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Hearts of Darkness - A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

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Hearts of Darkness - A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)

Starring: Francis Ford Coppola Rating: R (Restricted) | Format: DVD

4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Actors: Francis Ford Coppola
Format: NTSC
Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Release Date: November 20, 2007
Run Time: 96 minutes

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)

ASIN: B000XECFXS
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,834 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
Popular in this category: (What's this?)
#10 in Movies & TV > Documentary > Film History & Film Making

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For more information about "Hearts of Darkness - A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Special Features

Coda: Thirty Years Later - A brand new documentary seen here for the first time

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Hearts of Darkness is an engrossing, unwavering look back at Francis Coppola's chaotic, catastrophe-plagued Vietnam production, Apocalypse Now. Filled with juicy gossip and a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at the stressful world of moviemaking, the documentary mixes on-location home movies shot in the Philippines by Eleanor Coppola, the director's wife, with revealing interviews with the cast and crew, shot 10 years later. Similar to Burden of Dreams, Les Blank's absorbing portrait of Werner Herzog's struggle to make Fitzcarraldo, the film chronicles Coppola's eventual decent into obsessive psychosis as everything that could go wrong does go wrong. Storms destroy sets, money evaporates, the Philippine government continually harasses the director, Coppola has romantic affairs, and he can't write the story's ending. Everything is captured on film. In the most disturbing scene, we watch Martin Sheen have a drunken nervous breakdown while his director goads him on (he eventually suffered a heart attack, but finished the film).

Other incredible footage is not visual, but aural as the film includes tapes Eleanor Coppola recorded without Francis's knowledge. In them, he truly sounds like a madman as he confesses his fears about making a bomb of a movie. But while Hearts of Darkness is an amazing, voyeuristic experience, its importance lies in the personal reflections offered by those involved. Sheen, Coppola, and Dennis Hopper speak frankly without embarrassment, offering us an essential piece of film history. --Dave McCoy

Product Description

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse is an engrossing, unwavering look back at Francis Ford Coppola’s chaotic, catastrophe-plagued Vietnam production, Apocalypse Now. Filled with juicy gossip and a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at the stressful world of moviemaking, the documentary mixes on-location home movies shot in the Philippines by Eleanor Coppola, the director’s wife, with revealing interviews with the cast and crew, shot 10 years later.

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Customer Reviews

36 Reviews

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (36 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stirring portrait of the making of a masterpiece, January 3, 2002

By	Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME) (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Subtitled, "A Filmmaker's Apocalypse", this 1991 film is a documentary about the making of "Apocalypse Now", the 1979 film based on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". Set in Vietnam, it is the story of a captain, Martin Sheen, and his crew's mission to find and kill an insane colonel, Marlon Brando, who had created his own kingdom deep in the Jungle. On the way, everyone is touched with the evil around them. This summer I saw the re-edited version of the film and have been intrigued by it ever since. When I heard about this "Hearts of Darkness" I just HAD to see it.

The filming of Apocalypse Now was supposed to take just sixteen weeks at a budget of $13 million. It wound up costing more than $30 million, much of it put up by Francis Coppola himself, and took almost three years to get to the public. Coppola' wife Eleanor and their three children went along on location in the Philippines. She was interested in making a documentary and shot a lot of behind-the-scenes footage, even secretly recording private conversations she had with her husband about the film. The authenticity of the experience really comes through, as everyone involved with the production seemed to go a little bit insane.

Coppola had serious doubts throughout and we hear his words of despair as he thinks he's making a bad movie. We see the terrible typhoon that destroyed all the sets and realized that the helicopters that were being used for the shooting were actually property of the Philippine government who kept calling them away to fight a real disturbance that was going on just ten miles away. We see shots and scenes that never made it into the original film (although much of it eventually made it into the 2001 "Redux" version). We see and overweight Marlon Brando who insisted on being filmed in shadows. And we are right there to watch the filming of the scene in which Martin Sheehan has a mental breakdown. In order to do this he became bleary-eyed drunk, cut his thumb on a mirror and used the blood as part of the scene. The intensity is chilling and when, a short time afterward, he has a life-threatening heart attack at the age of 36, we're all there to see him as he is given first aid.

Now, years later, some of the actors are interviewed about their experiences. We learn that they did a lot of drugs during many of the scenes - acid, speed, marijuana, alcohol, which certainly added to the authenticity as well as the craziness of the whole production. Robert Duval talks about how his famous line "I love the smell of napalm in the morning was improvised. And the whole cast talks about how they improvised a massacre scene. Laurence Fishburne was only 14 when the film was made, a real coming-of-age experience for him. But this very stirring film portrait belongs to Francis Coppola. We get to meet him as a very imperfect human being doing his best to create an art form out of the script, changing it constantly as he went along, and eventually turning out a small masterpiece which went on to be nominated for eight academy awards.

I give this video my highest recommendation. It is a "must" for movie buffs. And an essential education for anyone involved in filmmaking itself. Don't miss it!

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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Someone Please Release This On DVD!, August 18, 2006

By	J. Merritt (Washington-Baltimore Corridor) - See all my reviews

Why this fascinating documentary is not in print I don't know, but it's a major shame. Taking us inside the making of Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece "Apocalypse Now," it mixes interviews with the principals (including Coppola, his star Martin Sheen, and others) with footage shot by Coppola's wife during the actual production. As the shooting dragged on and the budget skyrocketed and Coppola dealt with everything from Third World leaders to heart attacks to nervous studio heads, a drama unfolded that was every bit as captivating as the one he was trying to capture on film. An indispensable look at movie-making in the Decade of the Director, and worth half a dozen Masters courses in film. Plus, just plain fun to watch.

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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Documentary Is Even Better than the Actual Movie, June 2, 2000

By	Weston J. Kathman (Lakeside Park, KY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Shot by Francis Ford Coppolla's wife, Hearts of Darkness is an incredible, one hour fifty minute documentary that reveals the horrors of making the very popular Apocalypse Now. The film took forever to make, driving many of its participants to the brink of insanity, not just Coppolla, who was emotionally-unstable for much of the film. Viewers of this fascinating documentary will be amazed to learn that Harvey Keitel was originally cast as Willard, but was dropped after only two weeks of shooting. Though only 36 years-old, Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack during filming, an event that further postponed its debuts in theaters. There is some really great footage included here, especially the shooting of the opening sequence of the film which involves a very drunk Sheen lashing out as both his character and himself (at that point, Sheen was experiencing a lot of hostility towards Coppolla and had it out with him right then and there, an episode that would appear in the finished movie). Even if you didn't particularly care for Apocalypse Now, you will most likely find Hearts of Darkness interesting, nonetheless. It is a magnificent look at the troubles and triumphs of a film crew headed by a somewhat mad, but brilliant director. This shouldn't be missed.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars DVD is different than original release
HEARTS OF DARKNESS is not only a great documentary, it is perhaps one of the best ever made. It is up there with CRUMB, THE THIN BLUE LINE, WOODSTOCK, MY BEST FIEND, and GREY... Read more

Published 15 days ago by Christopher B. Murray

5.0 out of 5 stars very good!
It's really interesting to see how much was done in order to come up with something like apocalypse Now, it reveals lots of things that I didn't know about the making of the film... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Rafael Esparza Calvo

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
I just saw this documentary for the second time and remain as enchanted by it as ever. Francis Ford Coppola's wife Eleanor is responsible for much of the footage and it's a... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Bernard Chapin

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid
Hearts Of Darkness glosses over one of the more important aspects of the film's creation, the hiring and firing of the first actor, Harvey Keitel, to portray Lt. Willard. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Cosmoetica

5.0 out of 5 stars A NECESSARY COMPANION TO APOCAPLYPSE NOW
If you're a fan of Apocalypse Now, this DVD is a necessary purchase. It gives essential insight into the creative process and bedraggled production of one of the greatest films... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Joe

3.0 out of 5 stars If You Loved the Movie, you'll like this film
Where do I begin?!? What sort of focus can I create out of the chaos?!? How important is it to convey my concepts in an intelligble manner?!? Read more

Published 14 months ago by Randy Keehn

4.0 out of 5 stars A small dissent
Like the other reviewers, I found this documentary to be fascinating. If you are a Coppola fan, it's a can't miss. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Hal Jordan

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally!
This has to be one of the most anticipated DVD releases of last year. For quite a while, I was trying to find a VHS copy, while hoping that this would finally come out on DVD... Read more

Published 22 months ago by Erik J. Ray

5.0 out of 5 stars Hope that a little fat girl in Ohio will be the next Mozart of film.
Destroying professionalism and making it an art form. This is some of the wisdom from Francis Ford Coppola on this documentary made by his wife Eleanor on the making of his film,... Read more

Published 23 months ago by Mike Liddell

5.0 out of 5 stars Never get outta the boat
And you thought you had a bad day at the office! Francis Ford Coppola went way up the river (and pretty much around the bend) during the making of "Apocalypse Now", and his wife... Read more

Published on February 15, 2008 by D. Hartley

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