Apocalypse Now

I've only seen 2 movies abt Vietnam that meant anything to me. (And I think I've seen practically every American-made Vietnam film.) The 1st was 'The Deer Hunter'/when I was 17. I cut class to go into the city & catch a sneak preview in Dec. of my senior yr of h.s. It totally blew me away. I rememberd everybody wearing those POW bracelets back in jr. high/& a couple of friends whose older brother's had shitty draft #'s & ended up in Vietnam/& how folks around the way talked abt the 'consipracy' to ship all the Brothers who cdn't afford college off to fight a senseless war. But I didn't understand what the war meant for the avg. working-class White kid who got caught up in all that madness. And how it shattered & at the same time reinforced lifelong friendships. The airlift scene/when the helicopter comes to rescue De Niro & Walken from that river... And Walken loses his grips & plunges back into the water. It was a long shot/so you cdn't see their faces up close. But even from a distance/the way De Niro hesitated for a few seconds/ pondering whether to go back for his friend or hang on & save his own skin. (I found out years later that the 2 of them actually did that stunt themselves.) And when De Niro let go & dropped back into the river to save Chris Walken/I cried like a baby in that nearly-empty theatre. My own brother wdn't have done that shit for me... And the scene where he & Meryl Streep were making eyes at each other at the wedding... I wished more than anything on earth that I cd be Meryl Streep & have Robert De Niro look at me like that. (Then I found out he was married to Diahnne Abbot & I was heartbroken but elated all at once. She was one of the most beautiful Sisters I'd ever seen. Still looks good too -- even after all these years.) 'The Deer Hunter' changed they way I perceived movies. I remember how nobody in there said a word as the credits rolled. Nobody even got up to leave until the house lights came up. We were all stunned & exhausted by what we'd experienced. And I left the theatre knowing intellectually but not believing in my heart that what I had just seen was a 'movie'. I think that was when I 1st understood the power of film. And when I decided I wanted to be a director. Even tho' it tooks years for me to begin to learn how you create that kind of brutal magic on screen. 'Apocalypse Now' is the 2nd movie abt 'Nam that meant anything to me. Becuz it operated on a much more cerebral level/to make you understand what the madness & horror of that war felt & smelled & tasted like. And how it cd drive even an honorable & partiotic man insane. I'm not much for WWII films/but I plan o go & see 'The Thin Red Line'. Becuz from all I've read abt it/it sounds just as surreal & powerful as 'Apocalypse' was in its day.