I first saw Apocalypse Now! in the late night BBC2 slot at some point in the 80s. It came out in 1979 and in a few years became a record collection soundtrack staple- the blood red cover with the Vietnamese sun fading into an orange/ red haze, the scrawl of the film's title and then the disc inside, The Doors, The Ride Of The Valkyries....
It's still an astonishing film- Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece maybe, a film which even the story of its making is an epic filled with disaster. Martin Sheen's opening scene and narration, 'Saigon... shit, I'm still in Saigon', the ever present whir of fans and helicopter blades, and the increasing madness of the trip upriver to find Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a US officer who has gone rogue. The scene with the Playmates choppered in to entertain US troops, dancing to Suzie Q by Flash Cadillac, Cynthia Wood packing pistols- everything, all the time, on the brink of chaos.
The soundtrack is absolutely key to the film, as much part of the movie as Martin Sheen, Robert Duval, Dennis Hopper, the surfing, the napalm and the horror. Coppola's use of The End by The Doors is inspired. The Doors 80s revival started via Apocalypse Now! and Danny Sugarman's book No One Here Gets Out Alive (publsuhed a year after the film, 1980), and their albums and influence grew through the decade all the way to Oliver Stone's misguided biopic ten years later. The End is Doors max, their closing song in concert and on their debut album, a song that began lyrically when Jim Morrison broke up with his girlfriend Mary Werbelow but became something much darker, more Oedipal. It suited Coppola's vision of the film perfectly, explosions and the sky on fire, the end.... The version from the soundtrack opens with slow motion helicopter blades and then Robbie Krieger's eastern sounding guitar...
Most of the score for the film was recorded by Carmine Coppola with Francis along with a host of percussionists, synth/ keys players and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, twelve short pieces of music, thirty minutes long when sequenced together, that play a huge part in the film.
The Clash were paying attention, In 1980 they released their own epic, the six sides of vinyl of Sandinista! (an opinion splitting album- I love it, it's the very essence of the band for me). Mick's keyboard slashes and the slowed down helicopter blades that lead the song in are total Apocalypse Now! and the refrain taken from Colonel Kilgore's famous line about the VC.
3 comments:
I first saw it at my university film club. The dramatic effect was slightly undermined by the lengthy delays while the incompetent student in charge changed the reels, which also meant it was even longer than it was meant to me. I was much more impressed when I saw it properly later.
I saw a lot of films at my university film club, a great way to catch up but like you say, technical competence not always a priority. RI remember a screening of The Unbearable Lightness Of Being that was beset with reel change problems.
Swiss Adam
First broadcast: Sun 31st Mar 1985, 21:05 on BBC Two England according to BBC Genome. Also my first viewing.
Eric.
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