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Actors: Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Sam Bottoms, Larry Fishburn
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Apocalypse Now |
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In 1969 Captain Benjamin Willard (Sheen) is given the secret mission to find Colonel Walter Kurtz (Brando) and "terminate with extreme prejudice." Kurtz, a gifted officer with the Special Forces, turned to "unorthodox" methods to prosecute the war, and went deep into the jungle to lead an army of primitives. Willard will have to take a Navy patrol boat up a long, long river to the heart of darkness (the film is loosely based on Conrad's Africa novel) inside Cambodia. Along the way he'll meet a psychotic Lt. Colonel of the Air Cavalry (a hilariously creepy Duvall) who is more interested in surfing than the in the war per se, a USO show with dancing Playboy Playmates driving the troops wild, and all the craziness and brutality of the war. The cast includes Harrison Ford as a military bureaucrat, Albert Hall (recently seen on TV a crusty black judge on "The Practice" and "Ally McBeal") as the chief of the Navy boat, Frederic Forrest as a touchy would-be chef from New Orleans, Sam Bottoms (the street-sweeping simpleton of "The Last Picture Show") as a surfer dude gunner's mate (Bottoms was stoned on speed, acid, and pot during much of the filming), and two actual Playboy Playmates of the month and year. Watch for a funny brief cameo of Coppola himself as a news cameraman/commentator when Willard hits the beach with Lt. Kilgore's attacking Air Cav. The original 144-minute film issued in 1979 was reissued in 2001 as "Apocalypse Now Redux," with an additional 53 minutes that includes a long, quiet dinner scene among French ex-pats clinging to their family plantation, the stranded Playmates being pimped to soldiers for oil, and more Brando and Duvall footage, but either version is unforgettable for its camera shots of stunning beauty and horror (music by Wagner and the Doors), and Sheen's incredible performance.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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Martin Sheen is sent to eliminate a rough military leader (Marlon Brando). He suspects that he in fact admires the courage the rouge has to his high ideas but sets out to find him anyway. Along the way he sees evidence of the madness and futility of the Vietnam war and realizes that he may not be able eliminate his target.
Once he finds the madman, events push him to do his task.
--Rita Toews, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Apocalypse Now |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/Era of Movie:
- 1960's-1970's
War Thriller
Yes
Armed Forces:
- Army
- Navy
- Marines
- Special Forces
- Mercenaries
Specific to
- Vietnam
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- infantry soldier
Age:
- 20's-30's
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- short/standard straight (man)
Body type
- muscular (man)
Unclothed?
- Chest
Events of movie makes character more...
- aggressive
- tougher
- cynical
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- blonde
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- average build (man)
Unclothed?
- chest
How much in movie?
- 20%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- dictator
- religious figure
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
- emotionally unstable
- obsessed
- deluded
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 20%
Hair color
- bald
Hair type
- (man) bald
Body type
- fat (man)
- muscular (man)
unclothed?
- chest
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Setting
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- Southeast Asia
Jungles?
Yes
Jungles
- lost city
- heat/bugs
Water?
Yes
Water:
- river
Misc setting
- fort/military installation
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- gory visuals of deaths
- very gory visuals of deaths and torture
Movie makes you feel...
- depressed/sad
- in awe
How many deaths in film?
- dozens
- hundreds
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
- touching of personal anatomy
- seeing breasts
- seeing nude female butt
- seeing nude male butt
- seeing full frontal--men
Kind of violence:
- air battles
- land battles
- amphibious landings
- mission to destroy something
- hand to hand
- guns
Unusual forms of death
- hanging
- decapitated
- perforation--bullets
- perforation--swords/knives
Any profanity?
- A lot of foul language
If Soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Classic/oldies rock
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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