Why is apocalypse now a good movie

Meanwhile, like the America that was still in its imperial pomp when it became embroiled in Vietnam, Coppola was never quite the same again once he returned from the jungle. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies.

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Already subscribed? Log in. The Vietnam War was different than other American wars. It was a West Coast sensibility rather than an East Coast sensibility. In addition, there were many sort of odd contradictions that related to the morality involved. That's a great line, and it suggests there was an attempt on the filmmaker's behalf to tell a version of the story of this war.

But it's not really a fair depiction in so many other ways Or what? It could explain in part why there have been so many cuts and recuts. It suggests a lack of confidence in the message. It is no coincidence that the best parts of the movie come during the middle act, when the Willard's crew meet up with Kilgore and talk surfing. Milius was an avid surfer and it seems like he's writing from his most confident there.

The juxtaposition is great because, knowing he was never in war and wrote this with the war still going on, he shows what real war would look like to a surfer who just showed up and doesn't understand what's happening around him. As our surfer gets deeper and deeper, all he learns is that war is hell. The personal drifts away because you can tell these guys aren't sure what part of this story should be personal to them. It's hard to tell where Apocalypse Now's mind is, which is maybe part of what has fascinated viewers for so long, but to me, it feels a bit more like a mistake and lack of intentionality.

Not a real stroke of genius There's no denying that Apocalypse Now went on to critical and financial success. Still, the impact of the Hollywood director as a crazed artist still holds up today. It's why Heaven's Gate bankrupted a studio. Why we tolerated Bertolucci's horrific behavior on Last Tango in Paris , and why it took so long to get the MeToo movement started and to talk about safer practices on set. In many ways, this movie defined the modern era. It's when studios realized they needed to take more control, to find budgetary limits, and to maximize payoffs for what's invested.

Of course. To many, the s were the hey-day of filmmaker-first filmmaking. It got a little bit out of control though, and the filmmakers became their own worst enemy. Coppola and others might lament the lack of new voices rising, but a lot of those problems arose from his behavior and wonton spending.

Again I'm not here to tell you if Apocalypse Now is a good or bad movie. That's everyone's call to make for themselves. At No Film School were interested in peeling back the layers on the film, it's production and talking about it's effects to the craft as a whole.

When we laud the movie do we talk about some of these other aspects that may have helped put an end to the era of filmmaking we miss? Do we talk about safety practices? It's important to keep it all in mind and learn as much as we can. Paul Schrader is interested in life, death, humanity, God, and punishment. We theorize how his message has changed over the past 40 years. Apocalypse Now is a cinematic journey following one man's descent into madness.

It encapsulates Nietzsche's famous quote: "Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster; and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes into you. Thanks for the reminder of how great this movie is on the 40th anniversary of its release. This is why Jason is writing for NFS and not working in the industry.

His self-righteous "safety-first" non-sense and doesn't understand suffering for ART. There's a big reason documentaries about this film have been almost as acclaimed as the film itself.

This article is garbage, written by someone who knows nothing about filmmaking. But good job promoting the anniversary of its release. I couldn't disagree with this hypothesis any more and there are countless examples of films with deeply troubled productions that were completely ripped apart Heaven's Gate, Ishtar, even Blade Runner upon it's initial release, oh and One From the Heart was troubled and panned.

Apocalypse Now captured the Vietnam experience better than any film that I can think of. It is every bit as insane as that conflict was. The depth of that film cannot be understated. It's visually incredible, it has a deep sub text and the performances and characters are all very memorable. I saw this in high school and Heart's of Darkness hadn't even come out yet and I was obsessed with this film before I knew anything about the behind the scenes drama.

He was at the height of his game and this film stands toe to toe with the first two Godfathers as his finest work. If you don't "get" the film That takes some serious chutzpah! Why am I reading on NFS an article by somebody who doesn't understand cinema the art form, like, at all? Because I've thought NFS is entertaining and educational, a source of information and thought. Perhaps it's better I use my time more wisely going forward.

Now is not a film about war - at all. It is conversation about the human experience, our struggles to contain the beast within, and the lure of the quick fix. The production itself doesn't have anything to do with the film itself. I suggest the author go read some books. I graduated from Animation at Sheridan in ' Then I looked for the digital effects and now that there is no film and we are on the verge of total virtual reality I am still looking for magician behind the magic.

But today we do not suspend our reality because there is not one to suspend. We are cemented into a universe just as we used to be strapped into a ride at the fair for the experience.

What led me to this was Wick III. I walked out when I had experienced enough dog fight scenes. Tell me a story. I think the nuance of what is being said here is lost in the claims of the title. Over-rated is a loaded word. I feel like the question being posed here is key - how much should be sacrificed for art? It's easy to romanticize the extent to which Coppola went to make the movie but where do we draw the line between art and abuse. This is a much more important take for filmmakers to contemplate than whether or not to buy the next 6K camera.

Agreed, framing this as "Apocalypse Now is Overrated" is really burying the lead in a bucket of click-bait. I'd be fine with that if the article really went for the "what should we be willing to do for art? Unfortunately we don't really get deep into that. Some of the most acclaimed films of the past century were brutal productions or made by meglomaniacs. Forty years since its first release, the director has been reworking his masterpiece for a definitive edition.

How does he view his film — and the madness of its making — after all these years? Yet arguably the greatest war film of them all owes much to Inglenook. Bought in by Francis Ford Coppola, using his spoils from The Godfather , he promptly risked the property, staking it to raise money for what would become one of the most arduous and challenging productions in the history of film.

When he welcomes me to Inglenook, Coppola, who turned 80 in April, is almost unrecognisable from his 70s heyday. Gone are the hirsute beard and thick-rimmed spectacles that were once his trademark; they are replaced by neat white stubble and, slung loosely around his neck, a modern pair of magnetic glasses that unclip at the nose. He has also dropped four and a half stone 64lb , the result of four months spent at a weight-loss clinic. In conversation he tends towards the philosophical, and his elliptical answers stray from his films towards his admiration for the likes of Aristotle and William Morris.

It is 40 years this month since Apocalypse Now first hit cinemas, and to mark the anniversary Coppola returned once again to his editing suite. I made the movie from that. The result is a savage and darkly comic examination of the absurdity and double standards of war. Apocalypse Now has stirring scenes of helicopters attacking innocent people. They would dance at the wedding. That would be an anti-war film.