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Title: A diminished classic
Review: It's been about twenty years since I saw the original cut of "Apocalypse Now," so I didn't know the film well enough to recognize the added scenes in the "Redux" version. Watching it, though, I felt that it was too long and there were some sequences that just didn't seem to work. It was also my impression that the overall film lacked the impact that my first viewing of it had, but I didn't know whether to blame that on changes in the film or changes in myself. Reading the reviews here, I find that the scenes I didn't like were all among the additions. The theft of Kilgore's board and meeting the Playboy Bunnies took situations that had just the right degree of absurdity and pushed them over the line into farce. The French plantation scene was just plain slow, dull, and pedantic. This remains an important and rewarding film, but next time I think I'll watch the original cut.
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