Due on Blu: August Month for Classics

Next month the studios will roll out a slew of back-catalogue icons on Blu-ray, including Apocalypse Now and Taxi Driver.

Universal Pictures NZ will release Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War opus on August 3, along with American Graffiti, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Dazed and Confused and Animal House.

Two weeks later it will dust off The Big Lebowski – a week after Sony Pictures delivers Taxi Driver and Legends of the Fall in HD.

The $40, two-disc Apocalypse Now will come out in a limited edition, collectable metal slipcase, with1080p transfers of both Apocalypse Now and Apocalypse Now Redux in their original 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratios with new 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.

The five hours of extras will include:

• A Conversation with Martin Sheen and Francis Ford Coppola
• An Interview with John Milius by Francis Ford Coppola
• Fred Roos: Casting Apocalypse
• Complete Francis Ford Coppola interview with Roger Ebert at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
• Original 1938 Mercury Theatre Radio Reading of Heart of Darkness featuring Orson Welles
• Monkey Sampan “lost scene”
• Additional scenes
• Destruction of the Kurtz Compound end credits with commentary by Coppola
• The Hollow Men video of Marlon Brando reading TS Eliot’s poem
• The Birth of 5.1 Sound
• Ghost Helicopter Flyover sound effects demonstration
• A Million Feet of Film: The Editing of Apocalypse Now
• The Music of Apocalypse Now
• The Synthesizer Soundtrack article by music synthesizer inventor Bob Moog
• Heard Any Good Movies Lately? The Sound Design of Apocalypse Now
• The Final Mix
• Apocalypse Then and Now
• The Colour Palette of Apocalypse Now
• PBR Streetgang