APOCALYPSE NOW - "THE FINAL CUT" Coming to Theaters and 4K UHD/Blu-Ray

[AndyDursin]

Restored from the original negative for the first time, APOCALYPSE NOW is headed back to theaters in August, as well as a Blu-Ray/4K UHD on August 27th. The latter will include all 3 versions including Coppola's new FINAL CUT -- longer than the theatrical, shorter than the Redux.

In Theaters Nationwide August 15 from NAGRA myCinema

4K Restoration Arrives on
4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack and Digital 4K Ultra HD on August 27
Featuring Exclusive New Bonus Material from Lionsgate®

SANTA MONICA, CA (April 28, 2019) – Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s visionary Vietnam War epic when the newly restored Apocalypse Now Final Cut arrives on 4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack (4K disc, plus three Blu-ray discs and Digital copy) and on Digital 4K Ultra HD for the first time ever August 27 from Lionsgate. A special NAGRA myCinema theatrical release of Apocalypse Now Final Cut can be experienced on the giant screen in select theaters nationwide on August 15.

Restored from the original negative for the first time ever, Apocalypse Now Final Cut is Coppola’s most realized version of the film, which was nominated for eight Academy Awards®, won three Golden Globes® (Best Original Score, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, 1980), and is one of AFI’s top 100 films. Starring Academy Award® winner Marlon Brando (1972, Best Actor, The Godfather), Academy Award® winner Robert Duvall (1983, Best Actor, Tender Mercies), Golden Globe® winner Martin Sheen (2001, Best Actor – TV Series, “The West Wing”), Academy Award® nominee Dennis Hopper (1986, Best Supporting Actor, Hoosiers), Academy Award® nominee Laurence Fishburne (1993, Best Actor, What’s Love Got to Do with It), and Academy Award® nominee Harrison Ford (1985, Best Actor, Witness), experience Coppola’s spectacular cinematic masterpiece the way it was intended.

Francis Ford Coppola’s stunning vision of “The Heart of Darkness” in all of us remains a classic and compelling Vietnam War epic. Martin Sheen stars as Army Captain Willard, a troubled man sent on a dangerous and mesmerizing odyssey into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade American colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has succumbed to the horrors of war and barricaded himself in a remote outpost.

The Apocalypse Now Final Cut restoration will be brought to life with Dolby Vision® HDR, bringing entertainment to life through ultra-vivid picture quality. When compared to a standard picture, Dolby Vision can deliver spectacular colors never before seen on a screen, highlights that are up to 40 times brighter, and blacks that are 10 times darker. The 4K Combo Pack and Digital 4K release also feature Dolby Atmos® audio mixed specifically for the home, to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead. In addition, the film has been enhanced with Meyer Sound Laboratories’ newly developed Sensual Sound™, a technology engineered to output audio below the limits of human hearing. All of these technologies work together to present Coppola’s true vision of the film, one that delivers deep, visceral visual and auditory impact. Coppola believes Apocalypse Now Final Cut “looks better than it has ever looked, and sounds better than it has ever sounded,” and he is “thrilled beyond measure to present the best version of the film to the world.”

In addition to the restoration, this 4-disc Apocalypse Now Final Cut anniversary set also includes the film’s Theatrical Cut and Extended Cut (Redux), as well as the acclaimed Hearts of Darkness documentary. Loaded with hours of in-depth special features, the set will also feature tonight’s fascinating Tribeca Film Festival Q&A with Coppola and the prolific Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape), which has not been seen or heard outside of the festival until now, and newly discovered behind-the-scenes footage. The Apocalypse Now Final Cut 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack features new, collectable Mondo artwork and will be available for the suggested retail price of $34.99.

4K UHD SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary by Director Francis Ford Coppola


BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

Disc One
Audio Commentary by Director Francis Ford Coppola

Disc Two
An Interview with John Milius
A Conversation with Martin Sheen and Francis Ford Coppola
“Fred Roos: Casting Apocalypse” Featurette
The Mercury Theatre on the Air: Heart of Darkness – November 6, 1938
“The Hollow Men” Featurette
Monkey Sampan “Lost Scene”
Additional Scenes
“Destruction of the Kurtz Compound” End Credits (with Non-Optional Audio Commentary by Francis Ford Coppola)
“The Birth of 5.1 Sound” Featurette
“Ghost Helicopter Flyover” Sound Effects Demonstration
“The Synthesizer Soundtrack” Article by Bob Moog
“A Million Feet of Film: The Editing of Apocalypse Now” Featurette
“Heard Any Good Movies Lately? The Sound Design of Apocalypse Now” Featurette
“The Final Mix” Featurette
“2001 Cannes Film Festival: Francis Ford Coppola” Featurette
“PBR Streetgang” Featurette
“The Color Palette of Apocalypse Now” Featurette
Disc Credits

Disc Three
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (with Optional Audio Commentary by Francis and Eleanor Coppola)
NEW: Tribeca Film Festival Q&A with Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Soderbergh
NEW: Never-Before-Seen B-Roll Footage
John Milius Script Excerpt with Francis Coppola Notes (Still Gallery)
Storyboard Collection
Photo Archive
Unit Photography
Mary Ellen Mark Photography
Marketing Archive
1979 Teaser Trailer
1979 Theatrical Trailer
1979 Radio Spots
1979 Theatrical Program
Lobby Card and Press Kit Photos
Poster Gallery
Apocalypse Now Redux Trailer

[Monterey Jack]

How many goddamn cuts does this movie require?!

[AndyDursin]

[mkaroly]

I just recently read Joseph Conrad's novel HEART OF DARKNESS...I didn't do a book/film review of it because AN was loosely based on it, not a direct adaptation (though the Marlow/Kurtz stuff was heavily lifted for the movie). Really interesting novel; darn near impossible for me to read it without thinking of AN. As far as a third cut, I am happy with the original version and the Redux, although I might go to the theaters to watch it again just for the experience (since I was too young to see it in theaters when it was originally released).

[AndyDursin]

Coppola took out 20 minutes from the Redux for this "Final Cut" but RETAINED the divisive "Plantation sequence" -- guess I'll be sticking with the Theatrical Version again!

[Paul MacLean]

Coppola took out 20 minutes from the Redux for this "Final Cut" but RETAINED the divisive "Plantation sequence" -- guess I'll be sticking with the Theatrical Version again!

I never really cared for "Redux" but thought the plantation sequence was potentially interesting. Carmine Coppola's cue for Clean's funeral is also a highlight of the score.

But what really bugged me -- and almost ruins the plantation sequence for me -- was that Coppola did not retain Michael Herr's narration from the dinner scene (it can be heard in Hearts of Darkness though)...

"It was like having dinner with a bunch of ghosts. There were still a few hundred of them scattered all over Vietnam, trying to convince themselves it was still 1950. They weren't French anymore, and they'd never be Vietnamese. They were floating loose in history without a country. They were hanging on by their fingernails, but, so were we. We just had more fingernails in it."

I always felt that monologue summed-up the whole tone of the plantation sequence, and really put it in perspective for the viewer. I hope Francis restores it.

[AndyDursin]

I need to watch the Final Cut to see if the narration has been restored. The main difference between this and Redux apparently are:

There are two significant elements that are in Redux that have been removed from the 2019 cut. The most major is one involving the Playboy Playmates that have been stranded after their copter has run out of fuel. The crew bargains for sex with the Bunnies, granting some good character beats for the other members of boat. It’s a segment that speaks to both the barbarism and radical pragmatism of war, with the notion of morality as muddy as the rainsoaked land.

Redux added a segment of a “ghost” sampan filled with wild monkeys, a twisted vision that’s a mirror to the Mai Lai-like massacre that happens earlier. The Montagnard’s also sing “Light My Fire”, a more diagetic use of the Doors that’s interesting but hardly integral.

One segment I always liked – Kurtz reading Time Magazine – has also been dropped. If it were me, that’s likely the only element, along with the additional poetry readings that remain in the 2019 cut, that slightly add to the character that Brando so indelibly inhabits.

This is a magnificent set -- $17.97 at Bull Moose with 4K and Blu-Rays for all 3 versions, HEARTS OF DARKNESS, (mostly) all the old supplements and some new ones too. The 4K transfer and Dolby Atmos sound are as spectacular as you'd hope. Bargain of the year, truly.

[Edmund Kattak]

I just picked this up for $15 off Amazon. Datza alotta discs for that money.

[AndyDursin]

This is legit oop and goes for over $100 now on tne secondary market.

Coppola must be shifting some of his catalog to another label...

[Edmund Kattak]

This is legit oop and goes for over $100 now on tne secondary market.

Coppola must be shifting some of his catalog to another label...

Is that for a used or new copy?

[AndyDursin]

Looks like new. Used still fairly reasonable but the longer it stays OOP and isn't reissued the value will go up over time. Hard to tell because there's a 6 disc set like this one and also just a "Final Cut" I believe. All of them are oop right now.