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102-601: For his work on Apocalypse Now , Murch was the first person to receive a credit as "Sound Designer." Murch was also the editor and re-recording mixer of Apocalypse Now Redux . In 1998, producer Rick Schmidlin chose Murch as his editor for the restoration of Orson Welles 's Touch of Evil . Murch is the author of a popular book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye , and is the subject of Michael Ondaatje 's book The Conversations . Famed movie critic Roger Ebert called Murch "the most respected film editor and sound designer in

204-560: A black comedy , and intended to shoot it after making THX 1138 , with principal photography to start in 1971. Lucas's friend and producer Gary Kurtz traveled to the Philippines, scouting suitable locations. They intended to shoot the film both in the rice fields between Stockton and Sacramento, California , and on-location in South Vietnam , on a $ 2 million budget, cinéma vérité style, using 16 mm cameras, and real soldiers, while

306-484: A 2015 The Hollywood Reporter interview, Clint Eastwood revealed that Coppola offered him the role of Willard, but much like McQueen and Pacino, he did not want to be away from America for a long time. He also revealed that McQueen tried to convince him to play Willard; McQueen wanted to play Kurtz because he would have to work for only two weeks. Coppola offered the lead role of Willard to Robert De Niro , but he declined due to other commitments. Coppola also offered

408-577: A Canadian physician, educator and Christian medical missionary, who with her husband Thomas Beckett Scott MD, established the Green Memorial Hospital in Manipay, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). As a boy, he began to experiment with sound recording, taping unusual sounds and layering them into new combinations. He attended The Collegiate School , a private preparatory school in Manhattan, from 1949 to 1961. In

510-513: A TV news director filming beach combat; he shouts "Don't look at the camera, go by like you're fighting!". Additionally, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro plays the cameraman by Coppola's side. Although inspired by Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness , it is not a direct adaptation. The novella, based on Conrad's experience as a steamboat captain in Africa, is set in the Congo Free State during

612-496: A Vietnam War setting in the late 1960s, and initially began developing the film with Coppola as producer and George Lucas as director. After Lucas became unavailable, Coppola took over directorial control, and was influenced by Werner Herzog 's Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) in his approach to the material. Initially set to be a five-month shoot in the Philippines starting in March 1976,

714-544: A fee of $ 2 million for a month's work on location in September 1976. Brando also received 10% of the gross theatrical rental and 10% of the TV sale rights, earning him around $ 9 million. Hackman was set to play Wyatt Khanage, who later became Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall. Dennis Hopper was cast as a war correspondent and observer of Kurtz; when Coppola heard Hopper talking nonstop on location, he remembered putting "the cameras and

816-542: A few days, Coppola was unhappy with Harvey Keitel's take on Willard, saying that the actor "found it difficult to play him as a passive onlooker." With Brando not due to film until three months later, as he did not want to work while his children were on school vacation, Keitel left the project in April and quit the seven-year deal he had signed as well. Coppola returned to Los Angeles and replaced Keitel with Martin Sheen, who arrived in

918-529: A hotel and the others were in small houses that were immobilized by the storm. The Playboy Playmate set was destroyed, ruining a month's scheduled shooting. Most of the cast and crew returned to the United States for six to eight weeks. Tavoularis and his team stayed on to scout new locations and rebuild the Playmate set in a different place. Also, the production had bodyguards watching constantly at night and one day

1020-616: A long term association with the University of Hertfordshire ; initially contributing an oral history interview with The Elstree Project in 2013. There is a dedicated post-production lab on the Hertfordshire campus named for Murch which opened in 2015. In 2018, Murch was awarded an honorary doctorate of arts by the University, for his contribution to the film industry in the county of Hertfordshire, his contribution towards The Elstree Project, and

1122-418: A new set of narration, with Coppola giving him very definite guidelines. Sheen was too busy to record the voice-over narration so Estevez, whose voice was almost identical to his brother's, was called back in to record the narration instead. Murch had problems trying to make a stereo soundtrack for Apocalypse Now because sound libraries had no stereo recordings of weapons. The sound material brought back from

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1224-469: A pair of ragged claws/Scuttling across the floors of silent seas," from " The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ." Additionally, Dennis Hopper's character paraphrases the end of "The Hollow Men" to Martin Sheen's character: "This is the way the fucking world ends! [...] Not with a bang, but with a whimper." While working as an assistant for Francis Ford Coppola on The Rain People in 1967, filmmaker John Milius

1326-475: A rough assembly of the footage but still needed to improvise an ending. He returned to the Philippines in early 1977 and resumed filming. On March 5 of that year, Sheen, then only 36, had a near-fatal heart attack and struggled for a quarter of a mile to reach help. By then the film was so over-budget, Sheen worried that funding would be halted if word about his condition reached investors, and he claimed that he had suffered heat stroke instead. Until he returned to

1428-636: A series by the California Film Institute at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center. In 2012, Murch was invited to serve as a mentor for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative , an international philanthropic program that pairs masters in their disciplines with emerging talents for a year of one-to-one creative exchange. Out of a gifted field of candidates, Murch chose Italian film editor Sara Fgaier as his protégée. Previous film mentors for

1530-502: A series of problems lengthened it to over a year. These problems included expensive sets being destroyed by severe weather, Brando showing up on set overweight and completely unprepared, and Sheen having a breakdown and suffering a near-fatal heart attack on location. After photography was finally finished in May 1977, the release was postponed several times while Coppola edited over a million feet of film. Many of these difficulties are chronicled in

1632-716: A smoke grenade while under the influence of LSD , attracting enemy fire, causing Mr. Clean's death. Further upriver, the Chief is impaled by a spear thrown by Montagnards and attempts to kill Willard with the spear point protruding from his chest, but Willard overpowers him. Willard reveals his mission to Chef, who is now in charge of the PBR. The PBR arrives at Kurtz's outpost, a Khmer temple teeming with Montagnards and strewn with remains of victims. Willard, Chef, and Lance are greeted by an American photojournalist , who praises Kurtz's genius. Willard encounters Colby and two other soldiers among

1734-534: A thousand pages. He was influenced by an article by Michael Herr , "The Battle for Khe Sanh," which referred to drugs, rock 'n' roll, and people calling airstrikes down on themselves. He was also inspired by such films as Dr. Strangelove . Milius says the classic line "Charlie don't surf" was inspired by a comment Ariel Sharon made during the Six-Day War , when he went skin diving after capturing enemy territory and announced, "We're eating their fish." He says

1836-533: A trip, and find yourself unable to remember whether the trip in question was Coppola's, America's, or yours; in short, however relevant or rocky your relations with this film—see it now." A soundtrack was released on July 31, 2001, by Nonesuch . The soundtrack contains most of the original tracks (remastered), as well as some for the new scenes ("Clean's Funeral", "Love Theme"). The score was composed by Carmine and Francis Ford Coppola (with some tracks co-composed by Mickey Hart and Richard Hansen). The first track

1938-444: Is a 2001 American extended version of Francis Ford Coppola 's epic 1979 war film Apocalypse Now . Coppola, along with editor and longtime collaborator Walter Murch , added 49 minutes of material that had been removed from the initial theatrical release. It is a significant re-edit of the original version. Francis Ford Coppola began production on the new cut with working-partner Kim Aubry. Coppola then tried to get Murch, who

2040-551: Is a well-known surfer. Kilgore, an avid surfer himself, agrees to escort them through the Nùng's Viet Cong -held coastal mouth. The helicopter squadron, playing " Ride of the Valkyries " on loudspeakers, raids at dawn with a napalm strike. Resisting Kilgore’s attempts to convince Lance to surf with him on the newly conquered beach, Willard gathers the sailors to board the PBR and continue on their mission. Tension arises as Willard insists on

2142-429: Is an abridged version of The Doors' "The End". All songs written by Carmine Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola , except where noted: Apocalypse Now Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola . The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius , and Michael Herr , is loosely inspired by the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad , with

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2244-405: Is one of the central events of my life as a filmgoer." Anthony Lane wrote, "if you have never watched Apocalypse Now in any form; if you know it well and wish to bend your Jesuitical attention to the latest addenda; if you have grown to love it on scrumbled videotape but failed to catch it on the big screen; if you were out of your head during a pre-dawn college screening, duly noted the movie as

2346-400: Is only about a 20% chance [I] can pull the film off." He convinced United Artists executives to delay the premiere from May to October 1978. In January 1978, Herr received a call from Zoetrope, asking him if he could write the film's narration based on his well-received book about Vietnam, Dispatches . He said that the narration already written was "totally useless" and spent a year creating

2448-419: Is preceded in printed editions by the epigraph "Mistah Kurtz – he dead," a quotation from Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Two books seen opened on Kurtz's desk in the film are From Ritual to Romance by Jessie Weston and The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer , the two books that Eliot cited as the chief sources and inspiration for his poem " The Waste Land ." Eliot's original epigraph for "The Waste Land"

2550-572: Is that where editing film is an editorial process, the creative process of writing is opposite that, and so he lies down rather than sit or stand up, to separate his editing mind from his creating mind. Murch has written one book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye (1995), which has been translated into many languages including Chinese, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, French, German, Hungarian and Persian. His book describes many of his notable techniques used in his film editing. One of his most praised techniques he refers to as "the rule of six" referring to

2652-527: Is waging a brutal war against NVA , Viet Cong , and Khmer Rouge forces without permission from his commanders. He is based at a remote jungle outpost in eastern Cambodia , where he commands American, Montagnard , and local Khmer militia troops. These troops view him as a demigod . Willard is ordered to "terminate Kurtz's command... with extreme prejudice ." He joins a U.S. Navy river patrol boat (PBR) commanded by Chief Petty Officer Phillips, with crewmen Lance, "Chef," and "Mr. Clean" to quietly navigate up

2754-477: The 2001 Cannes Film Festival . The screening marked the anniversary of the original Apocalypse Now screening as a work in progress, where it won the Palme d'Or . Coppola went to the festival, accompanied by Murch, Storaro, production designer Dean Tavoularis, producer Kim Aubry and actors Bottoms and Clément. The film was given a limited release in the U.S. on August 3, 2001, and was also released theatrically around

2856-828: The University of the Philippines Film Center 1% of the profits, up to $ 1 million, for a film study trust fund. Coppola flew back to the U.S. in June 1976. He read a book about Genghis Khan to get a better handle on the character of Kurtz. When filming commenced in July 1976, Marlon Brando arrived in Manila very overweight and began working with Coppola to rewrite the ending. The director downplayed Brando's weight by dressing him in black, photographing only his face, and having another, taller actor double for him to portray him as an almost mythical character. After Christmas 1976, Coppola viewed

2958-405: The 19th century. Kurtz and Marlow (whose corresponding character in the movie is Capt. Willard) work for a Belgian trading company that brutally exploits its native African workers. After arriving at Kurtz's outpost, Marlow concludes that Kurtz has gone insane and is lording over a small tribe as a god. The novella ends with Kurtz dying on the trip back and the narrator musing about the darkness of

3060-473: The Film and Television Production degrees. Murch and Hertfordshire's Head of Post-Production lecturer Howard Berry teamed up to create the documentary Her Name Was Moviola , which received its premiere in 2024. Students from Berry's film degree worked on the film as crew. In 2024 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Ravensbourne University London for his outstanding contribution to cinema and his seminal writings on

3162-557: The Model 650 subwoofer developed by John and Helen Meyer. In recent years, Murch has asserted that the Meyer Sound subwoofers were more "emotionally significant" to the film's presentations than were the two surround channels. In 1996, Murch worked on Anthony Minghella 's The English Patient , which was based on Michael Ondaatje 's novel of the same name. Murch won Oscars both for his sound mixing and for his editing . Murch's editing Oscar

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3264-464: The Montagnard shirt on him, and [shooting] the scene where he greets them on the boat." James Caan was the first choice to play Colonel Lucas, but Caan wanted too much money for what was considered a minor part, and Harrison Ford was cast instead. Before departing for principal photography, Coppola took out an advertisement in the trade press declaring Keitel, Duvall and others as the "first choices" for

3366-513: The Montagnards. He sets out with Lance to find Kurtz, leaving Chef with orders to call in an airstrike on the outpost if the two do not return. In the camp, Willard is bound and brought before Kurtz, after which he is locked in a bamboo cage. One night Kurtz appears and drops Chef's severed head into Willard's lap. Willard is released, and warned not to attempt escape from the camp or he will be shot. Kurtz lectures him on his theories of war, praising

3468-525: The Nùng River to Kurtz's outpost. Before reaching the coastal mouth of the Nùng, they rendezvous with the 1st Squadron , 9th Cavalry Regiment —a helicopter-borne air assault unit of the elite 1st Cavalry Division , commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore—to discuss safe entry into the river. Kilgore is initially inattentive, as he has not received word about their mission through normal channels. However, he becomes more engaged after discovering that Lance

3570-406: The Philippines on April 24. Only four days of reshoots were reportedly required after the change. Typhoon Olga wrecked 40–80% of the sets at Iba and on May 26, 1976, production was closed down. Dean Tavoularis remembers that it "started raining harder and harder until finally it was literally white outside, and all the trees were bent at forty-five degrees." Some of the crew were stranded in

3672-502: The Philippines was inadequate because the small location crew lacked the time and resources to record jungle sounds and ambient noises. Murch and his crew fabricated the mood of the jungle on the soundtrack. Apocalypse Now used novel sound techniques for a movie, as Murch insisted on recording the most up-to-date gunfire and employed the Dolby Stereo 70 mm Six Track system for the 70 mm release, which used two channels of sound behind

3774-492: The Philippines were not policed or monitored; the American Humane Association gave the film an "unacceptable" rating. Coppola would later say that the animals were part of the production deal. Real human corpses were bought from a man who turned out to be a grave-robber. The police questioned the film crew, holding their passports, and soldiers took the bodies away. Instead, extras were used to pose as corpses in

3876-528: The Philippines, but label contracts ultimately prevented his involvement. In the summer of 1977, Coppola told Walter Murch that he had four months to assemble the sound. Murch realized that the script had originally been narrated but Coppola abandoned the idea during filming. Murch thought that there was a way to assemble the film without narration but that it would take ten months, and decided to give it another try. He put it back in, recording it all himself. By September, Coppola told his wife that he felt "there

3978-454: The assumption that the film would star Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen and Gene Hackman . Steve McQueen was Coppola's first choice to play Willard, but McQueen did not want to leave America for three weeks and Coppola was unwilling to pay his $ 3 million fee. When McQueen dropped out in February 1976, Coppola had to return $ 5 million of the $ 21 million he had raised. Al Pacino was also offered

4080-409: The audience as well as three channels from behind the movie screen. The 35 mm release used the new Dolby Stereo optical stereo system, but due to limitations of the technology at the time, the 35 mm release that played in most theaters did not include surround sound. In May 1978, Coppola postponed the opening until spring of 1979. The cost overruns had reached $ 18 million, for which Coppola

4182-468: The book completely." Some sources state that Milius' original title was The Psychedelic Soldier, but Milius disputed this in a 2010 interview, claiming Apocalypse Now was always the intended title. The title Apocalypse Now was inspired by a button badge popular with hippies during the 1960s that said "Nirvana Now." Milius based the character of Willard and some of Kurtz's on a friend of his, Fred Rexer. Rexer claimed to have experienced, first-hand,

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4284-560: The book emerged from Murch's editing of The English Patient , which was based on Ondaatje's novel of the same name . In 2007, the documentary Murch premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival , which centered on Murch and his thoughts on filmmaking. In 2012, Murch's translations of short stories by the Italian writer Curzio Malaparte were published as The Bird That Swallowed Its Cage . While he

4386-519: The character was loosely based on Special Forces Colonel Robert B. Rheault , who was the actual head of 5th Special Forces Group (May to July 1969), and whose 1969 arrest over the murder of suspected double agent Thai Khac Chuyen in Nha Trang generated substantial contemporary news coverage, in the Green Beret Affair , including making public the phrase " terminate with extreme prejudice ," which

4488-517: The concepts of civilization and progress. Other episodes adapted by Coppola—the Playboy Playmates' (Sirens) exit, the lost souls ("take me home") attempting to reach the boat, and Kurtz's tribe of (white-faced) natives parting the canoes (gates of Hell) for Willard (with Chef and Lance) to enter the camp—are likened to Virgil and "The Inferno" ( Divine Comedy ) by Dante . While Coppola replaced European colonialism with American interventionism ,

4590-472: The country's military equipment. Coppola spent the last few months of 1975 revising Milius's script and negotiating with United Artists to secure financing for the production. Milius claimed it would be the "most violent film ever made." According to Frederickson, the budget was estimated between $ 12 and 14 million. Coppola's American Zoetrope obtained $ 7.5 million from United Artists for domestic distribution rights and $ 8 million from international sales, on

4692-601: The craft of film editing. He is the only film editor to have received Academy Award nominations for films edited on four different systems: Murch is also Honorary Associate of London Film School . Murch married Muriel Ann "Aggie" Slater at Riverside Church, New York City on August 6, 1965. Directly after marrying, the couple took a 6,000 mile motorcycle trip zig-zagging across the United States and Canada. They have four children and have lived in Bolinas, California since 1972. Apocalypse Now Redux Apocalypse Now Redux

4794-590: The cutting room two decades ago has only added to its sublimity." Some critics, however, thought the new scenes slowed the pacing and were too lengthy (notably the French plantation sequence) and added nothing overall to the film's impact. Owen Gleiberman wrote " Apocalypse Now Redux is the meandering, indulgent art project that [Francis Ford Coppola] was still enough of a craftsman, in 1979, to avoid." Despite this, other critics still gave it high ratings. Roger Ebert wrote: "Longer or shorter, redux or not, Apocalypse Now

4896-440: The depiction of Kurtz as a god-like leader of a tribe of natives, Kurtz's written exclamation "Exterminate all the brutes!" (which appears in the film as "Drop the bomb. Exterminate them all!") and his last words "The horror! The horror!" are taken from Conrad's novella. Coppola argues that many episodes in the film—the spear and arrow attack on the boat, for example—respect the spirit of the novella and in particular its critique of

4998-466: The dialogue was impossible to hear. During post-production of the film the actors were brought back to re-record their lines (known as A.D.R. or dubbing). This was done for the scenes that made it into the original cut, but not for the deleted scenes. For the Redux version, Martin Sheen , Robert Duvall , Sam Bottoms , Albert Hall , Frederic Forrest , and Aurore Clément were brought back to record ADR for

5100-521: The documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991). Apocalypse Now was honored with the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival , where it premiered unfinished. When it was finally released on August 15, 1979, by United Artists , it performed well at the box office, grossing over $ 80 million in the United States and Canada and over $ 100 million worldwide. Initial reviews were polarized; while Vittorio Storaro 's cinematography

5202-418: The entire payroll was stolen. According to Coppola's wife, Eleanor , the film was six weeks behind schedule and $ 2 million over budget; Coppola filed a $ 500,000 insurance claim for typhoon damage and took out a loan from United Artists on the condition that if the film did not generate theatrical rentals of over $ 40 million, he would be liable for the overruns. Despite the increasing costs, Coppola promised

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5304-406: The fictional Kurtz; for example, Poe was known to drop severed heads from helicopters into enemy-controlled villages as a form of psychological warfare and use human ears to record the number of enemies his indigenous troops had killed. He would send these ears back to his superiors as proof of the efficacy of his operations deep inside Laos. Coppola denies that Poe was a primary influence and says

5406-501: The film failed at the box office and displeased many critics with its dark tone and themes, he never directed another film. In 1988, Murch was one of the editors on The Unbearable Lightness of Being , directed by Philip Kaufman . Murch edits in a standing position, comparing the process of film editing to "conducting, brain surgery and short-order cooking" since all conductors, cooks, and surgeons stand when they work. In contrast, when writing, he does so lying down. His reason for this

5508-400: The film in the Philippines for its access to American military equipment and cheap labor. Roos, who also served as production coordinator, had already made two low-budget films there for Monte Hellman , and had friends and contacts there. Frederickson went to the Philippines and had dinner with President Ferdinand Marcos to formalize support for the production and to allow them to use some of

5610-571: The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the U.S. Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." In 1969 during the Vietnam War , jaded MACV-SOG operative Captain Benjamin L. Willard is summoned to I Field Force headquarters in Nha Trang . The officers there tell him that U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz

5712-416: The film. During filming, Dennis Hopper and Marlon Brando did not get along, leading Brando to refuse to be on the set at the same time as Hopper. In April 1979, Coppola screened a "work in progress" for 900 people; it was not well received. That year, he was invited to screen Apocalypse Now at the Cannes Film Festival . United Artists was not keen on showing an unfinished version to so many members of

5814-406: The film. When Star Wars became a major hit, Coppola sent a telegram to Lucas asking for money. The release date was pushed back to spring 1978. Japanese composer Isao Tomita was signed to provide an original score, with Coppola desiring the film's soundtrack to sound like Tomita's electronic adaptation of The Planets by Gustav Holst . Tomita went as far as to accompany the film crew in

5916-436: The film. It also listed other actors who did not appear in the film, including Harry Dean Stanton , Robby Benson and Michael Learned . Sam Bottoms , Larry Fishburne and Albert Hall all signed seven-year deals, with Coppola including acting training of their choice in their deal. Bottoms was infected with hookworm while filming in the Philippines, and the parasite "wrecked his liver." Robert Englund auditioned for

6018-975: The graduate program of the University of Southern California 's film school , encouraging Deschanel to follow them. There all three encountered, and became friends with, fellow students such as George Lucas , Hal Barwood , Robert Dalva , Willard Huyck , Don Glut and John Milius ; all of these men would go on to be successful filmmakers. Not long after film school, in 1969, Murch and others joined Francis Ford Coppola and Lucas at American Zoetrope in San Francisco. Murch and his family settled in Bolinas, California , in 1972. Murch started editing and mixing sound with Francis Ford Coppola's The Rain People (1969). Subsequently, he worked on George Lucas 's THX 1138 and American Graffiti and Coppola's The Godfather before editing picture and mixing sound on Coppola's The Conversation , for which he received an Academy Award nomination in sound in 1974. Murch also mixed

6120-478: The human psyche: "the heart of an immense darkness." In the novella, Marlow is the pilot of a river boat sent to collect ivory from Kurtz's outpost, only gradually becoming infatuated with Kurtz. In fact, when he discovers Kurtz in terrible health, Marlow makes an effort to bring him home safely (which Willard also does in Milius's draft screenplay). In the film, Willard is an assassin dispatched to kill Kurtz. Nevertheless,

6222-401: The idea of producing the film. He asked Lucas, then Milius, to direct it, but both were involved with other projects (Lucas in particular had gotten the go-ahead to make Star Wars ). Coppola was determined to make the film and pressed ahead himself. He envisioned it as a definitive statement on the nature of modern war, the contrasts between good and evil, and the impact of American culture on

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6324-690: The initiative include Mira Nair (2004), Stephen Frears (2006), Martin Scorsese (2008) and Zhang Yimou (2010). Murch is the 2012 recipient of the Nikola Tesla Award given by the International Press Academy Satellite Awards for "Visionary Achievement in Filmmaking Technology". Previous recipients have included Douglas Trumbull , James Cameron , Roger Deakins , Dennis Muren and George Lucas. In 2015, Murch

6426-663: The liberal arts. Murch spent the university school year 1963–1964 in Europe, studying Romance Languages and the History of Art in Italy at Perugia and in France at the Sorbonne. While at Johns Hopkins, he met future director/screenwriter Matthew Robbins , cinematographer Caleb Deschanel , and philosopher Andrew Feenberg , with whom he staged a number of happenings . In 1965, Murch and Robbins enrolled in

6528-432: The line "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" just came to him. Warner Bros.-Seven Arts acquired the screenplay in 1969 but put it into turnaround . Milius had no desire to direct the film himself and felt that Lucas was the right person for the job. Lucas worked with Milius for four years developing the film, while working on other films, including his script for Star Wars . He approached Apocalypse Now as

6630-578: The message of Conrad's book is still clear. It is often speculated that Coppola's interpretation of the Kurtz character was modeled after Tony Poe , a highly decorated Vietnam-era paramilitary officer from the CIA's Special Activities Division . Poe's actions in Vietnam and in the "Secret War" in neighboring Laos, in particular his highly unorthodox and often savage methods of waging war, show many similarities to those of

6732-557: The modern cinema." David Thomson calls Murch "the scholar, gentleman and superb craftsman of modern film", adding that in sound and editing, "he is now without a peer." Murch was born in New York City, New York, the son of Katharine (née Scott) and Canadian-born painter Walter Tandy Murch (1907–1967). He is the grandson of Louise Tandy Murch, a music teacher who was the subject of the 1975 documentary film At 99: A Portrait of Louise Tandy Murch and of Mary Elizabeth MacCallum Scott ,

6834-561: The murderer who gets up the river, kills the king, and then himself becomes the king – it's the Fisher King , from The Golden Bough ." Principal photography ended on May 21, 1977, after 238 days. The budget had doubled to over $ 25 million, and Coppola's loan from United Artists to fund the overruns had been extended to over $ 10 million. UA took out a $ 15 million life insurance policy on Coppola. By June 1977, Coppola had offered his car, house, and The Godfather profits as security to finish

6936-411: The new cut is inferior to the original), but Apocalypse Now Redux is still a great piece of cinema." Metacritic , which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 92 out of 100 based on 39 critics. Some critics thought highly of the additions, such as A. O. Scott of The New York Times , who wrote that it "grows richer and stranger with each viewing, and the restoration of scenes left in

7038-467: The new scenes. New music was recreated and recorded for the remade film by San Francisco Bay Area -based composer Ed Goldfarb, specifically the added tracks "Clean's Funeral" and "Love Theme". For example, it was thought no music had been composed for Willard and Roxanne's romantic interlude in the French Plantation scene. To make matters worse, composer Carmine Coppola had died in 1991. However,

7140-421: The old recording and musical scores were checked and a track titled "Love Theme" was found. During scoring, Francis Coppola had told Carmine, his father, to write a theme for the scene before it was ultimately deleted. For the remake, the track was recorded by a group of synthesists . Vittorio Storaro also returned from Italy to head the development of a new color balance of the film and new scenes. When Redux

7242-453: The one that would be remembered. The film contains several alterations, and two entirely new scenes. One of the new scenes has the boat meeting the Playmates once again, farther up the river; the other has them meet a family of holdout French colonists on their remote rubber plantation. There are also a few additional scenes with Colonel Kurtz. Apocalypse Now Redux originally premiered at

7344-516: The priority of his mission over the Chief's usual patrol objectives. Slowly making their way upriver, Willard partially reveals his orders to the Chief to convince him that the mission is important and should proceed despite the difficulties they’ve encountered. As Willard studies Kurtz's dossier, he is struck by the mid-career sacrifice Kurtz made by leaving a prestigious Pentagon assignment to join Special Forces, with no prospect of advancing beyond

7446-509: The rank of colonel. At a remote U.S. Army outpost, Willard and Lance seek information on what is upriver and receive a dispatch bag containing official and personal mail. Unable to find any commanding officer, Willard orders the Chief to continue. Willard learns via the dispatch that another MACV-SOG operative, Special Forces Captain Richard Colby, was sent on an earlier mission identical to Willard's and has since joined Kurtz. Lance activates

7548-885: The rest of the world. He said he wanted to take the audience "through an unprecedented experience of war and have them react as much as those who had gone through the war." In 1975, Coppola hoped for cooperation from the United States Army and scouted military locations in Georgia and Florida, but the Army was not interested. While promoting The Godfather Part II in Australia, Coppola and his producers scouted possible locations for Apocalypse Now in Cairns in northern Queensland , as it had jungle resembling Vietnam's, and in Malaysia. He decided to make

7650-569: The role of Colonel Kurtz to Orson Welles and Lee Marvin , both of whom turned it down. Coppola and Roos had been impressed by Martin Sheen 's screen test for Michael in The Godfather and he became the second choice to play Willard, but he had already accepted another project. Harvey Keitel was cast in the role based on his work in Martin Scorsese 's Mean Streets . By early 1976, Coppola had persuaded Marlon Brando to play Kurtz, for

7752-419: The role of Lance Johnson. On March 1, 1976, Coppola and his family flew to Manila and rented a large house there for the planned four-month shoot. Sound and photographic equipment had been coming in from California since late 1975. John Ashley assisted with production in the Philippines. The film was due to be released on Coppola's 38th birthday, April 7, 1977. Shooting began on March 20, 1976. Within

7854-465: The role, but he too did not want to be away that long, and was afraid of falling ill in the jungle as he had done in the Dominican Republic during the shooting of The Godfather Part II . Jack Nicholson , Robert Redford and James Caan were approached to play either Kurtz or Willard. Keith Carradine , Tommy Lee Jones , Nick Nolte , and Frederic Forrest were also considered for Willard. In

7956-565: The ruthlessness of the Viet Cong, and asks him to tell his son the truth about his mutiny. Later, as the Montagnards ceremonially kill a water buffalo , Willard assassinates Kurtz with a machete . Everyone in the camp sees Willard departing, carrying a collection of Kurtz's writings, and bow down to him. Willard finds Lance, leads him back to the PBR, and they depart back down the river, away from Kurtz’s outpost. Co-writer, producer, and director Francis Ford Coppola makes an uncredited cameo playing

8058-465: The scene relayed by Brando's character wherein the arms of villagers are hacked off by the Viet Cong; and that Kurtz was based on Robert B. Rheault, head of Special Forces in Vietnam. Scholars have never found any evidence to corroborate Rexer's claim, nor any similar Viet Cong behavior, and consider it an urban legend. At one point, Coppola told Milius, "Write every scene you ever wanted to go into that movie," and he wrote ten drafts, amounting to over

8160-449: The set on April 19, his brother Joe Estevez filled in for him, being shot from behind so close-ups of Sheen could be shot after he got better. Coppola later admitted that he could no longer tell which scenes were of Joe or Martin. A major sequence in a French plantation cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but was cut from the final film. Rumors began to circulate that Apocalypse Now had several endings, but Richard Beggs , who worked on

8262-623: The setting changed from late 19th-century Congo to the Vietnam War . The film follows a river journey from South Vietnam into Cambodia undertaken by Captain Willard ( Martin Sheen ), who is on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz ( Marlon Brando ), a renegade Special Forces officer who is accused of murder and presumed insane. The ensemble cast also features Robert Duvall , Frederic Forrest , Albert Hall , Sam Bottoms , Laurence Fishburne , Dennis Hopper , and Harrison Ford . Milius became interested in adapting Heart of Darkness for

8364-473: The several unsuccessful attempts to adapt it into a movie. Blacker challenged his class by saying, "No screenwriter has ever perfected a film adaption of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness ." Coppola gave Milius $ 15,000 to write the screenplay with the promise of an additional $ 10,000 if it were green-lit . Milius claims that he wrote the screenplay in 1969. He wanted to use Conrad's novel as "a sort of allegory. It would have been too simple to have followed

8466-460: The six criteria in a film that he examines when making a cut. In his book, Murch also describes editing as more of a psychological practice with a goal of anticipating and controlling the thoughts of the audience. Before this, he wrote the foreword to Michel Chion 's Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen (1994). He was also the subject of Michael Ondaatje 's book The Conversations (2002), which consists of several conversations between Ondaatje and Murch;

8568-419: The sound elements, said, "There were never five endings, but just the one, even if there were differently edited versions." These rumors came from Coppola departing frequently from the original screenplay. Coppola admitted that he had no ending because Brando was too fat to play the scenes as written in the original script. With the help of Dennis Jakob, Coppola decided the ending could be "the classic myth of

8670-447: The sound for Coppola's The Godfather Part II which was released in 1974, the same year as The Conversation . He did sound design work on Apocalypse Now , for which he won his first Academy Award in 1979 and he was also significantly involved in the re-editing work that resulted in the extended Apocalypse Now Redux in 2001. In 1985, he directed his only feature film, Return to Oz , which he co-wrote with Gill Dennis . After

8772-653: The standard non-linear editing system . He received an Academy Award nomination for this work; his efforts on the film were documented in Charles Koppelman's 2004 book Behind the Seen . In 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada. In 2009, Murch's work was the subject of a tribute, "The Art of Walter Murch," a program in "The Professionals,"

8874-451: The summer of 1961 he worked as a music librarian and production assistant at Riverside Church's newly founded radio station WRVR, now WLTW . He assisted with the July 29th 1961 live broadcast of a 12-hour folk music Hootenanny produced by Izzy Young . This featured, among many other acts, the first radio performance of the 20-year-old Bob Dylan . Murch then attended Johns Hopkins University from 1961 to 1965, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in

8976-439: The war was still going on. However, due to the studios' safety concerns and Lucas's involvement with American Graffiti , and later Star Wars , Lucas decided to put the project on hold. Coppola was drawn to Milius's script, which he described as "a comedy and a terrifying psychological horror story," and acquired the rights. In the spring of 1974, he discussed with friends and co-producers Fred Roos and Gray Frederickson

9078-400: The world in some countries, grossing $ 4.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $ 7.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $ 12.5 million . On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , the film holds a 93% rating based on 84 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The additional footage slows down the movie somewhat (some say

9180-404: Was also notable for being the second film released in a Dolby sound system that has come to be known as 5.1, with three screen speaker channels, low-frequency enhancement, and two surround channels (one more channel than standard surround sound arrangements at the time). The movie was initially seen and heard in this 70mm six-track format in only 17 theaters, some of which also featured prototypes of

9282-398: Was among the first stereo films to be mixed using an automated console. Additionally, the film is the first to credit anyone as Sound Designer , a professional designation that Murch is widely attributed to have coined as a means to help legitimize the field of post-production sound, much in the way William Cameron Menzies coined the term "Production Designer" in the 1930s. Apocalypse Now

9384-474: Was being released, Storaro learned that a Technicolor dye-transfer process was being brought back. The dye-transfer is a three-strip process that makes the color highly saturated and has consistent black tone. Storaro wished to use this on Redux , but in order to do it, he needed to cut the original negative of Apocalypse Now , leaving Apocalypse Now Redux the only version available. Storaro decided to do it, when convinced by Coppola that this version would be

9486-415: Was editing directly on film, Murch took notice of the crude splicing used for the daily rough-cuts. In response, he invented a modification which concealed the splice by using extremely narrow but strongly adhesive strips of special polyester-silicone tape. He called his invention "N-Vis-O". In 1979, he won an Oscar for the sound mix of Apocalypse Now as well as a nomination for picture editing. The movie

9588-558: Was encouraged by his friends George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to write a Vietnam War film. Milius had wanted to volunteer for the war, and was disappointed when he was rejected for having asthma. He came up with the idea for adapting the plot of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam War setting. He had read the novel as a teenager and was reminded about it when his college screenwriting professor, Irwin Blacker of USC, mentioned

9690-464: Was personally liable, but he had retained rights to the picture in perpetuity . A water buffalo was slaughtered with a machete for the climactic scene in a ritual performed by a local Ifugao tribe, which Coppola had previously witnessed with his wife Eleanor (who filmed the ritual later shown in the documentary Hearts of Darkness ) and film crew. Although it was an American production subject to American animal cruelty laws, such scenes filmed in

9792-603: Was presented with the Vision Award Nescens, at the 68th Locarno Film Festival, for his contributions to cinema. The two previous recipients of the award, initiated in 2013, were Douglas Trumbull and Garrett Brown. In 2016, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of media by the Southampton Solent University in Southampton, England along with Anne Coates who received an honorary Doctorate of Arts. Murch has

9894-431: Was reluctant at first. He thought it would be extremely difficult recutting a film that had taken two years to edit originally. He later changed his mind (after working on the reconstruction of Orson Welles ' Touch of Evil ). Coppola and Murch then examined several of the rough prints and dailies for the film. It was decided early on that the editing of the film would be like editing a new film altogether. One such example

9996-526: Was the first to be awarded for an electronically edited film (using the Avid system), and he is the only person ever to win Oscars for both sound mixing and film editing. In 2003, Murch edited another Anthony Minghella film, Cold Mountain on Apple's sub-$ 1000 Final Cut Pro software using off the shelf Power Mac G4 computers. This was a leap for such a big-budget film, where expensive Avid systems were usually

10098-401: Was the new French plantation sequence. The scenes were greatly edited to fit into the movie originally, only to be cut out in the end. When working again on the film, instead of using the heavily edited version, Murch decided to work the scene all over again, editing it as if for the first time. Much work needed to be done to the new scenes. Due to the off-screen noises during the shoot, most of

10200-490: Was this passage from Heart of Darkness, which ends with Kurtz's final words: Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision, – he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath – When Willard is first introduced to Dennis Hopper's character, the photojournalist describes his own worth in relation to that of Kurtz with: "I should have been

10302-402: Was used prominently in the movie. It is considered that the character of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore is based on several characters, including John B. Stockton, commander of the 1st Squadron , 9th Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam, and infantry general James F. Hollingsworth . In the film, shortly before Colonel Kurtz dies, he recites part of T. S. Eliot 's poem " The Hollow Men ." The poem

10404-623: Was widely acclaimed, several critics found Coppola's handling of the story's major themes anticlimactic and intellectually disappointing. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards , including Best Picture , Best Director (Coppola), and Best Supporting Actor (Duvall); it went on to win Best Cinematography and Best Sound . Apocalypse Now is retrospectively considered one of the greatest films ever made ; it has been assessed as Coppola's masterpiece and appeared on various best-of films in 20th-century and of all time lists. In 2000,

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