APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) C widescreen 139m dir: Francis Ford Coppola

w/Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishbourne, Dennis Hopper, Harrison Ford, Scott Glenn

From The Movie Guide: "Francis Ford Coppola's notorious and controversial contribution to the Vietnam movie subgenre remains, despite its flaws, one of the most complex and unforgettable war movies ever made. With a plot structure inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, APOCALYPSE NOW follows Willard (Martin Sheen), a cold and amoral Army captain, as he journeys upriver into Cambodia to assassinate Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a renegade Green Beret who has broken from the American military and set himself up as a god among a tribe of Montagnard warriors, using them to wage his own private war. What follows is a hallucinatory look at the madness of the American involvement in Vietnam.

"More than five years in the making, APOCALYPSE NOW became a cause celebre even before it opened. As documented by numerous press accounts and the book Notes, a collection of journal entries written by Coppola's wife, Eleanor, the filming in the Philippines was hellish, disaster-plagued, and decadent, beginning with a $12 million budget and going over $31 million before the 238-day shooting schedule ended, with Coppola's own money making up the difference. Eleanor Coppola later used her journals, together with documentary footage shot during the production, as the basis of 1991's HEARTS OF DARKNESS, a fascinating account of the making of the film."

APOCALYPSE NOW won Oscars for Best Cinematography (Vittorio Storaro) and Sound (Walter Murch, Richard Beggs, and Nat Boxer) and was also nominated for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Duvall), Screenplay (John Milius and Coppola), Art Direction (Dean Tavalouris), and Editing (Richard Marks).