Martin Sheen plays Captain Willard an Army hit man ordered to kill Col Kurtz Marlon Brando in Francis Coppolas epic film about the Vietnam War Apocalypse Now The film opens tonight at the Imperial Cappolas Apocalypse Now tells cold tale of horrors By STEPHEN GAUER Of The Examiner grand ambition lies at the heart of Francis Coppolas Apocalypse Now opening tonight at the Imperial to communicate the horrow and moral chaos of the Vietnam War Coppola spent four years and $30 million making this film hes one of the most gifted American directors of the decade and the technical virtuosity of Apocalypse Now reflects that but grand ambition is no substitute for an emotional centre and its this coldness thats responsible for the films weakness The conception behind the film is brilliant one use Joseph Conrads novella Heart of Darkness as basis for examining the particular horror of the Vietnam War In the Conrad story Briish captain pilots streamer deep into the African jungle in search of an ivory trader named Kurtz who has gone insane ln Apocalypse Now an Army hitman Martin Sheen journeys upriver from Saigon to remote village in Cambodia to terminate the command of Green Beret colonel Marlon Brando who has become barbaric madman BECOMES METAPIIOR Sheens journey becomes metaphor for Americas des cent into the moral hell of war where atrocities are every day occurrences and any sense of morality is lost Sheen and his crewmates on the boat are victims of war they dont understand taking place in country so foreign to them they have no reference points Theyre surrounded by inex plicable horrors that finally break down the defences of civilization and unleash senseless brutality Coppola is telling us that war drives men insane and perhaps that the Vietnam War in particular drove men in very frightening way But theres nothing new or startling in that conclusion and Coppola shies away from examining the political issues involved in the war Worst of all Sheen and his crew dontbecome fully developed characters Thats why Apocalypse Now lacks the emotional power of film like The Deer Hunter The characters in The Deer Hunter were real enough to give single scene game of Russian roulette conducted by the Vietcong greater im pact that all the elaborately staged battles in Apocalypse Now Knotts admits he plays same person By JERRY BUCK LOS ANGELES AP Don Knotts cheerfully admits he has only one characterization for television It doesnt matter whether hes on The Andy Griffith Show where he won five Emmys as Deputy Barney File or Threes Company where hes Ralph Furley the new apartment house manager Hes always that cocky rooster scratching and crowing his way from one rebuff to the next Knotts joins ABCs Threes Company after Norman Fell and Audrey Lindley got their own new series The Ropers He moves into the Santa Mon ica apartment house where John Ritter Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt have lived to gether the last two years He immediately takes off another another new tenant played by Ann Wedgeworth and her re jections only egg him on He thinks he knows it all and he keeps getting rebuffed says Knotts who is shy He comes right back Hes cocky acter on The Steve Allen Show That was pretty oneltdimen sional just shaky guy Whereas Barney Fife was more of little bantam rooster It was sort of written into the first script But think as we went along Id say within the first 10 shows had developed the pattern of the character It took that long for me to really know where wanted to take him His role on Griffiths show grew out of friendship devel oped when they were on Broad way in No Time for Sergeants and then in the film HELICOPTER ASSAULT The battle scenes in Apocalypse Now include helicopter assault on village and lastditch attempt by American soldiers to defend bridge deep in enemy territory Theyre so well done they carry right into the violence of the war but theyre more exciting than horrifying perfect scenes that make for brilliant film footage and little else What does contribute to Coppolas moral purpose in this flm is the superlative use of camerawork lighting and sound Technically Apocalypse Now is lightyears beyond what most of Coppolas contemporaries are doing The open sequence montage of images conveying Sheens nightmare in Saigon hotel works brilliantly The film is full of closeups that show the facial reflections of war in way thats almost unbearany intimate And the stereo sound makes the deafening roar of helicopter assault or the spooky noises of the jungle seem concomfortably real Until Sheens encounter with Brando at the end of the river most of the films faults can be overlooked But his en counter which we know will provide the climax of the film is disappointing because its so static and verbal Brando with his head shaved and his body swollen to grotesque proportions moves in and out of the shadows of his death village quoting poetry by TS Eliot and philosophizing about the moral dilemma of war Hes ugly but his insanity isnt frightening Hes brilliant officer whos slipped beyond the boundaries of civilization but he doesnt horrify us Even his death scene crudely intercut with scenes of pagan animal slaughter seems weak and out of focus SPENT ENORMOLS AMOUNT Coppola has spent an enormous amount of money to create film that should have been the definitive statement about the Vietnam War think hes failed not for lack of skill or resources or genius but for lack of heart Most of Apocalypse Now seems motivated by man whos made the story subservient to the idea Coppola was over whelmed by the scope of the war he was tryihg to portray in that sense hes victim of the best possible intentions and not little unlike the country whose shame hes trying to ex ercise IMCOE HOTEL FIVE POINTS BARBIE BUSINESSMENS LUNcIiEoN Ds BUFFET STYLE Roast Beef 225 Spareribs 225 Special of the Day L95 All dinners include mashed potatoes veg roll REMEMBER AMATEUR NIGHT EVERY TUESDAY PLUS LIVE ENTERTAINMENT NIGHTLI Sooter Portrait Studios CZhristm as PORTR IT It seems to be the character ization that people like to see me do on television In movies dont do that character much Or when take out plays stick with it in television its fun to do and think people expect ROPER WAS PRlDISIt Norman Fellss Stanley Roper was prudish staid and stuffy dont lay as staid as Nor man did ave different kind of character Not too far from Barney Fife little older Bamey Knotts says it all started with Baniey had done the nervous char We would like to introduce you to our Christmas Portrait Special 25 personalized Christmas cards IO color enlargement color enlargements proofs No Sitting Fee Plus FREE I0 color enlargement ALL FOR ONLY $3995 Offer expires November 17 I979 So make your appointment now if ghllistmas Ha 08g Newtegï¬yil Sooter Portrait Studios BAYFIELD MALL BARRIE ONTARIO PH 7373341 entertainmen Editor Stephen Gauer7266537 Phillips announces plans for international season By JAMES NELSON TORONTO CP The Strat ford Festival is going inter national and it fully expects the government and the public to support the ove Robin Phillips artistic direc tor for the last six years said Monday that Peter Ustinov Maggie Smith Jessica Tandy and Brian Bedford will return to the festival next season and it will send minifestival of four plays to London neirt fall This year with the exception of Ustinovs lateOctober ar rival the festival ran without international stars depending on top Canadian talent It played to biggecthanever audiences and ended the sea son with about the same deficit as it had last year $250000 It receives about $500000 year in government grants and its funding has lagged far behind the rats of inflation Phillips spoke of the 19805 as being the excruciating years for the Stratford Festival unless it gets more money organization to point where it must be seen in international terms Internationalism now is mandate It is component of our popular success We must be allowed to capitalize on that success He said he is heartened by the attitude being taken by David MacDonald secretary of state in the new federal government There seems conspicuous movement toward change based on new perspective on how matters really stand And how matters really stand in Phillipss view is that the Stratford Festival is theatre of international stand ard It is less than five years ago that Clive Barnes New York critic ofiinternational re pute ranked the Stratford Fes tival among the best three of the Englishspeaking world The other two Barnes identiv fied as the National Theatre in London and the Royal Shake speare Company at Stratford uponAvon He regretted no American theatre company was even in the running ROBIN PHILLIPS Stratford director dependent examination as the government has promised He challenged the government to conduct similar examination of the Stratford Festival and compare the two Launching itself on an inter TO be successml Intel national career Phillips said it nationallyv 95mm Will is elevating the achievement of havetohavefinanCIaeaseand Canadian artistic flexibility Phillips said It will have to act quickly when it has hit to get it to London New york or other world theatre markets It wouldnt seem to have fi nancial ease at the moment But it has proved it is lean and hungry It can recruit stars of sights and sounds College plays coming The Georgian College Theatre Workshop presents two plays Heroes and Horray for Johnny Canuck Nov 28 and 29 the calibre of Ustinov whl at the college theatre Tickets are $2 each and are available might writeanew play for it for 52 at the Geo jan Cone 1981 And it has Stable of Curtaintimegmpm wr board and from students Canadian actors who can match talents with the best abroad At the festival next season when 16 productions will be ounted on three stages the headliners will include William Hutt Kate Reid Hume Cronyn Douglas Rain Jennifer Phipps and Roberta Maxwell NOT EXPENSIVE Stratford has always been thought of as one of the fat cats the only fat cat in fact in Canadian theatre Tuats not the case Phillips said He never has spent more than $6 000 on set and one highly subsidized company which he did not name spent $90000 on set once He said the National Arts Centre which has $10million annual subsidy bears in Correction story in last weeks Examiner stated that Wendy Hicks is new pointment to the Gryphon Theatre Foundations board of irectors Mrs Hicks has been board member Since the founding of the theatre and has been reappointed to the board The Examiner regrets the error Concert in Angus The Minglewood Band performs in concert at the Angus Lions Hall Nov 10 sponsored by The Angus Interest League TAIL Advance tickets are $4 and are available at Sam the Record Man and at Records on Wheels Gallery art rental The Barrie Art Club hold its monthly art rental Saturday from to pm at the gallery inthe Downtown Centre 110 Dunlop St variety of prints and paintings are available both for rent and sale the 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