Apocalypse Now
			Dir: Francis Ford Coppola (1979) Starring: Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Larry Fishburne and Dennis Hopper..
				Apocalypse Now follows the top-secret mission given to Lieutenant Willard (Martin Sheen) to "Terminate with extreme prejudice" the renegade and mysterious Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando).  During Willard's journey deep into the jungles of Vietnam searching for the elusive Kurtz, he meets a number of interesting characters all of whom had been touched by the evils of a fruitless and unwanted war.  Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duval) is just such a character, unfazed by the mortars and bombs going off around him he decides to go surfing. Apocalypse Now is widely reported to be one of the best Vietnam films to be made.  I however don't think this highly of it, it is undoubtedly well made, and the acting and cast are second to none.  But it is a little too overindulgent for my tastes; I think that the running time could have been reduced by 30 mins without altering the film too greatly.  But then Francis Ford Coppola does like to indulge himself and to be completely fair the film doesn't really lose anything because of its length. I don't think that you will disappointed by this film, it has so many memorable scenes none more so than the aerial bombardment of the Vietcong by Colonel Kilgore and his men to the strains of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkarys".  This film is a testament to all those involved and it is just as famous for the back story, the story of how the film got made, the spiraling budget and the 250+ day shoot in Asia in the middle of the hurricane season.  In fact the making of film about Apocalypse Now ("Hearts Of Darkness") is just as famous and highly regarded as the film itself, and this making of film actually has proven so successful that now no major motion picture is now released without some kind of making of feature being made especially now in the DVD era. A bombastic 4 out of 5.