[For] all of Coppola's emotional involvement in [Apocalypse Now], it is a remarkably cold film. Coppola undoubtedly felt strongly about the Vietnamese War, but the vehicle for his feelings is constructed in such a way that none of the characters can project them. Hence, the characters tend to be either animated cartoons (vide Robert Duvall's Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore) or ciphers (Brando's shadowy Kurtz)….

[If] two-thirds of the film are great, and one-third problematical, is not Apocalypse Now superior to most other movies? Of course it is. Certainly it is better than Alien or Moonraker or The Amityville Horror or Meatballs or The In-Laws or Dracula, to mention some of the current blockbusters. We must keep everything in perspective. Coppola is a major American director, whose work is mandatory viewing for every serious cineaste.

Is Apocalypse Now, then, better than The Deer Hunter? That is a tougher question…. In...