The Vietnam War has proven to be an irresistible subject for noted Hollywood directors. The carnage, the waste, and the illogic behind the war (in order to stop communism in a small, dirt-poor nation, it is proper to devastate it and kill much of the population) makes for more than an allegory of might and morality gone astray. It is a setting for excellent cinematography, and the tension latent to having nervous rifle-toting faceless teenagers (often played by much older famous actors) face violent death just around the corner.
Each director has his own spin on the war.
Stanley Kubrick in "Full Metal Jacket" looks for
irony. Michael Cimino in "The Deer Hunter" finds
terror and torture in a P.O.W. camp. Oliver Stone
in "Platoon" is concerned with ethics and power
struggles. Francis Ford Coppola in "Apocalypse
Now" sees the war as a bad acid trip, surreal and
deadly.
It is ironic that "Apocalypse Now" begins and
ends with the Doors' "The End". Ironic, because
both the song and the movie are good despite a
surreal and somewhat incoherent style. Perhaps it
would have been more fitting if Marlon Brando's
final words were "what a mess" rather than "the
horror".
Martin Sheen plays a soldier whose new assignment
is to go to Cambodia and kill a renegade colonel
(Marlon Brando) who has gone insane and is
worshipped as a god by his stoned troops. Rather
than parachuting Sheen into the Cambodian jungle
by plane, which would make too much sense, the
plot has him taking a slow boat ride down a
deadly river to Cambodia with several troubled
young soldiers. Admittedly, this makes for
increased plot tension and excellent cinematography.
("Apocalypse Now" is based on Joseph Conrad's
"Heart of Darkness", hence the river boat, but
if "Camelot" was remade, would King Arthur ride
his horse in the subways of New York?)
Along the way, Sheen encounters Robert Duvall as
a Lt. Colonel more interested in surfing and male
bonding than in military strategy. Duvall has one
of his goofiest roles, and is given great lines
like "Charlie don't surf" and "I love the smell
of napalm in the morning".
With most of the film leading up to Sheen's
confrontation with the insane colonel, it is a
letdown that the colonel turns out to be bald,
bloated and blithering Marlon Brando. Brando's
character is fond of reading aloud sheets of
paper that have all the wisdom of "Zippy the
Pinhead" comic strips.
My favorite part of "Apocalypse Now" is the
U.S.O. show, which I have always associated with
the likes of Bob Hope and Martha Raye. Instead,
we get Playmate of the Year Cynthia Wood, who
dances and teases the hard-up young soldiers
until they mob the stage, forcing the dancers to
make a panicked exit by helicopter.
"Apocalypse Now" was a troubled Phillipines
production that took over a year to film and went
well over budget. A hurricane wiped out the set,
Martin Sheen had a heart attack, Marlon Brando
proved uncooperative, and the helicopters
(ironically) were sometimes taken away by Marcos
to fight guerillas. Look for a cameo from
Harrison Ford, and Laurence Fishburne (only 14
years old) in an early role. (66/100)
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