I still don’t know how Coppola did it. A recent rewatch of the original version of Apocalypse Now-my first rewatch of this film in years-has me questioning whether this is the best film in the history of Cinema. “Someday this war’s gonna end”- the famous words uttered by Duvall’s Colonel Kilgore. But the war never really did end, did it? And we never really moved on, did we? Apocalypse Now is an out-of-body experience & a story of right & wrong told through the eyes of the insane. The landscapes. The palm trees. The beating sweat. The colors. Coppola, like few directors could ever dream of, transports you to Vietnam & takes you on a spiritual journey. I’ll forever be fascinated by the Coppola-Brando partnership, two of Cinema’s most unique individuals. Somehow, in 3 minutes on screen, Marlon Brando utterly dominates a 3 hour film- one of the finest exhibits of acting I’ve ever seen, critics be damned. Did this film cost Coppola everything? Yes. Was it worth it? If risking everything was the only way to create this film- yes.