Why has Apocalypse Now been re-released

A.� Twenty-two years after Francis Ford Coppola released Apocalypse Now, he had decided to re-edit his masterpiece an add an extra 50 minutes of film. He has called it Apocalypse Now Redux. The Oxford Dictionary says the redux means revived. The new material is Coppola's attempt to inject more heart and tenderness into Captain Willard, played by Martin Sheen. Hollywood critics say part of the reason Coppola wanted to tamper with the film - dubbed the greatest war movie ever - is a nagging itch to put the film behind him. In past interviews he has said: "It was insanity... we had access to too much money, too much equipment and little by little we went insane."

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Q.� What is the film about

A.� The film follows an intelligence officer's covert boat journey to Cambodia to "terminate with extreme prejuice" a brilliant but "unsound" renegade commander Colonel Walter E Kurtz,� played by Marlon Brando.

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Q.� How do the two films differ

A.� The latest film, released in the UK this week, shows a side of Sheen which was denied in the original. He is as detached as ever, yet Coppola has allowed him to develop a sense of humour since 1979 and seemingly greater sympathy with the boat crew. The most controversial addition is the legendary French plantation. A ghostly civilisation looms out of the mist shortly after Larry Fishburne's Clean is killed by Snipers. A group of educated French farmers hang on because there is nowhere else to go. Critics say this addition is the closest Coppola has ever come to a political comment on war. The new film also shows more of Brando playing a powerful tyrant who has completely lost the plot.

The original film was surrounded by controversy� when the production went way over budget. Martin Sheen then suffered a heart attack and there was a famous showdown with Coppola and Brando in the monsoon jungle.

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Q.� What else has Coppola done recently

A.� In recent months he has twice returned to his 1970s heyday , first to bring out the DVD box set of the Godfather trilogy, and now his recut of the epic 1979 film. He failed to capture his earlier success with Captain Eo (1986) and Jack (1996). His daughter Sofia Coppola had written and acted in several of her father's films, most notably Godfather 111 in 1990, and has enjoyed success directing The Virgin Suicides (1999). Son Rowan Coppola has acted, co-produced and directed scenes in his father's films.

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by Katharine MacColl