches? Maybe the war itself or those military brass and CIA guys are bad witches east and west. But Glinda the good witch? I dunno.
P.S. I'm not a big fan of TWOO. It was mildly interesting as a child, but I saw AN when I was 14 and havn't looked back!

Great Line (and no, it's not about Napalm...):

"I asked them for a mission, and, for my sins, they gave me one."

Slightly OT, but I still think that would have made a great voice-over for the Star Trek:Voyager opening credits.

Lol, but would that refer to Voyager's crew, or the creative staff of the show?

Saw "Apocalypse Now Redux." Made a classic flick better, tying up at least one loose end from the original. This pic was filmed in 1976-77, released in 1979 and has stood the test of time. It was made before the blockbuster mentality took over moviemaking. The print quality is superb, sound mix is excellent. Best pic released in 2001. Be aware, though, that this pic is relentlessly grim and downbeat. In the New York release, it was shown without credits, as was done on its initial roadshow 70 mm. release. The credits were listed in a booklet distributed at the theater.

Saw this flick in it's original release. It was pretty confusing back then, more of a series of vignettes than anything else... I've read good things about "Redux". Does it make the film as a whole a bit more coherent?

On another note, when AN was released in '79, 'Nam was still (relatively) fresh in the national memory, and all the production problems were always mentioned. Now, some 20-odd years later, those factors are no longer present, allowing the film to be viewed as a film.

I heard that "AN" had a six-week shooting schedule, which quickly went up in flames, due to the production problems mentioned above. I think the redux made the film a bit more coherent, although I never really found it incoherent. I once read that there was enough footage for an eight hour miniseries.
I am of age to have been sent to Vietnam. Only the pullout in 1973 stopped me from being drafted. If you recall (assuming you are old enough to) there was a double-blind draft lottery at that time, using two drums to assign random numbers to birthdates. My birthdate, which usually had a high number (anything from 100 to 365 usually meant you would not be drafted) was 37 in the lottery of that year-1973.

Saw this flick in it's original release. It was pretty confusing back then, more of a series of vignettes than anything else... I've read good things about "Redux". Does it make the film as a whole a bit more coherent?

I don't remember the original cut that well (saw it on video some time ago), but "Redux" was pretty easy to follow.

The "Redux" is now available on DVD, and Paramount is back to their old tricks. For a film with such a troubled history just making it to the theaters, the DVD is devoid of any extras. It contains just the film itself. The liner notes indicate which scenes have been added for the Redux version.

Its interesting how the long genesis of the film meant that Harrison Ford was a relatively minor actor when filming his part, but was rapidly on his way to being a major leaguer by the time it hit the theatres.

Watched Redux last night, and actually while it may make things more coherent, it also really pads out an already bloated film. I thought none of the extra scenes really were that good.

The film is best when it's actually not trying to really do its story; I liked some of the just random Vietnam vignettes the best. Duvall delivers the best performance of the film--Sheen gets a little monotonous after a while, and I've never been a fan of movies with narration that just continually repeats what we already know.

My friend and I also began playing the "Who would play the role in a remake version?" We played several versions--Straight Up Remake, Big Budget Hollywood version (Ben Affleck as Willard), and Tarentino version (Christopher Walken as Kilgore, Samuel L. Jackson as Chief, movie begins at the end, Tarentino himself plays the Playboy representative).

I thought the Redux version was interesting, but I can see why all that stuff was cut, especially the French Plantation sequence. Can you say long, boring, and momentum-killing? I knew you could! The original is hard to top. And as it happens, I just wrote a paper about it for my history class!

Aaagh, the French Plantation sequence is like it's from a different movie.

Very true. I read some interesting things about that sequence- the basic idea was that Coppola wanted to make it appear somehow like the boat was traveling back in time as it moved up the river. The Plantation is thus an attempt to evoke the earlier times when the French controlled Vietnam. Eventually they scrapped the idea, of course, in part because the boat's "regression" already had enough of the time-traveling in it.

Blu-Ray edition comes out in October. Two-and three disc sets will be available. Both versions of the film (the 1979 original and the 2001 Redux version) will be on each set. More here.

I asked them for a Blu-Ray, and, for my sins, they gave me one.