Francis Ford Coppola - concepts, style & techniques - film analysis (reload) 

When you're grafting, sweating and getting tired a Rob Ager video analysis is a welcome tonic. Nice one Rob.

You never disappoint.

SO happy to see Coppola get some much needed analytical love here. I see on RU-vid an increasing appreciation of his DRACULA as well, which for me is 1) the last great film he ever made, and 2) as aesthetically brilliant as his run of films from GODFATHER 1 to RUMBLE FISH. (That includes the direly underappreciated ONE FROM THE HEART, which I humbly proclaim The Greatest Art-House Rom-Com-Dram Of All Time...) Oh, and I have said to friends that if I have to give my dying breath defending the REDUX cut of APOCALYPSE NOW as the better cut, I will gladly do so. It is truly as if Coppola asked me personally to sit down in the editing room with him, hear all of my criticisms of the '79 cut, and then pull out of his ass footage fixing every single one of them. I adore REDUX and haven't watched the original cut in 15 years, but regularly rewatch REDUX. The Plantation sequence alone contains 2 of my favorite shots in the entire film, and the additional scenes added in REDUX to cap off the Flight of the Valkyries sequence, and the Playboy Bunny sequence, I feel are absolutely _necessary_ to fully explicating the many meanings of each sequence entirely.

Nice to see the fan-tas-tic _The Conversation_ getting some love! It's a near perfect surveillance paranoia thriller, so 1970s and still totally valid! Plus Gene Hackman at his finest!

Glad to see this, Francis Ford Coppola maybe one of my favourite directors of all time. I always loved his visual styles, for me personally Dracula was probably one of the most visually beautiful films I have ever seen.

Oh shit. I love your American accent, Rob. Keep up the good work!

Shiiiieeeet! That part in the middle caught me off guard, thanks for the laughs. And it fits the theme of the video. Nice!

Great upload. My day is always brighter with your uploads

Amazing work! Highly recommended!!

I wonder if the events at Jonestown influenced the Apocalypse Now production? Jim Jones's nightly rambles over the PA system, commune in the jungle, etc. Watched a documentary on it and immediately thought of Apocalypse Now. Nice video.

I loved that bit of the French plantation scene and the extra scenes with Kilgore were funny and gave you little more about how nuts he was and how he did anything he pleased and makes more questions about how the army see no difference in what both Kilgore and Kurt's, who both fight their own war.

Enlightening analysis Mr. Ager. Extra note to add about genius use of helicopter sounds for exposition in AN: in the opening scene the sound of helicopter blades combined with the slow motion image of the choppers passing the explosions, is the perceptual glue for how we know that Martin Sheen is remembering his time in the war, and that it messed him up. When we see the explosions and choppers pass we don't actually see the chopper blades, and, the ONLY sound we hear (besides the Doors) is the chopper blades. So, we know it's a either a memory or a dream because the sound is intentionally not realistic (plus it's in slo-mo), but we also know that the blades, because they're the only sound, are important. Then we see Sheen upside down, so he is emotionally "upside down", but, even though he's visually overlaid on the explosions, we don't necessarily know that he's having a memory of the event. We do infer that he is lying down because he's upside down but his face is not sagging upward; and we see the pillow eventually... We then see the ceiling fan viewed from a directly underneath perspective, but we don't see the fan and him in the same shot (except overlaid). We assume he's looking straight up at the fan, because, tadaa, we heard chopper blades, so, bam, all at once we know that "he's lying down looking up at a ceiling fan remembering his time in battle", it's breathtakingly sophisticated exposition with minimal information, all made possible by the chopper blade sound. Walter Murch won the very first Oscar given for sound design for this movie, and it's no wonder because, in an even crazier detail, the chopper blades aren't even actual recordings of chopper blades. They were created with a Buchla synthesizer, because, with tape recordings, slowed-down chopper blades would lower in pitch and sound less "choppy", thus ruining a crucial metaphor. With the synthesizer, they were able to slow the rate of the blades but not lower the pitch. Crucial magic!

Thank you for your work, Peace.

Rob, could you make a video on how you differentiate "pretentious art house garbage" from movies that aren't?

'The Coversation' was really the first film that got me into FFC. Obviously i had seen 'The Godfather' and i loved it, Part II even more, but from the opening moments of 'The Conversation', i knew it was a film for me. Its gritty, intelligent and in reality, so far from its actual plot, that you realize by the end you've become exactly what Harry has. Someone looking for answers where there are none. Lost in a World that doesn't care about you. You'll be left digging through your own subconscious trying to find something that isn't there.

Very interesting. I think that Coppola's role in Apocalypse Now as the director during the battle scene represents the media coverage of the Vietnam war. It was the first TV war and the press had almost unlimited access to the fighting for the first time. You can even hear him say don't look at the camera it's for the TV. The fact that he played that role was probably just convenience more than anything. One correction. Heart of Darkness takes place in Central Africa (Congo) not North Africa.

37:20 - Cinematographer Vittorio Storario remarked that he wanted the jungle lighting to contrast with the man-made "lighting" of all the flares, esp. in this scene at the supply depot.

Coppola said that he realised early on that sound equipment was very cheap compared to camera and lighting equipment, and that you could get more production value out of sound than you would with the expensive equipment so it’s not surprising that he has a good understanding of it emotionally

Oh man, I CANT WAIT to rewatch Rumble Fish!

Great video, great movie choice, great analysis! Keep up the good work..😉

Great work again, Ager. And I loved the American advertisement. :D

Wow, I need to see The Conversation!

That commercial interlude at around 21:00 😂😂 Nice touch !

'The Godfather isn't a gangster film, it's a family film. They just happen to murder each other.'

I think I watched this video before, but fortunately when I recently saw The Conversation for the first time I didn't remember the spoilers mentioned here, so it was fun to speculate what was really going on until the reveal. Since I liked it so much, I guess it's time I finally watch Coppola's other films.

If you have seen the doc hearts of darknes, you know f.f.c. is a genius and knows to work under pressure.

I'd love to see you do analysis on Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man.

Rumble Fish music is one of my favourite albums of all time.

That American accent spot was hilarious :)

Just rewatched apocalypse now redux in 4K and man it was amazing. Have you seen "the life of others"?

Rob, should think that the "final visual metaphor" was in the graffiti. "The Motorcyle Boy Reigns" sums it up for Rusty-James and the neighborhood--he goes down a legend. The only ones who know his inner-feelings were Steve and Rusty-James, and they took that with them, I should think. Great movie, with a real majesty to it. Thanks for any Rumblefish analysis, you're the best.

please do a full analysis on Rumblefish

Can't believe I missed this video. The commercial is great. Rob's a funny guy-we just don't see it that much. The best is his "cousin" from Australia. Can't remember the video though. Road Warrior? Anyway, great video as always.

I disagree that those three movies have in essence a different subject matter. In each movie there is an above average capable protagonist who becomes his own antagonist. In the conversation the surveillance specialist who becomes his own enemy through paranoia. In Apocalypse now, Kurz who is described as a kind of super soldier by documents in the movie, and who creates his own cult in which he is totally immersed in insanity and trauma and which he cannot escape since he is worshipped by the other people. In the last movie the above average intelligent brother who is despite his capabilities and reputation completely unfulfilled basically seeking his escape through death.

for 'Conversation' fans read 'Spooks' by Jim Hougan.

I wished you'd spent a little more time on the Do Long Bridge segment of Apocalypse Now. It's one of the most visually and narratively interesting parts of the movie: a giant clusterfuck circus (complete with the perhaps-diegetic circus music) where one side builds a bridge and the other side destroys it and nobody is in charge.

Wonderful content once again. Thank you. Side topic- you have so much analysis, so I haven’t yet watched/read it all yet. However have you done an analysis on the German film “The Lives of Others” released the in 2006 but set in 1984 East Germany. As you probably know the plot is a realistic depiction of life under the DDR Stasi secret police prior to the collapse of Soviet domination. I watched the film in 2008 and thought it a great movie just on its face. Just rewatched this week and now I find the film absolutely terrifying and a superlative piece of art. The identification with many aspects of a fully realized surveillance state were emotionally bracing to me. Would love for you to break it down - or someone point me to where you have already. Final note- the most horrifying notion I was left with after viewing this week- all of the surveillance was done without modern tech. No computers, internet, pervasive cctv. Only techniques were listening bugs and informants.

Great! I would love to see a Spielberg analysis

Hello Rob 👋🏻

New to your content and I really dig it! Here are a couple suggestions: Ex Machina Natural Born Killers Die Hard

Thought that drummer Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead was involved in scoring Apocalypse Now. Could explain the tribal drumming.

Since you’ve been revisiting musicals lately, I hear Coppola’s One From the Heart (1982) is an essential. Speaking of directors, what are your thoughts on Sid Lumet (Network, 12 Angry Men, Deathtrap)? He was also a very versatile, yet tragically obscure filmmaker, despite his actual movies being famous.

Thanks for the freebies, Rob. Any chance you might dig on Collateral (2004) someday?

Please make an apocalypse now vid!!!

There's definitely a correlation to FFC and Harry Caul(As well as 'Apocalypse Now') you nailed that Rob. Especially considering 'Apocalypse Now' and how it's plot is driven initially by recordings of Kurtz. Willard saying, which I'm paraphrasing, "Can't match that voice to that face" in regards to Col. Kurtz. The equipment is shown, we hear the tape, it's very similar to 'The Conversation' in that aspect. The idea of FFC being aware of his own involvement is clear. Very "Existential" in the way those films were made IMO. The path to insanity being a big part as well. FFC is a very technically sound filmmaker. He's also experimental, taking the art-form to the edge, stylized but personal. It's hard to do all of that and succeed. I feel like he's one of the only filmmakers to actually make multiple masterpieces. Other directors may have made a lot more films(Spielberg, Scorsese, DePalma etc), but FFC is in a class with Hitchcock and Kubrick when you talk about the VERY BEST American Filmmakers... Or English Language so to say.

Yes

Rob, which version of Apocalypse Now do you favour, now that the Final Cut is out?

Great video but I would have to disagree with you and Mr Coppola that the Godfather was "just a gangster movie". That claim would be more appropriate for something like Goodfellas but the Godfather was more than a typical mob movie, it had plenty to say about the American Dream.

Watched

I need to give Rumble Fish a chance. There were so many S. E. Hinton adaptations in the 80s, and they all had Matt Dillon or Emilio Estevez, but the ones I've seen, like the Outsiders or Tex, just weren't that good. Outsiders is so sentimental. Rumble Fish at least looks visually interesting and completely different from anything else Coppola has ever done.

Matt Dillon is related to the man who illustrated Flash Gordon - is there a Lucas reference in there somewhere?

Great beard.

44:16 -- Take THAT, Michael Bay! lol

Nick Coppola... Well damn i never knew that.

About the sound of the conversation and Apocalypse Now. You should check out the various videos here on YT of editor Walter Murch who helped shape both the aforementioned movies. He's a fascinating man with many stories to tell and theories about editing both sound and vision.

did you see the wailing? it's the best horror since the shining.

Rob do you know Vaporwave?

See the guy walking past with a saxophone, which the character plays in his down time. Mean anything?.

lol whats the with the break?

Does anyone know anything about pedophile accusations made against Kubrick regarding him taking advantage of girls during the casting of "Lolita"?

They put the shoot of Apocalypse Now on hold for like a week or two whilst Brando and Coppola worked out what they were going to do, as Brando was like a whale, wasnt much for any of the dialogue, wouldn't do a single scene with Hopper because he was high as a kite, and I'm sure there was more halts in the shoot and stories about him being difficult

I think you've shown what makes Coppola such a dreamlike stylist, his sense of the Carnivalesque. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivalesque There are a handful of movies that have completely transported me... Lawrence of Arabia, Apocalypse Now Redux, Kubrick's The Shining (edited for television but still looking cinematic as hell), and Dawn of the Dead - extra long cut... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jV_xEwb0ZiQ.html

I'd disagree that Rumble Fish accomplishing what it clearly set out to do could be considered a "failure". The truth isn't interested in your sensibilities, and sometimes the most effective films are the ones that take us where we would rather not go.

Noice

NO DRACULA????

where's Tex and the Outsiders there's good movies as well.

You practiced a bit on your salesmanship 🤣

Actually Coppola playing the director in Apocalypse Now WAS an accident.

32:20 - ABOUT THOSE DEAD BODIES: According to movie gossip sites on the web, when the natives in the Philippines were told that director Coppola wanted "bodies," they went and dug up REAL BODIES that had been recently interred. Whether any of those dead bodies are in the film is anyone's guess. Of course, Apocalypse Now means nothing to the current generation of film fans, so it's likely some depraved press agent made up the whole thing: "Remember how they used a real horse's head in the Godfather 1? Well, let's release this 'insider info' about how they used real corpses in the movie..." The same kind of story "leaked" out about POLTERGEIST--if you believe Hollywood's B.S., all those corpses in the swimming pool at the end were also "real" corpses that were "borrowed" illegally from a California medical school.

that american accent lol

The Godfather is “just a gangster film”???

Every military encourages defense of the state, not just socialist ones.

20:59 Finally uses an English accent I can understand!

What part of America is that accent supposed to be from lol

I thought there was too much smoke in AN. When i first saw the movie my only comment was the movie should be called coloured smoke. Seemed like lazy film making to me. Feel free to rip my analysis apart.

Francis Coppola a great filmmaker just lost it after that horrid Dracula. If he hadn't done Godfather 3 I bet he would still be the line as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.

Who down votes these?! 😂

OMG did you see that trash Da 5 Bloods....???? This black lives matters shit is so strong right now people and corporation representatives are scared to give it anything thing less han.Spike Lee's new masterpiece....Where have all the good movies gone....

Godfather is dreadfully boring.