Playboy Sequence: The WILD Story Behind Filming This Scene | Ep14 | Making Apocalypse Now
Summary
TLDRThe video script delves into the making of a surreal and chaotic scene from 'Apocalypse Now,' featuring a Playboy bunny show amidst the Vietnam War. It discusses the scene's inspiration, meticulous period-accuracy, and the challenges of filming, including a typhoon that destroyed the original set. The script also touches on the cultural impact of the scene, the use of real Playboy models, and the cameo by Bill Graham, highlighting the blend of reality and absurdity in the film.
Takeaways
- đ„ The script describes a scene from 'Apocalypse Now' where a patrol boat encounters a brightly lit stage, reminiscent of a USO show, set in a coastal town called Iba.
- đ The production for this scene took place on May 21st, 1976, and was inspired by the real-life visit of Playmate of the Year Jo Collins to Vietnam to entertain troops.
- đŠ In the script, Coppola emphasizes the overwhelming supplies available to the soldiers, highlighting the contrast between their needs and the excess of material support.
- đ The original setting of the scene was to be inland during the day, but after a typhoon destroyed the set, it was rebuilt on a barge on Lake Caliraya to take place at night over water.
- đ Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro used the scene to represent the theme of cultural imposition, using artificial light to contrast with the natural darkness of the jungle.
- đŹ The filming was a logistical challenge, requiring many extras and a night shoot that lasted sixteen hours, with Coppola and crew members participating as extras.
- đ The scene involved a helicopter with the Playboy logo, and real Playboy models participated in the shoot, thanks to Coppola's reputation and negotiation.
- đ° The budget for the film included payments to various cast members, with Bill Graham, a concert organizer, being paid a notable sum for his cameo.
- đ There was concern over the portrayal of the USO in the film, but assurances were given that the USO would not be negatively depicted.
- đ The script also contains references to historical and cultural elements, such as the allusion to the sirens from Homer's 'The Odyssey' and the impact of the Playboy Bunnies on the soldiers.
- đ The scene ends with a surreal departure, using colored smoke to signal a transition into the absurd, a motif that runs through the film.
Q & A
What was the significance of the brightly lit stage encountered by the patrol boat in the script?
-The brightly lit stage was a surreal sight that symbolized the absurdity of bringing a piece of Americana, a USO show, into the heart of the Vietnam War. It was meant to entertain the troops but also served as a stark contrast to the dark and dangerous environment of the war zone.
Where was the scene with the USO show actually filmed?
-The scene was filmed in a coastal town called Iba, not in Hau Phat as depicted in the script.
What was the original inspiration for the USO show scene?
-The inspiration came from Playmate of the Year Jo Collins' visit to Vietnam to entertain troops at Black Virgin Mountain, which was arranged after soldiers pooled their money for a lifetime subscription to Playboy magazine.
How did the production ensure period accuracy in the USO show scene?
-Production designer Dean Tavoularis shipped items like Zippo lighters and cigarette cartons from the States, along with specific types of chewing gum, all wrapped in their original 1968 packaging to maintain authenticity.
Why was the scene initially set inland during the day and later changed?
-Director Francis Ford Coppola decided to change the setting to nighttime on the water after realizing that the original set did not have the dramatic impact he envisioned when viewed from the river.
What role did Bill Graham play in the USO show scene, and was it a cameo?
-Bill Graham played the manager of the Playboy Bunnies in the scene, and yes, it was a cameo. He was a real-life concert organizer and promoter known for making the Fillmore famous.
What challenges did the production face in filming the USO show scene?
-The production faced challenges such as a typhoon that destroyed the original set, requiring a rebuild on a barge. Additionally, they had to manage a large number of extras, sporadic rain, and the logistics of a night shoot.
How did the use of artificial light in the scene contribute to the overall theme?
-Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro used artificial light to represent the over-imposition of one culture on another, creating a contrast between natural and artificial energy, and enhancing the darkness of the jungle.
What was the significance of the helicopter with the Playboy logo in the scene?
-The helicopter symbolized the intrusion of American culture and values into the war zone. It was also a logistical achievement, as Playboy was initially protective of its models and their appearance in films.
How did the script evolve over time, particularly regarding the character of Willard?
-Willard's speeches were initially more prominent but were later replaced with voice-over written by Michael Herr. The script also evolved to include more of Willard's internal thoughts and reactions to the surreal events around him.
What was the impact of the Playboy scene on the image of the USO, and how did the USO respond?
-There were concerns that the scene might tarnish the image of the USO. However, the USO was assured that it would not be referenced in the movie, and no harm would come to its image. The director of USO shows requested a script review, which was declined.
Outlines
đ The Playmate Visit: A Blend of Reality and Fiction
This paragraph delves into the filming of a scene inspired by the real-life visit of Playmate of the Year Jo Collins to Vietnam, contrasting it with the fictional portrayal in the movie. It discusses the meticulous period accuracy achieved by the production team, the challenges faced during the shoot, and the significance of the scene in the narrative. Key details include the use of historical props, the initial setting changes from inland to on-water at night, and the impact of a typhoon that destroyed the original set, leading to a new set built on a barge. The paragraph also touches on the cinematographer's artistic intentions to represent cultural imposition and the cameo of real Playboy models.
đŹ Behind the Scenes: The Playboy Scene Shoot
This paragraph provides an in-depth look at the filming of the Playboy scene, highlighting the logistical challenges and creative decisions. It mentions the use of artificial light to create an intrusive effect in the jungle, the difficulties posed by weather conditions, and the involvement of director Francis Ford Coppola and the crew in the scene. The paragraph also notes the presence of Coppola's and Sheen's children, the large number of extras, and a continuity error suggesting a different scene structure. Additionally, it discusses the rewrites in the script, the portrayal of the Playboy Bunnies, and the special permission granted by Playboy for their models to appear in the film.
đ€ Bill Graham's Cameo and Coppola's Oscars Antics
This paragraph focuses on the cameo of Bill Graham, a real-life concert organizer, in the film and the subsequent friendship between him and Coppola. It recounts the story of Graham's invitation to the Oscars, the humorous incident with marijuana-laced cookies, and Coppola's impromptu and visionary speech about the future of cinema. The paragraph also touches on the potential implications of the film's portrayal of USO shows and the research conducted by Deborah Fine, including a provocative quote from Raquel Welch.
đ€ The Patrol Boat's Journey and Kurtz's Impact
This paragraph follows the patrol boat's journey up the river towards Kurtz, detailing the production challenges, such as finding suitable boats and the mechanical failure that delayed filming. It also discusses the crew's adaptation to the environment and Willard's discovery of Kurtz's dossier, revealing his unconventional but effective methods in the war. The paragraph ends with a teaser for the next episode, which will cover a typhoon-affected medivac area sequence exclusive to the Redux version of the film.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄUSO show
đĄPlayboy Bunnies
đĄHeart of Darkness
đĄKurtz
đĄAbsurdity
đĄCoppola
đĄPeriod-accuracy
đĄBill Graham
đĄRedux
đĄSurreal
đĄWillard
Highlights
The patrol boat encounters a brightly lit stage resembling a USO show in Hau Phat, filmed in Iba.
Production traveled to Iba on May 21st, 1976, for a six-week shoot.
US soldiers are depicted giving out and selling supplies at a dock.
Coppola and Milius discussed the balance between reality and absurdity in the scene's depiction.
Playmate of the Year Jo Collins' visit to Vietnam inspired the scene.
Playboy's involvement in the scene was secured due to Coppola's reputation.
The scene was filmed in one night with a sixteen-hour shooting schedule.
Coppola's children and Sheen's children appear in the scene as extras.
Bill Graham, a famous concert organizer, plays the manager of the Playboy Bunnies.
Cyndi Wood, a 1974 Playmate of the Year, was involved with the production for four years.
Lynda Carter was originally cast but had to be replaced due to her commitment to 'Wonder Woman'.
Coppola's 1976 script rewrite included Willard's commentary on the counter-culture presence in Vietnam.
The scene's lighting was designed to contrast the artificial with the natural, symbolizing cultural imposition.
A typhoon destroyed the original set, leading to its reconstruction on a barge on Lake Caliraya.
The patrol boat's journey up the river to Kurtz is mapped in detail by the production designer.
Willard's mission to find Kurtz is revealed, including their unauthorized entry into Cambodia.
Transcripts
This showinâ up is a bizarre sight in the middle of thisâ
The patrol boat comes across a brightly lit stageâsticking out like a beacon in the night.
Itâs something similar to a USO show in a place called Hau Phat. This scene was Â
actually shot in a coastal town called Iba for six weeks (Travers 110). The Â
production traveled to the location on May 21st of 1976 (Travers 110).
The boat comes upon a dock where US soldiers are giving out and selling supplies. In the Â
margins of John Miliusâ script, Coppola writes, âOverwhelming SUPPLIES. Cases Â
and cases of rivets, something that they will need when they're stuck at the rubber Â
plantation ⊠GIGANTIC!â (Cowie 41). Milius had written that the stage is [quote] âsurrounded Â
by a deep moat filled with punji stakes and garnished with concertina wireâ and Â
surrounded by men with shotguns, teargas, German Shepherds and âassorted psychological Â
warfare aidsâ (Screenplay). Coppola writes that they need to [quote] âfind the balance Â
between reality and absurdityâ and asks âAre we to believe theyâd shoot their own men?â (Cowie 41).
Eleven years before filming this sequence, Â
the inspiration for this sceneâPlaymate of the Year Jo Collinsâtraveled to Vietnam to Â
entertain the troops at a place called Black Virgin Mountain (Travers 110).
Collins visited the troops in Vietnam after a letter was sent to publisher Hugh Hefner Â
saying that a hundred eighty soldiers and officers of Company B Second Battalion Â
put their money together for a lifetime subscription to Playboy magazine where, Â
in the US, the first issue would be delivered to you personally by a Playboy model in any Â
city with a Playboy Club (Playboy). They asked for Jo Collins and despite Â
Vietnam not having any Playboy Clubs, Collins obliged (Playboy). By the way, Â
at that time, a lifetime subscription was a hundred fifty dollars (Playboy).
Of course, Playboy wants to stress that Jo Collins just visited the troopsâthey Â
never had any of the Playmates put on any shows like the one depicted in the scene (Palopoli).
Near the end of the war, Hugh Hefnerâs private jet was used to transport forty-one orphaned Â
Vietnamese children from a processing facility in San Francisco to new homes Â
in New York (Cracked). But I have to say that story gets a little complicatedâŠ
This sequence would serve as the first stop on the river to Kurtz and would Â
prove to be another hectic shoot that required tons of extras and contained Â
a great cameo by real Playboy models and a legend of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Howâre you doing out there? âŠI said howâre you doing out there!
Terminate? With extreme prejudice.Â
Are you an assassin? Iâm a soldier.
This episode is sponsored by Mubi, where you can stream exceptional films from Â
around the globe. Get 30-days free by clicking the link in the description.
Carrying over from the earlier episodes where we talked about Milius writing aspects of Homerâs Â
âThe Odysseyâ into the movie, Kilgore had been the Cyclops and now the Bunnies are the Sirens Â
(Milius Interview). The sirens, who look like beautiful women, would sing with alluring voices, Â
causing the sailors who heard them to crash their boats into the rocks and die trying to get them.
Itâs hard to tell now, but despite being filmed less than a decade after the events being Â
depicted, a lot of work went into making sure that everything was period-accurate. Production Â
designer Dean Tavoularis had Zippo lighters and cigarette cartons shipped from the States along Â
with [quote] âfifteen boxes each of Wrigleyâs Spearmint, Doublemint and Juicy Fruit chewing gum, Â
'wrapped in the same wrappers and boxes that were used in 1968ââ (Cowie 31).
We see this brightly lit slice of Americana surrounded by the darkness of the jungle. Â
Just another way of America bringing its home to the battlefield. By the way, Â
Coppola got this shot because he was interested in how the real Â
locals would witness such a spectacle, likely from behind a fence (Commentary).
But originally, the scene wasnât going to be like this. It was initially set Â
inland during the day. It wasnât until the set was already built that Coppola Â
thought that it should take place on the water at night (Commentary).
Coppola said, âI remember looking at the USO set with the head of the art department and saying, Â
âI made a big mistake. As they approach from the river, they Â
ought to see a glimpse of this place.â We had built the set really far off the river, Â
and you had to drive for a while. From a dramatic standpoint it would have been better if, Â
when theyâre in the boat, they look and say, âWhat the hell is that?â He said, Â
âWell, we put it in the wrong place.â I said, âYeah, but weâll make it workâ (Palopoli).
Luckily, I guess, a Typhoon came and destroyed the original set, Â
so they built a new one the way Coppola wantedâof course, the insurance money didnât really cover Â
the new cost (Commentary). The new set was built on a barge on Lake Caliraya (Cowie 90).
For cinematographer Vittorio Storaroâs part, Â
he wanted to use this scene to represent a greater theme from Joseph Conradâs âHeart of Darkness.â
Vittorio Storaro: âAs soon as I read the book from Conrad, I understood the main idea was Â
an over-imposition of one culture on another culture. Right away, I laid that kind of idea, Â
between two different energiesâthe natural energy and artificial energy.â
Storaro asked production designer Dean Tavoularis if they could set up some artificial light to Â
look like they are floating on the water (Cowie 90). Storaro said, âTo light that huge Playboy Â
sequence from beyond the stage area was basically impossible, so instead I came up with the idea Â
of using lights set up within the stage area. I asked the production designer, Dean Tavoularis, Â
to design a set that would incorporate a number of Photofloods. However, the second reason for Â
doing the scene that way was that I wanted to create this intrusion of artificial light in the Â
jungle - the incredible force of the light would serve to enhance the blackness of the jungleâ Â
(American Cinematographer 98). So they set up lights and floated them out on rafts (Commentary).
This scene was apparently one of the most exhausting shooting nights theyâd had with Â
sporadic rain causing them to pause shooting every so often and Coppola and many of the crewmembers Â
having to be dressed in uniforms and participating in the scene to fill out the crowd (Cowie 90). Â
Coppolaâs kids, and Sheenâs kidsâCharlie and Emilioâare also somewhere in the scene (Casting).
Iâm pretty sure this is producer Fred Roos, Â
here, and this guy looks very familiar, but I canât place him.
If you recognize anyone from the crew, let me know in the comments.
All-in-all there were fifteen hundred English and American extras including âstudents, Â
businessmen, [and] even touristsâ (Cowie 88).
And a side note: there is an interesting little continuity error where you can see Bill Graham Â
in the background of this shot, as he is out front introducing the Bunnies. It seems to Â
show a potential different structure to the scene that was changed in the edit.
The whole scene was filmed in one night. They rehearsed and Â
shot for sixteen hoursâfrom two in the afternoon to six in the morning, Â
going through the scene and then doing it again from a different angle over and over (Palopoli).
Coppola said, âSupplying the people, and their safety, food and bathroom facilities, Â
was in itself a major operation. Once we had it all together, Â
we just shot through the nightâ (Palopoli).
In Coppolaâs 1976 rewrite of the script, a drunk Willard complains to Clean about Â
the hippy-ish nature of the celebration saying that he volunteered for another Â
tour because there were too many hippies and now theyâre here (Cowie 45). A lot of Â
Willardâs speeches would later be replaced with voice-over written by Michael Herr (Cowie 45).
Coppola writes in this draft [quote] âIt's not only the idea of a sexy girl but it's Â
all the Playboy values. It's their cars at home, Â
and home towns they are from. The idea that the Play-girls were never really meant to be Â
sexy. They were always meant to represent home. Miss America with her clothes offâ (Cowie 42).
A helicopter with the Playboy logo descends from the night sky. At the time, Playboy was Â
very protective of its models and it was difficult to get permission to have them appear in movies, Â
but because it was Coppola, they let him do whatever he wanted, which was probably the Â
best experience Coppola had with an outside organization on the entire movie (Palopoli).
First out of the helicopter is Bill Graham, whose name you might recognize if you are Â
like me and from the San Francisco Bay Area. He was a real concert organizer and promoter who Â
made the Fillmore famous and is the namesake of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Â
Francisco (Bill Graham wiki). And the Playboy Bunnies were played by model Linda Carpenter, Â
actress Colleen Camp, and 1974âs playmate of the year Cyndi Wood (Cowie 88).
Cyndi Wood was just offered the part and was officially involved with the Â
production for four years (Palopoli). A friend of Cyndi Wood, Colleen Camp, Â
was an actress and met producer Fred Roos while she was filming a movie called Smile in the Bay Â
Area (Palopoli). At first, she didnât want to do any nudity but was ultimately convinced by Â
Cyndi Wood and she ended up posing for a fake centerfold poster that Chef pins upâŠ
Look at these beautiful fuckinâ jugs, man!
âŠand appears nude in a scene that was cut from Â
the theatrical versionâa scene that is actually our next episode (Palopoli).
One of the playmates who was originally cast before the typhoon was Lynda Carter, Â
who wasnât able to come back once the set was rebuilt because she had been cast as Wonder Woman. Â
She was replaced by Colleen Camp and had already shot a fake centerfold for the movie (Palopoli).
On May 23rd, 1976, Eleanor Coppola wrote, âBill Graham is here to play the part of Â
the Playboy bunniesâ managerâŠHe asked me why Francis had wanted him for a part. He said he Â
was so intrigued by Francis asking him that he fit it into his heavy schedule. He had to have Â
a whole convention rescheduled where he was the keynote speakerâ (Coppola 72). Graham was Â
paid a thousand dollars a week and another five hundred dollars a week in expenses (Cowie 20).
To put this in perspective, Freddy Forrest was also paid a thousand dollars a week and Albert Â
Hall and Sam Bottoms were each paid five hundred dollars a week for the first year (Cowie 20).
Graham and Coppola became friends and, in 1979, when Apocalypse Now was finally released, Â
Coppola was invited to present the Best Director Award at the Â
Oscars that year (Francis Coppola). Graham had always wanted to go to the Oscars, Â
so Coppola invited him to come along as his guest (Francis Coppola). Graham had brought a Â
bag of cookies that he was âmunching onâ during the show and Coppola reached over and grabbed Â
a cookie out of the bag and ate it (Francis Coppola). Grahamâs face got pale and he said, Â
âNo, not those.â Later, an assistant of the Academy came and took Coppola backstage to get Â
ready for his cue (Francis Coppola). As you can probably tell by now, the cookies had marijuana Â
in them (Francis Coppola). Coppola was feeling the effects by the time he walked out on stage Â
with his old nemesis Robert Evansâ ex-wife Ali McGraw, who youâll remember was currently Â
married to the original favorite to play Willard, Steve McQueen. Coppola was very interested in the Â
concept of live cinema and when the time came for him to speak, he went off-script and said this:
Francis Ford Coppola: âYou know, Iâd like to say that I think that weâre on the eve of something Â
thatâs going to make the industrial revolution look like a small town tryout out of town. And Â
Iâm talking about the communications revolution, I think itâs coming very quickly and that the movies Â
of the eighties are going to be amazing beyond what any of you can dream. Just a couple years Â
away from now. And I canâI see a communications revolution that is about movies and art, Â
and music, and digital electronics and computers, and satellites, and above all human talent. Â
And itâs going to make things that the masters of the cinema, from whom weâve Â
inherited this business, wouldnât believe the things that are going to be possible.â
And Saturday Night Live would spoof this not too long after.
...The film industry, what we call film, is going to go through such great changes in the Â
eighties that itâs going to make the industrial revolution look like last nightâs tortoni. I mean Â
weâre talking about satellites and video disks, laser stereos, huge, huge extension cordsâŠâ
As I listened to his rambling, Â
incoherent speech it all became clear. Coppola was quite completely insane.
Itâs funny, given the circumstances, but I have to say that Coppolaâs excitement Â
for cinema is unmatched and completely infectious. I believe we should look to Â
the future of cinema as something intriguing and new instead of refinement and more of the same.
During the filming of the Playboy scene, Â
Daily Variety put out a story hinting that the movie might be filming things Â
that would tarnish the image of the United Service Organizations, or USO (Cowie 88).
People most often associate USO with comedian Bob Â
Hope who made fifty-seven tours for USOÂ between 1941 and 1991 (Bob Hope wiki).
Now, I have real good news for you. I want to tell you guys the countryâs behind you fifty percent.
Russell Bice, the director of USO shows, asked for a copy of the Apocalypse Now script to review, Â
but was politely declined with an assurance that the USO would not be referenced anywhere Â
in the movie and that nothing would be done to harm the image of USO (Cowie 90).
There is some more background about the USO in this episodeâs companion PDF. You can buy Â
it right now for just one dollar and it also contains some interesting comments Â
from the previous episode. Or you can support CinemaTyler on Patreon at the Â
five-dollar level and get access to all of the Companion PDFs Iâve made for this series.
John Milius: âWell that was just logical. I mean when you saw the whole idea of these shows where Â
these incredibly sexy girls are brought there, and displayed to thousands of men Â
who may die the next day, whatâs going to stop them from taking those girls?â
Coppola asked Milius if he had ever heard of anything like that happening, Â
and Milius said no and that most of the guys he talked to said they were Â
just happy to see a girl from back home (Milius Interview).
Deborah Fine, the person who did all the research for the dossier, Â
also researched USO shows. During that research, she found a quote from Raquel Welch that she Â
said after returning from a tour with Bob Hope [quote], âSending girls like me to Vietnam to Â
entertain the troops is like teasing a caged lion with a piece of raw meatâ (Cowie 21).
By the way, this weird part here where Lance yells at the bunny teasing himâŠ
You fucking bitch!
âŠis likely a reference to his hidden backstory. He enlisted after a classmate rejected him.
Some of the men canât take it anymore and jump across the moat to the stage.
Cyndi Wood says that she didnât remember Coppola saying anything to her about Â
the men rushing the stage and said that Coppola would do things to get a natural Â
reaction calling him âan incredible directorâ (Palopoli). By the end of filming the scene, Â
she nearly passed out from exhaustion and needed a B12 shot (Palopoli).
Bill Graham sets off a smoke grenade and signals for the helicopter to start up so Â
they can leave. I have to think that this gesture here is a reference to Nixon who Â
flashed his signature peace signs as he was boarding the helicopter after his resignation.
Coppola felt that it was already so surreal just to be on-location filming this movie Â
that he tried to inject this feeling everywhere he could (Commentary). As Â
we discussed in previous episodes, the colored smoke is a motif signaling when Â
things get surreal and we can certainly see this here. Two stuntmen perform a Â
pretty interesting stunt here dangling off the helicopter and falling into the water below.
This was made even more dangerous by the fact that the pilots were eighteen years old (Palopoli).
Willard has a bottle of booze wrapped in a magazine to hide his drinking.
Willardâs voice-over here alludes to the North Â
Vietnamese not needing all this fanfare for morale. They are in it all the way.
Charlie didnât get much USO. He was dug in too deep or moving too fast. His idea of great Â
R-and-R was cold rice, and a little rat meat. He had only two ways home: death or victory.
Seeing Bill Graham fly away in a helicopter is a little eerie considering he would die in a Â
helicopter crash in 1991 (Bill Graham wiki). Weâll see him again in the next episode.
We see the aftermath of the show in a shot from the next day. Whatâs interesting here Â
is that they didnât do anything to dress the set for filming thisâitâs Â
just what it happened to look like after filming the previous night (Commentary).
In the Redux version, as the boat rides away, Clean tells a story about a Sergeant who shot Â
a South Vietnamese Lieutenant for âsticking pins in his favorite centerfoldâ (Cowie 41).
âŠAnd blew his ass clean off of the dock! There werenât no more Lieutenant that day, now.
Coppola liked this [quote] âdelightful [scene],â but said âthey must play off Â
the main storyâ and suggested it be intercut with the men waiting for the Playboy show to Â
begin (Cowie 41). The story appears in Milius' 1969 draft of the script and Â
does take place in the stands before the show like Coppola suggested (Screenplay).
Willard finally takes off his bandaid here, completing the⊠bandaid arc?
The journey to Kurtz is now fully underway and we can see the crew having a bit of Â
funâClean dances to the radio and Lance water skis behind the boat.
There is a bit of truth to this in that Don Thompson, Â
a Navy pilot and professional water skier, would water ski and teach Â
others to water ski âin river combat zones of Vietnamâ (Don Thompson wiki).
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has an interesting post on Tumblr, Â
which you can find in the description, that maps the patrol boatâs journey up the river Â
to Kurtz. The map is very detailed and was made by production designer Dean Tavoularis.
Producer Gray Frederickson had budgeted for only two plastic patrol boats, Â
but even just finding two was extremely difficult (Cowie 49). They went through Â
âseveral confiscated Vietnamese boats in Thailand,â but they didnât have engines, Â
and the engines the production had sent over from the States didnât fit (Cowie 49)
They found a solution, but during this shoot in Iba, one of the patrol boats Â
had a âmechanical failureâ and Coppola was pissed, flying back to his house in Manila Â
and saying that heâll come back when they have a boat that works (Cowie 61).
Here, we see a bit of editing trickery because two patrol boats Â
come sailing down the river in the opposite direction. That makes two going down river, Â
passing one going up river, but the production only had two boats. If you watch closely, Â
you never actually see the three boats in the same shot.
Another interesting bit is that, even though theyâve really just started their journey to Â
Kurtz, they kind of already had a brush with him. The soldier who moons our crew is Pete Cooper, the Â
man tasked with looking after the boats during the production (Cowie 77). At just under six feet six Â
inches, Cooper stood-in for Marlon Brando in wide shots that show Kurtz as a tall man (Cowie 77).
And get this, thereâs a bit more editing trickery because, even though Cooper just mooned the boat, Â
he is apparently also the guy on the second boat who throws the smoke grenade (Cowie 77).
Kind of ironic that the guy whose job it is to Â
look after the boats plays the guy who sets the boat on fire.
We see that the boat, and crew, are already beginning to adapt to Â
the elements when the fire damage is patched up with jungle leaves.
Willard dives back into the Kurtz dossier and determines that the two South Vietnamese colonels Â
and two others Kurtz had killed were, in fact, most likely counter-agents.
Enemy activity in his old sector dropped off to nothing. Â
Guess he must have hit the right four people.
But Kurtz was fighting the war his own way and winning. The army couldnât Â
abide Kurtz untethered and called in Willard.
Willard finally reveals to Chief that they are going into Cambodia.
Weâre not supposed to be in Cambodia, but thatâs where Iâm going.
On the next episode of Making Apocalypse Now, the crew of the patrol boat arrives at a medivac area Â
that has been decimated by a real typhoon in a sequence that only appears in the Redux version, Â
even being the only sequence cut from the newest Final Cut version.
In the meantime, check out this episodeâs companion PDF. Itâs just a dollar.
Iâd like to take a moment to thank this episodeâs sponsor, Mubi.
Mubi is a place to discover incredible cinema where every film on the platform Â
is hand-picked by their team of curators. Mubi features everything from retrospectives Â
and curated film programs to exclusives and never-before-streamed film premieres. You Â
can log in from anywhere and itâs like youâve arrived at your own personal film festival.
They even have a print-magazine called Notebook with tons of great contributors Â
and retro finds. You can learn more about Notebook at mubi.com/magazine.
Mubi is kicking off 2023 with a collection of great directorsâ first filmsâincluding the Â
first film of David Cronenberg, Kelly Reichardt, Panos Cosmatos and more!
And right now Mubi is also playing The Man Who Â
Fell to Earth starring David Bowie as an alienâa role he was born to play.
All of this and much, much more are available right now on Mubi. Try Mubi free for thirty Â
days at Mubi.com/CinemaTyler. Thatâs M-U-B-I dot com slash Cinema Tyler Â
for a whole month of great cinema for free. Or join Cinema Tyler on Â
Patreon at the five-dollar level and get extended access to Mubi as a perk.
Voir Plus de Vidéos Connexes
Medevac Scene: The CRAZY Story Behind Filming in a REAL TYPHOON | Ep15 | Making Apocalypse Now
Meet Kilgore: The Story Behind One of Coppolaâs Most Complex Scenes | Ep9 | Making Apocalypse Now
Clean's Death Scene: What This Scene is REALLY About | Ep18 | Making Apocalypse Now
Puppy Boat Massacre: The Making of This Scene | Ep16 | Making Apocalypse Now
Smell The Napalm: The Story Behind This Incredible Scene | Ep11 | Making Apocalypse Now
STRANGE STORIES from Making the Kurtz Compound | Ep21 | Making Apocalypse Now
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