Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Alex Towers and Brian Lloyd, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.
This time, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.
In the midst of the Vietnam War, Benjamin Willard is given a special assignment. He is tasked with taking a patrol boat up the Nung River in pursuit of Colonel Walter Kurtz. Kurtz has apparently gone completely rogue, no longer responding to directives from command. Willard is instructed to terminate Kurtz’s command, by any means necessary. However, as Willard journeys deeper into the country, he finds himself drifting further and further from reality, embracing some sort of primal insanity.
At time of recording, it was ranked 53rd on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 26th February 2023.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- Apocalypse Now at The Internet Movie Database.
- The Top 250 at time of recording.
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- Lewis Wallace at Wired reports on Francis Ford Coppola’s vision for Twixt, July 2011.
- Kim Masters, Scott Feinberg and Aaron Couch at The Hollywood Reporter discuss the rumours of production difficulties on Twixt, January 2023.
- Francis Ford Coppola denies reports of production difficulties on Megalopolis to Vulture, January 2023.
- Francis Ford Coppola talks to The New York Times about the release of Apocalypse Now Redux, May 2001.
- William Gibson at Pop Matters considers the cultural impact and legacy of Apocalypse Now, December 2017.
- John Milius talks to The Guardian about his life and career, November 2001.
- Francis Ford Coppola talks to Rolling Stone about returning to Apocalypse Now for The Final Cut, August 2019.
- Jeeshan Gazi at Jump Cut considers the origins of Apocalypse Now, Fall 2022.
- Alex von Tunzelmann looks back on The Green Berets for The Guardian, July 2014.
- Dennis Lim at The Los Angeles Times looks back on the context of Apocalypse Now in terms of movies about Vietnam, October 2010.
- Gene Siskel at The Chicago Tribune considers the early wave of American movies about the Vietnam War, April 1985.
- Maureen Lee Lenker at Entertainment Weekly looks at how Hal Ashby was hired to direct Coming Home, April 2022.
- Ryan Gilbey at The New Statesman considers the legacy of The Deer Hunter as an early look at the Vietnam War, August 2014.
- Rudranch Bundela at MovieWeb considers how much Francis Ford Coppola invested in Apocalypse Now, September 2022.
- Francis Ford Coppola talks to Yahoo! about trying to get Donald Rumsfeld to provide military support to Apocalypse Now, August 2014.
- Charles Higham at The New York Times reports on trouble behind the scenes on the production of Apocalypse Now, May 1977.
- Robert Lindsey at The New York Times reports on just how much Francis Ford Coppola had riding on Apocalypse Now, July 1977.
- Tom Zito at The Washington Post reports on Francis Ford Coppola’s emotional volatility during Apocalypse Now, August 1979.
- Bill Wyman at Slate looks at Community‘s love letter to Francis Ford Coppola, November 2011.
- Jasmine Pirovic at Russh considers the playlist that Sofia Coppola put together for Priscilla, October 2022.
- Walter Murch talks to Cinemontage about the postproduction on Apocalypse Now, February 2016.
- Aljean Harmetz at The New York Times considers the film industry’s volatility towards the end of the seventies, September 1979.
- Aljean Harmetz at The New York Times considers the inevitability of the collapse of the New Hollywood movemant, April 1981.
- Adam Nayman at The Ringer considers how Heaven’s Gate killed New Hollywood, July 2021.
- The Playlist looks back on the career of Francis Ford Coppola, November 2014.
- Shaun Louis Calleja at Obscur Magazine considers Francis Ford Coppola’s One From the Heart, March 2020.
- K. Austin Collins at Vanity Fair considers Francis Ford Coppola’s restored and recut Cotton Club, October 2019.
- Francis Ford Coppola holds a gun to his head on the set of Apocalypse Now, 1978.
- Cai Ross at Film Inquiry looks back on King Kong as the first post-Jaws blockbuster, March 2017.
- Thomas Quinn Curtiss at The Washington Post reports on Francis Ford Coppola screening the unfinished cut of Apocalypse Now at Cannes, May 1979.
- Martin Scorsese considered comic book movies at The New York Times, November 2019.
- Francis Ford Coppola talks to Deadline about the decision to screen an unfinished cut of Apocalypse Now at Cannes, May 2019.
- Maureen Orth reports on her set visit to Apocalypse Now for Newsweek, June 1977.
- Matthew Ross considers the legacy of Apocalypse Now to the modern generation of warfare for The Journal of American Culture, December 2013.
- Laura Bradley at Vanity Fair reports on Trump arguing with Vietnam veterans about Apocalypse Now, August 2018.
- Dale Dye talks to The Atlantic about the portrayal of Vietnam in Apocalypse Now, August 2010.
- Danny Boyle talks to Stop Smiling about how Apocalypse Now defined his film career, May 2009.
- Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian compares The Beach to Apocalypse Now, February 2000.
- James Gray talks to Slate about The Lost City of Z, including comparisons to Apocalypse Now, April 2017.
- James Gray and Brad Pitt talk to South China Morning Post about Ad Astra as “Apocalypse Now in Space”, September 2019.
- Francis Ford Coppola talks to USA Today about the infamous water buffalo sacrifice in Apocalypse Now, August 2019.
- Scott Glenn talks to The Hollywood Reporter about how he came to be cast in Apocalypse Now, December 2020.
- Gordon Coates at The Guardian considers the workprint version of Apocalypse Now, October 2008.
- Glenn Kenny at RogerEbert.com considers Coppola’s initial plans to use “SenSurround” technology, August 2019.
- Walter Murch talks to Salon about creating the soundscape of Apocalypse Now, April 2000.
- Larry Blake at Mix Online considers the sound mix of Apocalypse Now, August 2001.
- Christopher Nolan talks to The Wrap about his dislike of the isolating effect of 3D, March 2014.
- John Milius talks to CNN about his understanding of Vietnam as “a California War”, March 2009.
- Kate McGeown at BBC reports on how Apocalypse Now transformed the village of Baler into a surfing hotspot, April 2013.
- Adam Nayman at The Ringer considers the use of surfing in Apocalypse Now, December 2018.
- Alex von Tunzelmann at The Guardian considers Brian dePalma’s Casualties of War, April 2009.
- Maddie Becker at Fashion x Film considers Apocalypse Now as a movie about colonialism, October 2020.
- Ed Power at The Independent looks back on Red Dawn, August 2019.
- Bill Higgins at The Hollywood Reporter reflects on Red Dawn ushering in a new era of violence in Hollywood cinema, August 2019.
- Duncan Campbell at The Guardian considers the branding of the mission to capture Saddam Hussein as “Operation Red Dawn”, December 2003.
- Stephen Vagg at Film Ink considers the career of John Milius, December 2019.
- Linh Dinh at The Guardian considers Coppola’s claim that Apocalypse Now is an “anti-lie” film, November 2001.
- Francis Ford Coppola explains to The Guardian why he doesn’t consider Apocalypse Now to be an “anti-war” film, August 2019.
- Tom Brook at BBC considers if there is any such thing as a truly “anti-war” movie, July 2014.
- Steve Oney at The Los Angeles Times considers Robert Rhealt, November 2013.
- Gary Arnold reviews Apocalypse Now at The Washington Post, October 1979.
- Harvey Keitel talks to Insider about his casting and departure from Apocalypse Now, June 2021.
- Empire reflects on the life and career of Marlon Brando, August 2004.
- Calum Russell at Far Out Magazine considers the accounts of Marlon Brando’s behaviour on the set of Apocalypse Now, June 2021.
- Ryan Parker at The Hollywood Reporter considers the feud between Marlon Brando and Dennis Hopper on Apocalypse Now, April 2020.
- Danny Leigh at The Guardian considers Tony Poe as an obvious influence on Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, September 2000.
- Matt Isaccs at San Francisco Weekly considers Anthony Poshepny as an obvious point of comparison to Walter Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, November 1999.
- Soldiers of Misfortune considers the various influences on Walter Kurtz.
- Ryan Parker at The Hollywood Reporter considers the filming of the introductory scene of Apocalypse Now with Martin Sheen, August 2020.
- Tom Shone considers Marlon Brando for The Atlantic, July 2014.
- Francis Ford Coppola talks to The New York Times about Marlon Brando’s concerns regarding Apocalypse Now Redux, May 2001.
- Zach Vasquez at The Guardian considers The Island of Dr. Moreau as a companion piece to Apocalypse Now, February 2021.
- Larry Taylor at Inverse parallels Marlon Brando’s influence on the filming of Apocalypse Now and The Island of Doctor Moreau, July 2015.
- Brian Phillips at The Ringer considers Apocalypse Now as a counterpoint to Star Wars, August 2020.
- Francis Ford Coppola talks to The New York Times about the ending of Apocalypse Now, August 1979.
- Phoung Le at Film Comment considers the American-centric perspective of Apocalypse Now, July 2019.
- Viet Thanh Nguyen talks to NPR about how Apocalypse Now influenced his novel, The Sympathiser, April 2015.
- Kevin Kelly at Engadget considers Spec Ops: The Game as a companion piece to Apocalypse Now, July 2012.
- Adi Robertson at The Verge considers the efforts to adapt Apocalypse Now as a video game, February 2017.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: alex towers, america, apocalypse now, Audio, brian lloyd, film, Filmmaking, francis ford coppola, marlon brando, martin sheen, Movie, podcast, psychedelia, season, trip, vietnam, Vietnam War |
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