Forty years ago this week a film based on the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of Darkness (1899) was released in cinemas across America. Shot in the Philippines, Apocalypse Now was a film adaptation that changed the story’s setting from the waters of the Congo to the Nung, a river that flowed through Vietnam and bordering Cambodia. Instead of going on location which would have been inconceivable at the time, the film was shot almost entirely in villages, cities, and towns throughout the Philippines’s northern-most island of Luzon.
Gone awry, the production was often delayed due to factors ranging from typhoons to the preparedness and physical condition of cast members. Over budgeted, director/producer Francis Coppola struggled to find funding to complete the film. Initially budgeted at an estimated $23 million, filming in the Philippines was slated for completion after five months, but after a series of setbacks, the five months of shooting expected for completion tripled, causing production costs to mushroom almost $10 million over budget.
After then-A-list actors such as Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, and James Caan turned down multiple offers to play protagonist Captain Benjamin Willard, Coppola and his casting crew went with Martin Scorsese’s old standby, Harvey Keitel. Ill-suited for the role, Keitel was dropped in favor of lesser-known Martin Sheen which further delayed completion. Troubles continued as Sheen suffered from a cardiac arrest and sets were destroyed as Typhoon Olga swept through the Philippines. After Sheen’s recovery, the up-hill battle continued when legendary actor Marlon Brando arrived on set for his role as the disenfranchised deserter Colonel Kurtz 200 lbs. overweight, with little knowledge of the script, anticipating a multi-million-dollar payday for under a month’s work.
Filled with several of the most memorable scenes in motion
picture history, Apocalypse Now was
one of the most visually stunning films of the 1970s. With Vittorio Storaro as cinematographer, footage
shot for the opening scene depicting the napalm-induced mass defoliation of
trees was shot in the midst of a conflict between Marcos’ regime and rival insurgents
within Luzon’s jungles.
The small fishing town of Baler, located 120 miles northeast of Manila in Luzon’s Aurora Province, was the landscape used to shot classic scenes such as the famous “Ride of the Valkyries” helicopter raid and introduction of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall). The surreal scenario of bombs and gunfire pouring down on troops as Duvall’s character attempts to mix warfare with a little ‘R&R’ gave the film a unique perspective on war while the helicopter raid scored by the stoic music of Richard Wagner unsettled moviegoers at the film’s time of release.
When Brando arrived in the Philippines, film production brought crew and cast members 58 miles south of Manilla to the town of Pagsanjin in the province of Laguna. “Time was money” as Coppola’s newly-founded production company Omni Zoetrope agreed to pay Brando an astronomical million-dollar-a-week salary. Initially intended to be shot in Iba on Luzon’s west coast, due to inclement conditions, the “Kurtz compound” and “illuminated bridge” featured in key scenes were recreated in Pagsanjin and on nearby Magdapio River while members of an indigenous tribe known as the Ifugaos were selected as extras.
Commemorating the 40th anniversary since the film’s release, Apocalypse Now: Final Cut is currently showing in cinemas across America for a limited engagement.
This article posted Thursday, August 15 on UPROXX by Steven Hayden examines the significance of this cinematic masterpiece and the impact it has made in present-day film making.
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Originally from Buffalo, New York, an area situated in America's former rust belt, like most Western New York natives, I am partly of Polish decent. I grew up immersed in the American football and hockey frenzy that often consumed the community. It was a great diversion from the socioeconomic problems that began to plague Buffalo in the end of its industrial heyday. It gave the people of Buffalo, often called "the city with no illusion," an escape from the mundane as they vicariously lived through sports figures, celebrities and dramas seen on television and the covers of magazines displayed on the checkout counters at supermarkets.
From a very young age, settling in a particular school or area was difficult. The instant I made friends and acquaintances, abruptly, it was time for me to move on and start over again. With minimal time to make lasting impressions, my encounters with people were like brief stops on a tour. Their memories of me as I had of them were not mutual, remembering them for the roles they played as film characters, viewing them from afar as merely an observer. Unlike many of the people encountered, whose path in life seemed definite and set out before them, I had had the privilege, sometimes at other’s expense, of living my life almost day to day, void of any commitment or obligations. Subsequently, my lifestyle has caught up with me. Trying to play different roles to different people and not being able to follow up with an end result has left things open ended.
However, all my travels on my seemingly limitless, open-ended journeys were not in vain. In retrospect it has given me a better understanding of the human condition everyone must inevitably face. Regularly transplanted from one setting to another, filled with different people and different places have given me a broader perspective in life, which has made me grateful for the friends, family and resources at my disposal.
After nearly a decade of living and working abroad throughout Asia, I presently reside in my hometown in suburban Buffalo. Though it has been wonderful to catch up with friends and family and have a taste of the local cuisine eaten since childhood, there is a void that can only be filled by memories abroad in countries such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. Memories of long-standing wooden shrines underscored by ever-changing electronic billboards, April cherry blossoms, and riding around in jeepneys will endure.
Returning to the USA was as though a claw from above forcibly lifted me by my shirt collar through the atmosphere across the Pacific, dropping me onto a bed of cold ice-packed snow beside an airport parking lot, making my long-awaited homecoming after visiting in the tropical Philippine Island of Boracay seem like a slap in the face. Unsure of how to exit the premises, agoraphobia set in. Overwhelmed by the vast and expansive landscape common in the US, momentarily, the airport car park seemed like an Arctic tundra during a calm after a storm nearing spring. It was a quite a contrast from Korea where within the same time taken to exit the airport, I would have been sitting comfortably on a train, enroute to my studio apartment.
It has been over a year since my last visit to Asia. Since my return, I have been diligently searching for a means to have one foot firmly planted in Asia and another firmly planted stateside. With the help of a dedicated staff and willing participants in the Philippines, Pinay Sisters celebrates the beauty of sisterhood. With a photo-journalistic approach, from the province villages to the urban neighborhoods of Manila, Pinay Sisters takes you throughout one of the world’s largest archipelagos with unique photos, stories and profiles featuring sisters from many walks of life updated monthly. Please enjoy. Positive criticism and feedback are greatly welcomed.
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