Apocalypse Now

[pete]

[link]

whoa, I don't think movie sites can get more hipster than that one.  never seen video catalogues so full of irony before.

[Ravi]

[link]

whoa, I don't think movie sites can get more hipster than that one.  never seen video catalogues so full of irony before.

Who doesn't consider this a classic?

[SHAFTR]

Are any of you people into cool people like Billy Wilder?

macguffin and i are.  probably cinephile too.  and thats about it.

I think you might be underestimating the people on Xixax with that comment.

[El Duderino]

I like Billy Wilder.....it's the "cool" part that i don't have.

[cine]

Are any of you people into cool people like Billy Wilder?

macguffin and i are.  probably cinephile too.  and thats about it.

I think you might be underestimating the people on Xixax with that comment.

Yeah, mod, really. You know how to search. Hang your head in shame.

Billy Wilder: http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=1410

[Dottie_Hinkle]

"I think you might be underestimating the people on Xixax with that comment."


I feel I'm the one who is undersestimated on this board.  I'm a newbie too which makes it worse.  Anyway, I too hated Fight Club.  That should earn me some points.....

[ono]

Anyway, I too hated Fight Club.  That should earn me some points.....

Not really.

And forget about the n00b factor.  People are judged here based on what they say, and how stupid or clever or intelligent or whatever it is.  Things like how long you've been registered rarely matter.

[MacGuffin]

Dottie, I applaud the fact that you didn't and don't back down from ganged up on. I almost expected you to leave us (and wouldn't blame you). You keep on expressing yourself. There is no rule that says you must like a "classic".

[Just Withnail]

Dottie, I applaud the fact that you didn't and don't back down from ganged up on. I almost expected you to leave us (and wouldn't blame you). You keep on expressing yourself. There is no rule that says you must like a "classic".

In fact...

[Alethia]

Are any of you people into cool people like Billy Wilder?

macguffin and i are.  probably cinephile too.  and thats about it.

I think you might be underestimating the people on Xixax with that comment.

Yeah, mod, really. You know how to search. Hang your head in shame.

Billy Wilder: http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=1410

yeah add me to the billy wilder fan list please...

[Bruce Lee]

this is really Uber geek.

[cine]

this is really Uber geek.

[Mesh]

...Apocalypse Now is highly overrated...the story of Sheen's character going from place to place, war zone after war zone, insanity after insanity, only seems to superficially really grab the terror he is talking about the entire time. As much as I cherish Robert Duvall, his character and purpose of his entire scene is a ploy to match the oddity of someone in love with war and surfing, nothing more. Same deal with the Playboy bunny scenes...to combine two things on the surface feel the most unlikely of partners. Then the rest of the scenes filter out into their own interest...unrelated to each other and only able to accomplish so much.....What Apocalypse Now does is just sketch with some interesting scenes without really matching them into a whole identity and yet the film seems to think it has one coherent, continually provactive, film. Too disjointed for me.

I watched Apocalypse recently, and I was wondering -- as great as the Duvall/surfing scene is (it's probably the highlight of the entire film, actually), what is the point of the scene?  That war is insane?  Clearly, this point was made when we hear Brando speak on tape in the "extreme prejudice" scene.  In terms of narrative, how necessary is this scene?  My guess is that Kilgore had to napalm that village in order for Willard's mission to continue up the river.  Can anyone confirm this?  I don't know enough about military logistics to figure it out.

You have to look at the Kilgore scene (and most every scene in Apocalypse Now!) as an examination of yet another flavor of war insanity.  The fact that it's a point made several times should be your first clue that this is the topic of the film: it's insane to get out of the boat if you know you might get attacked by tigers; it's insane to ship Playboy Bunnies into a war-zone full of undersexed GIs; it's insane that that one guy in the trench can grenade a Viet Cong in the dark in a jungle from 100 yards away.....the list goes on and on and on.....The point is that to call Kurtz insane (and to endeavor to kill him for it) in an environment in which everything is insane is, itself, an insane thing to do.

As far as military logistics, I'd say the necessity of Kilgore's action is unknowable.  He's a guy who'll take any excuse to burn whole swaths of Vietnam—he just plain "loves the smell of napalm in the morning." For Kilgore, napalming villages = "the best part of waking up is Folger's in your cup."

For the best narrative, I think the film should have grappled one situation and explored that into what I think would have better conveyed a "heart of darkness".

Along similar lines, I'd argue that the point is that there is no "heart of darkness."  As the disembodied, anonymous voice tells us during the last half of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, "There is no dark side of the moon, really.  In fact, it's all dark."

[grand theft sparrow]

Are any of you people into cool people like Billy Wilder?

macguffin and i are.  probably cinephile too.  and thats about it.

I think you might be underestimating the people on Xixax with that comment.

Yeah, mod, really. You know how to search. Hang your head in shame.

Billy Wilder: http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=1410

yeah add me to the billy wilder fan list please...

Same here.

Umm, what was this thread about again?

[El Duderino]

i agree with everything Mesh said.