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Virgin viewing of Apocalypse Now


Mitth'raw'nuroudo
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Are you not seeing them because you're supposed to are anti establishment? Or genuinely disinterested?

 

I'm with you on Gone With The Wind, but the others were all pretty transcendent for me to see.

 

apocalypse now is a movie I love, and I get it's place in cinema history-- but I actually like the documentary about it's making more.

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Older classics can be difficult if you don't have an appreciation for the historical context of cinema. Citizen Kane isn't exactly an easy watch, but when you know that every ten minutes you're seeing something done for the first time in a movie it's pretty mind blowing.

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Apocalypse Now is awesome. I saw it (the redux) at the cinema and had to sit down afterwards with a glass of water. ****ing heavy, and really affected me at the time. I think it was the most intense film I had ever seen at that point in my life. The whole acid trip/conflict down the delta after the playboy bunnies just spun me out totally. HEAVY.

 

Casablanca is also a fantastic film. Bogie is the man.

 

I don't know why people would want to resist watching these films at all cause they're great. And IMO hold up easily against modern cinema. I haven't seen Citizen Kane, but it's one I know I should see.

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I haven't seen those movies because I was ruined on them before I ever had a chance to watch them. Ruined by pop culture fetishizing them. Ruined by constant quotes, references, and spoilers.

 

I avoided Casablanca for this reason. When I finally watched it ... I knew every story beat and half the lines despite having never seen it. Not a fun viewing experience.

 

I'm sure they're all masterpieces but I should have watched them as a kid before pop culture ruined them for me.

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I pretty much have the same list, Dex. I did see Casablanca at a relatively young age, and I love it, and I saw Howard the Duck as a kid and I really don't think I'll ever watch it again. I've tried all of the movies on that list, but like you said, I know them so well by now that they're not enjoyable at all. Same with Scarface.

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Like Tank said, maybe you gotta put the films in context. Martin Sheen was on acid and lost his freakin mind during the filming of Apocalypse Now. I think he stripped down and danced naked on set. They were one with the times. The way Charles Swan III or 2 and a Half Men is insight to the legend Charlie Sheen's crazy life and the times we were living in, Apocalypse Now is a glimpse of the world his dad lived in. I think they even used real footage of Martin Sheen freaking out to put in the actual movie. It's very interesting.

Plus you can't go wrong when the movie uses stock footage of a live cow being sacrificed.

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That was the opening scene under the ceiling fan in the whiskey bender. Don't think LSD was involved. Reckon that is a case of Chinese whispers style embellishment, however in that opening scene Martin Sheen is most deffo drunk out of his brain, and little to none of it is acting.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Never seen it, never will.

 

Also never seen

 

Gone With The Wind

 

Citizen Kane

 

Taxi Driver

 

Howard the Duck

 

I only saw Casablanca a couple years ago. It wasn't worth the wait.

I had the same thoughts as others here about a lot of these old films from decades ago and many of them I finally got around to seeing. Here are my feelings for what it's worth:

 

Gone with the Wind was four hours of my life I'll never get back.

 

I agree with Driver about Citizen Kane.

 

Apocalypse Now is amazing and totally holds up to everything working against it (the effects of time; being over-quoted, referenced, and pop-cultured to death; etc.) I saw it for the first time when the Redux version came out and it totally blew me away. It felt like it could have been made today (well.... then).

 

Taxi Driver was more about watching a great performance than anything else to me. And that made it totally worth it. I went through I phase a few years back where I wanted to watch all the old films by DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Pacino, to see what the big deals about these guys were -- cuz, let's face it, have any of these guys done anything good (that wasn't self-parody) in the last twenty years?

 

I've never seen Casablanca.

 

Godfather (and Godfather II) are incredible. They probably can never be over-hyped.

 

I will add Lawrence of Arabia and The Bridge on the River Kwai to the list of old movies that are absolutely stunning, so well made that their age almost has no effect (though I find William Holden has that sort of 'old timey' actor vibe in Kwai, it's still a great film).

 

Howard the Duck, you're on your own.

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Home sick from work today, I watched another one that a lot of people can't believe I've never seen: The French Connection.

 

I don't know how this is a classic. Maybe it's one of those "this is the first time that was done" movies(?), but man, an hour of boring, drawn-out, go-nowhere drama/suspense that builds to a climax that doesn't even quite climax. Maybe it was good in its day, but in this day, don't waste your time.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

I haven't seen the godfather. It's not that I'm not interested, I just haven't had a reason to watch it other than YOU SHOULD WATCH IT. Now that I'm watching the sopranos on amazon, I'll probably see it sooner or later.

Not speaking as YOU SHOULD WATCH IT, but if you like Sopranos and Goodfellas, you would probably like the Godfather movies. At least 1&2. I liked 3, but it is not for everyone.

 

As for Apacalypse Now, if someone hasn't seen it, I recommend the original theatrical version. I didn't like the Redux version, where they added all the scenes they cut. There's a reason they were cut.

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Home sick from work today, I watched another one that a lot of people can't believe I've never seen: The French Connection.

 

I don't know how this is a classic. Maybe it's one of those "this is the first time that was done" movies(?)

Pretty much this. It's an interesting progression in cinema with Peckinpah, Friedkin, Lumet, and their like. They don't age well but I do have a nostalgic fondness for them and that time.
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As for Apacalypse Now, if someone hasn't seen it, I recommend the original theatrical version. I didn't like the Redux version, where they added all the scenes they cut. There's a reason they were cut.

I agree, but when they did that redux it was the only option to see on the big screen. But you're right, all that shit with the French colonial house family draaaagged.

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Pretty much this. It's an interesting progression in cinema with Peckinpah, Friedkin, Lumet, and their like. They don't age well but I do have a nostalgic fondness for them and that time.

 

I watched Straw Dogs (original) a few years back and I really enjoyed that. Peckinpah knew what he was doing and the tension and psychological edginess to that film still hold up today. Maybe being off sick clouded my judgment, but I didn't find much that held up in French Connection. I at least thought Hackman's performance would be good, but it felt like a pretty flat single note to me. Maybe just not my cup of tea.

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Apocalypse Now, Citizen Kane and the Godfather are films that invoke gasps when I claim that they are boring and overrated.

Kane and godfather I'll give you(godfather II to pretty damn good though), but I think Apocalypse Now is hands down THE quintessential war movie, at least of the relatively few I've seen.

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