'Apocalypse Now' expanded with mixed results

It seems nearly impossible to find anything new or profound to say about "Apocalypse Now" -- since its release in 1979, it has been so pored over, discussed and dissected that even if you haven't seen it, you can probably quote from it. Lines like "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" are so ingrained in the fabric of cinema history, it's almost jarring to hear them in the movie and realize they actually were spoken by an actor rather than just plucked out of the ether.\nFor those not familiar with the film's plot: loosely based on Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness," "Apocalypse Now" shows Special Forces Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) sent up a river in Vietnam to "terminate the command" of rogue Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), whose erratic behavior has the military brass on edge. On the way upriver, Willard encounters an array of bizarre characters, such as Lt. Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), who clears Charlie off the beach with helicopter bombing runs so he and his men can surf. Few other movies have as accurately captured the confusion and nihilism of Vietnam.\nAny fan of "Apocalypse Now" knows the almost farcical backstory behind the troubled production -- how shooting stretched out over 18 months, Brando showed up to the set grossly overweight and refusing to learn his lines, etc. (for the skinny on the shoot, check out the excellent 1991 documentary "Hearts of Darkness"). It's this awareness of the movie's tortured genesis that almost makes "Apocalypse Now" into meta-film -- when we see Willard's drunken breakdown in the hotel room at the film's opening, we know that Sheen wasn't acting, and that he actually cut his hand open when he broke the mirror. We know that Dennis Hopper really was as crazy as he's acting, if not more so. \nThis re-release of Francis Ford Coppola's last truly great film beefs up the running time from an already-hefty 153 minutes to a truly daunting 197. None of the new scenes are essential, but some are better than others. A sequence where Willard and his boatmates trade fuel for sex with the Playboy bunnies is interesting, but a later scene on a French plantation just drags the movie down. But more importantly than the added material, "Apocalypse Now Redux" gives a new generation the chance to see this tour de force where it was meant to be seen - in a movie theater. Even if you have mixed feelings about this sprawling, stunning film, you owe yourself the experience.