In 1969 Captain Benjamin Willard (Sheen) is given the secret mission to find Colonel Walter Kurtz (Brando) and "terminate with extreme prejudice." Kurtz, a gifted officer with the Special Forces, turned to "unorthodox" methods to prosecute the war, and went deep into the jungle to lead an army of primitives. Willard will have to take a Navy patrol boat up a long, long river to the heart of darkness (the film is loosely based on Conrad's Africa novel) inside Cambodia. Along the way he'll meet a psychotic Lt. Colonel of the Air Cavalry (a hilariously creepy Duvall) who is more interested in surfing than the in the war per se, a USO show with dancing Playboy Playmates driving the troops wild, and all the craziness and brutality of the war. The cast includes Harrison Ford as a military bureaucrat, Albert Hall (recently seen on TV a crusty black judge on "The Practice" and "Ally McBeal") as the chief of the Navy boat, Frederic Forrest as a touchy would-be chef from New Orleans, Sam Bottoms (the street-sweeping simpleton of "The Last Picture Show") as a surfer dude gunner's mate (Bottoms was stoned on speed, acid, and pot during much of the filming), and two actual Playboy Playmates of the month and year. Watch for a funny brief cameo of Coppola himself as a news cameraman/commentator when Willard hits the beach with Lt. Kilgore's attacking Air Cav. The original 144-minute film issued in 1979 was reissued in 2001 as "Apocalypse Now Redux," with an additional 53 minutes that includes a long, quiet dinner scene among French ex-pats clinging to their family plantation, the stranded Playmates being pimped to soldiers for oil, and more Brando and Duvall footage, but either version is unforgettable for its camera shots of stunning beauty and horror (music by Wagner and the Doors), and Sheen's incredible performance.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
Martin Sheen is sent to eliminate a rough military leader (Marlon Brando). He suspects that he in fact admires the courage the rouge has to his high ideas but sets out to find him anyway. Along the way he sees evidence of the madness and futility of the Vietnam war and realizes that he may not be able eliminate his target.
Once he finds the madman, events push him to do his task.
The review of this Movie prepared by Rita Toews