George Lucas' Version of Apocalypse Now

There is an interesting discussion of the version of Apocalypse Now that John Milius and George Lucas would have created in this book:

https://books.google.com.au/books?i...&q="george lucas" pro-war "star wars"&f=false

"The film would take a pro-war, action-oriented approach while at the same time while at the same time supporting and clarifying the "unconventional warfare methods" of the U. S. Army Special Forces... What Milius and Lucas was thinking about is suggested by the first scene... The idea is that American troops will have fun and win the war by adopting, Green Beret-style, guerilla methods. Milius later noted that he and Lucas were "great connoisseurs of the Vietnam War"; one imagines young boys with an enthusiasm for all things military."



Compare that to the recent flimsy claims that Star Wars a protest against Vietnam:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ti-war-protest-and-how-R2D2-got-his-name.html

I am more inclined to think it is a glorification of it and this information about Apocalypse Now and the attitude of George Lucas at that time seems to indicate a pro-Vietnam War attitude. What do others think?

 

Interesting topic, but the idea that this earlier version of Apocalypse Now would have been pro-war (as opposed to Coppola's version, which still isn't), is simply wrong. Milius' original script - initially called The Psychedelic Soldier - is much the same story, but with a slightly wackier, less grim approach, and part of that involved glorifying war for the purpose of satire, something which it was. Part of that bled through to the final film, with Kilgore's surfing obsession, and then the restored scenes for Redux, when Willard steals Kilgore's surfboard.
John Milius served in Vietnam, he was writing about the reality, not some romantic version of all-American boys suffering for freedom. Simple fact of the matter was, a lot of young men went over there (some voluntarily, some not) expecting fortune and glory, all in the name of freedom. Kill some gooks, come home to a parade.
Bringing the attitudes of films like The Green Berets into it was to undermine such works, not pay homage to them - which was the style at the time. It's like Phillip Marlowe's absurd chain-smoking in Robert Altman's 1973 version of The Long Goodbye.

Robert Altman's M.A.S.H., Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (and Dr Strangelove, for that matter), even Coppola's final version of Apocalypse Now - they revel in the macho attitudes so many soldiers actually did hold towards the crazy situation they found themselves in, simply to highlight just how completely and utterly insane it really was.
There are other, more 'reverential' films about Vietnam - The Deer Hunter, Platoon - but it could be argued that such a serious approach, focusing merely upon the horrors the soldiers suffered, undermines any point that could be made about how the soldiers shouldn't have been there in the first place, and they still make the North Vietnamese out to be the bad guys. Oh, the humanity.
Apocalypse Now wasn't just about 'the horrors of war' and how 'our boys' suffered for some greater cause - the war itself was insane and pointless. Yes, war is hell, and perhaps always madness at its heart, but Vietnam wasn't WWII. There's that line in the restored French plantation scene where the plantation owner accuses Willard and the US of fighting for "the biggest nothing" of all time.

GL wasn't pro-Vietnam, he was the 100% exact opposite, hence why he was once on board for a film which was intended to throw the shocking reality of a meaningless bloodbath, politically incorrect details and all, right into the faces of audiences for whom the Vietnam War was still going on. He decided to step aside for his 'Flash Gordon' film instead, but the Zoetrope produced, low budget John Milius/George Lucas version of Apocalypse Now remains one of those great What-Ifs of cinema.

One thing it wouldn't have been, however, was a pro-Vietnam War film. It would have been a more stripped back, probably less ponderous film that we got - it just wouldn't have had so much rambling from Marlon Brando at the end.

 

Intersting comments because the Google Books link above says the exact opposite about Lucas' views.

 

This article from Mother Jones (which I understand is some kind of American left wing social justice magazine) doesn't talk about Lucas' personal views on the Vietnam War but does look at how it revitalised the war film, toy soldiers and notions of American triumphalism: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/how-star-wars-saved-american-triumphalism

UPDATE: More here: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/gi-joe-real-wars?page=2

 

Based on More American Graffiti I have a hard time believing Lucas was interested in doing a pro-war Vietnam film.

 

Milius supported the Vietnam War, guys like Lucas and Spielberg likely not as they're Liberals and involved in Liberal organizations and special interests even back then. I like Milius, he's an interesting character & usually speaks his mind and it got him trouble. He is somewhat eccentric and he's got an interesting personality but he's a very good filmmaker. He did not serve in Nam. He was turned down due to being as asthmatic and the not serving would bug him throughout his life and influenced some of his style, writing and movies. Milius liked surfing(he would make Big Wednesday), and the Kilgore character was like a what if version of himself. Milius would describe himself in interviews as a "Zen Fascist"(he was Jewish ) and often portray himself as a rugged individualist going against the Hollywood Liberal grain. He's been pretty much blacklisted by Hollywood as he was more conservative leaning. Lucas is very liberal leaning Californian, would be difficult believing he was pro-war unless his views significantly radicalized in the opposite direction by the 1980's/90's to present. During the PT and after, Lucas would compare Bush and Cheney to evil Sith Lords, he called Bush Vader and Cheney was the more evil one as Sidious. ROTS itself he tried drawing comparisons to the Bush administration.

Milius did express and interest in directing a Star Wars prequel many years ago, about Anakin Skywalker and it would very Julius Caesar like. His views on Star Wars were complex and somewhat contradictory over the years. Would've liked to have seen his version. Conan The Barbarian is probably my personal favorite movie ever made.

http://freebeacon.com/columns/hollywood-barbarian/

 

Darth_Nub milius never served in vietnam. he couldn't. this was part of his problem seeing as his father and grandfather had all fought in wars.

Milius attempted to join the Marine Corps and volunteer for Vietnam service in the late 1960s, but was rejected due to a chronic and sometimes disabling case of asthma. "It was totally demoralizing," he said later. "I missed going to my war. It probably caused me to be obsessed with war ever since."[5]

 

My bad, I misread a quote of his, which seemed to suggest that he had (it came across as him reminiscing about serving in the war, rather than fantasising about it).

 

In many ways, Star Wars was a protest against Vietnam. As GL's working notes from 1974 or so (excerpted in The Making of Star Wars) show, he was very much against the Vietnam War, and intended the Empire in the 1974 rough-draft script to be a critique of American imperialism and the overreaching militarism it spawned. In fact, the Rebel Alliance is an allegory of sorts for the Viet Cong: a small guerrilla army standing up to a much more powerful and technologically superior foe.

Far, far too many people (both SW fans and the public at large) continue to read Star Wars through the prism of Ronald Reagan's 1980s Cold Warrior rhetoric. Reagan appropriated the name "Star Wars" for his SDI project without telling Lucas, and frequently referred to the Soviet Union as "the Evil Empire." As a result of Reagan's jingoism, lots of people assume that Star Wars is a politically conservative film series.

Lucas, however, clearly intended the Imperial/Rebel dichotomy of the GFFA to be a more generalized metaphor, one just as capable of criticizing the United States as of glorifying it. Given his general political outlook, the moviegoing public at large likely shouldn't have been so surprised when ROTS took the opportunity to comment negatively on the 2003 Iraq war.

 

I did not care for Apocalypse Now.

 

You're missing the smell of napalm in the morning.

 

Lucas made his version of Apocalypse now into Return of the Jedi, with the Ewoks in the Vietnamese role. They hide behind bushes! With all our military might, you can't defeat mother nature. It will always come back and bite you in the ass.