The Bottom Line
Pros
- DVDs containing two versions of one of the great movies of all time
- Excellent audio commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola
- DVDs contain approximately two hours of bonus materials
Cons
- To watch either version of feature film, you have to change discs
- DVDs contain no scholarly materials
- DVDs provide very little information about the production of the movie in the 1970s
Description
- Two-disc DVD set containing Apocalypse Now (1979) and Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
- DVD provides feature-length audio commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola
- DVD contains 2 hours of bonus materials, including 51 minutes of post-production featurettes
- DVD has 29 minutes of unused sequences, including the "Monkey Sampan" scene
- DVD provides 10 minutes on the movie's soundtrack plus text info on the Moog synthesizer
- DVD contains 17-minute recitation by Brando of T. S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men"
- MPAA rating: R for disturbing violent images, language, sexual content and some drug use
- Run time for Apocalypse Now: 2 hours 33 minutes
- Run time for Apocalypse Now Redux: 3 hours 22 minutes
- DVD release date: August 15, 2006
Guide Review - Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier DVD
Beginning with winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Francis Ford Coppola stunned the film world in 1979 with his brilliant Apocalypse Now. Years later, the footage shot in the 1970s was reedited and released in 2001 under the title Apocalypse Now Redux. The main difference between the versions is that Redux contains 49 minutes of footage not included in the earlier release. Both versions are available on this DVD set, and I particularly enjoyed watching the extended version with the option turned on where "Redux Marker" is displayed when footage unique to the 2001 version is shown.
Coppola supplies an informative and interesting audio commentary track for his movie. The DVD box claims he provides commentary for both versions, but be advised that his remarks are the same where the footage is identical. My recommendation would be to listen to the track for the Redux version since that gives you his complete commentary in one pass.
The DVDs contain about two hours of bonus materials. These come mainly in the form of a dozen featurettes that are 3 to 18 minutes in length. These are largely technical in nature, and mostly focus on post-production. Perhaps my favorite bonus material was Marlon Brando reciting T. S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men." Another interesting one is the "Monkey Sampan" scene, which was not used in the movie.
