Correction - At 28:13, I left the wrong citation up and didn't catch it until just now. The clip of the children playing with bullet casings is from the Apocalypse Now set in the Hollow Men special feature and not real documentary footage from the Vietnam War. Sorry for the confusion.
This is why I love your videos; you apologise when an easily missed citation is wrong even though 99.7% of videos have absolutely nothing! Thanks CinemaTyler
Love your work and dedication to detail. Please keep doing what you do. But respectfully, the term is "cartridge cases" rather than "bullet casings". Saying so might be pedantic of me, but 99.999% of what you're doing here is feckin' brilliant.
I prefer that Kurtz was a big man - it makes him more imposing and intimidating, and a greater challenge to Willard. The idea that he was thriving in such a hostile environment lends him greater power and mystique.
That was always kind of my take. That he'd given up on taking care of himself and was now a king getting phat off the backs of the labor of his cult (I think the F word makes comments disappear, I've gotten in trouble for it, can't be too careful). It seemed deliberate when they show him snacking. Then again that could have just been Brando refusing to go 2 minutes without food so they just let him eat during the shots.
@@D-Fens_1632 A good actor knows how to incorporate "business" into their performance. Brando did it flawlessly in Godfather, with the cat in his lap, and the oranges.
I think everyone knows that Marlon Brando hated learning his lines, there’s all the famous stories about Robert Duvall having to wear sheets of paper with Brando’s line on them. Eventually in the 90s this got so bad that he would use an earpiece while someone fed him his lines. While filming The Island of Dr. Moreau his earpiece started picking up airline traffic from a nearby airport, and Brando started repeating lines from the air traffic control like it was in the script. He also was reportedly very into photoshop and early cgi software in the 90s and would photoshop his friends in weird places as a joke. He was also a CoSa adopter, an early software that was bought by adobe. Of course, part of what he wanted out of embracing this tech was being able to do less work by just having some shitty CGI face and he just voice act. He also used to constantly get into arguments in AOL chatrooms and get banned for telling people to fuck off. And this man turned in at least 3 of the greatest performances of all time. Incredible.
It's a shame that Brando couldn't have shed some weight for the movie, but in the end it hardly matters. The way he is photographed in harsh light and shadow just adds to the sense of conflict that surrounds the man. Everything about this film just becomes more and more surreal and bewildering, and Brando is just the icing on the cake. If you have been watching films as long as I have, you start to realize that some of the greatest films emerge from chaos. Gone With The Wind is a prime example. Sometimes you just catch lightning in a bottle.
Jaws would have sucked if the shark didn't malfunction so much, which forced them to imply the shark's presence, more than show it. The fear of the unseen or unknown is often scarier than actually seeing the thing.
His performance was so epic it would never have occurred to me he should be emaciated. I always thought he came off as a kind of dark Buddha. It's really effective, aside from the fact that Buddha wasn't actually overweight (the fat Buddha, or laughing Buddha, is in fact Budai, a nickname given to the historical Chinese monk Qieci, who is said to have lived around the 10th century).
@@rodbelding9523 He has the look of a retired wrestler who has given up his training regime but continued to take on excessive calories. I couldn't imagine the character being frail looking.
@@Emulous79 I have a sense of admiration for people who are overweight, honestly. I know it might sound silly to some, but I have an ED cause of some bullying & abuse in my childhood and I have an ethical aversion to consuming things, inherently. To me... consumption in all forms is completely disgusting... but such is our nature, & I realize that there is ways to ethically consume... it just does not feel right to me & it never will. I hate eating... but I wish I could enjoy it. When I see people who clearly do enjoy their food it makes me a little bit jealous. Also I do realize that not everyone who is overweight would want to be admired, a lot do have a disorder like me just the opposite extreme & this is something I do not envy one bit.
Can I just say that I am so very glad you have more content to make on this movie!! Thank you CinemaTyler! For your thorough and seemingly never ending coverage on one of the greatest movies ever made!! ❤
It's so fun to see the parallels between the movie and reality. The photojournalist being obsecssed with Kurtz, similarly to how Dennis Hopper saw Marlon Brando; +Brando's dislike for people taking pictures of him being portrayed in the movie
Love all this new information about AN. With all the problems, the result of the struggles with Brando led to a deeper story about the nightmare of war in the film.
It’s wild how even through the documentary there’s still so much behind the scenes that went on and has warranted such a long wonderful series! Well done as always Tyler!
It has become such a treat watching your videos . Ive not watched them all(which is great as i have more to look forward to)as your commentary and views sends me on even deeper analysis jaunts down the rabbit holes of film making. Great stuff, its pure indulgence. Well done chap. You just didn't get this kind of thing on this level or scale before youtube. Its a perfect outlet for all your hardwork to be enjoyed by other's. You must be very proud of your body of work and I hope you continue to have the time, money, energy and passion for years to come. There are many films that deserve your attention. It must be hard to know where to go next.
"Littlefeather was born Marie Louise Cruz or Maria Louise Cruz[1] on November 14, 1946, in Salinas, California.[8][9] Her mother, Geroldine Marie Cruz (née Barnitz), was a leather stamper of French, German, and Dutch descent, and was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California.[10][9][11] Littlefeather's father was Manuel Ybarra Cruz, a saddlemaker of Mexican descent who was born and raised in Oxnard, California.[12]"
For all Brando's shenanigans during production, his performance in the movie was completely unforgettable, and would have turned out radically different with any other actor. Kurtz being a hulking creature of the shadows just works to utter perfection. To me he is the dark heart of the movie.
I met a stunt coordinator on another film while working back in the day. The only film I asked him about is this film on his resume history. I asked him was it as crazy shoot as they say? He said it was “madness”. This is one my favorites of all time. Great video.
Thanks, Tyler! 🤩 He's an interesting personality, indeed. I spent a weekend with one of his former girlfriends, Jeri Gray, in 1997, a few months before she died. We're all fortunate to have his movies, documentaries and interviews to savor and ponder.
I've never really understood the whole Brando mystic. I've seen most of his major films, Streetcar, On the Waterfront, The Wild One, Mutiny on the Bounty, Godfather, Apocalypse Now and some of the lesser ones like The Missouri Breaks, The Freshman, Superman. For me his best performance by far was The Godfather. The others are fine but only Godfather and Apocalypse Now are movies I watch over and over and Apocalypse Now isn't because of Brando's performance which. I rewatched On The Waterfront recently and I thought Brando's performance was very good but not earth shattering. Brando doesn't even make my top 10 favorite actor list. JMHO. After seeing this and hearing some of the other stories about Brando I really have to wonder why people put up with his BS. I guess it's all about public perception and most of all the money people would pay to see him due to that perception.
Brando changed acting from the old, theatrical style to more realistic style. This was considered groundbreaking. Thus, he was copied by everyone to the point where his early work seems ordinary. (Think of it lik the film Halloween's impact in 1978 vs how it seems after 50 years of the slasher films that came after. It seems quaint and ordinary)
Just saw the originally released film again tonight, after watching several of the exemplary videos from this series. Glad to see there may be more in the pipeline, as with the appearance of this new episode today. Looking forward to seeing the episode on post that was mentioned in episode 17 (Do Lung Bridge).
Personally I find Brando the weakest part of Apocalypse Now but this is a great insight into the small details of his involvement. We're nearing post post production and I can't wait for an episode on the writing and recording of the voice over. Great work mate!
4:40 -- RE: Great Brando Roles; Personally one of my all-time favorites is in "The Formula" (1980) starring George C. Scott, with Brando as a primary antagonist. He's a little silly and off-putting in his playfulness, and looks very much like an older Chevy Chase.
Creative people always seem to be getting into fights with others. There is something to be said about being a novelist as you've only got yourself to deal with.
It's all procrastination. By this time, remembering his lines was almost impossible for Brando. I think that embarrassed him. No one bought the "spontaneity" argument.
"The Substance" is one of those movies that I can talk about for hours, both good and bad. I loved some aspects, had issues with some filmmaking decisions, but enjoyed the movie overall up until the last 20 minutes where it tried to go gloriously over-the-top, but in my opinion failed horribly. Still a definite recommendation from me, despite the ending. There's a lot to admire, particularly the lead performances, and I'll always applaud an ambitious picture, even when it stumbles.
Brando's intuition was bang on. The production was a mess and Coppola was exasperated, so Brando took the time to break him down mentally so that he could take the character in a more authentic direction that would resonate more deeply. The weight didn't matter because he'd already decided the character should be shot in shadow to visualise his ambiguity instead of making it about drugs. Brando may not have read the novel, but he'd clearly put in the work mentally and earned his money, regardless of whether it came to him instinctively or required a lot of effort. I suppose this was tolerated on both sides because they'd previously worked together with such critical success.
@@PaulMcElligottYeah but he really glossed over it (understandable, it's not integral to this story). He showed like a full minute of her speech, then almost as an afterthought very quickly added "BTW some claim this was a hoax."
@@PaulMcElligott Well not quite, since he only mentions the possibility that she might not be a native American, although there is no doubt about that, then he mentions as a kind of mitigation that she was president of the national native american image committee, which she only achieved at all through this deception of being native marican.
I know it's iconic and that Brando is a great actor, but the "Whaddya got?" response to '... what are you rebelling against?" is such an embarrassing edge lord thing to say that my brain cusses out my ears ever time i hear it. Oh God he's a self righteous, insufferable ass too. Both my grandmothers were full blood Cherokee and the "Native American" woman he sent to scold everyone isn't full blood. She's at the very least half white. There's noting wrong with that but if you're gonna do something that outrageously preachy maybe at least find an actual Native American. I think those award shows are stupid too but hearing him talk about it feels slimy.
It's fun watching Brando interviews with a studio audience (such as Dick Cavett) - they all laugh nervously to Cavett's inane banter, as Brando cuts through Hollywood BS and the delusions people outwardly cling onto. He was two steps ahead of them.
I have long thought that it would have been a better move to cast Peter O Toole and taught him an American accent. Kurtz as written by Conrad is quite similar to T.E. Lawrence if he was transplanted to the jungle and never returned home.
Watched Peter O'Toole in the movie adaptation of Joseph Conrad's "Lord Jim". "Lawrence of Arabia". Too effeminate. Now, Klaus Kinski would have be closer to Kurtz. R. Lee Ermey of "Full Metal Jacket" a popular choice. 3.4 million views on Cinema Tyler alone. This a Vietnam movie not the Congo.
@@vincentgoupil180 O'toole played Lawrence as written in relation to what I've read about Lawrence. I think him and lots of other actors could have done a good job but the problem is the part as written wasn't great. Brando's bullshit made some of the dialogue great but that character as a fat man was ridiculous.
@@aaronthompson192 Peter O'Toole was a very fine actor and would have done a good job in any role. Remember him in "Night of the Generals". Except "Apocalypse Now" is an over-the-top movie, i.e. Col. Kilgore, and Kurtz' character required someone coarser. Agree, fat guy in the jungle doesn't work especially when mumbling T.S. Eliot.
@@vincentgoupil180 agreed. A.I. search for actors in there 40's during the 1970s include Anthony Hopkins, Oliver Reed, Max von sydow, Roy Scheider, Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, Bruce dern and Gene Hackman. I can think of lots of grizzled western actors but they would have been too old.
Honestly, I'd argue if SHE knew she wasn't? Having in mind she was raised by her mother and knew her father was Mexican, she might have just assumed he was some level of mestizo (instead of the full-blooded Spaniard-descendant he was), and honestly she went so method with the Native buckskin caricature she might have just started to believe it herself some time. Not excusing it, but if she did got to be the head of a native organisation, so obviously she even fooled actual Amerindians.
He did things to turn people off at a point, and I can see where you are coming from. I will say see him in Julius Caesar (1953) if you can. That is a great performance.
So basically this Brandon guy didn't take anything seriously and did his utmost to ruin the movie, explains why the ending was so weak compared to the rest of the film
I think Brando's support of civil rights was commendable, but put in the context of everything, it was probably just part of the troll as well. The privilege he abused at the start of his career and post-Godfather is staggering.
After her death in 2022, her sisters publicly stated that their family did not have Native American roots and that their heritage was primarily Mexican, Spanish, and European. However, Sacheen identified as Apache and Yaqui throughout her life, so this controversy has added some uncertainty around her true ethnic background.
Brando didn't object to being paid for SUPERMAN & APOCALYPSE NOW as being the best actor then. When it came to GODFATHER 2 he didn't appear because he wanted to be paid as the best. His hypocrisy is bigger than his weight was.
Brando was a terror on the set of mutiny on the bounty.He tried to make a fool of lead actors and was a total pain in the arse with his silly uk accents.
Chef in apocalyspe now actually survived the end of the film & he would make it back to the USA to become the pawn store owner in falling down. Coppola has recently confirmed this as canon
