July 8, 2003

Apocalypse Now Redux Under the Stars at MASS MoCA

(North Adams, Mass.) Digitally remastered with 49 minutes of previously unseen footage, Apocalypse Now Redux is Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam epic. Starring Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando, the film is loosely based on The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and tells the story of Captain Willard, a special agent sent into Cambodia to assassinate an errant American colonel. Apocalypse Now Redux was reconstructed by Coppola and editor Walter Murch to enrich themes and clarify the ending. Critics have termed Apocalypse Now Redux one of the best war movies of all time, and it will play outside under the stars at MASS MoCA on Friday, August 8, at 9 P.M.

In the film, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is assigned a navy patrol boat and a crew of three hapless soldiers. They are escorted on part of their journey by an air cavalry unit led by Lt. Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), a gung-ho commander with a love of Wagner, surfing, and napalm. After witnessing a surreal USO show featuring Playboy playmates and an anarchic battle with the Viet Cong at a bridge, Willard reaches the compound of Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). A crazed photojournalist and Kurtz groupie (Dennis Hopper) welcomes the crew, and Willard begins to question his orders to "terminate the colonel's command." The restored "French plantation" sequence adds ghostly resonance to the war's absurdity, and Willard's theft of Colonel Kurtz's beloved surfboard adds welcome humor to the film's nightmarish upriver journey.

One of the most acclaimed directors of the 1970s, Francis Ford Coppola spearheaded a renaissance in American filmmaking, heralding a golden age which he defined through masterpieces ranging from The Conversation to his crowning achievement, The Godfather. Coppola's cast in Apocalypse Now Redux takes this film to new heights.

Martin Sheen, a veteran of years on the soap opera As the World Turns (CBS) during the '60s and countless episodes of series like The Defenders (CBS), Mission: Impossible (CBS) and The FBI (ABC), copped an Emmy for his memorable 1993 guest appearance on CBS' Murphy Brown. So it perhaps came as no surprise when he surfaced as US President Josiah Bartlet on the critically acclaimed, Sorkin-created The West Wing (NBC, 1999- ), for which he earned numerous accolades, including Emmy nods in 2000 and 2001.

Marlon Brando was quite simply one of the most celebrated and influential screen and stage actors of the postwar era; he rewrote the rules of performing, and nothing was ever the same again. Brooding, lusty, and intense, his greatest contribution was popularizing Method acting, a highly interpretive performance style that brought unforeseen dimensions of power and depth to the craft.

Lickety Split will be open to serve dinner and snacks starting at 8:00 P.M. when the doors open. There will also be a full bar. In case of rain, the film will move indoors where the Hunter Center will have been transformed into a full movie palace.

Tickets to Apocalypse Now Redux are $6.50. MASS MoCA members get 10% off. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located on Marshall Street in North Adams from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M. daily. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or online at www.massmoca.org.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall St. in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org