Apocalypse Now appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. This Dolby Vision image became a high-quality representation of the film.
Sharpness was usually strong. The majority of the flick showed nice clarity and delineation, but some exceptions occurred, and occasional bouts of softness materialized.
Still, those were the exceptions to the rule, and they appeared to mainly result from the original photography. In particular, the French Plantation scenes of Final and Redux felt on the gauzy side, but that made sense for those. (Of course, the 1979 cut didn’t come with those issues since that sequence didn’t appear in it.)
No issues with jagged edges or shimmer appeared, and edge haloes were absent. Grain felt natural, and I witnessed no issues with print flaws.
Throughout the green-dominated palette, the colors were strong. The flick also came with some amber/orange – mainly to represent heat – and the tones looked vivid and full. The disc’s HDR boasted nice impact and density when it came to these hues.
Black levels were also deep and strong, and shadow detail seemed fine. The HDR added range and punch to whites and contrast. I suspect the 4K made Now look about as good as it can on home video.
In addition, I felt consistently happy with the terrific Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the soundstage was broad and each of the channels got a nice workout.
The forward spectrum showed strong stereo separation for the music, while effects were placed appropriately in the logical locations and they also blended together quite well.
Images neatly surrounded you and immersed you in the sound. The "Ride of the Valkyries" scene served to demonstrate this well, as did a late segment in which our protagonists were attacked by wooden arrows. Even during quieter moments, the soundtrack always offered some sort of auditory reminder of the war, and it did so in a natural and seamless manner.
The quality of the audio was also strong, though early in the film I felt a little concerned about the dialogue. During Willard’s briefing, speech seemed somewhat processed and artificial, a concern that seemed to stem from some dodgy looping.
Happily, that problem vanished after the one scene, and the rest of the movie displayed natural and distinct dialogue that betrayed no problems related to intelligibility or edginess.
Music seemed clear and dynamic, with bright highs and deep lows, and the effects followed along the same lines. Now gave my system a nice little workout, as the effects showed fine accuracy and clarity, and they packed a neat little punch when appropriate, which was much of the time.
Bass response appeared very positive throughout the film, as the many loud battle sequences blasted in a logical way. Overall, I thought the soundtrack of Apocalypse Now provided thoroughly fine material that made it hard to believe it accompanied such an old movie.
How did the 4K UHD compare with the Blu-ray edition? The Atmos audio added some range and impact to the mix, and visuals showed considerable improvements, as the Dolby Vision 4K appeared better defined, cleaner and more dynamic. This turned into an impressive upgrade.
As noted earlier, this set includes the 1979 theatrical (2:27:11), 2001 Redux (3:16:03) and 2019 Final (3:01:58) cuts of Apocalypse Now. Links to long discussions of the first two can be found above, though the simple overview remains “1979 good, Redux bad, Final less bad but still bad”.
For “Final Cut”, we find an optional introduction from Francis Ford Coppola. It lasts four minutes, 23 seconds and provides Coppola’s thoughts about various versions of the movie.
Unsurprisingly, he attempts to paint “Final” as his best vision. He doesn’t really explain why “Final” becomes the strongest, but what do you expect? He’s not going to slam the new one!
Alongside the “Redux” version, we hear from director Francis Ford Coppola during his audio commentary. He presents a running, screen-specific chat that starts with notes about the creation of the movie’s opening sequence.
From there he gets into cast, performances and working with the actors, character and story issues, set dressing and props, shooting on location and connections with the Philippine government, and his cameo.
Coppola also covers the project’s origins and development, music, cinematography and editing, alterations to – and eventual abandonment of – the script, weather problems, and many specifics about the different scenes.
Coppola offers plenty of remarks about the scenes added for “Redux” vs. theatrical. He lets us know why they weren’t in the 1979 cut and tells us why he wanted to restore them for “Redux”.
The majority of the most interesting material relates to problems finding an ending for the flick and the issues connected to Marlon Brando. I also like the notes about why Harvey Keitel was dropped from the project after shooting began.
Another compelling tidbit comes from an issue I mentioned earlier: Coppola’s desire to create a big, sweeping Hollywood project. He even mentions that he tried to lease the Sensurround patent from Universal!
If forced to gripe about this commentary, I’d mention that a few lulls occur. However, not many of these pop up, as Coppola remains quite chatty given the film’s length.
I don’t really want to complain about this piece, though, as I really like it. Coppola provides a consistently informative and fascinating glimpse of his film.
On a separate Blu-ray, we get all the bonus materials from the prior two-disc release. An Interview with John Milius goes for 49 minutes, 45 seconds and features a chat between Coppola and screenwriter Milius.
Coppola essentially plays interviewer, as he gets Milius to talk about how he came to the project, aspects of writing the script, and different parts of the tale.
The pair dig into the screenplay well and deliver a lot of useful tidbits along the way. On a basic level, it’s simply cool to see them in this setting; it’s even better that they throw in so much good info.
Another chat shows up via A Conversation with Martin Sheen and Francis Ford Coppola. It runs 59 minutes, 26 seconds as the actor and the director discuss their experiences on the film.
We find out how Sheen got cast in the film and what appealed to him about it, and many memories from the shoot. As with the Milius show, Coppola acts more as moderator than subject, but he does join in more often here, so it’s more of an even piece.
And it’s another good one. Both Coppola and Sheen seem open and engaged as they talk about the movie, and Sheen’s presence helps keep Coppola from simply reiterating the same material he discussed in the commentary. The two mix well and deliver a charming, enjoyable program.
Fred Roos: Casting Apocalypse lasts 11 minutes, 44 seconds. Casting director Roos talks about how he found many of the actors who appeared in Now.
We get a nice complement of archival photos and footage to go along with Roos’ informative recollections; this turns into another solid piece, especially since we see some actual audition footage.
Next we find ”The Mercury Theatre on the Air: Hearts of Darkness, a radio broadcast from November 6, 1938. The show fills 36 minutes, 34 seconds as it features Orson Welles and company’s take on the Joseph Conrad classic that influenced Now.
That makes it a cool addition, and one with interesting timing. Darkness aired only a week after Welles’ infamous broadcast of War of the Worlds.
Next we get a mix of cut segments. These include ”The Hollow Men” Extended Segment (16 minutes, 57 seconds), “Monkey Sampan” Lost Scene (3:03), and 12 Additional Scenes (26:28).
“Hollow” is really a collection of outtakes more than an “extended segment”. Brando rambles poetic while we mostly see shots of the natives.
“Sampan” mixes shots of the boat crew as they approach the Kurtz compound during a native ceremony. The crew sees a gruesome sight. It’s not a bad scene, as it sets the ominous stage for the rest of the film.
As for the “Additional Scenes”, we get “Saigon Streetlife” (0:45), “Military Intelligence Escorts” (0:42), “Intelligence Briefing (Extension 1)” (2:16), “Intelligence Briefing (Extension 2)” (3:15), “Willard Meets the PBR Crew” (1:02), “Letter from Mrs. Kurtz” (1:28), “Booby Trap” (0:52), “Do Lung Bridge ‘…That Road Is Open’” (0:55), “The Photojournalist” (2:29), “Colby” (1:33), “The Tiger Cages” (4:27) and “’Special Forces Knife’” (6:35).
Many are pretty dull, and “Crew” is simply atrocious, so it’s the most appropriate cut of the bunch. “Colby” and “Knife” are the most interesting simply because they let us see – and actually hear – the Scott Glenn character.
After this the Blu-ray delivers the Destruction of the Kurtz Compound (6:06). Here’s what I said about it on the old DVD: “Okay, this isn't going to be a perfect recap, since I'm a little confused about the deal myself, but here's what I think is correct.”
“The original 70mm issue of the film went out without any opening or closing credits. Instead, audience members received a program that contained credits plus some production notes.”
“Since the wider 35mm release made the inclusion of these programs impractical, end credits were added to the film. Coppola ran these over shots of the Kurtz compound being destroyed that did not appear in the 70mm version, but apparently he soon changed his mind, retracted that cut and issued one that simply shows white credits over a black background.”
“Clearly the credit-free version should be considered as the ‘real’ one, but I'm still confused about how the destruction version hit the screens. That footage appears on the disc, along with commentary from Coppola about it.”
“It's from that commentary that I get the impression he decided to issue the credits with the destruction but soon changed his mind when he realized how that sequence alters the meaning of the ending. I'm not clear if that's the case or if somehow the destruction got tacked on there without his approval.”
“In any case, the footage appears here, though not as part of the film. The plain credits also show up, and they're separated from the film by a short pause. The movie fades as originally intended, we have a small break, and then the credits roll.”
“They look surprisingly bad, as they seem much fuzzier than they should and I wouldn't be shocked to learn they'd been taken from some video source. The destruction footage looks decent but unspectacular. The brief commentary from Coppola becomes interesting, although I still felt confused.”
The Birth of 5.1 Sound goes for five minutes, 54 seconds and includes comments from Coppola, re-recording mixer/sound montage Walter Murch, and Dolby Labs’ Ioan Allen.
We get some funny notes about Coppola’s grandiose plans for the film’s exhibition and then Allen leads us through a concise history of how movie audio developed over the years. After that we learn how Now fit into this. “Sound” provides a good little tutorial.
Next comes the three-minute, 55-second Ghost Helicopter Fly-Over, and it includes notes from Allen, Murch and re-recording mixer/synthesist Richard Beggs. It looks at the specific creation of the opening segment, and it acts to offer an informative examination of the details.
A text component called The Synthesizer Soundtrack offers an article by Bob Moog. It gives us an in-depth look at the writing and recording of the movie’s music, and it proves quite useful.
After this we get more featurettes. A Million Feet of Film: The Editing of Apocalypse Now runs 17 minutes, 57 seconds and includes notes from Coppola, Murch, Beggs, supervising editor Richard Marks, and narration writer Michael Herr.
They give us information about the challenges behind piecing together a coherent story from the miles of footage. We learn about the use of narration, cuts made to the original and additions to Redux, and other connected issues.
This is a pretty good examination of the editing. Inevitably, some issues repeat from elsewhere, but “Feet” provides a solid view of the different problems experienced in this area.
The Music of Apocalypse Now lasts 14 minutes, 46 seconds and includes statements from Coppola, Murch, Beggs, and synthesist Shirley Walker. We find out that Coppola originally want to use Doors music for the score and why this different happen.
We then move to discussions of the choice to feature a synthesized score and issues related to its creation. We also hear about other elements like the Hendrix-inspired guitar and Mickey Hart’s percussive work.
The information itself offers useful material, but the behind the scenes footage is probably the most fun. Some of this appears in the other featurettes as well, but these clips are the best of the bunch. All of this adds up to make a nice program.
For the 15-minute, 22-second Heard Any Good Movies Lately? The Sound Design of Apocalypse Now, we find remarks from Coppola, Murch, Allen, Beggs, and post-production recordist Randy Thom. As you’d expect, we learn more about the film’s audio here.
We get info about the overall design arc as well as specifics about different elements and their integration. This program isn’t as concise as I’d like – it flits about the various issues without great clarity – but it still provides more than enough useful bits to work well.
Up next, The Final Mix goes for three minutes, nine seconds, as we find remarks from Thom and Beggs. The show offers a quick look at the work behind the actual mixing board.
A lot of archival footage appears as we watch the guys put together the final track. I’m not sure why this little tidbit didn’t come along as part of “Heard”. It’s okay but doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table.
Apocalypse Then and Now goes for three minutes, 44 seconds and features Coppola and Murch. We get a short look at those guys in 2001 as they bring about Redux.
We get the usual explanations for its creation and a few notes about related issues. After all the other material, this piece feels redundant, and it’s too brief to bring anything new to us.
For a look at the release of Redux, we go to the 38-minute, 35-second 2001 Cannes Film Festival: Francis Ford Coppola. Moderated by Roger Ebert, the director discusses aspects of the production, with an emphasis on changes made for Redux. That’s a subject touched on elsewhere, but Coppola gets into it well.
Some of the cast members show up for the four-minute, nine-second PBR Streetgang, as we hear from actors Laurence Fishburne, Sam Bottoms, Albert Hall, and Frederic Forrest. They provide some general thoughts about the film and their work.
“Streetgang” isn’t a tight piece with a logical arc, as it consists of fairly unconnected comments. These are reasonably interesting, though they’d have worked better as part of a longer examination of the film.
We really could have used a full retrospective about the flick’s creation instead of the dribs and drabs that come with featurettes like this. And with all the experiences these four guys had on Now, couldn’t they cull more than four minutes of good material?
For the final featurette, we get The Color Palette of Apocalypse Now. In this four-minute, six-second program, we find info from Coppola, Technicolor’s Dr. Richard Goldberg, and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.
Based on the title, I thought this would be a good look at the color choices for Now, but it’s not. In fact, I can’t really explain the point of it.
We get a few notes about Technicolor and hear the horrifying notion that Coppola cut the master of Now to make Redux. I watched this thing twice to figure out what I was supposed to learn from it, as I thought I missed something compelling the first time. Nope – it’s just not a very interesting piece.
This disc concludes with ads under Also from Lionsgate. We find promos for Tetro, The Doors and The Conversaton.
On another Blu-ray, the main attraction comes from Hearts of Darkness (1:36:00), the 1991 documentary about Apocalypse Now shot by Coppola’s wife Eleanor. A well-regarded piece, you can find my full thoughts about it via this link.
To summarize, Hearts deserves its reputation. An engrossing documentary, it becomes a fascinating look at the film.
Alongside Hearts, we find an audio commentary from Francis Coppola and Eleanor Coppola. Both sit separately for this piece.
Eleanor discusses how she became the film’s documentarian, some technical aspects of her work, her experiences on the shoot, aspects of creating the documentary, and why it took so long for the material to come together.
Francis tells us a little about the decisions he made on the film as he attempts to convey his mindset at the time. He also lets us know what parts of the documentary bother him.
I really looked forward to this track, since I figured Francis would finally give us his side of the story. Everyone knows that parts of Hearts upset him, so this was his chance to provide his interpretation and clarification.
And he blows it. Francis doesn’t say a lot here, and while he tells us some scenes come out of context, he doesn’t often spell out what the original context was.
We get some minor insights into his personality as he discusses how the ease with which he becomes embarrassed affected him, but Francis doesn’t tell us much. At least he does throw out a cool alternate title for Hearts: he views it as Watch Francis Suffer.
Eleanor proves considerably more informative, though she doesn’t give us quite enough to make this a good commentary. Still, her moments prove much more useful than Francis’s, especially since she essentially covers all the same territory about his tendency to get embarrassed easily.
It can be fascinating to hear how Francis would grant her and the other documentarians freedom to show what they wanted – and would inevitably regret it.
While Eleanor offers some nice notes, a lot of dead air can slow this track to a crawl. Occasionally the commentary went so long without remarks that it startled me to hear Eleanor or Francis speak.
I think the track has some very good info, but a 15-minute interview featurette probably could have summed up everything we learn hear. To stretch these details across a more than 90 minute movie makes this one a bit of an endurance test and a disappointment.
We also get John Milius Script Excerpt. This presents 54 pages of Milius’s screenplay accompanied by handwritten notes from Francis Coppola. It offers a fun look behind the curtain.
Next comes a Storyboard Collection. It covers 223 frames and shows art created to assist with the production. Expect a nice collection of materials here.
Two subdomains appear under Photo Archive: “Unit Photography” (22 images) and “Mary Ellen Mark Photography” (11). Both offer satisfying elements from the set.
Finally, we get a “Marketing Archive” that includes the two 1979 trailers and four radio spots.
We also find a 1979 theatrical program - presented via 17 stillframes – plus Lobby Card and Press Kit Photos (72) and a Poster Gallery (10). All offer useful materials.
All the above-related materials on the Hearts disc came out previously, but it adds some new components, and we start with a Tribeca Film Festival Q&A. This runs 47 minutes, 34 seconds and features Coppola with filmmaker Steven Soderbergh.
They discuss Now’s path to the screen, technical topics and a variety of production areas. Some of this repeats from other extras, but Soderbergh acts as a good interviewer and this becomes a likable reel, even if some of it feels redundant.
Some Super 8mm Behind the Scenes Footage spans 21 minutes, 39 seconds. Here we see silent material from various aspects of the shoot. I’d like the film more if it came with audio – or at least commentary/narration – but this still offers some interesting archival clips.
Dutch Angle fills 31 minutes, 44 seconds and presents a look at photojournalist Chas Gerretsen. We hear from Gerretsen as well as Nederlands Fotomuseum Head of Collections Matijn Van Den Broek, Kino Rotterdam creative director/programmer Jan De Vries and Kino Rotterdam marketing director Zuleyha Azman.
“Angle” examines Gerretsen’s life/career as well as his work on Now. We get a good view of the subject matter as well as a nice look at Gerretsen’s photos.
For a look at the 4K’s updated picture and audio, we go to Remastering a Legend. It lasts two minutes, 50 seconds and features Francis Coppola, colorist Greg Garvin and re-recording mixer Pete Horner.
As expected, they discuss some of the steps involved in the movie’s 2019 restoration. A few good insights emerge but the show’s too short to tell us much.
A Forty Year Journey fills two minutes, 21 seconds and leads us through a look at all the home video formats on which Now appeared over the years. It leaves out some releases even though it refers to alternate sound mixes, it doesn’t demonstrate them. “Journey” seems pointless.
Finally, Sensual Sound Technology takes up three minutes, 52 seconds and features Francis Coppola and Meyer Sound co-founders Helen and John Meyer. They talk about their collaboration on the original 1979 Now in this short but moderately interesting reel.
Without question, I recommend Apocalypse Now to all movie fans. Despite my continued disdain for the third act, it deserves its status as a classic. The 4K UHD provides strong picture as well as excellent audio and supplements. A classic film, this becomes the definitive representation of Now on home video.
To rate this film visit the DVD review of APOCALYPSE NOW
