We were psyched when we learned a few weeks back that “Hearts Of Darkness” the amazing 1991 documentary about the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s near disastrous 1979 existentialist war film “Apocalypse Now” was finally becoming available on DVD.
One of, if not the greatest documentary about making a film, we decided to re-watch this weekend which put us into a complete Coppola tailspin which included watching ‘Darkness,’ “Apocalypse Now Redux” and the director’s much-maligned 1982love-lorn quasi musical, “One From The Heart.”
Subtitled, “A Filmmakers Apocalypse,” ‘Darkness’ was directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper, with the assistance of Eleanor Coppola’s (Francis’ wife) amazing documentary footage she shot on set during the 1968 making of ‘Apocalypse’ in the Philippines. A harrowing and exhausting shoot that nearly destroyed Coppola’s career and almost bankrupt his nascent American Zoetrope studio. The filmmaker has said the film is painful and embarrassing to watch and called the doc, “watch Francis suffer.”
The film begins with his famous quote at Cannes: “We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane” (which btw, was sampled in the Unkle track “UNKLE (Main Title Theme“). Oh and let’s not forget, industrial rockers Ministry sampled and incorporated key elements of ‘Apocalypse’ dialogue in “N.W.O.” from Psalm 69.
The production was famously plagued by insurmountable problems, including typhoons, Coppola’s near-nervous breakdowns and fear of making a pretentious fiasco, the firing of original lead Harvey Keitel, Martin Sheen’s heart attack, and an unprepared and bloated Marlon Brando (who Coppola called a “nightmare to work with” every day; the director attempted to hide Brando’s girth by shooting him in the shadows). The film took over 200 days to shoot and was so overdue and overbudget, the film became a Hollywood joke and was mockingly referenced as “Apocalypse Whenever” (the last laugh would of course be Coppola’s as he would win the 1979 Palme d’Or at Cannes and the film would go on to be widely regarded as one of the greatest ever made).
All this of course, led to start thinking about the music again.
Everyone remembers “Apocalypse Now” for it’s famous Wagner helicopter attack “Ride of the Valkyries” scene (surely one of the most iconic moments in the history of cinema – a moment so iconic it’s “movieness” has been quoted and referenced often (in “Jarhead,” airhead marines watch the movie to psych themselves nuts and go apeshit over the particular scene) and the use of the Doors “The End,” but what has always gotten little attention was the unsettling, ethereal keyboard score by Carmine Coppola (Francis’ composer father) and Francis Ford Coppola himself (who for some reason only went as ‘Francis Coppola’ for the score). Weirdly futuristic, moody and disconcerting the score is not completely unlike Vangelis’ futuristic, moody and disconcerting score for “Blade Runner,” but this was six years prior.
Inspired by Gustav Holst and Isao Tomita, the composer utilized the then-popular and laborious electronics of Moogs and Arps and the sound production pioneered the use of quadraphonic sound which later became Dolby Split Surround Sound (Now known as the 5.1 format). Francis initially asked Holst to compose the score, but he could not due to scheduling complications and label obligations.
The score is wonderfully odd and out of place: “Nung River” sounds like it’s a leftover composition from Star Wars played by moog electronist Dick Hyman, the eerie “Letters From Home” is used in the scene where a young Lawrence Fishburne (then known as Larrry and only 14 years old when shooting started)’s character is killed. An audio cassette letter from his mother plays as the young soldier boy lies dead and the almost chipper music twinkles on – strange and disturbing.
The movie is filled with moments like these, which make the hazy, discomforting trip down the river, such a nightmarish and slow ride into hell.
In many ways and on paper the score is so wrong for the film, the tones, instrumentation and choice of instruments are totally wrong – but somehow, all the strangeness works and makes the film all the more odd and masterfully. It’s sort of the accidental stroke of genius.
When ‘Apocalypse Redux’ was being completed in 2001, Coppola realized they had to compose new pieces of score for the re-inserted scenes, but fortuitously found pieces of music that Carmine had composed even though they were never originally recorded.
Carmine Coppola passed away in 1991 and mostly worked on his son’s film projects after ‘Apocalypse’ (including “The Outsiders,” “The Godfather” trilogy and “New York Stories”).
Coppola’s upcoming metaphysical love-story film, “Youth Without Youth” is the first film he has directed since 1997. Tomorrow we’ll break out the Tom Waits score for Coppola’s “One From The Heart.”
Download: Carmine and Francis Coppola– “Chef’s Death”
Download: Carmine and Francis Coppola – “Clean’s Funeral”
Download: Carmine and Francis Coppola – “Nung River”
Download: Carmine and Francis Coppola – “Orange Light”
