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[The Take Out Bandit]

Wow, that's some damn fine movie making.

I never actually watched Apocalypse Now in it's entirety. About a decade ago, some friends and I fresh out of high school rented it and made an evening of watching it and enjoying the lame thrill of drinking under the legal age. I ended up falling asleep going into the movie.

Looking back I think that was for the better as VHS simply didn't do this movie justice. I don't know if Coppola went back and digitally enhanced scenes, in particular the rich colors of damned near every scene. Everything is just gorgeous to look at and take in.

The story itself was a bit long in the tooth, running around three hours and twenty minutes IIRC.

Either way, it was well worth the ride for Robert Duvall ownage and to see how influential this movie was on the current crop of film makers.

Much better than The Deer Hunter, but not as well paced as Bullet in the Head.

 

[tt_deeb]

Yes, yes! Great movie.

 

[Polari]

Redux sucks balls compared to the original cut.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Yeah, the movie probably could have lived without that extra 40 minutes. Care to elaborate on the differences for the sake of conversation?

 

[Polari]

As far as I can remember, both the Plantation scene and the one with the Playboy models are cut. Which makes sense, since they don't really add a lot to the story, and the Plantation one completely destroys the film's pacing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased they're out there as they're historically interesting, being part of such a landmark movie. It's just that they were cut in the first place for good reason.

 

[ManaByte]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/alternateversions

# A longer director's cut, titled "Apocalypse Now Redux", debuted on 11 May 2001 at the Cannes film festival. This cut was re-edited by Coppola and Walter Murch and features a new Technicolor dye prints with additional footage originally left out of thetheatrical release. The new version is 197 minutes long (53 minutes longer than the original version). The restored footage also includes the French plantation scenes with Aurore Clement and Christian Marquand, as well as scenes from the crew meeting the Playmates later on.

* There are additional scenes when the crew is with Kilgore. During the napalm strike, he helps a wounded Vietnamese child. The napalm strike has ruined the favorable surfing conditions, so Lance and the others leave, much to Kilgore's dismay. Before they leave, Willard steals Kilgore's surfboard. Finally, just before Willard and Chef leave the boat to search for mangoes, a helicopter files by with Kilgore on loudspeaker, asking for his surfboard back.
* In the Playmate scenes, Willard trades two drums of oil in exchange for spending two hours with the Bunnies. We see Chef with Miss May in a helicopter, and Lance with the Playmate of the Year in a ransacked house. Miss May was once a bird trainer at Busch Gardens and tries to talk about birds with Chef while he is busy trying to get her to re-enact her photo that he showed the crew. They end up kissing and Miss May gets excited because Chef kisses like a bird. The Playmate of the Year is talking to Lance about her troubles and insecurities about being a Playmate. Clean is seen trying to barge in on both men, and when he barges in on Lance, the Playmates open a chest (in which to hide) and discovers a dead Vietnamese. Lance comforts her. Chef finds out afterwards that Clean is a virgin and starts calling him names on the boat. Willard told Chief that the whole crew can spend time with the Bunnies, but Chief refuses.
* At the plantation, Chef figures that they are French first and tells them in French that they are Americans and are friends. They bury Clean with his tape player there, and eat dinner with the French. The crew eats with the staff, and Willard eats with the family. Chef wants to speak to the chef but is informed he only speaks Vietnamese. Willard is lectured about France's colonial history in Indochine as well as their military blunders. There also is a scene with Willard and Roxanne, one of the French women, smoking opium.
* At the Kurtz compound, Willard is imprisoned in an oven-like box. Kurtz appears, accompanied by a group of children. He reads to Willard from Time magazine articles about the Vietnam War.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

I can agree on the plantation scene, but I felt the Playmate scene added another level of discomfort to the movie. It was a bit awkward, even ham fisted, but still it was difficult to watch and I enjoyed that.

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

I can agree on the plantation scene, but I felt the Playmate scene added another level of discomfort to the movie. It was a bit awkward, even ham fisted, but still it was difficult to watch and I enjoyed that.

I thought it was off that the soldiers were stripping down the playmates and the playmates were caring more about their stupid hobbies. Still, you got to see titties so I can't see how that scene would be bad

A classic movie and the Redux version is better. Its more storyline that wasn't halfassed. I can see why it was cut though.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

I thought it was off that the soldiers were stripping down the playmates and the playmates were caring more about their stupid hobbies.

I assumed the dialogue in this scene was to illustrate:

1. The effect being stranded in the middle of a war zone would have on vapid bimbos, and their predatory manager who pimped them out for fuel.

2. Illustrate the decaying mental state of the soldiers. They were becoming progressively more base, or instinctive, as they went further up the river. With Martin Sheen's character being the only soldier so mired in the war that you didn't see much effect on his character.

The writing probably could have been a bit better, but I enjoyed the scene - totally not accounting for the nudititties.