Coppola is a truly unique director in several ways. Perhaps the one thing that really defines him is that he is NOT defined by his gimmicks. When you watch a film by Martin Scorsese, he may surprise you, but you know that you're going to get some exotic camera movements, some fast paced editing and, if it's set in modern times, "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones will play at least once. Apocalypse Now defines Coppola's unpredictability.
The film is allegedly based on Heart of Darkness, the novel, but outside of a few key parallels, the two are very different stories, albeit sharing a similar nihilistic tone and a few moments. We follow Martin Sheen as the alcoholic Captain Ben J. Willard, a secret operative who has grown more and more psychotic in his time away from the action.
All he wants is to be put back in the field. "Every day, Charlie grows stronger while I grow weaker". He thrives on the blood lust of battle and can't take another day cooped up in this room. The opening scene is immediately gripping, with the choppers flying overhead and Willard simply going insane in a bedroom somewhere in Saigon, waiting for his next mission.
The famous shot from the opening scene is of course Sheen punching the mirror. This was not in the script. A lot of things weren't. Coppola nearly lost his mind in real life making this film, and in fact, the documentary on the making of the movie is, in many ways, less predictable and just as fascinating as the film itself. Unfortunately, we only have time to actually review the movie.
The movie is loaded from end to end with unforgettable scenes and incredible characters. Before we even get into the main cast, we have Cockroach, who appears for a single scene in the film during a fight over a key bridge in Vietnam. He sleeps through the battle while the others defend, but when a lone V. C. Sits amongst his friends bodies in the dark, shouting insults, Cockroach is awoken, he fires a grenade into the air which arcs perfectly and silences the V. C. Immediately, and then Cockroach goes back to bed. Robert Duvall as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore is one of the greatest one-scene characters ever, ordering his men to surf while mortar fire hits the waves.
This is without even mentioning any of the main characters. You could remove Kilgore, Dennis Hopper or Cockroach and still tell this story. Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz is, in fact, the heart of the film, despite not even appearing until the final act of the story. Even without appearing on screen until the finale, his existence casts a nihilistic dread across the atmosphere of the movie.
The film succeeds on every possible level. It is endearing, at times, when you see the camaraderie between the men on Willard's boat. It's funny, it's exciting with some of the greatest action set pieces ever put to film, it's a jaw dropping piece of cinematic art, yet... The pessimism, the nihilism of the two main characters, Willard and Kurtz, eventually takes over and overwhelms every other aspect of the film.
While Coppola claims Rumble Fish as the personal favorite amongst his body of work, his fans typically consider it to be between Apocalypse Now and The Godfather Part II. It is, at the very least, his most wild, insane and epic film to date.
The film is allegedly based on Heart of Darkness, the novel, but outside of a few key parallels, the two are very different stories, albeit sharing a similar nihilistic tone and a few moments. We follow Martin Sheen as the alcoholic Captain Ben J. Willard, a secret operative who has grown more and more psychotic in his time away from the action.
All he wants is to be put back in the field. "Every day, Charlie grows stronger while I grow weaker". He thrives on the blood lust of battle and can't take another day cooped up in this room. The opening scene is immediately gripping, with the choppers flying overhead and Willard simply going insane in a bedroom somewhere in Saigon, waiting for his next mission.
The famous shot from the opening scene is of course Sheen punching the mirror. This was not in the script. A lot of things weren't. Coppola nearly lost his mind in real life making this film, and in fact, the documentary on the making of the movie is, in many ways, less predictable and just as fascinating as the film itself. Unfortunately, we only have time to actually review the movie.
The movie is loaded from end to end with unforgettable scenes and incredible characters. Before we even get into the main cast, we have Cockroach, who appears for a single scene in the film during a fight over a key bridge in Vietnam. He sleeps through the battle while the others defend, but when a lone V. C. Sits amongst his friends bodies in the dark, shouting insults, Cockroach is awoken, he fires a grenade into the air which arcs perfectly and silences the V. C. Immediately, and then Cockroach goes back to bed. Robert Duvall as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore is one of the greatest one-scene characters ever, ordering his men to surf while mortar fire hits the waves.
This is without even mentioning any of the main characters. You could remove Kilgore, Dennis Hopper or Cockroach and still tell this story. Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz is, in fact, the heart of the film, despite not even appearing until the final act of the story. Even without appearing on screen until the finale, his existence casts a nihilistic dread across the atmosphere of the movie.
The film succeeds on every possible level. It is endearing, at times, when you see the camaraderie between the men on Willard's boat. It's funny, it's exciting with some of the greatest action set pieces ever put to film, it's a jaw dropping piece of cinematic art, yet... The pessimism, the nihilism of the two main characters, Willard and Kurtz, eventually takes over and overwhelms every other aspect of the film.
While Coppola claims Rumble Fish as the personal favorite amongst his body of work, his fans typically consider it to be between Apocalypse Now and The Godfather Part II. It is, at the very least, his most wild, insane and epic film to date.
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