Ride of the Apocalypse

Well fuck all. Yesterday this blog noted we were watching Apocalypse Now, turns out it was John Milius' birthday. For those who don't know, Milius wrote the screenplay. We really gotta watch the Hearts of Darkness documentary again. Here's The Critical Drinker with a good summation. So we're making this week Apocalypse Now Week at Stroock's Books. We've already begun, but where to pick up? Hmmm....

Everyone marvels at the Ride of the Valkyries helo-attack scene, and rightfully so. But we'd like to talk about Apocalypse Now's introduction of 1/9 Cavalry and Colonel Bill Kilgore.  'What they were mopping up hadn't even happened an hour ago,' Captain Willard says. Willard and PBR Street Gang motor into the aftermath of 1/9 Cavalry's assault on a VC held village. Controlled chaos ensues. We see amphibious landing craft, choppers, flame throwing tanks, wind driven smoke and haze, a camera crew (with a cameo by Francis Ford Coppola himself) 'Don't look at the camera!' Every shot is jam packed with detail. The entire scene is great and grand spectacle.*

So Trump endorsed Doctor Oz in the Pennsylvania GOP senate primary. You really want this guy again, my fellow MAGA nation compatriots? Who is advising the rightful president? Hot Air is predicting Dem disaster in the senate. The circumstances and ideas for the GOP are great, but the candidates have lagged. The political atmosphere may be so bad by November that candidate quality may not matter. Also, this blog assumes the GOP candidate issue will shake itself out. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed the state GOP's wuss congressional redistricting map and submitted his own, which should net the GOP 2-3 seats in the state. Trump v DeSantis is becoming a not-hard decision to make. 

Moving on to the Continent...No Pasaran has a good writeup on the French presidential election. And here is the great Mark Steyn talking about how right and left have shriveled, leaving France with a mushy centrist (Macron) and a rightwing populist (Le Pen). Steyn concludes, 'Every sentient creature in la France périphérique knows that. Marine Le Pen has a couple of 51-49 polls that suggest she still has a fighting chance on April 24th. Can she pierce through the deluge about to descend? It will be way closer than five years ago, but she needs a win.' We doubt that will happen. 

*Good luck getting Ride of the Valkyries out of your head today, losers, 'Run Charlie!'

Tuesday Tally

Yes, we're bringing the tally back too.

Here's our list of greatest war movies.

By greatest we don't mean our favorite war movies, or most popular war movies. We mean pure Churchillian greatness.

Battleground: Following a squad of the 101st Airborne at Bastogne, this was the 50's  Platoon, filled with WWII realism, the ins and out of daily life as a soldier on the line.
The Longest Day: We've criticized this film in the past, but in scope and sweep the (four) directors achieved something, and they captured something great and ethereal. As Rod Steiger says, 'This will be a moment people talk about long after we are dead and gone....gives me chills just to be a part of it.'
Apocalypse Now: A beautiful looking film about death and killing, a movie about an American who understands how to win and goes native to do it. Kurtz represents an America that wants to win.
A Bridge Too Far: Another movie we've talked about in the past. ABTF may be the greatest war film ever made. An allstar cast that holds up over time, that unlike TLD, doesn't feel like the year it was made. 
Dos Boot: Men in war under the sea. Das Boot is long and grueling, just like submarine warfare. You can feel the boredom, taste the bad food and smell the sweat.
Red Dawn: This was originally thought to be an 80's action film, but is now a classic about children, anarchy and war. The most compelling character is the Cuban officer who becomes what he fought in so many other places and finds his humanity letting the two brothers go.
Glory: Men fighting for themselves, each other, their nation, their people, themselves, and their very manhood. An excellent battle scene at the end.
*Saving Private Ryan is not a great film. When people say they like SPR, they mean they like the blockbuster opening, which is indeed great. However the rest of the film is a cinematic and ideological nightmare a WWII movie about the WWII movies that Steven Spielberg saw as a kid. Too many tropes to mention.
**We haven't seen any of the modern war movies, American Sniper, Lone Survivor, etc.

Remake This

Apocalypse Now.

Here us out, people.

Apocalypse Now is easily one of the ten greatest war films ever made.

Some say it is an anti-war film. Are you kidding me? Have they seen this film?

The only cynic in this film is Captain Willard. Everyone else,  Chief and his Swiftboat crew, Kilgore and the Air Cav,  Charlie,  Kurtz; they all love what they're doing.

Jesus H. Christ, Kilgore. That man has come to Vietnam to surf and kick Charlie's ass; and he's forgotten his surfboard.

And we haven't even gotten to Kurtz .  He was the All-American boy being groomed for the top slot in the corporation. Then he goes to Vietnam, comes back, joins the special forces, returns to Vietnam and wins. By the time Willard meets him, Kurtz is a white poet-warlord with a tribe of fanatical warriors personally loyal to him. Charlie's head is a nice decorative piece in Kurtz's throne room. I wouldn't be surprised if he's got Charlie's skin-husk as a throw rug.

Still don't belive us? Well, Apocalypse Now was written by John freakin' Milius, conceiver of Jaws' Indianapolis scene, director of Conan, Red Dawn and the criminally underrate Farewell to the King. You know, Walter from the Big Lebowski.

The Key to Kurtz's turn from All-American to white poet-warlord is the final monologue. It's all right there. That's what it takes to win. 'My god the genius of that. The genius...the will...' You all know the rest. Only Kurtz understood what it would take to win.

Kurtz, Kilgore, Chief, Willard, these are all universal themes of war. Apocalypse Now is, after all, merely a retelling of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. So let's remake it for today!...