Harley Shack

Coppola is a truly unique director in several ways. Perhaps the one thing that really defines him is that he is NOT defined by his gimmicks. When you watch a film by Martin Scorsese, he may surprise you, but you know that you're going to get some exotic camera movements, some fast paced editing and, if it's set in modern times, "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones will play at least once. Apocalypse Now defines Coppola's unpredictability.

The film is allegedly based on Heart of Darkness, the novel, but outside of a few key parallels, the two are very different stories, albeit sharing a similar nihilistic tone and a few moments. We follow Martin Sheen as the alcoholic Captain Ben J. Willard, a secret operative who has grown more and more psychotic in his time away from the action.

The only thing he wants is to be put back into action, thriving on the blood lust and having no other purpose in life than to fight. He rots away in his room as choppers fly over head, going stir crazy while awaiting the next assignment.

The famous shot of Sheen punching the mirror was not scripted. He really went that crazy. The film is full of scenes and moments that were not scripted, and not just because of Coppola's open attitude towards improvisation. The making of feature on this film is just about as wild and as fascinating as the movie itself, but we've only got time to review one or the other for now...

The movie is simply loaded with unforgettable characters. Without even discussing the main cast, we have Cockroach, a youth from Harlem capable of sleeping through the most intense battle, waking up to launch a perfectly arced grenade at an enemy hiding in the shadows, eliminate him, and go back to sleep. We have Dennis Hopper as a maniacal photo journalist, and Robert Duvall as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, a mix of samurai, Patton and surfer dude, sending his men out to hit the waves amidst napalm detonating against the beach.

This isn't even getting into the main cast, these characters appear for one scene and then disappear from the film forever. Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz doesn't even appear until the very end, but his presence, his mere existence, casts a shadow that commands the entirety of the film, despite his limited screen time, or perhaps, mythologized by his non-presence.

The movie is a success on literally every level. At times it can be quite endearing, when you see the love and camaraderie between the men on Captain Willard's boat. It's often funny, and Coppola has even described it as a comedy. It's exciting, with "Ride of the Valkyries" being amongst the greatest action scenes of all time. But Kurtz's nihilism is what overwhelms the film in the end.

Coppola always cites Rumble Fish as his own favorite amongst his films, but fans will duke it out between Apocalypse Now and The Godfather Part 2. Of course, it's always up to the individual viewer, but without a doubt, this film is certainly his most ambitious, his most unpredictable, and his most insane movie.

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