4. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Arguably one of the great American films of the 20th century, Apocalypse Now was director Francis Ford Coppolas take on the Joseph Conrad novel Heart of Darkness, but set in Vietnam. Martin Sheen plays Captain Willard, who is sent deep into the jungles of Vietnam to terminate the command of an AWOL colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando). With all of the challenges that plagued the production, its remarkable that the end result is such a powerful and masterful piece of filmmaking. Its also remarkable that the movie was completed at all. The beleaguered production is documented in the film Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. A typhoon destroyed several sets. The 14 week shoot took 16 months. The budget spiraled out of control. The 1.2 million feet of film took nearly two years to edit. Marlon Brando showed up for his scenes not having read the script and grossly overweight. But it was actor Martin Sheen who might have permanently derailed the project. Martin Sheen gives one of his career-best performances as Captain Willard in the film. And audiences are fortunate to have it. Two actual events surrounding Sheen during the filming of Apocalypse Now have become cinema legend. The first takes place early in the film, with Willard in his hotel room waiting for orders from the Army. The entire sequence was improvised on set, where Sheen was reportedly drunk. Sheen talks to his reflection in the mirror, then breaks it. He cuts his hand badly, bleeds, and sinks to the floor, weeping. Sheen had actually cut his hand, and used his own blood to create a memorable yet disturbing performance. Even more traumatic for Sheen was that he suffered a heart attack during the shoot in the Philippines, which set the production back. A concerted effort was made to keep the heart attack a secret for fear that the studio might step in and pull the plug. While recuperating, some scenes were shot using a double for Sheen. Can you spot them? In the end, the film went on to win the Palme dOr at Cannes and was re-released in 2001 as Apocalypse Now Redux, which included 49 minutes of material cut from the original film.