Apocalypse Now Redux

Theatrical Release Date: 2001 08 03 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 031398123231

Studio: Lionsgate

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Nudity, Not For Children, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content, War Violence]

Summary: Francis Coppola had more than his share of production difficulties while shooting his epic-scale Vietnam War drama Apocalypse Now, including disastrous weather conditions, problems with his leading men (Harvey Keitel was fired after less than two weeks on the project and was replaced by Martin Sheen, who suffered a heart attack midway through production), and a schedule and budget that quickly spiraled out of control (originally budgeted at $10 million, the film's final cost was over $30 million). But Coppola's troubles didn't end when he got his footage into the editing room, and he tinkered with a number of different structures and endings before settling on the film's 153-minute final cut in time for its initial theatrical release in 1979. Twenty-two years later, Francis Coppola returned to the material, and created Apocalypse Now Redux, an expanded and re-edited version of the film that adds 53 minutes of footage excised from the film's original release. In addition to adding a number of smaller moments that even out the film's rhythms, Apocalypse Now Redux restores two much-discussed sequences that Coppola chose not to include in his original edition of the film -- an encounter in the jungle between Willard (Martin Sheen), his crewmates Chief (Albert Hall), Clean (Larry Fishburne), Chef (Frederic Forrest), and Lance (Sam Bottoms) and a trio of stranded Playboy models on a U.S.O. tour, as well as a stopover at a plantation operated by French colonists De Marais (Christian Marquand) and Roxanne (Aurore Clement). Apocalypse Now Redux received a limited theatrical release in August of 2001 after a well-received screening at the Cannes Film Festival -- the same month that the film finally reached theaters in 1979, after a rough cut received a Golden Palm award at the Cannes Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: War

Features: Theatrical Trailer
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Apocalypse Now Redux

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 05/18/2010

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 202 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Apocalypse Now Redux
1. Waiting in Saigon [9:22]
2. Intelligence Compound [10:59]
3. PBR Street Gang [3:46]
4. Search and Destroy [2:10]
5. Where Can I Find the CO? [2:08]
6. We Are Here To Help You [2:52]
7. Beach Party [2:48]
8. Helicopter Attack [10:50]
9. Kilgore Goes Surfing [2:34]
10. Kilgore Rescues Child [:49]
11. Lance Gets New Shorts [1:38]
12. The Wind [3:13]
13. Hiding from Kilgore [2:54]
14. Never Get Out of the Boat [7:12]
15. Entertaining the Boys [8:03]
16. Centerfold Pinholes [2:25]
17. No Satisfaction [1:42]
18. Dilettantes [:38]
19. Kurtz Dossier [6:20]
20. The Medevac [11:25]
21. Sampan Massacre [5:19]
22. Do Lung Bridge [3:05]
23. Mr. Clean's Death [6:48]
24. The French Plantation [5:45]
25. Clean's Funeral [4:54]
26. Dinner [2:57]
27. Les Soldats Perdus [10:42]
28. Arrow Attack [6:13]
29. Kurtz Compound [7:44]
30. Interrogation [8:44]
31. Chef Decapitated [8:53]
32. How Does It Smell To You, Soldier? [2:29]
33. He's Really Out There [5:29]
34. Caribou Sacrifice [9:50]
35. Ending [7:00]
36. Credits [5:58]

Mark Deming

Amidst the thousands of pages that have been written about Apocalypse Now since it was released in 1979, one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who held the opinion that the film really needed to be longer, so the prospect of a new cut of Apocalypse that included nearly an hour of unseen footage seemed highly intriguing without sounding like the best idea Francis Ford Coppola has ever had. Apocalypse Now Redux, Coppola's 203-minute reconstruction of his original edit of the film, manages to simultaneously reinforce what was good and what was bad about the original version of the picture. The two major set pieces that have been restored to Apocalypse -- an assignation between Willard (Martin Sheen), Chef (Frederic Forrest), and Lance (Sam Bottoms) and three Playboy bunnies stranded during a U.S.O. tour, and a visit to a plantation run by French emigres De Marais (Christian Marquand) and Roxanne (Aurore Clement) -- don't add much to the film, and while it's fascinating to see the sequences after reading about them for years, the truth is that the film plays better without them (especially the latter, which manages to further muddy the already fuzzy character of Willard during his liaison with Roxanne). The film's pace has always been erratic following the Do Lung Bridge sequence, and if anything, the new version moves with even less grace or consistency. But the many smaller bits of business that have been restored through the rest of the film are welcome, and the new version allows Albert Hall as Chief several superb moments (particularly during the makeshift funeral for Clean, played by Larry Fishburne), reinforcing his character as the only soldier in the film who seems to take his duties seriously, while Martin Sheen and Frederic Forrest both deliver their best screen performances to date. And the newly restored Technicolor dye-transfer prints are simply dazzling to look at; cinematographer Vittorio Storaro's use of color and depth of field were always impressive, but they've never looked quite so amazing as they do in this version, which demands to be seen on a big screen. Apocalypse Now was a film that grew too big and tried too much for its own good, but the best moments were more than enough to make up for its flaws, and that's even more true of Apocalypse Now Redux -- at nearly three-and-a-half hours, it's an epic with a heart, a mind, and a soul, and even its failures are fascinating, while its successes make it one of the most interesting American films of the 1970s. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Michael Herr  Actor 
Francis Ford Coppola  Director 
Francis Ford Coppola  Composer (Music Score) 
Francis Ford Coppola  Producer 
Francis Ford Coppola  Screenwriter 
John Milius  Screenwriter 
Kim Aubry  Producer 
Martin Sheen  Actor 
Marlon Brando  Actor 
Robert Duvall  Actor 
Frederic Forrest  Actor 
Albert Hall  Actor 
Samuel Bottoms  Actor 
Laurence Fishburne  Actor 
Dennis Hopper  Actor 
G.D. Spradlin  Actor 
Harrison Ford  Actor 
Jerry Ziesmer  Actor 
Scott Glenn  Actor 
Cynthia Wood  Actor 
Colleen Camp  Actor 
Linda Carpenter  Actor 
Christian Marquand  Actor 
Aurore Clément  Actor 

Country: USA