It's the movie took America upriver into the jungles of the Vietnam war, and left us there.
Apocalypse Now came to the screen in 1979 as furiously as Colonel Kilgore's helicopters, leaving viewers flailing in the wake of its surreal depiction of an all too real war. Twenty-two years later, an expanded version of the film is on its way, with the horror alive and in super-charged Technicolor. It's all there: Captain Willard's mission to "terminate" the craven Colonel Kurtz, Wagner and the waves and napalm in the morning, the boat, and, of course, the river, snaking up to Cambodia, seeping into our souls.
The war of Apocalypse Now had no heroes, no glory, only men and their madness. The heart of the movie hasn't changed. Have we? (Hosted by Tom Askbrook)
Vittorio Storaro, Cinematographer of Apocalypse Now
Kenneth Turan, LA Times Film critic
and David Halberstam, journalist and author of "The Best and the Brightest" and the upcoming sequel "War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton and the Generals."
