# Apocalypse Now virgin - should I watch Redux? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2004, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672 "2004-07-24T10:17:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672/1 "2004-07-24T10:17:58Z")
_Apocalypse Now Redux_ is airing on TV tonight. I’ve never seen _Apocalypse Now_ (shock! horror! shame!). Should I watch _Redux_ or wait until I’ve seen the first version? Which one is better? ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672/2 "2004-07-24T11:14:33Z")
If it’s on T.V. tonight, then yeah watch it. I quite liked the Redux version, I felt it presented a broader more detailed portrait of Vietnam- particularly the extended scenes with the French, which it seems everybody but me hated. A lot of people felt that the scenes that had been left out of the original were left out for good reason and that the inclusion of them only drags the film out painfully. But, then again, none of the good stuff was taken out so there’s plenty to enjoy. If you’ve never seen the original then I don’t think the new scenes will seem to “get in the way” because they won’t be screwing with what’s familiar to you. In fact, if you watch Redux without having seen the original, then watch the original later, you might be more qualified to give a fair comparison since your opinion won’t be biased by a long-held love for the original. Plus, it’s on T.V.! You don’t even have to leave the house to go to the video store! And it’s free! ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672/3 "2004-07-24T14:58:31Z")
Movie snob checking in here. Personally I can’t imagine seeing this film on commercial TV, with interruptions and editing. It’s a masterpiece of narrative momentum: Coppola moves you along the river in a journey of time, and color, and atmosphere–the movement along the narrative is extremely important to the movie’s effectiveness. Also, IMO, the non-redux version is a masterpiece; the redux version is a little less so. In Hearts of Darkness, a documentary about the making of AN, Coppola explains why he very intentionally left the “extras” out of the final cut, and he was right. They disturb the flow that is the movie’s main strength, without adding anything substantive. Sure, they provide a historical sense, and some character color, but they detract from the slow glide of the film up to the climax. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672/4 "2004-07-24T15:07:19Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Movie snob checking in here. Personally I can’t imagine seeing this film on commercial TV, with interruptions and editing. It’s a masterpiece of narrative momentum: Coppola moves you along the river in a journey of time, and color, and atmosphere–the movement along the narrative is extremely important to the movie’s effectiveness. Actually, IFC has been showing _Apocalypse Now Redux_ lately. If that is the version **Priceguy** is talking about, then there will be no commercials and no editing for content, and it’ll most likely be presented in widescreen. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672/5 "2004-07-24T15:13:36Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Personally I can’t imagine seeing this film on commercial TV, with interruptions and editing. It isn’t on commercial TV, so no interruptions, and I’ll be most surprised if there is any editing or if it isn’t widescreen. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672/6 "2004-07-24T20:04:06Z")
Entirely up to you. I have redux on DVD, and I finally managed to watch ‘Porklipz Whenever’ all the way through. I simply fast forwarded through the scenes until I hit where I fell asleep watching it previously, and watched until it put me to sleep again. CF pretentious thread on this board. Why in heck do people think this and ‘Godfather’ are some of the bestest movies in the world? Goes along with why people worship the great god Hemmingway, or why KennyG and his boring pablum saxaphone jazz is so popular… ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672/7 "2004-07-24T22:00:09Z")
Some spoilers below. If you want to miss them, then in a nutshell my answer is NO! Apocalypse Now is one of my all time favorite movies, and when Redux came out I looked very forward to seeing it. I was disappointed. The additional scenes were “meh” at the best (Clean’s funeral, The Return of the Playboy Bunnies), and in some cases “bleah” (French Plantation, stealing Kilgore’s surfboard). I especially didn’t like the way Kilgore’s (Commander of the Air Cav) character was changed. In AN he was kind of monsterous, in ANR, he became more of a joke. Not good. Regardless, TV is no place to see Apocalypse Now… see it in a theatre or at least on the biggest screen you can manage (hopefully with surround sound). ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672/8 "2004-07-25T07:01:08Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Why in heck do people think this and ‘Godfather’ are some of the bestest movies in the world? Goes along with why people worship the great god Hemmingway, or why KennyG and his boring pablum saxaphone jazz is so popular… Wow! Are _Apocolypse Now_ and _The Godfather_ really the Kenny G of the Film world? Is Hemmingway really the Kenny G of the Literary world? Really? _Really?_ Wow. No, seriously, _really_??? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672/9 "2004-07-25T09:54:54Z")
In _Redux_, Kurtz shoots first. Seriously though, _AN_ is one of my favorite movies, and I’ve refused to see the edit. Why? Because the original movie was edited by the Francis Ford Coppola of 1978, while _Redux_ was edited by the Francis Ford Coppola of 2001, and the Coppola of 1978 is a much better filmmaker. I trust the judgement of the maker of _Godfather_ far more than I trust the judgement of the maker of _Jack_. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypse-now-virgin-should-i-watch-redux/256672/10 "2004-07-25T13:39:05Z")
vl\_mungo pretty much has it nailed. Apocalypse Now is a masterpiece. Redux in my opinion added footage that belonged on the cutting room floor. Stealing the surfboard transformed Col. Kilgore into a cartoonish nut rather than being just subtly over the edge. I thought the French plantation scenes were well done. But the worst part of Redux was the Playboy bunny footage. I thought the nudity was a little gratuitous and the characters just a bit too surreal. I recommend seeing them both, but you owe yourself to see the original first.