Apocolypse Now may, as you say, be an oddity in being a really big budget art film that isn't very accessible, and that is VERY rare. Bladerunner 2049 is probably another example but there will never be a more outlying example of this than 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's truly a miracle that got made. Anyway, your content is incredible as always. Keep it up man!
Definitely a big budget art film which is probably the rarest of films. Another one that came to mind is movie Miami Vice Which is definitely not viewed as very accessible and most ppl don’t care for it bt it was a digital beauty. A 100 mil dollar Art film
I really liked your comment and I featured it in Making Apocalypse Now | Episode 2’s Companion PDF. I’d love to give you a code to download it for free. Do you have a twitter account that I can send the code to?
@@CinemaTyler Hi Tyler. I saw that in your sources list that you don't mention a book called Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind. I've checked the sources for it's chapter on Apocalypse Now and none of them are the same as yours. Of course the Easy Rider book may well have used the same sources as the books that you have listed. The reason that I mention this is that 'Easy Riders' gives a great overall picture of what went on with the filming of Apocalypse Now, not just from an artistic standpoint. By itself, that point of view does not paint the whole picture to explain what happened. Of course filming was difficult due to the well known issues r.e. typhoons etc, but the entire set, as well as Coppola, descended into something resembling Sodom and Gomorrah. It is described in length and detail in 'Easy Riders'. For me, any examination of 'Apocalypse' also needs to be carried out with the issues and events that are identified within the Easy Riders book which I'm sure Coppola is not so keen on revisiting. Apologies if you have taken all that into account!
Once i stopped trying to watch Apocalypse Now as a war movie and instead watched it as a Psychological Horror about a man who slowly downward spirals into darkness did it click for me.
My late father a Vietnam Veteran, spent the first 20 years of my life talking about his mission and experiences. Among 3-4 films best captured these, his respect and mine. The mission he was sent on is best portrayed in Apocalypse Now (but it was a team not 1 person). Ive seen this film at least 3-5 times and could watch it many more.
I’ve long been an admirer of your work, and APOCALYPSE has been one of my favorite movies since that awestruck first viewing in1979, so I’m thrilled that you’re finally taking it on. 🤗
I just saw the Final Cut in the Shinjuku IMAX theater. What a treat. So glad i put off watching this film in its entirety for so long. Amazing work of art.
Saw Apocalypse Now during it first run in 1979 at the now-demolished Showcase Cinemas in Louisville, Ky. That was an event, and now, 40 years later, your ongoing new series is another exciting one.
I’ve seen some good video essays and too many mediocre and subpar one. This is one of the best. I just want to thank you for your commitment to quality. It really shows and I know it must have taken a long time to put something like this together. Cheers.
This is the kind of stuff that gets me excited about entertainment. I don’t care about the theme in the riches, but unlike most of us who just work in our work isn’t seen by millions of people, directors actors musicians composers producers, all of these people that work to entertain us we see their work along with millions of others. So when I have a hard day at work or I think about leaving a job that I didn’t like or even getting fired about before, I look at people like Francis Coppola, Jimmy Butler, all these people that have shown that they’ve been through hardship and failure but still came out fighting and had success, that’s what makes me passionate. I could care less about the Cars people drive or how big your houses, but hard work and perseverance that always makes me smile
It stands out precisely because of how rare a document it is. The film was already infamous for running over schedule and budget; "Hearts of Darkness" explains a great deal.
The interesting thing is that Coppola only agreed to it being released because he thought it would play on Showtime twice and that's it. He says that he is embarrassed by it, but it really is one of the best behind-the-scenes documentaries out there because it shows that intense artistic struggle. I hope to help set the record straight on some parts.
What an unbelievably grueling journey for all involved. And what a masterpiece lay at the finish line! Apocalypse Now was the apotheosis of the New Hollywood movement, where film art was revered and the directors called the shots. Now movies (the ones with big budgets, anyway) are all made by marketing departments. Film-making at its most corporate.
5:06 So good you mentioned that Apocalypse Now actually is a good historical account of the mentality of the Vietnam War. I read Michael Herr's "Dispatches" and was shocked to see that the sheer insanity of Apocalypse Now was there in his personal account of the War!
CinemaTyler What really stands out for me in this video is Roger Corman putting people on, giving them a chance, wanting nothing in return but to see them grow see them become successful. That doesn't exist today. Today, if you 'put someone on', there's a "Whats in it for me?" aspect. Either someone wants sex, or money, or both. I was in the Music Industry, and I know first-hand how grimy the Entertainment Industry is. A 'something for nothing' aspect no longer exists.
I remember the first time I heard of what would become this movie. Someone had written to Parade magazine that came with the Sunday newspaper. They had heard of some movie that was going to be made about Vietnam. It was supposed to star Steve McQueen, Marlon Brando and Paul Newman.
7:01 "Ringo Starr was not born clenching drumsticks in his hands. In fact, he didn’t really exhibit a passion for drumming until he was hospitalized for two years for tuberculosis when he was 12 - the second of two extremely lengthy hospital stays - when patients participated in a musical program. That led Richy to discovering that cardboard cotton holders, stripped of their cotton, made for great drumsticks to thwack away on his bed and locker. (His first hospital stay, when he was 6, followed a burst appendix which almost killed him - and kept him bedridden in Liverpool’s Royal Children’s Infirmary for nearly a year.)"
Your channel is god damn great and it's great place to comment as well . Years ago I had seen a great video essay on apocalypse now by cinema cresswell I just hope your series can live up to or even surpass it
@@CinemaTyler hey, man cheer up as someone who watches a lot of video essays on film history/films . Your channel is one of the most insightful and the best I have come across on RU-vid . Your video series on 2001:a space odyssey was EPIC
Coppola was a risk taker for sure, thinking about making a film about a war that hadn't finished yet, knowing a head of time that the war wasn't very popular with the potential movie audience. I find it fascinating how the film involved people who went to film school with Morrison & Manzarek ( George Lucas, John Milius). Harrison Ford was actually a camera man for The Doors on a few projects in the late 60s. Manzerek actually served in Thailand in 1961 with the Army Security Agency.
@@famousbowl9926 not for the South Vietnamese or Cambodians or the Marines that died there in 75. John Milius was thinking about the making the movie as early as 1968. There were several John Wayne movies made during WWII, when the outcome was really in doubt. Over the years i have found several books about WWI, that were printed as early as 1916, when no one really knew how it would all end for all sides.
This was a book originally written in the late 1800s by Joseph Conrad called Heart of Darkness. Then came this film adaptation. Then the movie Heart of Darkness with John Malkovich. And just recently there was an adaptation into film called Ad Astra, well led by Brad Pitt. The theme of the book can be applied to countless scenarios and ages and I would have thought and even assumed many people probably have an experience in their life they can relate it to in some way. But looking at a lot of these comments I realise this wonderful presentation, as well as my own comment....will fly straight over the heads of these band wagon hoppers. Is it possible to overcome and adapt to the horror of having to live with these people? The horror... The horror... The horror...
So much more respect for FFCoppola pulling it off against all odds... Imagine the pressure and doubt... Worked a bit with Hollywood... But Coppola smacked it out of the park for me with Appocalypse now!
if you want to see a *very real* commentary on the true underbelly of the film 'Apocalypse Now', you should absolutely watch the documentary "First Kill" (easily available here on youtube. and no not the 'film' with Bruce Willis!), which is mostly narrated by, and features the author Michael Herr who wrote the book *'Dispatches'* , that the film 'Apocalypse Now' is based off of. Herr wrote Martin Sheen's (Captain Willard) voiceover narration in the film, and he also co-wrote the screenplay for 'Full Metal Jacket', the intensive Stanley Kubrick film. Michael Herr was a war correspondent/journalist in a time when being a war correspondent/journalist often put you in just as much of the 'action' as the soldiers themselves, and so Herr's writing as well as his commentary in the documentary "First Kill", is definitely is not for the squeamish... but then again, neither is real war, other than usually in films. although, honestly, this particular film as well as 'Full Metal Jacket' are both Brilliant as well as quite Unflinching depictions of war that are not for the squeamish either... quite possibly in part, due to Michael Herr's involvement in them.
I have a new found respect for Francis Ford after this tbh, kinda bums me out when people talk about greatest directors his name should come up a lot faster than it does. Great vid tho!
I am new to your channel but I did watch the whole Stanley Kubrick run that you did and I am here now watching this I think you’re great kudos my friend.😎
Coppola’s very Mc Cartneyseque! Meaning when he does it right, it’s epicly untouchable! For every flop there’s a ceiling that is not met by their contemporaries
It's high time for you to do a profile of Charlie Bludhorn, the mercurial, profane, SPAZ who inadvertently backed some of the best movies of the 20th century.
TG star wars & superman came out bc the 70s sounded like a very depressing decade & all the movies were dark vietnam related pictures. I believe that is part of why star wars was so successful bc it took people on a fun wild ride & not depressing movies like taxi driver. I'm surprised so many vietnam movies came out about the conflict so soon after it ended. It would have been better to let some time pass to look at it with some perspective. Vietnam was such a dark time in america. It was a war or conflict that we had no buisness being in. It was meant to go on to make big companies rich like bell who made helicopters. Ww2 was a more understandable war we had to get into bc the Japanese had kamikazes fly into pearl harbor. Hitler was very stupid to try & take on Russia & america in terms of his agenda. Which of course led to the cold war.
@@johnnymarlin1283 brorher i can imagine the magnificent sound design that sounded awesome in the 70s and now in Dolby it will be thrilling..i wanna see it man..😭😭😭 where can i get the final cut please tell me
The theatrical cut is better than the final cut tbh. There is a 20 minute long scene that brings the plot to a crawl. The redux is even worse as that scene is extended by another 10 minutes. Theatrical version in 4k is👌
There's another way to describe this -- it isn't easy to be creative and artistic, graded against a curve which is exponentially always getting better. In fact, this is Impossible, and Coppola probably recognized, I'll never be able to do anything more creative than I already have. George Lucas essentially had the same problem, and spend the years between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace pretending he had a secret grand scheme that had not been revealed yet. The Truth is simpler -- he knew he'd already effectively ended a series, and there was no reason to try to follow them up with SEQUELS, when the story had been successfully concluded. So then! There's the problem. On one hand, Artistic Integrity and Vision; on the other, the need for Money-Making Sequels, which is why Lucas always liked his Serialized Concept.
Moreover -- this is what sets apart "The Godfather Part 3" from the other 2 in the trilogy. The Industry insists on it being "Godfather Part 3" to capitalize on the Franchise, whereas the Film-maker had a consistent vision for only a single character, that of Mike Corleone. Is it necessary for his Identity to be utterly consumed by that of his Job Title / Position?
@@jamespfp In the case of Godfather III, Coppola said he did it because Mario Puzo wanted to leave money to his family, but I understand (and agree) with what you say.
I really liked your comment and I featured it in Making Apocalypse Now | Episode 2’s Companion PDF. I’d love to give you a code to download it for free. Do you have a twitter account that I can send the code to?
I really liked your comment and I featured it in Making Apocalypse Now | Episode 2’s Companion PDF. I’d love to give you a code to download it for free. Do you have a twitter account that I can send the code to?
Expensive independent vision films of all time, with non interference from studios: 1. Apocalypse now 2. 2001 A space oddessy 3. Inception 4. Blade Runner 2049 5. Citizen Kane 6. Raiders of the lost Ark 7. Titanic 8. Terminator 2 9. Empire Strikes back 10. The matrix
Doing history of Apocalypse Now is difficult because the loudest voices about what happen, like Coppola, have their own agenda and vendettas. He and his supporters really have it in for Brando. And Hearts of Darkness is one of the least informative "documentaries" I've ever seen. Apocalypse Now ultimately surpassed everyone who helped make it.
George M what people don’t-know is that Coppola has a habit of making passive aggressive comments about his actors. He’s a great director but let’s face it, whatever brando did, he wasn’t responsible for an unfinished script. Coppola didn’t know what to do with the movie’s ending and Brando with the sheer force of his charisma and the fact that Coppola allowed him to improvise made it work. But Coppola went on blamed everything on Brando which is weird since he wasn’t ok set a whole lot.
I know some people were mad at Coppola's opinion on Marvel movies but I don't care. I love Marvel movies, as well as his movies, and he can say whatever he wants about them.
Terrific kick-off episode, looking forward to seeing more. Of all the synergies at play in Apocalypse Now, I have special admiration for Coppola involving Michael Herr (Dispatches) in contributing to writing the VO for Willard: Terse, descriptive, insightful and full of the special 'voice' that makes the film such an immersive experience. Also, the (for the time) unbelievable sound design from Walter Murch.
Easily the best film about the Vietnam War ever made. And I say that even as a great fan of 84 Charlie MoPic, which is great, but is also about an uncharacteristically talkative group of elite LRRPs, whose harrowing experiences even in real-life were anything but typical. We mostly see the average grunt’s life obliquely in Apocalypse Now, like tourists passing through the war zone. But we see them tired, bored, trying to stay alive, trying to stay dry, being more excited by the sight of a dancing blonde “round-eye” from back home than Full Metal Jacket’s randy, swaggering marines are at the prospect of getting laid even as they haggle with a prostitute and her possible-VC pimp. We see them as eager to take out an enemy with a megaphone, so they can get some sleep, as Platoon’s grunts are at the prospect of revenge against some villagers hiding weapons. It manages to be, simultaneously, more operatic and more grounded than either of those films.
I really liked your comment and I featured it in Making Apocalypse Now | Episode 2’s Companion PDF. I’d love to give you a code to download it for free. Do you have a twitter account that I can send the code to?
@@BruceRodriguez Kubrick was really smart in his own way but that was still at heart an anti war movie. Apocalypse Now on the other hand never gets political. It will always be my favorite
The amount of luck that goes into some of the biggest and best movies of all time is insane. A few things going differently and they would be totally different movies made by entirely different people.
"Evans wanted the picture to be directed by an Italian American to make the film "ethnic to the core".Paramount's latest mafia based movie, The Brotherhood, had done very poorly at the box office; Evans believed that the reason for its failure was its almost complete lack of cast members or creative personnel of Italian descent (the director Martin Ritt and star Kirk Douglas were both Jewish"
Thank you Cinema Tyler for your reviews and insite on these great movies and a look behind the scenes. I recommended my fellow young college cinematographers to your site. I have subscribed to your site since your reviews of Stanley Kubrick. I even try to create a small tribute in my video/music which I post here on RU-vid. Hey, after handling and taking a look through a Bollex 16mm camera ... It changed my life. Looking forward to your next project and to all fellow subscribers, all my Best.🌙
That's right. It's about Francis Ford Godfather-Corman-lack-of-trust-taking-risks-winning-oscars-against-himself-and-George-Lucas-learning-film-by-being-a-sound-guy-on-one-film-for-a-dude-that-rocketed-his-career-screenwriter-Patton's-opening-speech- Coppola.
Love this! Earlier this summer, maybe even when you were working on this I went through this whole deep dive on Apocalypse Now phase where I watched it, everything about it, the doc on the making of it (AWESOME!), reread the Conrad novella, saw all the other Vietnam war movies, etc. (this happens to me a lot, right now I'm going through a "Perfect Blue" phase). It was so fascinating because I never really got it before. When I first saw it I was too young and went in wrong, wanting to find out more about the Vietnam War as in what happened, which is not what this film does, Platoon or Full Metal Jacket are better for that. This film is what Vietnam WAS. The madness, the confusion, the experience of it, and my God as much as it was damn near driving crazy or killing half the people involved it was just a taste at that! So I'm definitely psyched for the whole series of this!!! Now, I've gotta go rewatch Black Swan in relation to what I now know about it's connections to "Perfect Blue" (Brilliant! SO ahead of it's time, see it!) cause apparently that's how I roll. ;)
I really liked your comment and I featured it in Making Apocalypse Now | Episode 2’s Companion PDF. I’d love to give you a code to download it for free. Do you have a twitter account that I can send the code to?
