Appreciating all that makes America special

Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now, www.greatamericanthings.net

Robert Duvall in one of the memorable scenes from Apocalypse Now. Uploaded by megaheroentertainment.com.

It’s a miracle Apocalypse Now ever got made. Lead actor Martin Sheen had a heart attack in the middle of filming. A typhoon came through the film’s location in the Philippines and destroyed several sets. Marlon Brando showed up grossly overweight, requiring the film’s ending to be rewritten. Yet somehow, Francis Ford Coppola persevered through the jungle of problems to create one of the masterpieces of American cinema.

Apocalypse Now, www.greatamericanthings.net

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Based loosely on Joseph Conrad’s novel “Heart of Darkness,” Apocalypse Now gave the Vietnam War experience the surreal treatment that many of its veterans actually experienced. Like most great films, it featured a terrific supporting cast (Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, Harrison Ford, Scott Glenn) and has become the most revered of the Vietnam War movies. It has some memorable scenes and popular lines: The helicopter attack to the strains of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries…”I love the smell of napalm in the morning”…”The horror…The horror.”

It won Academy Awards for sound and cinematography, and received a Best Picture nomination. The American Film Institute named it number 28 in its list of 100 Years…100 Movies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz3Cc7wlfkI

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