A masterpiece

Rating: 8/10 (10 June 2008)

My youngest daughter met Martin Sheen today, which prompted me to file this review of one of Hollywood's greatest movies. Based on Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS, APOCALYPSE NOW follows Army captain Martin Sheen into the jungles of Southeast Asia as he searches for renegade colonel Marlon Brando, who has gone native and frankly stark raving mad. Sheen gets far more than he bargained for when he finally finds Brando. Along the way, Sheen encounters a real cowboy of a lieutenant colonel played by a young Robert Duvall, who utters the film's classic line, "How I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Sheen had a heart attack while filming this massive epic in the Philippines. Frederic Forrest, a great character actor perhaps best known as the crazy military goods store owner in FALLING DOWN, has a plum role as the doomed "Chef." The film is absolutely amazing and can never be duplicated or equaled. Brando was in his glory as a larger-than-life madman, and Sheen justifiably became one of Hollywood's biggest stars after this. A must-see, especially for those of you who, like my kid, only know Sheen from THE DEPARTED.