Coppola's "One From The Heart"

I started a thread on the music forum about the soundtrack from "Apocalypse Now".

This got me looking a little closer at some of the credits listed for that film on imdb.com

I followed a link for Frederic Forrest (the actor who played Chef, the tightly wound New Orleans native on the boat) and noticed that he was cast as a lead actor for the film that was Coppola's follow-up to "Apocalypse Now".

That movie ("One From The Heart") was a colossal failure at the box office and actually forced Coppola into bankruptcy - and altered the path of his subsequent career as he was "forced" to work on projects to help retire his immense debt.

But what was odd to me was I don't remember "One From the Heart" being in theaters in 1982. It apparently came and went very quickly. I read something about a major studio being angry with Coppola and they refused to distribute the film - leaving it to die (quickly) on the art house circuit (where it could never earn back the money spent producing it).

The photos of the movie looked interesting (very colorful), as did some of the comments on imdb.com.
I was very curious about the minature replica of an older Las Vegas that was constructed for the film, the music used for the film (Tom Waits and Crystle Gayle), and the fact that very few people on the crew saw Coppola during the film's production (he elected to remain inside of a video mixing facility built inside of a "silverfish" camper - apparently using a remote intercom to talk to people on the set).

Amazon Prime has the film as a "free" rental, so I watched it the other night. The amazon stream was low-def and seemed to have been from an old videotape master (4:3 aspect ratio) but I tried to divorce the quality of the presentation from the actual film I was watching.

I loved the musical tone of the film, but it was easy to see why it was considered a flop. Neither Forrest or Garr seemed ready to work as a lead actor/actress... but I don't think the blame falls entirely on them. The film has a quirky feel to it - that feels more like I'm watching a film of a play...

Both actors seem like they are on a stage - and it's very distracting.

It's just kind of difficult to believe that THIS was the follow-up to "Apocalypse Now".

 

Glad you brought this film up as it is the only one of his movie"s i have not seen.

Even tho it was issued in the UK in 7 Nov 2011...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Heart-D...1409668017&sr=1-1&keywords=One+From+The+Heart

Just found i have it on LOVEFILM ... so here is to a good transfer to disc!?.

 

It looks like the aspect ratio was an intentional decision by Coppola.

Something about how he was wanting to make an old musical - and that was the aspect ratio used by most old musicals.

I still say the transfer used by Amazon was a dud.

Maybe it was because I thought the aspect ratio was wrong.....

 

I love Coppola. I have the DVD, which is really great. Loaded with extras. You really get to see how a movie is made.

I love the songs. I love the colors. I love the cinematogrpahy. I love the direction. But it isn't a great film. The story is the weakest part, which is too bad, because the rest is so great. It's not surprising that it failed. But I do enjoy it.

The DVD is 4:3 as well. Apparently this is the correct aspect ratio.

 

I think Coppola had am ambitious concept - but there are just too many moving parts that he had to juggle.

For example, the artistry of the minature sets is amazing - but those look VERY dated today.

I keep trying to envision if the film would have been better with different actors - but there are so many other things that I'm not certain it would have made a difference.

The one thing that I kept thinking as I watched it was I was VERY conscious that I was watching a movie...

Good films just suck you into another world. This felt like I was watching something.


There's are several interesting posts on imdb.com about the film. One by a guy who worked on the film who claims that the first showing went well - BUT - Coppola angered the suits because he didn't consult with the major Hollywood players about the screening.

Another interesting post was from a guy who went to a "fire sale" at the studio as it was entering bankruptcy. He claims he took a lot of photos of the minature sets - but is very shy about sharing his photos. I found what appears to be one of his photos using google. Very cool to look at.

 

DVR'd 'one from the heart" a couple of weeks ago and put it on saturday night.

turned it off and deleted it after about 30 minutes, it just wasn't very good at all.

 

That sounds about right (4.3)if he wanted to get over that look/feeling for the time etc.

Have to re-run the DVD Hearts of Darkness

Just to get the blood levels high and see this man win out for his love of film making and 2 fingers to "SUITS" in Hollywood.