APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) ★

A river journey that begins in madness and ends in hell. Quite possibly the best movie of the 1970s, and certainly the one the most difficult to match in terms of pure delirium and intensity: all these years later, this movie still looks and feels like nothing else. And the more you look into its creation, the more you understand exactly why it can't be repeated: the process behind it is an inimitable combination of bad choices, wild luck, pure chance, and, yes, once-in-a-generation genius (from multiple parties, no less: not only Coppola, but also his remarkable cast; his editor, Walter Murch; and war correspondent Michael Herr, clinching things with some last-second pinch-hitting). Indispensable.

A ★★★★½ review of Apocalypse Now (1979)

A river journey that begins in madness and ends in hell. Quite possibly the best movie of the 1970s, and certainly the one the most difficult to match in terms of pure delirium and intensity: all these years later, this movie still looks and feels like nothing else. And the more you look into its creation, the more you understand exactly why it can’t be repeated: the process behind it is an inimitable combination of bad choices, wild luck, pure chance, and, yes, once-in-a-generation genius (from multiple parties, no less: not only Coppola, but also his remarkable cast; his editor,

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