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Q&A: Francis Ford Coppola on 'Apocalypse Now' 40 years later

21 Comments
By JAKE COYLE

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21 Comments
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Big fan of the Redux, didn't think I would, being so used to the theatre cut but it's fascinating.

If you like this film, read Michael Herr's book, Dispatches. This was an influence on Coppola's masterpiece and Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I'd love to see this recut in the theater. If the opportunity comes up I will for sure. It's a powerful movie.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

A man's film. No women in it at all

Have you forgotten the Playboy bunnies and the French plantation owner’s wife?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

A man's film. No women in it at all

Yes, it’s misogynistic rubbish made by a dead white European male.

Throw it in the rubbish along with any other film which reflected the standards of the time. I read one critic looking back at alien, released around the same time, which claimed Ripley negatively reflected gender stereotypes.

Coppola and Scott, sexist dinosaurs.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

a dead white European male.

Someone should let Coppola know he's dead, and the wrong nationality to boot, so that he doesn't waste any more time making Megalopolis.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Someone should let Coppola know he's dead, and the wrong nationality to boot, so that he doesn't waste any more time making Megalopolis.

Humour not your thing?

I just find the whole thing tiresome. A movie made 40 years ago about a war where the vast majority of combatants were male, and male actors were cast, gets dismissed as a “man’s movie”.

Why the need for the divisive comments?

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Humour not your thing?

Sure, when something is funny.

gets dismissed as a “man’s movie”.

Why the need for the divisive comments?

I don't find calling something 'a man's movie' dismissive or divisive. It's not an insult, is it, and more than calling a film a women's movie is an insult (though there are those who think it is).

It is a fact that Apocalypse Now is based on a book by a man, adapted and directed by a man, the main cast are all men, the music was written by a man... The women in the cast are generally nameless, voiceless characters.

Perhaps, as you say, the vast majority of combatants in the Vietman War were men, but "... nearly 11,000 Vietnamese women and over 5,000 American women fought..." there [Wiki]

Calling it a man's movie doesn't necessarily mean it's for men, but it's certainly by them.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Tsk. Error:

"...any more than calling a film a women's movie is an insult..."

0 ( +3 / -3 )

A man's film. 

Is there something wrong with that?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Should The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants have been re-written to be more male friendly?

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Harvey as willard:

https://www.mixedmartialarts.com/forums/OtherGround/Anyone-seen-the-Apocalypse-now-Keitel-Dailies:2492612

0 ( +0 / -0 )

A man's film. No women in it at all

There is nothing at all from stopping women from making a movie with all women, and nothing at all stopping half the world's population from enjoying it. Stop complaining and make the movies you think people want. Or do you want men to make the women's movies for you?

1 ( +4 / -3 )

@commanteer et al:

Stop complaining 

Why do you see Lamilly's post as a complaint?

A man's film. No women in it at all

It's not entirely accurate, because women do appear in it, but none of them has significant billing, few of them have lines or a character name, and barely one was involved in the making of the film.

But, again, where has the poster complained? Why has this simple comment triggered the menfolk?

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

A man's film.

I never really saw it as a movie about the Vietnam war so much. It was more about the general nature of men - much like the book it was based on. Women should perhaps watch it as a warning. (Men should probably watch it as a warning too.)

3 ( +4 / -1 )

But, again, where has the poster complained? Why has this simple comment triggered the menfolk?

I’m still waiting for the original poster to tell us if there is a problem with either this movie being a mans movie, or if there is a problem with movies for men existing at all. Or maybe the poster was just pointing out that it’s all men and doesn’t think that’s a problem at all. It would be strange to even make the comment in that case though.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

A genius adaptation of the original novel Heart of Darkness. Timothy Findlay also wrote an excellent book called Headhunter which touches on both. Anyway, I got to see this on the big screen a year ago as they replayed it, something they have been doing in theaters in the morning with old flicks, and I greatly appreciated it. Blues Brothers was the most recent one I saw, last month.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The women in the cast are generally nameless, voiceless characters.

True, dat. There's no doubt it is a flawed film but it's still, in my opinion, a masterpiece.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Why the need for the divisive comments?

You should learn to end your posts with LOL or (sarcasm) because computer text does not come with the necessary tone we normally use to figure that out. There are a ton of people who would have said what you did in complete earnest. Such are the times we live in where the gender debate is jam packed with utter blind or calculated insanity.

Someone should do an all female remake or reimagining of this movie like they did Ghost Busters so we can watch it belly flop at the box office.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

why trying to extract brilliance from a 1979,s masterpiece with a 2019,s politicallycorrect kind of speech. i,m all for women, but this is about the horrors of war and the effect it has on men. men fought in Vietnam War, men died there. this movie is all set in Vietnam (not back home in the USA) so there was very little room for strong female characters. we should just enjoy this amazing movie just the way it is.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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