Coen Bros.

The Coen Bros. are some very interesting directors and I loved all 3 of their movies. One thing thorugh out all 3 films that stood out to me the most was how all of them showed the american dream in some way. First in Raising Arizona we see the american dream of wanting to start a family. When H.I. and Edwina find out that they can't have a baby they end up going out and stealing one to raise instead. In both Fargo and No Country for Old Men the american dream is shown of wanting to be rich and have money. In Fargo this is shown when Jerry Lundegaard has he wife kidnapped so that her father will pay the ransom moeny. In No Country for Old Men when Llewelyn finds the briefcase filled with money from the drug deal gone bad.

Altman Reaction

An important scene from The Long Goodbye would have to be the opening introduction to the film. We learn a lot about Marlowe's character right at the start with how he reactions with the cat. We see that he is a very laid back person that pretty just goes along with whatever is going on. When his cat only wants a certain kind of cat food and the cat won't eat anything else. He has to make a trip to the market to get some. While on his way out he is stopped by the neighbors that talk him into to getting them some brownie mix at the store. Overall Marlowe is just a very calm and cool person.

Apocalypse Now

So this movie takes place during the Vietnam War. The movie starts with us looking at a jungle with a bunch of trees. We see a chopper fly across it and seconds later the trees burst in to flames from an explosion. We then shift to our main character Captain Willard and he is in his room drunk and in kind in a trance. He starts going around the room and starts to do weird karate moves and stuff. While in his trance he ends up punching a mirror and ends up cutting his hand. Anyways Captain Willard is called in by a general and is given orders to find and kill a man named Colonel Kurtz. After looking over the files that he is given Willard learns that Colonel Kurtz was a very decorated officer and had received many awards. He was also about to be promoted. Captain Willard is told by the General that Kurtz has gone crazy and they have lost contact with him. Kurtz is believed to be in the jungle somewhere. Captain Willard takes a patrol boat with an rather interesting crew in search of Kurtz. While on the boat Willard take more time to study Kurtz's file and learns that Kurtz has become the leader of a bunch of followers some of whom are his fellow soldiers.

So the ending is kind of an interesting scene. Willard slowly appears out of the water and he is wearing camouflage paint and it is lightning and thundering. At this time the tribe is preparing a water buffalo to be sacrificed. We see Kurtz standing in the doorway of the temple and then go inside. Willard ambushes one of the guards that is outside the temple and then goes inside. Kurtz is recording some stuff and is then ambushed by Willard who had a knife with him. When Willard attacks Kurtz with the knife at the same time the tribe outside starts chopping at the water buffalo sacrificing it(I sense some irony here). We then switch between these to events for a little while. It all ends with Kurtz who is on the floor bloody and dieing.

Apocalypse now I found to be a great movie. Coppola does a very good job of taking all aspects of it and rolling it into one very interesting and cool film. There was at no one time during this film that I was ever really bored the action of it kept me on the edge throughout.