Apocalypse Now (1979)
Description:
1 Sheet
Movie Poster
- Folded Style A
Item Description:
Original; single-sided; Style A; folded
Year: 1979
Condition:
Mint
Dimension: 27" x 41"
Genre: Drama/Thriller/Adventure
This movie art item is an authentic
original piece - the same item that is used in actual movie theaters. Original movie art
items are valued by collectors worldwide and can increase in value over time.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen,
Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Dennis Hopper, Scott Glenn, Harrison Ford,
Laurence Fishburne, Sam Bottoms, Lee Ermey; Director: Francis Ford
Coppola
Synopsis:
One of a cluster of late-1970s films about the Vietnam War, Francis Ford
Coppola's Apocalypse Now adapts the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of Darkness to
depict the war as a descent into primal madness. Capt. Willard (Martin Sheen),
already on the edge, is assigned to find and deal with AWOL Col. Kurtz (Marlon
Brando), rumored to have set himself up in the Cambodian jungle as a local,
lethal godhead. Along the way Willard encounters napalm and Wagner fan Col.
Kilgore (Robert Duvall), draftees who prefer to surf and do drugs, a USO Playboy
Bunny show turned into a riot by the raucous soldiers, and a jumpy photographer
(Dennis Hopper) telling wild, reverent tales about Kurtz. By the time Willard
sees the heads mounted on stakes near Kurtz's compound, he knows Kurtz has gone
over the deep end, but it is uncertain whether Willard himself now agrees with
Kurtz's insane dictum to "Drop the Bomb. Exterminate them all." Coppola himself
was not certain either, and he tried several different endings between the
film's early rough-cut screenings for the press, the Palme d'Or-winning
"work-in-progress" shown at Cannes, and the final 35 mm U.S. release (also the
ending on the video cassette). The chaotic production also experienced
shut-downs when a typhoon destroyed the set and star Sheen suffered a heart
attack; the budget ballooned and Coppola covered the overages himself. These
production headaches, which Coppola characterized as being like the Vietnam War
itself, have been superbly captured in the documentary, Hearts of Darkness: A
Filmmaker's Apocalypse. Despite the studio's fears and mixed reviews of the
film's ending, Apocalypse Now became a substantial hit and was nominated for
eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting
Actor for Duvall's psychotic Kilgore, and Best Screenplay. It won Oscars for
sound and for Vittorio Storaro's cinematography. This hallucinatory, Wagnerian
project has produced admirers and detractors of equal ardor; it resembles no
other film ever made, and its nightmarish aura and polarized reception aptly
reflect the tensions and confusions of the Vietnam era.