Every year, the Tribeca Film Festival is a spring event that highlights some of the best young filmmakers around. However, you wouldn’t be wrong in saying that this year’s festival has been highlighted by one of the greatest American filmmakers of all time — Francis Ford Coppola. You see, the director recently appeared at the festival to present a new cut and restoration of his classic “Apocalypse Now,” dubbed the “Final Cut,” and by most accounts, the new cut might just well be the definitive edition of the film.
The good news for film fans is that Coppola’s new cut and 4K restoration of the film will not only screen in select theaters at the end of the summer, but will also be coming home for those who want to purchase yet another copy of “Apocalypse Now.” We say “yet another” because this would mark the third major release of the Vietnam war film.
As many are aware already, the version of “Apocalypse Now” that became an iconic war film, and one of Coppola’s best ever, is only one of three that have been released. Since its original theatrical release, “Apocalypse Now” has seen the extended edition, dubbed ‘Redux,’ released, which many believed would have been the ultimate version of the film. However, the filmmaker has said that his new one, the ‘Final Cut,’ is the “perfect” version of the film that he has tried for decades to put together.
Thankfully, film fans will be able to watch all three and make that choice for themselves in August. Let’s just hope that there isn’t a fourth cut on the horizon.
You probably know this by now, but the film stars Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, and Harrison Ford. “Apocalypse Now” is a retelling of the classic novel by Joseph Conrad, titled “Heart of Darkness.”
“Apocalypse Now: Final Cut” will arrive in select theaters on August 15 and on 4K UHD on August 27.