Apocalypse Duck

I watched two of my movie list movies,  Duck Soup and Apocalypse Now. I had seen both movies in part or in whole but it had been many, many years.

Duck Soup was a cute little film. Coming in at just under an hour it’s basically a nonstop quip fest with a lot of physical comedy throughout. It’s 80 years old this year and holds up fairly well.  There are probably some references and jokes that are a bit dated, but it’s mostly barbed insults and goofy physical comedy so very little is lost in translation. It’s a silly little film and it’s very fun and engaging. I can see why it’s on the list.

Apocalypse Now. I feel like everything worth saying about this movie has already been said. Amazing performances from every single person involved. A lot of young babby actors in this! Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper (probably my favorite character in the entire movie.) It absolutely deserves to be on the list. It was shocking and heartbreaking and brilliantly done. It makes me wonder, what happened to Coppola? His career kind of went into the toilet, didn’t it?

My Dad narrowly avoided Vietnam. He was 18/19 when it ended. It’s crazy to think that he very well could have served there because it was a war that STARTED before he was born. I’m very glad that he didn’t, I’m sure my Dad is all the more glad. He’s kind of a hippie and probably would have fled to Canada or Mexico or something.

A few interesting things: Martin Sheen was *39* when this came out. He looked much, much younger! I would have pegged him as mid-late 20s at the most. Much of the time I was marveling at how much him and Charlie look alike. Dead ringers! 7 years later his son would star in Platoon. Platoon is another Vietnam era war movie on the AFI list, and in fact one that Netflix suggested to me after watching AN. Charlie was only 21 in that. I’ll probably be watching Platoon this week as a sort of compare/contrast.