This is Martin Sheen at age 36.
Good looking guy, right? In his earlier years many were reminded of James Dean.
This is Martin Sheen at age 36 from an early scene in Apocalypse Now, as Captain Benjamin L. Willard.
See that blood? It’s real. The anguished look on his face? Also real. In the scene, Capt. Willard was sh*tfaced drunk, alone in a Saigon hotel room, giving in to his demons from having spent several years in action in Vietnam. Martin Sheen so inhabited the character of Willard that he got sh*tfaced drunk, punched a mirror, shattering it and causing a serious cut to his thumb.
The director, Frances Ford Coppola, instructed the cameraman to keep filming as a drunken Martin Sheen the actor confronted his own demons. The anguish you see here is so real that Sheen avoided going to see the film for several months after its release, and only did so at the prompting of a close friend who wanted to see the film. He had avoided seeing it because he was afraid of viewing his emotional breakdown - which he claimed to have forgotten. He later admitted he remembered it well but did his best to suppress the memory.
Capt. Willard was given the assignment to go up a river in Vietnam and assassinate a colonel (Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando) who had succumbed to the insanity of the war, and established himself as the leader of a bloodthirsty colony of savage Vietnamese nationals.
The film - shot in the Philippines while the actual Vietnam war was still in progress - accompanies Willard and the small crew of a PBR (Patrol Boat - River) on the journey up the river, and finally arrives at Kurtz’s compound.
(Entering Kurtz’s compound by boat)
Sheen - an athlete in great physical condition - wrote that he was worried from the beginning about the intense physicality the script called for - in the tropical climate and high humidity of the Philippines sets.
Despite his physical conditioning, midway through the filming Sheen suffered a heart attack. He was rushed to Manila, and spent six weeks recuperating before he returned to the set.
I won’t spoil this classic film by giving away the ending. But it’s a study in darkness, and according to many Vietnam vets - does a remarkable job of conveying the insanity of the Vietnam War.
Sheen had to take several weeks in Hawaii to de-role and re-orient himself with the “real world” before going back to his home in California.
If you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s an amazing film with masterful performances by Sheen, Robert Duvall, and Dennis Hopper, and a 14–yo Laurence Fishburne. (Less so Brando, IMHO).
Extra bonus: In acquiring government permission to film in the Philippines, Frances Ford Coppola agreed to destroy all their sets. Here are the closing credits to Apocalypse Now, where they filmed the destruction of Kurtz’s compound. Note that there were no CGI special effects in the 70s - this is real film from 12 different camera angles. The cameramen had to duck to avoid chunks of flying concrete from the set.
Image source Google
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