Earlier this month Francis Ford Coppola revealed that he intended to screen the latest version of his 1979 monumental war classic, APOCALYPSE NOW, at the Tribeca Film Festival – officially titled “Apocalypse Now Final Cut.” As promised, the movie screened for viewers yesterday at Tribeca, and now it’s been confirmed that the movie will get a limited theatrical release this summer starting August 15 before being released on 4K Blu-ray August 27.
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Currently, there are two versions of the movie available to watch, the original cut, which runs at 153 minutes, and APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX, which is longer than the theatrical version at 202 minutes. Coppola revealed to Deadline in early April that he was asked which version of the movie he wanted to be shown, he came to the conclusion that his perfect version would actually be one that is shorter than REDUX, but still longer than the original.
But that version [REDUX] had all that had been cut out, restored. Later on, once again, when asked which version I personally wanted to be shown, I often felt that the original 1979 was too abruptly shortened, and Redux was too long, and settled on what I now felt was the perfect version, which is what we’re showing at Tribeca later this month, called Apocalypse Now Final Cut.”
Here's a trailer for the Final Cut!
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An infamously troubled production, APOCALYPSE NOW is a retelling of the classic Joseph Conrad novel HEART OF DARKNESS starring Martin Sheen as Captain Benjamin Willard, who is tasked with heading upriver to kill Marlon Brando's Colonel Walter Kurtz, who they believe has gone mad. Despite the tumultuous production, the movie was a success, making over $150 million worldwide and earning eight Oscar nominations, winning for Sound and Cinematography.
A classic for its examination of the human condition using the framework of the Vietnam War, NOW is filled with iconic lines and moments, including the masterful "Ride of the Valkyries" scene, and lines like "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" and "The horror…the horror." I can't wait to see how "Final Cut" flows compared to the others, but if it's the perfect version it won't be the only of its kind to be so. My favorite version of BLADE RUNNER is "The Final Cut", which stands above the other half-dozen versions out there. There will be a lot of summer movies getting that money out of your wallet, so be sure to save some in case you can catch this in theaters.
APOCALYPSE NOW: FINAL CUT is in theaters August 15.