APOCALYPSE NOW: REDUX

If there was ever any doubt about the "classic" status of this 22-year-old film, that doubt has just been eliminated. With 50 minutes of the original footage restored to the film (it now runs 3 1/2 hours!) it's truly a masterpiece, and the best film that was ever made, about the Vietnam War. Some of the new footage gets lost in the overall arc of the film but some truly stands out. There's an extended scene where the Martin Sheen character is entertained at a French plantation, thereby giving Director Coppola the opportunity to present the French side of the issue. It's informative and beautifully acted by several French actors. There's also an addition to the famous "surfing" scene ("I love the smell of napalm in the morning,") that ends that scene on an hilarious note. With the additional footage, the journey up the river to "find" Colonel Kurtz seems less like an adaptation of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, (as it was meant to be,) and more like an adaptation of Homer's Odyssey, complete with the "sirens" (the Playboy bunnies, ) and the "Cyclops" (the surfing Colonel Kilgore!) Even though I had just seen the 2 1/2- hour version of the film just a few months ago on TV, I wasn't bored for one minute during this complete version of the movie. That says a lot.

5 Stars

NJB