Screenwriter John Milius on Apocalypse Now

[theScottWu]

my film teacher sent me here lol

[Porly62]

Made THE best sword & sorcery film to this date. Enough to be a legend.

[munnyman444]

wasn't this guy in the big lebowski?

[avzeolla]

citizen kane is the best movie of all time for 3 reasons

1 the filmmaker- welles was a whiz-kid in his early 20's who had free-reign and complete control of this production. unheard of back then.

2 the subject- hearst went after welles and virtually ruined him. hearst and his people tried to destroy the film, block its release, etc. a major fiasco.

3 the cinematography- there were more special effects in that movie than star wars. innovative use of camera lenses, lighting, set designs were grou

[CoolerKing37]

Shomer Shabbos!!

[TheHolyPiShop]

love this film, it has the thematic, mission and lesson statements all in one scene. nicely done

[lostcambion]

i would love to see the rest of this interview...

[45below1]

My friend, I was wondering...

If you were scripting a traveling scene or series of shot, (for instance, Mary travels to Georgia from Texas) how would you go about this process?

[JohnathanTravolta]

Thank god he didn't take that line out

[dontleademsomuch]

he'd be great to sit down and talk about war and history etc

[fastfoodclowns]

Don't forget Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". The River is one of the main characters just like in this film, Apocalypse Now!........

[darkbranches]

I hope YOU realize Zeppelin that...Heart of Darkness was NOT set in WWII -- but actually in the late-1800's --

Joseph Conrad was well into his grave before that --

[Capt777harris]

Heart of Darkness was meant as an expose on the Belgium King's genocidal abuse of Central Africa. A cause that other authors also championed, Mark Twain included.

[zeppelin2k]

@darkbranches yup, of course I know that, point still stands anyways...

[zeppelin2k]

i hope you guys realize that apocalypse now was based on a book set in WW2, Into The Heart of Darkness, WHAT A BOOK

[Chooky707]

You fail so much...

[icantfindanamethis]

damn straight.

[hardkicka]

The writer of the greatest movie ever made!

[icantfindanamethis]

pfffff labels don't mean shit

[stinkriverstudios]

Good call. Same goes for these no nothing pukes say "Citizen Kane was the best movie..." Too many brilliant minds (including this one) too many genres and too many damned people who dont know what the fuck their talking about. Thanks for catching this and calling it out!

[rastabus]

The comment I posted below is in reply to the so-called 'maverick whig'.

[spd13062]

Any man who can produce "Apocalypse Now" and "Big Wednesday" is alright with me.

[MaverickWhig]

Oh sure, I think Milius is a great writer and I admire him.

I was just wondering what he meant by his description of his ideology.

[Posmeallie]

three best lines in this movie:

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning...smells like victory"

"the horror...the horror."

"we train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write the word 'fuck' on their airplanes...because it's obscene."

[joshtownsend]

This guy is the most brilliant writer in Hollywood besides the classic we got ROME. His politic keeping him from more projects is bad for FILM itself.

[rastabus]

In his own words:

'a conservative..., a rugged individualist..., a zen anarchist..., more a maoist than a fascist.'

[MaverickWhig]

How can you be a conservative and maoist?

[rastabus]

You'd have to ask John Milius more about exactly what he meant... What about being pro-life, anti-gay and agreeing some of Marx's analysis of history and economics and belief a planned economy?

[MaverickWhig]

Hmmmm.... I think that's actually somewhat fascistic... though I guess I'd be sounding like a conspiracy theorist if I said that.

[rastabus]

In your opinion, or otherwise, perhaps, Maoism is 'somewhat fascistic'...

[uni2ballx]

Saying you're a conservative in Hollywood must be like saying you're a virgin in a whorehouse. I listened to the director's comments last night on Milius' "Big Wednesday," and he called the battle of the Chosin Reservior the (sic) "retreat from Chosun." I'm beginning to wonder if this guy is authentic at all.

[R0773N]

This is the guy "Walter" from the Big Lebowski is based on.

[MrDurcon]

@R0773N No its not moron.

[nfnkalyan]

@MrDurcon yeah it is, man. yeah it is.

[mwells219]

@R0773N yeah he looks like he would go bowling with a pistol.

[howelldrake]

He's become much more eloquent and less jingoistic in his old age. In MASH (TV) he played a huge GI who was threatening Charles Winchester to (I forget the Bueracratic mechanics) to get him a promotion, and good ol' Hawkeye and BJ thwarted it and got him locked away. I perceive AN as an anti-war movie, and yet he was the screenwriter.

[TheCreepingUnknown]

I disagree with Milius' politics but I love pretty much every movie he's been involved with, especially Apocalypse Now! It's really great to hear how he feels about it!

[AndrewGal]

Is this guy actually a conservative?

[TheCreepingUnknown]

He certainly is, in fact, he's one of the most famous conservatives in Hollywood. There's actually an interview with him here on Youtube where he talks about being "blacklisted" in Hollywood because of it.

[WatchRyder]

@TheCreepingUnknown

We need more like him because they are an endangered species in hollywood!

[ROCKER86]

Milius is my hero a conservative screenwriter who has written and directed some of the best movies ever

[AndrewGal]

Is this guy actually a conservative?

[ROCKER86]

Yes he is in fact the original Apocalypse script was actually more about warrior ethic and the title its self was a back handed version of the hippie slogan "Nirvana Now"

[neuromonic]

@AndrewGal Yeah one of the few conservatives in hollywood.  One of the reasons he hasn't done more movies. :-/

[marc780]

Milius is a genius. An idiot savant but every man ought to know his limits, harry. The interviewer was, by contrast, a tard. He'd done better to e-mail his questions and have Milius run wild on live-leak. At least Milius has something to say.