Apocalypse Now
- Warning: Plot details follow.
The colonel, deep in the Cambodian jungle, has turned to cannibalism and murder and is worshipped by the natives. The film features performances by Martin Sheen as Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Marlow, in the novel), Marlon Brando as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, and Dennis Hopper as the photo journalist (the harlequin).
The film deviates extensively from the book, for example in that Captain Willard is not sent to investigate, but to kill, and that Colonel Kurtz does not die a natural, though mysterious, death; also Marlow is sent to Cambodia, not the land of the Congo River.
Filmed in the Philippines, the film went extremely over budget and over schedule, partly due to a typhoon, but also due to the excesses of Coppola and others. The film was originally six hours long and had to be severely edited, resulting in some of the symbolism to be lost in the original theatrical release. Coppola re-released the film in 2001 under the title Apocalypse Now Redux, featuring over an hour of restored footage. For background information on the film, see Eleanor Coppola's documentary, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, released in 1991.
Several other actors who became prominent stars were in the movie, including Robert Duvall, Harrison Ford, and Lawrence Fishburne.
Apocalypse Now won the 1979 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm, the highest prize) at the Cannes Film Festival. It was the first and has since been the only film to win this prize before the film was actually completed.
It also won two Academy Awards in 1980:
- Best Cinematography - Vittorio Storaro
- Best Sound - Richard Beggs, Mark Berger, Nathan Boxer and Walter Murch
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Robert Duvall
- Academy Award for Best Art Direction - Set Decoration - Angelo P. Graham, George R. Nelson and Dean Tavoularis
- Best Director - Francis Ford Coppola
- Best Film Editing - Lisa Fruchtman, Gerald B. Greenberg, Richard Marks and Walter Murch
- Best Picture - Francis Ford Coppola, Gray Frederickson, Fred Roos and Tom Sternberg
- Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium - Francis Ford Coppola and John Milius
Cast
See also: List of movies