Absolutely. After our team watched all of these films for this course, Apocalypse Now is the one that stuck with me. It always has stuck with me but I'm impressed that it still does. - Nick J.
I never tend to like director's cuts more than the theatrical cuts. This was no different. The "Redux" felt overly long to me. How did you like it? - Nick J.
The theatrical cut has the explosion montage as part of credits. If we take that into the account, it appears Willard called ''Almighty'' an ''Killed them All'' after all! That opens up new perspectives and interpretations.
I wanted to like Redux, but I felt it tried to hard to directly tie things to Heart of Darkness in the way they used the French colonists. And the base film is exhausting already, I don't think it needs to be any longer.
I think Brando (Kurtz) was portrayed in the shadows the whole movie simply because he was massively overweight at the time - not a typical trait of a Special Forces officer.
Phil Roth there’s nothing wrong with seeing things how you see them it’s the beauty of art. It may just be a happy accident but I was always told to let your art be smarter than you are.
Evan Underwood it is my favorite opening to a movie ever and the song is a big reason for that. I love how the end of the scene features Sheen having an actual breakdown and the song picks up and sounds like it’s having a mental break down as well. Genius
You'll read that book in high school? Well, that's interesting. I've already read the book, and I'm still in eighth grade. What other books will be read in high school ?
Heart of Darkness does criticise British imperialism but only the extent that it goes after imperialism in general. But the Congo was part of Belgium's empire not the UK's
While Heart of Darkness takes place mainly in Congo, the story is told through a frame story by Marlow on the river Thames, telling other sailors. The novella make a lot of direct comparison from London river Thames to Congo river and juxtaposing it with speculation history of the Romans "civilizing" Britain. I personally read it as using the history of Belgium to make comparison to British position in Europe imperialism.
my favorite line is by Kilgore : " some day this war is going to over." i served in iraq. there are days i miss it. when my unit was getting ready to go home. i tried in vain to stay behind. i felt that i had nothing to go back to. no career, no partner or child. no family that wouldn't eventually get over my demise and move on. there is an inherent absolution in war. one is so focused on the next 5 minutes, forgetting the past becomes a form of forgiveness. there is only honorable and amoral action. there is only adrenaline and rest. there are only brothers and enemies . any grey area becomes lost in the brown muddy haze of the next dust storm. THREE THOUGHTS ON MY WARFARE I. Sometimes I feel that had I died in combat, I would achieve vindication, all my sins forgiven. The bullet ending my life would bring with it absolution. However should I survive such an endeavor again, I will be empowered to all ends. II. I fear failure more than the fire-fight. I fear addiction more than torture. I fear loneliness more than capture. There must be a way to take command of my life, another way to live other than to willingly descend into the dark waters of combat. Why more than now, is my fear the object of my fear? Perhaps my age? Perhaps I feel that by now I would have had my life figured out? Maybe I feel that its just a matter of time before I am crushed beneath the weight of wrong doings and mistakes. God help me. And if going to Hell is my only way of reaching Heaven, So be it. III. I'm not looking to achieve immortality through marble monuments or scholarly mentions. At the most maybe my life could serve as an example: That a man can raise himself from the grave. I know in my heart of hearts, even though sometimes I don't believe it: That even when it's really bad, it's still all good...
Quique Feroz You've never lived till you almost died. Foe those who fight for it, Life has a flavor The protracted will never know. L.Thimble,-J. Lamotte,- R Davis -- US Army (SOG) Hope this helps . From John L.Plaster book: Secret Commados Behind enemy lines with the elite warriors of SOG Preface: Glad you made it home, Carry on! Help or reach another the wisdom you've gained.
Joe Kurtz thank you brother. welcome home. every day i do my best to make today better yesterday. sometimes I'm successful and sometimes and i am not. but I know there's no giving up, only moving forward.
Quique Feroz Your welcome i never served, kinda wish I had, sence your thoughts, and compelled to respond with that paricular passage. Made munition casings (arty& MLRS ,) during 80'a and knew kids would be using them, as I was a young man then. Stay Healthy. !!! :, one of mine is to live life and not bring shame to my ancestors
azdgariarada my son's work had Bin Laden don't Surf Tee shirts printed awhile back.. had a good laugh on that. Now get out there and lets see what you can do. Thnx!
You could have mentioned the French as the last station of sanity and the last chance for redemption..and the great line that explains the troubled mind :" there are two in you, the one who loves and the one who kills "
Scoop idk dude. I think it at least deserves a seat at the table. It completely transcends the war genre to provide commentary on some pretty heavy issues and is a technical marvel that’s still almost unparalleled. Taking into account the ambition of it, the cinematography, the acting, directing, presentation, etc it’s almost flawless IMO from front to back. If someone told me this was their favorite of all time I’d respect itz
Never in my life have I seen, nor think I will ever see, a better opening to any movie than that of Apocalypse Now. Perfect song choice, stunning visuals and effects coming together to say... welcome to hell. Brilliant.
@@AdamFerrari64 You're right! I stand corrected. Maybe my brain was confusing The Deer Hunter from the previous year - Vietnam movie, Supporting Actor...
A friend who was in Vietnam during the war told me that Apocalypse Now was the most realistic movie about the experience of the Vietnam War for American soldiers that he'd ever seen.
God, I remember watching this movie for the first time. It was after having my wisdom teeth removed, and I was high out of my mind on the pain meds they'd give me. It was absolutely insane.
It's truly an amazing story, the actors, the director, the film. It's the decent into madness on and off screen. It's life changing for all participants, it's the Heart of Darkness and it's passing from one to another.
Amanda Tessmer It could be viewed that way but also it could be viewed as a critique of British imperialism considering the fact that the framing narrative takes place on a boat in the Thames and the protagonist is British.
Ned Mononymous Belgian imperialism in the Congo was absolutely appalling. The Belgian king owned the Congo personally rather than it being part of the Belgian empire. He treated the people as possessions and slaves and used them for exploiting the mineral reserves etc using rule by atrocity on the same lines as the Nazis in Eastern Europe, if not worse.
@@SvenTviking - Belgian excesses in the Congo are at least in part a British exaggeration, in the hope of creating a pretext for taking over the Congo themselves.
I think Kurtz’s final words refer to his welcoming of death. He mentions earlier to Willard that he has made friends with horror, and wants Willard to tell his son everything about him when he dies, as if Kurtz knows he will die soon. When Willard attacks him, he shows no resistance, and his final words are his way of accepting death and greeting it.
That was a great analysis of an awesome film, Michael. I remember watching Apocalypse Now when really young and not really understanding a lot. Then I revisited it much older and really grasped the depth of the film. Amazing stuff.
Here's my take on Willard and Kurtz. A lot of people believe that Kurtz wasn't insane but enlightened. Some kind of damaged genius. I think they are wrong and here is why. Kurtz was definitely insane but he was also enlightened at the same time. The reason why I think he is insane because he kills pretty indiscriminately, like the part where the reporter says that he threatened to kill him for taking his picture. And the grotesque hanging naked bodies etc etc. See, the River was the journey - almost like a long obstacle course - and Kurtz made it through it. He achieved enlightenment were he saw the absurdity of it all and he also embraces the horror as his friend, just like he described in the monologue about the Cadres. The problem is that it broke him and he embraced it to the point that he lost all sense of right and wrong. Willard, went down the same River journey, achieved the same enlightened understanding as Kurtz, embraced horror as a friend, but did not break as Kurtz did. He was the perfect soldier that Kurtz described. For this reason, Kurtz recognized that Willard was the greater man than himself and determined that he was worthy enough to allow him to end his life. After Willard kills him, he is greeted with the same worship from the followers as Kurtz received, which further shows that Willard was greater. And when Willard rejects it, grabs Lance and leaves, he shows my earlier point: He was strong enough to endure all of that, embraced horror as a friend etc, but still come back from the edge that Kurtz went over. Willard was the perfect soldier.
I use this film in a modern media course I teach. This is a haunting vision of war and of what war (the Vietnam War in particular) does to those involved. Another interpretation of the movie is that it is a metaphor for the entire American experience in Vietnam. As the boat goes further and further into the river, the more insane and difficult it gets. Likewise, the deeper the boat goes, the harder it is to get back to where you started. So, as America got deeper into the war, the more insane it got and the harder it was to end it.
Interesting take, but, not exactly. More like a bell curve. US involvement peaked in early 1969. As the Nixon administration began to take it more seriously while simultaneously drawing down, the situation was improving. The Tet offensive of 1968 was a victory for the US and ARVN that effective saw the destruction of the VC guerillas within the South. Communists didn't have to worry about elections, media or a hostile Congress. Their victory came in the form of duping the US media into thinking otherwise. North VN was not interested in negotiating a peace and wouldn't come to the table. Nixon initiated the Christmas bombing campaign of Dec 72 and gave the North an ultimatum. It worked. A peace was negotiated and all US combat units removed by 1973. Contrary to popular belief (fueled by ignorant media), the ARVN were quite capable at that stage as long as they had US air support and materiel aid (as promised). The North, of course, violated the peace and launched the Easter offensive in 73 (largest to date) which the ARVN threw back with the assistance of US air. Everything was looking okay until the democrat Congress hog tied spending in support of Vietnam and DRASTICALLY cut aid and materiel. All air support was refused. Pres Ford begged for money to fulfill the US promises, but, Congress refused. As the NVA rolled toward Saigon in tanks (supplied by the USSR), they would have been sitting ducks for US air. The rest, as they say, is history. Democrats got the US into the war and tried to fight it in a limited way. Later, Democrats screwed their allies and the media lied about it. Some things never change.
I loved the redux. The perspective of the French was very enlightening in a historical sense. The Vietnamese envied the USA and wanted to be free as Americans are in contrast to French colonialism and occupation. It's interesting how Ho Chi Mihn spent many years learning different cultures to include Russian, European, and American life firsthand. When Mihn became a communist from a socialist and led his people toward those ideals it solidified their fate and put them further from independence because the western world would never have embraced red.It's unfortunate how that war panned out for all parties involved. Only the dead have seen the end of war, there were no winners or losers just war and it impacted millions in tragic fashion. I value my time in the Marine infantry and I encourage people to get involved and leave the confines of their homelands and the restriction of second and third party information, spearheaded by mainstream media, to embrace new ideas, share cultures, and pass on refined legacies to our inheritance. We can learn a lot from history and break vicious cycles if we are bold enough to break from our comfort zones with inquisitive intent to understand humanity and its course. Just the musings of an nonintellectual. Just a rifleman. Good show Crash Course.
+North Rock 99 - Basically it adds some historical context to the setting, it touches on themes of the past and of the cyclical nature of war in general. It talks about the American aid to the Viet-Minh (which eventually became the Viet Cong) during WW2 and about the French war in Vietnam afterwards, and I thought it was a scene that had content which kept it grounded from all the surrealism of the rest of the film but also kept the beauty of that cinematography style. I can see why it was originally taken out (perhaps because of pressure to do so because of the politics of it?), but it just completes the film for me.
Agree...mostly...Of all the added bits in Redux, the French scene is the most important. Could have cut the opium smoking and bedding of the widow parts. And the guy with the accordion needs to go away.
one of the greatest movies ever made. but definitely not just a war movie. i would say it is primarily a thriller/suspense film, and as well as drama, taking place during the Vietnam war.
The scene where Kurtz talks about the "little pile of severed arms" is a grotesque part that explains his mentality. He realizes that the people who cut off these children's arms were not necessarily evil but people who were willing to suspend their morality to win the war. Kurtz hence follows their example and we are told his method does work by enemy activity dropping to nothing, however, he is operating without the permission of his commanding officers who believe he has gone insane. We don't want to believe there is a logic to how Kurtz is fighting - which is essentially not caring about being a war criminal - but we do have to ask if there isn't a logic to it. Do we have to be bloodthirsty to fight bloodthirsty people? How low do we have to go to succeed? Would we do the same thing?
I have a slightly different twist to this. I propose that his commanding officers were right. He was insane. And Captain Willard was the perfect soldier that Kurtz described. This is why Kurtz allowed him to kill him, he was able to embrace horror and make a friend of it, but he didn't become the indiscriminate murderer that Kurtz had become. So Kurtz recognized that Willard was special because unlike the other assassin that was sent before him, Willard didn't break and join him despite taking the same journey. I mean, he didn't succumb and allow the darkness to take over him. This is portrayed when Willard was leaving and all of the followers bowed down to him as the new leader but he rejects it and leaves. He leaves because he still retained his humanity.
In order to understand this movie, you need to start with its sources: Heart of Darkness, Eliot's "The Wasteland," the grail myth and the fisher king myth, the Nibelungenlied, and to understand the ending, The Golden Bough.
You guys should totally do one on 'The Conversation' as well! But no hurries, Coppola's great, but there's still time to savour other directors too! Looking forward for the Pan's Labyrinth episode!
My late father who was a Vietnam Vet, will be 2 years since he passed May 3. Hearing his time in Nam, 3 movies match perfectly. Full Metal Jacket, Platoon and Apocalypse Now (especially his black ops mission)
Just saw the 40th anniversary version Apocalypse Now : Final Cut in the cinema. Amazing experience seeing it on the big screen with Dolby surround sound. I recommend seeing if you get the chance.
Great video, I love Apocalypse Now and I had no idea about the difficulties filming, which seems so fitting for the movie they were making. However you hit a pet peeve of mine with "epileptic seizures", Epilepsy is the term for a seizure condition not a type of seizure, one can have Tonic-clonic (or grand mal) seizures (like I used to), Myoclonic seizures, Absence (or petit mal) seizures, Focal Seizures, etc. Given he you said he had "a seizure" not several he doesn't have epilepsy, you need to have a few to qualify, if it isn't really know which kind he had it's better to just say "he had a seizure".
Not only is this one of the greatest films of all time, but the documentary Heart of Darkness made my Coppola's wife is excellent in it's own right. Watch Apocalypse Now and then watch that.
That's exactly how i viewed the ending as well,Kurtz reflecting back on his time in Vietnam and the vicious nature and out of control manner which it had become with no ending in sight except for his final solution for victory which entailed parting ways from the traditional order of battle,thus uttering his final words,The Horror,The Horror.
I'd like to point out that the early colony was personal property of the Belgian king Leopold II Management of the colony was left largely to private companies and Congo was not under the control of the Belgian government They only stepped in later (1908) after international criticism while the book "heart of darkness" is from 1899
Ward Indigne it was. The book references a Congo Company rather than Government and the Congo was the largest private estate in world history, conditions in the Congo also failed to get significantly better after the Belgian Government took over, as they were obsesses with race measuring and stuff like that. However Leopold was Belgian and so where many of the managers. So much in the same way that British East India Company controlled India was British colonialism, this was Belgian colonialism under Leopold II's Congo Company. Though the main point is that it wasn't British colonialism
To me this is one of the very few movies that isn't multi genre, but completely defies genre. I love this movie, but after watching this analysis I have a new respect for it, and Francis Ford Coppola.
The moment where Willard shoots the wounded girl... that's illustrative of a dangerous state of mind that every one of us need to watch out for. Every last one of us. 😣
I like to think that the song "The End" by The Doors whit what the movie starts and when the movie reaches the conclusion by the death of Colonel Kurtz with the end of the song has some intentional meaning with the long "interlude" of slower events happening in-between as in the song, with a long interlude, kind of parallel between the story and song, it was a great movie, this inspired me to search it, keep on Aranda :)
Very good interpretation I think because these are points I would overlook . I would watch a movie to relax and enjoy it. Not to psychoanalyze and interpret the symbolism....at least not at first
There are also parallels with The Odyssey. The Playboy Bunnies are the sirens, the Do Long bridge is the underworld, etc. So many different lenses through which to view this wonderful film. Too bad Coppala never made another film worth watching.
I often saw the movie as looking into the darkness of the soul. It looks into the heart of darkness inside man, just like the book, it looks deep into the part of humans that we do are best to pretend aren't really. Kurtz was the best of the best we are told during the movie, but in the end the dark madness took him.
I like the part where they are fighting at night and the soldier with a grenade luncher is able to hear a injured VC and launch the Grenade luncher to kill him, just by using sound and nothing else.
Gabriel Angelos Hey soldier, do you know Who's in charge here?? - - - Yeah!- - - Kinda sums it all up with his reply too . So what you wait for: Bust'em Roach!!
You should watch the documentary about the making of this movie. It's called A filmmakers Apocalypse and gives great insight into the troublesome production of Apocalypse Now.
NOooooo........Its the idea of the Scapegoat in Religion , as outlined in the book on Kurtzs desk (GOLDEN BOUGH) . Thats why the camera pans to it. In order to have an ancient scapegoat you need a religion and a sacrificial King / God The bulls sacrifice (like Lambs ) is to cleanse guilt from as tribe. Thats why they both must be killed. "Errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill" - Kurtz is the bill or sacrifice that must pay for the wars madness" Its far far deeper that those shrinks say. Heart of Darkness / The Golden Bough / Lord of the Flies and even the Bible.
The more I am listening to you, talking along about Apocalypse now, the more I am thinking about Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder, which seems to make references to the filming of Apocalypse now.
I remember being a little kid and watching this with my father back to back with The Fight for Hamburger Hill. It was interesting seeing a more gritty war film instead of all the over-the-top and self indulgent war movies where it's a clear good v bad and the good guy always winning.
According to veterans, until the release of "We Were Soldiers", "Hamburger Hill" was the best movie about the war. Remember AN was not a film about Vietnam, it is an artistic presentation of Conrad's themes from "Heart of Darkness" utilizing the war as a vehicle for that presentation as opposed to the Congo ivory trade.
Chef succeeded in calling for an airstrike. The original theatrical release plays the closing credits over slow-motion footage of the temple complex being destroyed by the bombing. That was also the only ending people knew of for over a decade, due to it being the only version shown on television in the Eighties.
If you're really into this film, you need to watch the "Hearts of Darkness" documentary about how it was made. It's full of interesting details and also indispensable for understanding what's going on with Brando being in the shadows, among other things.
It's impossible for words to describe. What is necessary, to those who do not know what horror means. Horror... Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies...
In many ways, it parallels the video game "Spec Ops: The Line." There's a similar tale, since it could be considered the video game interpretation of "Heart of Darkness" to "Apocalypse Now" being the film interpretation.
Hello I am from India and in my 10th standard history textbook we had achapter called "Nationalism in Indo China". Apocalypse now is mentioned and they encourage us to watch the film. I personally found it very interesting. It was a good movie, as Francis tried to make sense of the Vietnamese war, whereas in films like John Wayne's Green Berets people were encourged to serve in the war. Apocalypse now is unique indeed.
kurtz is based on the real life Barry Peterson an australian soldier sent into vietnam by the cia his story is fascinatingly documented in the book the tiger man of vietnam its a realy good read.
"Soldier...do you know who's in charge here?"
"Yeah."
Roach is the best character
Roach is a machine bro
That section of film is jammed full of dope samples
Whered the dog go!?
men bls Zionist vampires have an organ harvesting tent that's half on the Soviet side and half on our side.
Every line from this movie is quotable...
"I had hardly said a word to my wife until I said 'yes' to a divorce"
Never has a film used the medium to show the breaking of the human soul so well. Such a beautiful masterwork.
Absolutely. After our team watched all of these films for this course, Apocalypse Now is the one that stuck with me. It always has stuck with me but I'm impressed that it still does.
- Nick J.
i watched the directors cut on netflix a while ago
I never tend to like director's cuts more than the theatrical cuts. This was no different. The "Redux" felt overly long to me. How did you like it?
- Nick J.
The theatrical cut has the explosion montage as part of credits. If we take that into the account, it appears Willard called ''Almighty'' an ''Killed them All'' after all! That opens up new perspectives and interpretations.
I wanted to like Redux, but I felt it tried to hard to directly tie things to Heart of Darkness in the way they used the French colonists. And the base film is exhausting already, I don't think it needs to be any longer.
"Never get out of the boat, absolutely goddamn right unless you were going all the way"
"Hi tiger! Bye tiger!"
Fun fact: Martin Sheen wasn't supposed to break the mirror, but he smashed it by accident, and they just kept filming the scene.
Hahahaha for real?
B0p G0d yes, and the bleeding was real.
Not only that, he got high and drunk and said to the cameramen to roll until the scenes over.
So, he was both high AND drunk? Lmao no wonder that scene felt so real
AND he tried to attack Francis Ford Coppola in his furious drunk stupor while having asked them to shoot the whole thing
I think Brando (Kurtz) was portrayed in the shadows the whole movie simply because he was massively overweight at the time - not a typical trait of a Special Forces officer.
Francis even said in an interview that was why haha! Sometimes people just need to analyze everything
In the redux cut there is scene with Brando in full daylight
It was the case Of happy Accident
Phil Roth can you imagine how frustrating that was for Francis lol. Marlon showed up overweight AND bald
Phil Roth there’s nothing wrong with seeing things how you see them it’s the beauty of art. It may just be a happy accident but I was always told to let your art be smarter than you are.
Also, "Apocalypse Now" is a stunning reimagining of "Heart of Darkness". It must be one of the best book-to-movie adaptations, ever.
The use of The Doors song The End was extremely well placed for the movie. I really messed up song for a really messed up thought process.
My only ONLY gripe with the entire movie is that Jim Morrison's first words don't sync up with the napalm impacting.
Spell check is a useful tool...
Evan Underwood it is my favorite opening to a movie ever and the song is a big reason for that. I love how the end of the scene features Sheen having an actual breakdown and the song picks up and sounds like it’s having a mental break down as well. Genius
Why is The End a messed up song?
@@pzooka shut up idiot
You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill.
The psychological discussion here makes me remember when I read Slaughterhouse Five in high school. Great analysis!
You'll read that book in high school? Well, that's interesting. I've already read the book, and I'm still in eighth grade. What other books will be read in high school ?
Heart of Darkness does criticise British imperialism but only the extent that it goes after imperialism in general. But the Congo was part of Belgium's empire not the UK's
But muh narrative
While Heart of Darkness takes place mainly in Congo, the story is told through a frame story by Marlow on the river Thames, telling other sailors. The novella make a lot of direct comparison from London river Thames to Congo river and juxtaposing it with speculation history of the Romans "civilizing" Britain. I personally read it as using the history of Belgium to make comparison to British position in Europe imperialism.
my favorite line is by Kilgore : " some day this war is going to over."
i served in iraq. there are days i miss it. when my unit was getting ready to go home. i tried in vain to stay behind. i felt that i had nothing to go back to. no career, no partner or child. no family that wouldn't eventually get over my demise and move on.
there is an inherent absolution in war. one is so focused on the next 5 minutes, forgetting the past becomes a form of forgiveness. there is only honorable and amoral action. there is only adrenaline and rest. there are only brothers and enemies . any grey area becomes lost in the brown muddy haze of the next dust storm.
THREE THOUGHTS ON MY WARFARE
I.
Sometimes I feel that had I died in combat,
I would achieve vindication,
all my sins forgiven.
The bullet ending my life would bring with it absolution.
However should I survive such an endeavor again,
I will be empowered to all ends.
II.
I fear failure more than the fire-fight.
I fear addiction more than torture.
I fear loneliness more than capture.
There must be a way to take command of my life,
another way to live other than to willingly descend into the dark waters of combat.
Why more than now,
is my fear the object of my fear?
Perhaps my age?
Perhaps I feel that by now I would have had my life figured out?
Maybe I feel that its just a matter of time
before I am crushed beneath the weight of wrong doings
and mistakes.
God help me.
And if going to Hell is my only way of reaching Heaven,
So be it.
III.
I'm not looking to achieve immortality through marble monuments or scholarly mentions.
At the most maybe my life could serve as an example:
That a man can raise himself from the grave.
I know in my heart of hearts,
even though sometimes I don't believe it:
That even when it's really bad,
it's still all good...
Quique Feroz
You've never lived till you almost died.
Foe those who fight for it,
Life has a flavor
The protracted will never know.
L.Thimble,-J. Lamotte,- R Davis -- US Army (SOG)
Hope this helps .
From John L.Plaster book:
Secret Commados
Behind enemy lines with the elite warriors of SOG
Preface:
Glad you made it home, Carry on!
Help or reach another the wisdom you've gained.
Joe Kurtz thank you brother. welcome home. every day i do my best to make today better yesterday. sometimes I'm successful and sometimes and i am not. but I know there's no giving up, only moving forward.
Quique Feroz
Your welcome i never served, kinda wish I had, sence your thoughts, and compelled to respond with that paricular passage. Made munition casings (arty& MLRS ,) during 80'a and knew kids would be using them, as I was a young man then. Stay Healthy. !!! :, one of mine is to live life and not bring shame to my ancestors
Smells like... Victory!.....
Someday this War's gonna End
+
The relationship between Willard and Kurtz, as well as the way it ends, reminds me of Edward Norton's character in Fight Club and Tyler Durden.
I love the smell of Crash Course in the morning.
Smells like... film analysis.
azdgariarada my son's work had Bin Laden don't Surf Tee shirts printed awhile back.. had a good laugh on that. Now get out there and lets see what you can do.
Thnx!
The Heart of Darkness trilogy:
Heart of Darkness.
Apocalypse Now.
Spec Ops: The Line.
One for each of the major mediums: Literature, Cinema, Video Games
An incredible series of spiritual succesors spanning across the largest mediums. Perfect!
You could have mentioned the French as the last station of sanity and the last chance for redemption..and the great line that explains the troubled mind :" there are two in you, the one who loves and the one who kills "
I love the smell of Crash Course film criticism in the morning.....no wait!!! Is the afternoon, how long have I been sleeping??
yeah, smells good
smells like... victory?
you've been sleeping 521 hours.
yea i counted
It's morning somewhere
You never really woke up.
The greatest film ever made.
^ Has never seen Showgirls.
No. Maybe your favorite, but not the greatest by a long shot.
@@daveygivens735 yaaaaaaaas mama! showgirls for the win! xoxo
@@scoop4363 greatness is subjective in art
Scoop idk dude. I think it at least deserves a seat at the table. It completely transcends the war genre to provide commentary on some pretty heavy issues and is a technical marvel that’s still almost unparalleled. Taking into account the ambition of it, the cinematography, the acting, directing, presentation, etc it’s almost flawless IMO from front to back. If someone told me this was their favorite of all time I’d respect itz
Never in my life have I seen, nor think I will ever see, a better opening to any movie than that of Apocalypse Now. Perfect song choice, stunning visuals and effects coming together to say... welcome to hell. Brilliant.
Robert Duvall is such an underrated actor. He deserves more than the one Oscar he won.
@Jeff Baker lonesome dove was his best film in my opinion
He's won two. One for Best Supporting Actor for Apocalypse Now and one for Best Actor for Tender Mercies (1983).
Martin Sorenson he didn’t win for apocalypse now. Should have though
@@AdamFerrari64 You're right! I stand corrected. Maybe my brain was confusing The Deer Hunter from the previous year - Vietnam movie, Supporting Actor...
Charlie don't surf!
Just about the best line in the whole movie.
Braedon Merwin
Neither does Bin Laden
Didn't turn out well for him in .....The End
So if Charlie don't surf, you know for sure Kilgore was being honest when he said it was safe to surf the beach
A friend who was in Vietnam during the war told me that Apocalypse Now was the most realistic movie about the experience of the Vietnam War for American soldiers that he'd ever seen.
God, I remember watching this movie for the first time. It was after having my wisdom teeth removed, and I was high out of my mind on the pain meds they'd give me. It was absolutely insane.
It's truly an amazing story, the actors, the director, the film. It's the decent into madness on and off screen. It's life changing for all participants, it's the Heart of Darkness and it's passing from one to another.
In the case of "Heart of Darkness", wouldn't it be Belgian imperialism?
Amanda Tessmer It could be viewed that way but also it could be viewed as a critique of British imperialism considering the fact that the framing narrative takes place on a boat in the Thames and the protagonist is British.
Ned Mononymous Maybe it’s just imperialism as a whole. Whether it being British, French or American.
@@polishherowitoldpilecki5521 So long as socialist imperialism isn't implied.
Ned Mononymous Belgian imperialism in the Congo was absolutely appalling. The Belgian king owned the Congo personally rather than it being part of the Belgian empire. He treated the people as possessions and slaves and used them for exploiting the mineral reserves etc using rule by atrocity on the same lines as the Nazis in Eastern Europe, if not worse.
@@SvenTviking - Belgian excesses in the Congo are at least in part a British exaggeration, in the hope of creating a pretext for taking over the Congo themselves.
Can't wait for Pan's Labyrinth! That was the movie that made me love film study, and embrace anything with subtitles.
I think Kurtz’s final words refer to his welcoming of death. He mentions earlier to Willard that he has made friends with horror, and wants Willard to tell his son everything about him when he dies, as if Kurtz knows he will die soon. When Willard attacks him, he shows no resistance, and his final words are his way of accepting death and greeting it.
Yes... bold, messy and definitively a masterpiece!
That was a great analysis of an awesome film, Michael. I remember watching Apocalypse Now when really young and not really understanding a lot. Then I revisited it much older and really grasped the depth of the film. Amazing stuff.
Here's my take on Willard and Kurtz. A lot of people believe that Kurtz wasn't insane but enlightened. Some kind of damaged genius. I think they are wrong and here is why. Kurtz was definitely insane but he was also enlightened at the same time. The reason why I think he is insane because he kills pretty indiscriminately, like the part where the reporter says that he threatened to kill him for taking his picture. And the grotesque hanging naked bodies etc etc. See, the River was the journey - almost like a long obstacle course - and Kurtz made it through it. He achieved enlightenment were he saw the absurdity of it all and he also embraces the horror as his friend, just like he described in the monologue about the Cadres. The problem is that it broke him and he embraced it to the point that he lost all sense of right and wrong. Willard, went down the same River journey, achieved the same enlightened understanding as Kurtz, embraced horror as a friend, but did not break as Kurtz did. He was the perfect soldier that Kurtz described. For this reason, Kurtz recognized that Willard was the greater man than himself and determined that he was worthy enough to allow him to end his life. After Willard kills him, he is greeted with the same worship from the followers as Kurtz received, which further shows that Willard was greater. And when Willard rejects it, grabs Lance and leaves, he shows my earlier point: He was strong enough to endure all of that, embraced horror as a friend etc, but still come back from the edge that Kurtz went over. Willard was the perfect soldier.
I use this film in a modern media course I teach. This is a haunting vision of war and of what war (the Vietnam War in particular) does to those involved. Another interpretation of the movie is that it is a metaphor for the entire American experience in Vietnam. As the boat goes further and further into the river, the more insane and difficult it gets. Likewise, the deeper the boat goes, the harder it is to get back to where you started. So, as America got deeper into the war, the more insane it got and the harder it was to end it.
Interesting take, but, not exactly. More like a bell curve. US involvement peaked in early 1969. As the Nixon administration began to take it more seriously while simultaneously drawing down, the situation was improving. The Tet offensive of 1968 was a victory for the US and ARVN that effective saw the destruction of the VC guerillas within the South. Communists didn't have to worry about elections, media or a hostile Congress. Their victory came in the form of duping the US media into thinking otherwise.
North VN was not interested in negotiating a peace and wouldn't come to the table. Nixon initiated the Christmas bombing campaign of Dec 72 and gave the North an ultimatum. It worked. A peace was negotiated and all US combat units removed by 1973. Contrary to popular belief (fueled by ignorant media), the ARVN were quite capable at that stage as long as they had US air support and materiel aid (as promised).
The North, of course, violated the peace and launched the Easter offensive in 73 (largest to date) which the ARVN threw back with the assistance of US air. Everything was looking okay until the democrat Congress hog tied spending in support of Vietnam and DRASTICALLY cut aid and materiel. All air support was refused. Pres Ford begged for money to fulfill the US promises, but, Congress refused. As the NVA rolled toward Saigon in tanks (supplied by the USSR), they would have been sitting ducks for US air. The rest, as they say, is history. Democrats got the US into the war and tried to fight it in a limited way. Later, Democrats screwed their allies and the media lied about it. Some things never change.
I loved the redux. The perspective of the French was very enlightening in a historical sense. The Vietnamese envied the USA and wanted to be free as Americans are in contrast to French colonialism and occupation. It's interesting how Ho Chi Mihn spent many years learning different cultures to include Russian, European, and American life firsthand. When Mihn became a communist from a socialist and led his people toward those ideals it solidified their fate and put them further from independence because the western world would never have embraced red.It's unfortunate how that war panned out for all parties involved. Only the dead have seen the end of war, there were no winners or losers just war and it impacted millions in tragic fashion. I value my time in the Marine infantry and I encourage people to get involved and leave the confines of their homelands and the restriction of second and third party information, spearheaded by mainstream media, to embrace new ideas, share cultures, and pass on refined legacies to our inheritance. We can learn a lot from history and break vicious cycles if we are bold enough to break from our comfort zones with inquisitive intent to understand humanity and its course.
Just the musings of an nonintellectual. Just a rifleman. Good show Crash Course.
I know one thing - Apocalypse Now is not complete as a film without the entirety of the scene at the French plantation.
Fuzzy Dunlop on point i love it
+North Rock 99 - Basically it adds some historical context to the setting, it touches on themes of the past and of the cyclical nature of war in general. It talks about the American aid to the Viet-Minh (which eventually became the Viet Cong) during WW2 and about the French war in Vietnam afterwards, and I thought it was a scene that had content which kept it grounded from all the surrealism of the rest of the film but also kept the beauty of that cinematography style. I can see why it was originally taken out (perhaps because of pressure to do so because of the politics of it?), but it just completes the film for me.
Agree...mostly...Of all the added bits in Redux, the French scene is the most important. Could have cut the opium smoking and bedding of the widow parts. And the guy with the accordion needs to go away.
It was awful, pretentious junk that appeared to come from a different film. Possibly directed by Donald Cammell...
Yeah it's complete. That whole sequence just drags and the movie never recovers.
one of the greatest movies ever made. but definitely not just a war movie. i would say it is primarily a thriller/suspense film, and as well as drama, taking place during the Vietnam war.
The scene where Kurtz talks about the "little pile of severed arms" is a grotesque part that explains his mentality. He realizes that the people who cut off these children's arms were not necessarily evil but people who were willing to suspend their morality to win the war. Kurtz hence follows their example and we are told his method does work by enemy activity dropping to nothing, however, he is operating without the permission of his commanding officers who believe he has gone insane. We don't want to believe there is a logic to how Kurtz is fighting - which is essentially not caring about being a war criminal - but we do have to ask if there isn't a logic to it. Do we have to be bloodthirsty to fight bloodthirsty people? How low do we have to go to succeed? Would we do the same thing?
schizoidboy in order to win you need to play by the rules of the game. I hope I've covered ya.
No. No you don't. As evidenced by the communist.
I have a slightly different twist to this. I propose that his commanding officers were right. He was insane. And Captain Willard was the perfect soldier that Kurtz described. This is why Kurtz allowed him to kill him, he was able to embrace horror and make a friend of it, but he didn't become the indiscriminate murderer that Kurtz had become. So Kurtz recognized that Willard was special because unlike the other assassin that was sent before him, Willard didn't break and join him despite taking the same journey. I mean, he didn't succumb and allow the darkness to take over him. This is portrayed when Willard was leaving and all of the followers bowed down to him as the new leader but he rejects it and leaves. He leaves because he still retained his humanity.
One of my favourite movies of all time timeless classic
Excellent analysis! Crash Course Film Crit never fails! Really excited for the next episode tho since it'll showcase Del Torro's Pan's Labyrinth!!
never saw the theatrical cut. have only now finished the extended cut. stands up extremely well
This well crafted introspective may be the segway needed for the next generations renewed interest in this epic film. Well done
In order to understand this movie, you need to start with its sources: Heart of Darkness, Eliot's "The Wasteland," the grail myth and the fisher king myth, the Nibelungenlied, and to understand the ending, The Golden Bough.
This is my favorite movie. It is the only movie which I have an actual copy of. Well, Apocalypse Now: Redux, that is.
Redux is the only one worth seeing.
AnthonyMazzarella I'd say the original will be the one to see. It's already a masterpiece, but adding more to it didn't change much for me.
Redux helps the original movie edit answer some things left in the breeze. Enjoy
I well tell you how Apocalypse Now is, its one of the best films ever made. It gets so haunting after starting, its a favorite of mine man
You guys should totally do one on 'The Conversation' as well!
But no hurries, Coppola's great, but there's still time to savour other directors too! Looking forward for the Pan's Labyrinth episode!
It's one of the best movies ever made. One that works on so many levels and each level completely satisfying.
My late father who was a Vietnam Vet, will be 2 years since he passed May 3. Hearing his time in Nam, 3 movies match perfectly. Full Metal Jacket, Platoon and Apocalypse Now (especially his black ops mission)
Best episode so far, it has everything!
Glad they did this one. Great movie. I do wonder much it's interpretation outreaches it's actual content
Just saw the 40th anniversary version Apocalypse Now : Final Cut in the cinema. Amazing experience seeing it on the big screen with Dolby surround sound. I recommend seeing if you get the chance.
We're Our Souls About to see it in IMAX in a week.
I’m so goddamn excited!!
I am so psyched for Pan's Labyrinth
The Congo was a Belgium colony not English.
@@senoj.rednaxela Conrad was Polish first.
@@Vesnicie and?
Great video, I love Apocalypse Now and I had no idea about the difficulties filming, which seems so fitting for the movie they were making.
However you hit a pet peeve of mine with "epileptic seizures", Epilepsy is the term for a seizure condition not a type of seizure, one can have Tonic-clonic (or grand mal) seizures (like I used to), Myoclonic seizures, Absence (or petit mal) seizures, Focal Seizures, etc. Given he you said he had "a seizure" not several he doesn't have epilepsy, you need to have a few to qualify, if it isn't really know which kind he had it's better to just say "he had a seizure".
Not only is this one of the greatest films of all time, but the documentary Heart of Darkness made my Coppola's wife is excellent in it's own right. Watch Apocalypse Now and then watch that.
No serious film buff should skip The Heart of Darkness... the doco about the making of the film is almost as intense as the film itself.
Beach assault scene killed an extra during blowing bridge & trench line.
That's exactly how i viewed the ending as well,Kurtz reflecting back on his time in Vietnam and the vicious nature and out of control manner which it had become with no ending in sight except for his final solution for victory which entailed parting ways from the traditional order of battle,thus uttering his final words,The Horror,The Horror.
1:47 it's a critique of all imperialism but more specifically Belgian imperialism as the Congo was a Belgian colony
I'd like to point out that the early colony was personal property of the Belgian king Leopold II
Management of the colony was left largely to private companies
and Congo was not under the control of the Belgian government
They only stepped in later (1908) after international criticism
while the book "heart of darkness" is from 1899
Ward Indigne it was. The book references a Congo Company rather than Government and the Congo was the largest private estate in world history, conditions in the Congo also failed to get significantly better after the Belgian Government took over, as they were obsesses with race measuring and stuff like that. However Leopold was Belgian and so where many of the managers. So much in the same way that British East India Company controlled India was British colonialism, this was Belgian colonialism under Leopold II's Congo Company. Though the main point is that it wasn't British colonialism
@resqwec
Fair enough
just wanted to inform
suppose I should consider reading the book
What are you talking about, Kraflyn? What has that got to do with Heart of Darkness?
glad someone else caught on to that
To me this is one of the very few movies that isn't multi genre, but completely defies genre. I love this movie, but after watching this analysis I have a new respect for it, and Francis Ford Coppola.
My favorite film of all time. What a masterpiece.
Perfect timing to release this because my class is doing a comparison assignment between Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now
Depending on the print you see, Apolypse Now ends either with a black screen or the explosion of Kurtz's camp...indicating an air strike was launched.
I’ve been waiting for awhile for this video lol thank you guys
I always wondered what happened to Colby the soldier who went in before Willard.
He is standing the crowd when he Willard arrives at Kurtz compound
The moment where Willard shoots the wounded girl... that's illustrative of a dangerous state of mind that every one of us need to watch out for.
Every last one of us. 😣
I like to think that the song "The End" by The Doors whit what the movie starts and when the movie reaches the conclusion by the death of Colonel Kurtz with the end of the song has some intentional meaning with the long "interlude" of slower events happening in-between as in the song, with a long interlude, kind of parallel between the story and song, it was a great movie, this inspired me to search it, keep on Aranda :)
Very good interpretation I think because these are points I would overlook . I would watch a movie to relax and enjoy it. Not to psychoanalyze and interpret the symbolism....at least not at first
There are also parallels with The Odyssey. The Playboy Bunnies are the sirens, the Do Long bridge is the underworld, etc. So many different lenses through which to view this wonderful film. Too bad Coppala never made another film worth watching.
I often saw the movie as looking into the darkness of the soul. It looks into the heart of darkness inside man, just like the book, it looks deep into the part of humans that we do are best to pretend aren't really. Kurtz was the best of the best we are told during the movie, but in the end the dark madness took him.
I like the part where they are fighting at night and the soldier with a grenade luncher is able to hear a injured VC and launch the Grenade luncher to kill him, just by using sound and nothing else.
Gabriel Angelos
Hey soldier, do you know Who's in charge here??
- - - Yeah!- - -
Kinda sums it all up with his reply too .
So what you wait for: Bust'em Roach!!
Those are skills!!!
I think it was "Dispatches"... That was a real life grenade guy/real life bridge scene. 'Member, Herr worked on the A.N. narrative.
Always happy to see the notification. Great episode
Heart of Darkness isn’t a critique on British Imperialism, since the Congo, where it’s set, wasn’t a British colony but a Belgian one.
Apocalypse Now’s opening scene is one of the best I have seen ever
Not even a mention to John Milius, the principal writer of the movie.
CESSKAR Probably because Coppola relied mostly on improvisation, largely because it was his best way to finally communicate with, and direct, Brsndo.
Krom!!!
It wouldn't fit the narrative. Get two female film critics. They'll fit.
You should watch the documentary about the making of this movie. It's called A filmmakers Apocalypse and gives great insight into the troublesome production of Apocalypse Now.
congrats, you gained yourself another subscriber!
Pan's Labyrinth that should be good!
We're very proud of that episode. :)
- Nick J.
so, sad though
NOooooo........Its the idea of the Scapegoat in Religion , as outlined in the book on Kurtzs desk (GOLDEN BOUGH) .
Thats why the camera pans to it.
In order to have an ancient scapegoat you need a religion and a sacrificial King / God
The bulls sacrifice (like Lambs ) is to cleanse guilt from as tribe.
Thats why they both must be killed.
"Errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill" - Kurtz is the bill or sacrifice that must pay for the wars madness"
Its far far deeper that those shrinks say.
Heart of Darkness / The Golden Bough / Lord of the Flies and even the Bible.
The more I am listening to you, talking along about Apocalypse now, the more I am thinking about Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder, which seems to make references to the filming of Apocalypse now.
You mentioned Scorsese. I just finished Hugo. One more like!
I remember being a little kid and watching this with my father back to back with The Fight for Hamburger Hill.
It was interesting seeing a more gritty war film instead of all the over-the-top and self indulgent war movies where it's a clear good v bad and the good guy always winning.
According to veterans, until the release of "We Were Soldiers", "Hamburger Hill" was the best movie about the war. Remember AN was not a film about Vietnam, it is an artistic presentation of Conrad's themes from "Heart of Darkness" utilizing the war as a vehicle for that presentation as opposed to the Congo ivory trade.
In my top 5 of all time favorite films, was at #1 for a long time. Still my favorite Vietnam movie.
Chef succeeded in calling for an airstrike. The original theatrical release plays the closing credits over slow-motion footage of the temple complex being destroyed by the bombing. That was also the only ending people knew of for over a decade, due to it being the only version shown on television in the Eighties.
There was no dvds or vhs?
Of the movie
This is my absolute favourite movie of all time.
_Without a doubt, the film is a masterpiece!_
It is, indeed, a true American masterpiece.
Can't wait to see the new "Final Cut"!
Every scene.= A Gem....All the persona well illustrated...The Whole Mixture = Heart of Darkness....
I suggest that anyone into this film reads the original book ‘Heart of darkness’ on which it is based.
Atheist Orphan
Next on list, my son read in high sch., I'm so proud of him
( he knew one of my fav movies) and he got it too
I read the book before watching the movie, and it made the movie 10x more enjoyable having read the book to be honest.
Yes better than the flick
One of the greatest war movies ever made.
If you're really into this film, you need to watch the "Hearts of Darkness" documentary about how it was made. It's full of interesting details and also indispensable for understanding what's going on with Brando being in the shadows, among other things.
My only gripe in this commentary is the lack of recognition of Milius's contribution. His imprints are all over the film.
All praise the John Milius
Well, you put things really nice about a "tough" movie... Kurtz would be proud.
This was 70% plot summary and 30% two criticism quotations.
Excellent! My favorite movie ever
It's impossible for words to describe. What is necessary, to those who do not know what horror means. Horror... Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies...
In many ways, it parallels the video game "Spec Ops: The Line." There's a similar tale, since it could be considered the video game interpretation of "Heart of Darkness" to "Apocalypse Now" being the film interpretation.
FYI the shooting location (Baler) in the Philippines is now the one of the most famous surfing locations in the country.
Loved this movie already, Now knowing what went into making it I love it even more!
Michael, would you do a special one for this and go over the differences between the original cut and the Part Deux re-release?
"You'll never find out who you are working in a factory in Ohio." Your preferred critique is spot on.
Hello I am from India and in my 10th standard history textbook we had achapter called "Nationalism in Indo China". Apocalypse now is mentioned and they encourage us to watch the film. I personally found it very interesting. It was a good movie, as Francis tried to make sense of the Vietnamese war, whereas in films like John Wayne's Green Berets people were encourged to serve in the war. Apocalypse now is unique indeed.
Didn’t like the movie when I watched it but will definitely give it a rewatch now
Been looking forward to this!
kurtz is based on the real life Barry Peterson an australian soldier sent into vietnam by the cia his story is fascinatingly documented in the book the tiger man of vietnam its a realy good read.