Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

I love the smell of napalm in the morning… New on DVD this week, Francis Ford Coppola revisits Apocalypse Now for the third time. A majestic and meandering masterpiece with amazing performances, especially Martin Sheen, Apocalypse Now never fails to inspire madness. Third time the charm?

Based on Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness, this is a controversial addition to the multitude of Vietnam war movies in existence. We follow Captain Willard on his mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Green Beret who has set himself up as a God among a local tribe. Notes taken by Coppola’s wife have recently been used to create “Hearts Of Darkness” - a fascinating and revealing account of the making of this movie.

Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, this classic and compelling Vietnam War epic stars Martin Sheen as Captain Willard, who is sent on a dangerous and mesmerizing odyssey into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade American Colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has succumbed to the horrors of war and barricaded himself in a remote outpost. Also stars Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper and Harrison Ford.

DVD Features:
Available Subtitles: English, Spanish
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Commentary by: Francis Ford Coppola (both films)Dolby Digital 2.0
Contains both the 1979 and 2001 versions
Lost “monkey sampan” scene
Outtake: Marlon Brando’s complete reading of T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men”
12 never-before-seen segments from the cutting room floor
A/V Club featurettes: “The Birth of 5.1 Sound,” “Ghost Helicopter Flyover,” “The Synthesizer Soundtrack by Bob Moog,’, and “Technical FAQ”
The Post Production of Apocalypse Now featurettes: “A Million Feet of Film: The Editing of Apocalypse Now,” “The Music of Apocalypse Now,” “The Sound of Apocalypse Now,” “The Final Mix”
“Apocalypse Then and Now” retrospective
“PBR Streetgang” - cast members’ reunion
“The Color Palette of Apocalypse Now”
Redux Marker - special function to mark the added scenes and expanded scenes of Apocalypse Now Redux

Here’s a digest review from DVD Talk and Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere:

Apocalypse Now was shot in 70mm and was initially shown in the correct widescreen 70mm aspect ratio of 2.21 to 1. This new DVD has Apocalypse trimmed down to 2.35 to 1, which sounds like they’ve chopped off the tops and bottoms slightly. I saw it in 70mm at the Ziegeld 27 years ago and I know they showed it at 2.21 to 1 during that engagement and they wouldn’t have done this if it hadn’t been cool with Francis and the powers-that-be, so anyone who says a 2.35 to 1 presentation is somehow better or more complete is wrong. I’m always disagreeing with people who think it’s better to show a film with the tops and bottoms chopped off. Give it air, I always say. Give the actors a little headroom.