Anyone READ Apocalypse Now?

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  • Anyone READ Apocalypse Now?

    I know Coppola made a zillion changes during production and post; I'm curious if the script is as good as the film.

  • #2
    Re: Anyone READ Apocalypse Now?

    I hadn't, but now it's on my list...

    https://indiegroundfilms.files.wordp...ow-dec3-75.pdf

    Watch out, that first page is a doozie...
    "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

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    • #3
      Re: Anyone READ Apocalypse Now?

      Originally posted by ctp View Post
      I know Coppola made a zillion changes during production and post; I'm curious if the script is as good as the film.
      Not exactly sure what you're looking for. AN was ranked as the eighth or ninth best film ever made by two-hundred directors in the prestigious 'Sight and Sound' 2012 poll, so I'm not sure that any aspiring writer can really lose by taking a look at the script.

      There are at least two late versions I've read, one version with a different opening than either version of the film (BTW, didn't see the later cut -- heard bad things) and a later one that's close to the final film and includes the French plantation scene and one or two others that were cut from the original 1979 version. The later script of these two is pretty close to the film and is the one to read.

      Like many, I believe the first two-thirds of the script is great and the Brando section is notably weaker, with at times, downright laughable dialogue and voiceover narration. As everyone knows, Coppola was struggling to come up with an ending, and I can appreciate how much the financially stressed director needed Brando at that point, but the decision to give him carte blanche over the script wasn't one of his better decisions.

      That said, I think the film is able to hide many of the flaws of these scenes through the cinematography and acting as so many lesser films often have. There is no script that could convey the extraordinary power of the images of the great Vittorio Storaro, who seems to me an unsung hero of this project.

      Anyone who is interested in writing a film in this vein or really wants to get down into the weeds re the Vietnam war might be interested in reading Michael Herr's 'Dispatches', one of the best books on the grunt's-eye view of the war. His book was Coppola's primary research source and he was closely involved with the production. Kubrick was so impressed by AN, which he apparently (like 'The Godfather') viewed a number of times, that he hired Herr to be his prime researcher on 'Full Metal Jacket'.

      Cheers,

      CN

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      • #4
        Re: Anyone READ Apocalypse Now?

        READ MILIUS' FIRST DRAFT. Brando ruined Act 3. What a cool Act 3 it would've been....

        https://issuu.com/lafamiliafilm/docs...w__1969.12.05_

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