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| Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition) | 
 enlarge | Actor: Apocalyspe Now
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $7.60
You Save: $12.39 (62%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $7.60
Avg. Customer Rating:  (702 reviews)
Sales Rank: 830
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Vietnamese (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 355 minutes
Number Of Items: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.6
MPN: PARD070684D
UPC: 097360706840
EAN: 0097360706840
ASIN: B000FSME1A
Release Date: August 15, 2006
Theatrical Release Date: August 15, 1979
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Remember why Redux was released? June 4, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As a kid I remember hearing about Apocalypse Now and thinking that it was some sort of dark and forbidden territory for a war movie. That was much the way Vietnam was presented to me in general growing up. Since then I've written a college thesis on the war...
I watched the original a number of times and it was entertaining as compact, action packed and surreal. I preferred Platoon. But I always heard stories about "The French Plantation Scene" and "The Bunny Scene". So what did Coppola do? He gave us what we wanted to see. And now we have his whole vision. I can see the merit in saying that Redux is too long and rambling - that it lacks the pyschedelic punch of the original. But the humor makes it all the more surreal. The GI's in the medical unit cared less about Willard, helicopters or Playmates. Kilgore wasn't that different than some commanders I knew in Iraq whose priorities were just...out of this world.
I'll have to say that as long as it is, I prefer Redux because it was what Coppola wanted us to see all along. It gives his vision much more majesty and breathing room. It was also what most of the viewers wanted to see all along with the long rumored "forbidden" scenes.
 Original, Redux, Where's the "Good" version? May 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
No one seems to realize this but there are not two but three versions of this movie. The end of the original is too short and I find it unsatisfying. Redux is WAAAY to long and drags. A version called "The Directors Cut" came out on VHS some years ago and was somewhere in between the original and the Redux, having a longer end without the dragging middle. I don't like Redux and the original is not as great a film without the enhanced end.
a must see May 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Everyone ought to see this film. (Or films). It's a great price for both versions of the film. My only qualm is that both versions are split over 2 DVDs, rather than having one on one and the other on the other. I haven't gone through any features yet, but it looks like there are quite a few...
 Love this movie May 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. When it first came out my parents wouldn't watch it. Though when I became an adult I had to see this movie and thought it was excelent. THe acting and casting in this movie was spot on. This is one of the best movies of all time in my mind.
Redux-An Overall Improvement On The Original Cut & DVD April 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Whenever filmbuffs compile a list of the best films of the Vietnam era, Apocalypse Now usually ends up between the 1 and 5 placing. Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, based on the book Heart Of Darkness (even though the book actually doesn't take place in Vietnam, but West Africa), is a startling story of an Army Captain (Martin Sheen) on a secret mission to "relieve" an AWOL Colonel (Marlon Brando) who has gone powerhungry and mad deep within the jungle of Cambodia, all awhile traveling up the Mekong River with four crewmen, encountering shellshocked soliders and the horrors of the War all around.
However, behind the scenes of making this film was a horror all of it's own. Budget problems, cast becoming as insane as their characters, and Coppola, well, trying to "cope" with it all. Still, for it's time of 1979, the film turned out to be an amazing visual as well as audio expierence (it's actually the first film to be premiered in the then new 5.1 audio sound). But in 2001, Coppola decided to re-edit his film to include more than 49 minutes originally edited out due to time & plot pacing reasons. Thus "Apocalypse Now Redux" was born.
This was the first time I've seen Redux, having seen the original 153 minute numerous times, but at a now whopping 202 minutes the film didn't seem to drag or be filled with unneccesary filler. The new scenes, most notably the encounter with the French family and their rubber plantation still standing tall within the war-torn area, was a plot point understandably cutable, but now gives more insight to the views of the American involvement there. All the newly added footage blended perfectly with the original, and makes Redux worthy of any upgrade.
On to the "Dossier" release itself, it's mighty impressive. Packaged in an classified envelope with a beautifully decorated Digipak inside that holds the two disc set firmly, Dossier also gives you fully remastered versions of both films, but be warned, they have spread the presentation on two discs meaning halfway through either version you are going to have to change discs. Special features are plentiful with hours of footage showing behind the scenes of the making of the film as well as interviews with most of it's stars (minus strangely Martin Sheen & predictably Brando). However, to give this release the title "Complete Dossier" is somewhat misleading because the 1991 documentary "Heart Of Darkness" which truly showed the complete process of the film from start to finish was not included in this set. This is a major ommision, somewhat making the hours of doc's given on it sort of lackluster compared to what it would be with a third disc included with "Heart" on it. Coppola does give an excellent insightful commentary here (for both versions), so it's not a total loss.
But does the movie stand the test of time? In my opinion, mostly. After fifteen or so years of Hollywood cheating special effects with CGI, the once amazingly impressive scenes of the beach attack ending with the Napalm bombing, while still visually stunning, now seems commonplace in action film. But younger generations should understand that that scene is actually happening, those are real helicopters in the air and those explosions are really burning, not something most of today's CGI-fests can boast. Another somewhat dated aspect of the film is it's soundtrack score. While the percussion tracks are fitting, the keyboard/Moog based ones seem out-of-place and extremely dated. And an odd choice due to not being a part of the late 60's (it was the mid-70's where it rose in popularity), and today just sounds, well, cheesy. However, it's title track "The End" by The Doors is a monumental addition, truly showing the landscape culture of the times (also bonus points for the original vulgar lyrics version that at the time hadn't been heard by most of the public). But these aside, the film is a great, yet strangely different view on the Vietnam war that movies like say Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and even Forrest Gump don't show. It's really in a league of it's own in that sense.
Overall, there's really no Vietnam-era movie quite like it. Though at times it reaches levels of almost black-humor (a surfer-obsessed Lt. Colonel, a decorated solider suddenly becomes a God, and Dennis Hopper as an over-the-top photographer), it still remains as one of most pivotal cinematic points of the 1970's. Even if your not a fan of wartime films, everyone should see this to know just how hard it used to be to show the genre as realistic as possible.
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