Apocalypse Now
- Thread starter siarc
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treefrog
Saddle up
Crap- watched it years ago and it just seemed to drag horribly. Brando's performance was shambling and dislointed- he seemed more like a drunk hanging about an off-licence than an enigmatic and terrifying individual. Compared to full Metal Jacket and Platoon (which have characters I cared about and did the whole "futility of War" thing a lot better) it's a mess. It's less "Horrors of War", more "Horrors of having to listen to yet another whacked-out monologue"....
Griff said:Last time I saw it, it was the Redux at a West End cinema with a serious sound system. The carpet bombing sounded incredible.
A packed Saturday afternoon audience were totally blown away and left in silence at the end, one of those great cinema experiences.
I got to see Redux in a West End cinema too when it was released. I smoked a couple of cheeky biftas before going in and watched the helicopters/beach scene catatonically stoned. Fucking ace, with Wagner blasting out…the sound of choppers coming from all directions…nearly wet me seat.
Great film.
I love the film and saw Redux at the Filmworks in Manchester ages ago. Fantastic and still love the opening sequence of the napalm with the Doors in the background. I think unless you really want to enter into its twisted ending you will dislike it and find it dull but it was messed up so I liked it, and done well.
weltweit
Well-Known Member
I watched it again last night on ITV4.
It is quite long, I got bored with some of their trip up the river.
But Brando was great as the lunatic special forces nutter, very believable and I loved Dennis Hopper's photographer.
One thing that did slightly disturb me was the slaughtering of the cow at the end, it looked like they really did slaughter an animal in quite a brutal way, not sure what to think about that, part of me does not approve at all..... mind you I find animal cruelty more abhorrent than human cruelty !!
It is quite long, I got bored with some of their trip up the river.
But Brando was great as the lunatic special forces nutter, very believable and I loved Dennis Hopper's photographer.
One thing that did slightly disturb me was the slaughtering of the cow at the end, it looked like they really did slaughter an animal in quite a brutal way, not sure what to think about that, part of me does not approve at all..... mind you I find animal cruelty more abhorrent than human cruelty !!
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
They really did.
weltweit
Well-Known Member
They really did slaughter the cow..... ?
Well I don't approve, it is fiction not documentary, they could have done something else to get across the image of brutality.
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
Well....it was a long time ago and not an uncommon way to slaughter a beast in that part of the world.
It's wrong. Yeah. Watcha gonna do about it?
weltweit
Well-Known Member
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
It kinda was because Coppola's film crew filmed some locals having a celebration in which they slaughtered the animal and he inserted the footage into the film. He didn't orchestrate the scene.
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
Just feel a bit of righteous indignation!!
Why what did you have in mind?
I was just wondering where your disapproval was going to lead. I pictured you on a vigilante march to Coppola's vineyards to crush his grapes.
weltweit
Well-Known Member
Oh, well that would be better, if you don't me asking, how do you know this?
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
It's a oft discussed and documented topic.
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
If yer really wanna see some animals suffer watch Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
Them poor chickens.
Them poor chickens.
weltweit
Well-Known Member
Oh, ok .... it did bother me the first time I saw the film, years ago, but it is the first time I have discussed it at all.
There are a lot of bloody war films, but usually the beings apparently suffering are people and that is usually only special effects.
There was a stuntman killed I believe in Mad Max, something went wrong with a motorbike stunt I believe, in fact I think they may have left footage of the actual moment in the film, there is a moment where a crashed motorbike skids into someone's head, I imagine that may have caused a fatality.
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
I think that's a myth (the mad max thing).
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
weltweit
Well-Known Member
Oh, good if it was..
weltweit
Well-Known Member
Did you at least get to eat it afterwards, except the eyes!!
For me animal derived good luck takes the form of just seeing a black cat.
All I have to do is see one and I feel lucky
I don't have to slaughter it or anything!!All I have to do is see one and I feel lucky
Maybe if you started you'd get better luck
weltweit
Well-Known Member
Possibly, but the neighbours would disown me
Anyhow as of late my luck (if you believe in such a thing which I don't) has been a little on the better side. I just feel good when I see a black cat, one day I will get one of my own, or two, and have that feeling every day !!
snadge
metal alchemist
Did you at least get to eat it afterwards, except the eyes!!
For me animal derived good luck takes the form of just seeing a black cat.
All I have to do is see one and I feel lucky
Yes I participated in the feast also.
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
Not true, that was just his way of deflecting criticism. His wife and the crew and the extras told the real story. She had seen the extras doing a slaughter for real, got Coppola to have a look and he decided it would be the climax to the film, which he didn't have any ideas for. So he bought the buffalo and staged the whole thing. It's all here, a long article but a great read. The Filipino extras saw the buffalo as a symbol of their Spanish colonial masters. "Even as the Ifugao accept the gift of meat, they are symbolically assassinating the imperial donor." http://www.materialworldblog.com/20...ugao-extras-and-the-making-of-apocalypse-now/
You can tell that the slaughter scene can't have been an insert - the lighting setup and the set and the extras wouldn't have looked consistent if it had been filmed elsewhere.
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
Another factoid: one of the helicopter pilots in the Ride of the Valkyries scene - the one who takes out a heavy weapon and is offered a case of beer as a reward - was played by R.Lee Ermey, the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. He was also a military advisor. But he wasn't credited for either job.
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