Apocalypse Now

Redux every time for me. I don’t bother with the original theatrical release anymore.

 

It's kind of the opposite of what you're suggesting, but I know Rainer Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz was originally developed as a mini-series for German TV and later edited into a near-16 hour endurance test for cinematic screenings in the US. It was usually shown across three evenings, but some cinemas showed it all in one screening, with the ability to watch the whole thing in one go being something like running a marathon for cinemaphiles I imagine.

 

AN is one of the few movies were I've found myself wondering what might have became of the characters, specifically Capt. Willard, one of my all-time favorite cinematic characters. I don't doubt he survived to make it back to "civilization." I think after getting his head together he would have reported back to the general in the same fashion in which he picked up the mission, with a bare minimum of information, stating that the mission was successfully accomplished with the loss of the crew, except for Lance. Kurtz and his command had been terminated. After that? Could you imagine someone like Willard selling insurance or real estate back in the World? I'm sure he would have stuck with what he knew. I could see him in Nicaragua and El Salvador in the 80's, still taking those missions.

 

And Das Boot was originally a television maxi-series as well. I bought the full series for my wife because her dad worked on a Navy sub, and she'd always wanted to see a movie that described the conditions. Now that I have a good example...I'm not sure how anxious she'll be to continue once she gets a taste of it.

 

I'm the same. The 1979 original is now one of those cases where it's more than great if you don't know any better. Or if Redux hadn't come to light. But having seen the Redux, I simply find it enhances and expands on the original film and makes it all the better. Kinda like how drip coffee is more than great until you have coffee from espresso, or from a coffee bar.

That said, I still always default to theatrical versions in terms of the ones that I would first preserve. Just for original release sake.

 

I find it more akin to someone putting olives in my coffee, but to each their own!

 

I can respect that.

At least give me black olives please. I do not like green ones.

 

You’re forgetting that your coffee already had those olives in it to begin with.

 

You never know where such people may end up. Like, IRL, the Vietnamese general who was infamously photographed summarily executing a VC sniper ended up operating a pizza joint in Virginia.

 

I don’t recall the prisoner being an alleged sniper. I do recall his hands being tied behind his back when executed, though.

 

The Surprising True Story Behind The Iconic Saigon Execution Photo

 

You could be right there. Hard to imagine him doing a 9 to 5 role...

 

Interesting, I don't think I ever knew the backstory to this. Don't think it got into that detail on the Ken Burns doc. I'm currently reading Max Hastings book on the War and not got to this yet. Maybe he will.

 

I’ve been searching around for more info about this. I found a video on YouTube of Joe saying that Francis and Martin had a disagreement during recording and that Coppola brought him in to do the work. I also read that Coppola needed some additional voice over done and that Sheen wasn’t available and Francis called Joe. While the details differ, it does seem that Sheen did do some recording.

The trick would be to figure out which brother did which narration.

 

Yes, like you as I've said on this thread and the movie ending thread, AN is one of those stories that really gets me wondering what happened to Willard. Aside from the obvious change in time and place that AN deviates from Conrad's Heart of Darkness, AN does not include, as Conrad did, anything on what happened after Kurtz dies and Willard/Marlow leaves. Which of course leaves it open to wondering.

In wondering, a question arises how reliable are Willard's own words in voice overs. Willard did say two things, at least, that have to be taken into consideration in order to accept that he did what you suggest. The first, from the first scene, is that he said after the mission he takes in the film, he said he'd never want another. The second, concededly more ambiguous, is when he's with Kurtz, about to kill him, he says he wasn't in the Army anymore. He also said that they'd make him a major for killing Kurtz, which could mean he did go back and get promoted, and that his being mentally and perhaps morally no longer committed to being in the Army did not mean he literally had or was going to leave it.

But I think the better understanding is not that he went back, and not that he continued to take such missions.

The voice over in the first scene was said after the mission was over. The whole film in fact is a flashback, with Willard telling the story at some point after it was all over. If he was saying that he'd never want another mission at that point, why would he change his mind? As for the major part, I think it was a statement made to show how ludicrous he thought the whole thing, the whole way the Army was handling things, his mission but also the Vietnam War, was. He certainly didn't say it because he was looking forward to going back and being promoted.

I am of the view that we have to at least consider that Willard in effect went AWOL and left Vietnam without going back to the US. There were alternatives to selling insurance or being a mercenary in Central America.

 

This

 

That's a good post Hardy Melville. I was aware of Willard's saying he wasn't in the army anymore. I just didn't take what he said at face value. He may have felt that way during & right after the mission, but after some time I could see him staying in the army, taking that meaningless promotion to Major, and still working for the CIA/Army/Military Industrial Complex that he came to loath. It's all just random speculation on my part, the way I read the character.

 

No I think you're spot on. I always found it telling that his first question upon being summoned were "what are the charges?" He was always one step out the door and expecting to be court-martialed at any moment. He was dissolute and cynical of the Vietnam project to begin with, yet like many military men he couldn't imagine himself ever returning to civilian life. Which of course made him an ideal candidate for the mission.

 

That plus the fact that he was successful at killing people, as per the discussion at the table

 

My belief is that he did get word to Kurtz's son as promised. Beyond that it's anyone's guess.

 

I've always been fascinated with the scene at the dinner table. The juxtaposition of a nice mobile home in the middle of a war zone; the shrimp and crawfish that look as if they're still alive ("I don't know how you feel about this shrimp, but if you'll eat it, you never have to prove your courage in any other way"); CIA officer Jerry, who speaks volumes by saying nothing (and when he does talk, it's to utter one of the most famous lines of the movie); Lucas playing the tape of Kurtz, coming over the radio waves like a DJ on a pirate AM radio station; and Willard looking both confused and completely sure of himself at the same time.

 

That was a great scene, topped of by the fact that Willard must have been hung over as hell.
"Unsound...unsound." I always loved old GD Spradlin in the roll of the General.

 

Well said!

I truly believe (and it may seem like a critique of the rest of the movie, but I don't mean it as such) that my favorite part of the entire film is precisely the first 15 minutes...the surreal opening set to "The End", followed by that conversation scene in which Willard is presented with the mission.

Something about the whole set-up with Willard is where the entire movie rests, in my view. Obviously, the rest of the film has many great scenes and the wandering journey up the river is of course "the story", but I often joke that after the great intro and mission assignment, the rest of the film is all downhill. Not just for Willard literally, but for the viewer.

 

As far as Willard's post-mission future is concerned; keep in mind that -- in the face of the insanity of the war, his mission and Kurtz's compound -- he never deviates from his objective. Sure, we see glimpses of the demons inside of him (example: when he blows up at the supply officer before the USO show) but he remains pretty cool on the outside. He calmly shoots the lone survivor of the tragic boat search simply because any other action would've diverted his mission.

I see him staying in the army until his discharge. On paper his career will appear a lot less intense that it actually was. Presumably, this is not unusual for intelligence officers.

 

Uh, I’ve always thought the shrimp looked delicious. The whole meal did, really. I’d eat it gladly.