Chapter 43 Apocalypse Now

The preview results of "Rock n Roll High School" were neither too good nor too bad. The two directors were a little disappointed. Roger Corman looked at the preview results and called a meeting on the spot. They decided to make only 10 copies and play them in rotation in each state.

This old-fashioned distribution model has long been subverted by the new model of "Jaws" with hundreds or even thousands of theaters opening and simultaneous release across the country.

The reason Roger used the old model was that he was not optimistic about the movie's box office, so to save the production cost of the copies and reduce the risk, he adopted the state rotation model.

A copy is a complete film, which is copied from the negative and can be played many times. Instead of making hundreds of expensive copies of the movie at the beginning, releasing it simultaneously across the country, and then reaping the box office bomb and losing money. Roger Corman's philosophy is always to put the cost first. If the cost is low enough, you do not lose money.

Roger decided to release it in small states in the central and southern parts of the country, such as Arizona and Georgia, and then transport the copies to the next state after the screening in one state. Not only did it save the cost of making copies, but the marketing was mainly done by putting up posters in local theaters, without expensive television and newspaper space.

If the box office in a small state is high enough, some more copies will be printed and released in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. If the box office is average, no more copies will be printed, and the film will slowly finish its life.

It did not exceed expectations, nor did it fall below the bottom line. It was still able to be released nationwide. Allan and Joe were a little disappointed but also fortunate. Ronald didn't know whether to comfort or congratulate the two directors.

Ronald went out to buy some food and brought it to the two directors. The two liked this modified Chinese food that suited the taste of Westerners..

The preview was the first time that the movie faced a real audience. The director's mentality was probably similar to that of a gambler waiting for the result. Ronald began to think about "Apocalypse Now" in the evening. He wondered what the great director Coppola would think at the preview of his own movie. Would he be as nervous?

As it turned out, Coppola was more nervous.

Francis Coppola had a big beard, black-framed glasses, and was a bit overweight.

"Dear film critics and friends from the media, please do not publish reviews after today's preview. What was screened today is still a semi-finished product, incomplete. We will go to France to attend the Cannes Film Festival next month and then return to the US for fine-tuning. This preview is a temporary screening at the invitation of the Directors Guild and the Film Academy, so please do not publish reviews before the official release."

When Ronald entered the door, he saw many people who came in without invitations and directly showed a membership card. I think they are the film critics Coppola mentioned. Film critics for newspapers and magazines in the United States enjoy this privilege. No matter what movie it is, as long as they show their critic card, they can watch it for free.

After a senior executive of the distributor United Artists gave a brief speech, the lights were turned off, and the screen was dark.

"Uh-huh..."

A faint propeller sound came from the left and right, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and it seemed to come from behind Ronald.

The audience turned their heads in surprise, trying to see where the sound came from.

"It's a new technology, called surround sound..." Ronald heard someone whisper.

Is this new technology? Ronald thought that in the previous movies, the sound was emitted from behind the screen, and the audience was used to it. Today, the propeller seemed to be hovering behind his head, which really broadened his horizons.

On the dark screen, a piece of sad background music sounded...

The screen gradually brightened, and it was a tropical coconut grove. The orange-red dust was blown up by the wind, circling upward.

The dust was getting more and more, and the sound of the propeller was getting louder and louder.

A helicopter's landing gear suddenly crossed the screen from left to right.

It was as if the world was awakened.

A breeze suddenly blew in the coconut grove...

One by one, napalm bombs fell into the coconut grove, and the orange-red explosion flames rose one by one, which was very similar to the color of the dust just now.

"Wow..." Ronald was really surprised. This beginning was extraordinary. He sat up straight and waited for the name of the movie and the subtitles.

There was no movie title! No subtitles!

Only a man's voice began to sing softly, and his voice was very special.

"This is the End..."

How come it was the end right at the beginning? Some people in the audience were excited. "Oh, this is The End of The Doors!"

Some people began to applaud...

Ronald didn't understand why these people in the literary and artistic circles admired Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors. Morrison, known as a rock poet, also had many fans in literary and artistic circles.

This is the end...

Beautiful friend

This is the end

My only friend, the end

Accompanied by poetic singing, the helicopter hovered above the coconut grove that was bombed into ruins.

Sometimes the tail appeared, sometimes the propeller, and sometimes the landing gear.

An upside-down face began to appear on the screen, with confused eyes staring at the audience, as if asking, "Who am I, and why am I here?"

The sound of the propeller was getting closer and closer to the audience... Just as Ronald felt more and more weird, the propeller turned into a ceiling fan.

The ceiling fan was blowing hard, and the camera began to rotate slowly 180 degrees, and the owner of the face began to appear in the field of vision.

The opening music "The End" gradually faded away, and the audience saw the protagonist lying on the bed in a tropical-style room, with a pistol thrown beside the bed.

The protagonist finally got up, walked to the window, and opened the window. There was warm sunshine outside.

The picture was finally not that weird orange-red.

A soft voice sounded.

Ronald was startled, and the person who was talking seemed to be whispering in his ear. How was this done? There were also audience members looking down at their feet, wondering if there were speakers hidden under the seats.

"Saigon, Shit, I'm still stuck in Saigon."

It turned out to be the protagonist's inner monologue, so the helicopter and the explosion just now were the protagonist's memories. This opening is brilliant.

The protagonist turned out to be Captain Willard, an officer of the US military intelligence department. He accepted the mission and went north along the Mekong River to investigate Colonel Kurtz, a US soldier who had left his command and organized his private army. If the report was true, he would have to eliminate Kurtz himself.

Willard formed a special forces team and traveled by boat, encountering all kinds of strange people and things along the way.

The colonel who commanded the helicopter formation, rode the Valkyries, and bombed the village was only thinking about surfing.

The cover girl who flew from the United States to entertain the troops sang for the frontline soldiers in a bikini but was surrounded by soldiers. She did not want to spend the night with them and finally climbed onto the helicopter to escape.

The frontline soldiers held a fireworks party. On the other side of the beautiful fireworks were soldiers on duty in the trenches firing machine guns.

The team went ashore to rest and encountered a tiger in the rainforest... and were scared to death.

The team that finally arrives at the destination finds Colonel Kurtz with the help of an American war photographer.

Kurtz has become a tyrannical leader. He hopes Willard will inherit his leadership position. They held a sacrificial ceremony and slaughtered a bull alive. The crowd cheered and worshiped him as if he were a god.

Captain Willard seizes the last opportunity and kills Kurtz with the knife used to slaughter the bull. He led the remaining team members and left this weird place. Before leaving, he called for bombers to blow up Colonel Kurtz's camp.

The ending music was the Doors' The End again. "Apocalypse Now" has not been edited yet. There are still many unedited parts in the preview copy. There is either a sudden black screen or a card sound. There are no credits in the whole movie. There is only one shot with the words "Apocalypse Now" written on the wall.

I don't know if it was not done because of lack of time or if the director did it on purpose.

The film ended at about 2 hours and 20 minutes, and the lights in the theater were turned on. The audience began to whisper to each other.

'I don't know what others think', but Ronald was deeply fascinated by the movie.

The film seemed to be telling a weird dream. The words that the protagonist Willard always said in his ear seemed like a dreamer telling a story.

The main creative team was invited to the stage, and some of the audience began to applaud enthusiastically.

However, it seems that not many people applauded.