It’s been many many years since I saw Apocalypse Now and I’ve never seen Redux, though I caught a part of it on cable the other day. I’ve added it to my Netflix queue, but I had a few questions:
The scene I saw was a very disturbing (and well acted all around) scene in which the Playboy Playmates prostitute themselves for helicopter fuel. I’m relatively positive it wasn’t in the original. Does the film explain how they became stranded without return fuel? Since I’m relatively certain that nothing like this happened in real life, does anybody know if Hugh Hefner was one reason this was deleted from the original? Did Playboy Playmates really go that far into the Vietnamese interior?
Also, does Redux have many more scenes with Kilgore or Kurtz (particularly the latter)? The death of Kurtz in the original seemed to be one of the most rushed and anticlimactic deaths of any movie villains (it could be argued he’s not a villain but a tragic hero, etc., but whatever) ever filmed and I’ve wondered if that was intentional or due to (ahem) choppy editing.
Has anybody seen Hearts of Darkness and if so is the Playmate scene or the death scene addressed? (It isn’t currently available on video.)
You can buy Heart of Darkness from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6302414016/qid%3D1075097895/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr_11_1/002-8197978-3398438
I think the best reason for the cut was the scene was stupid. Redux sucks on about every level.
There are is at minimum one more scene with Kilgore. It is terrible.
It involves Kilgore trying to get back a stolen surfboard.
Don’t remember about Kurtz. Don’t want to remember Redux.
I’ve rented Hearts of Darkness on video from Blockbuster. I haven’t seen it in a while so I could be totally wrong about this, but I don’t recall any mention of the Playmates or Kurtz’s death, apart from a great outtake of Marlon Brando aspirating an insect while rambling on in character. It’s also very striking to listen to Lawrence Fishburne (isn’t he about 18 in the film?) talking about making the movie, as he seems to me to very much equate the filming with actually going to war.
I quite like the extended presence of the Playmates in Redux, because that scene really horrified me. What I didn’t care much for was the addition of the scenes at the French plantation.
[QUOTE=Judith Prietht]
It’s also very striking to listen to Lawrence Fishburne (isn’t he about 18 in the film?) talking about making the movie, as he seems to me to very much equate the filming with actually going to war. QUOTE]
I got annoyed watching Adrien Brody on interview shows after the success of The Pianist because he kept making comments like “I understand so much better now what it was like to survive the Holocaust.”
Uh, no Adrien, you don’t… you understand much better now what it’s like to make a movie about surviving the Holocaust. I’ve read hundreds of books on the subject and talked to many survivors I would never presume to understand firsthand what they went through, and I hope that I never do.
Laurence Fishburne was in fact 14 as the production started for Apoclypse Now. He looked older and lied about his age.
In the original version of Apocalypse Now, the Playmates only appeared in the USO scene; there was no subsequent helicopter scene. As I recall, Coppola felt that the second scene detracted from the overall pace of the movie. To give him some credit, he had a serious commitment to his vision of the movie to be willing to edit out what would was essentially the movie’s only sex scene. Can you imagine the director of Swordfish, for example, saying “I decided to cut out Halle Berry’s topless scene - it looked good but it was slowing up the pace of the movie.”
Apocalypse Now is one of my all time favorite movies… Apocalypse Now Redux, on the other hand… sux.
The additional playmate scene isn’t tooo bad, in fact, the footage of the hurricane ravaged army camp looks pretty cool. The sex for gas scene itself?.. feh.
As for the rest…
The Good: Better sound / some good atmospheric going up the river footage
The Bad: Everything else… especially the extra Kilgore scenes that end up changing his character. Previously he had one of the all time great exits “Some day this war is going to end, Captain” (then he walks off into the smoke)… now there’s the stupid surfboard theft scene where Kilgore is turned into a joke. Also terrible, the French Plantation scene… boring… slow… pointless… poorly acted… etc. etc.
Really, don’t waste your time.