Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
Talk about setting a tone.
With Apocalypse Now, Coppola came out blazing.
A whooshing noise, heard but offscreen, is placed when a helicopter drifts into view, almost dreamlike in it's approach, heading towards a lush green jungle. The first notes of 'The Doors' haunting and atmospheric 'The End' starts to chime, primary coloured smoke starts to fill the screen and that beautiful jungle explodes, a raging inferno engulfing the landscape.
Welcome to hell on earth. The madness and the poetic, the perverse and the divine, such an arresting display of visual and audio effects has hardly been bettered than this opening gambit. The face of Martin Sheen, Captain Willard, starts to fade into view, the sound of the helicopters rotor blades transform in to the sound of a ceiling fan and we find ourselves in a hotel room in Saigon.
The stories behind the film, the demise of Coppola and the craziness that engulfed the cast and crew can wait for another day, for now let's just soak up this brilliant scene. Enjoy.
15 September 2008
Now, That's How You Open a Movie #7
'Shit, I'm still only in Saigon'
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9 baring their soul:
Great clip, Ib. I love "Apocalypse Now"
I'm simply jealous of this feature :P If I had the chance to go back to a couple of months ago, I would've stolen it for my own blog.
Maybe I should do a "Now, That's How You Close A Movie" series just to satisfy my needs :)
Fantastic. Speaking of stealing, I want to steal Anil's comment. I love this feature!
Thanks for the comments guys.
I couldn't put this clip off any longer, I've been striving to hold back on it but finally I had to give in. It's simply to good to hold back.
Thanks for all the encouraging words; the threats of thievery are very flattering and I'm glad this feature is taking off the way I hoped it would.
And Anil, you should do that feature on closing scenes. I'd love that!
good call, what an iconic opening scene...
one that has since been copied is less amazing films, with far less skill and style.
Great scene. This movie wouldn't have been what it was without the turmoil that happened on the set.
They don't make movies like this anymore. Don't know that they ever will. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
Extra comments. How nice.
RC - Welcome to the site.
Couldn't agree more, it seems to sum up a whole era of, not only American cinema, but of a time in American history.
It's a scene which I think alot of director's believe is easy to replicate but fall very short of the mark.
Evil Clown - (shudder) That's one scary look you've got going on there.
It's what I've always said, the madness fueled that film, without it I don't think we would talk about it with such reverence.
As for not making movies like this anymore, I feel the same. However, I believe there's always room for an ego-maniacal director at the helm of an over bloated budget slowly destroying the very being of strewn out Hollywood stars.
Bring it on I say.
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
http://muffinsnow.com
Just love this film and it particular The Doors music. We have film and music pop art on our site.
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