[Home]Apocalypse Now

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Francis Ford Coppola film, based (loosely) on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, in which a taciturn soldier is sent to terminate an American colonel "with extreme prejudice." The colonel, deep in the Cambodian jungle, has turned to cannibalism and murder and is worshipped by the natives. Features performances by [Martin Sheen]? as Captain Willard (Marlow, in the novel), Marlon Brando as Col. Kurtz, and Dennis Hopper as the reporter (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 Col. Kurtz does not die a natural though mysterious death; also Marlow is sent here to Cambodia, not the [African Congo]?.

Due to typhoons, nervous breakdowns, heart attacks, and a temperamental director, the film went grievously overbudget and overschedule. The original version was severely edited, causing some of the symbolism to be lost; Coppola re-released the film in 2001, 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.

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Last edited November 5, 2001 10:34 pm by Sjc (diff)
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