Think of the possibilities . . . .

I swear the Urban Docent is about more than movies, although it may not seem like it at times.

But I recently obtained the new "Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier" two-disc set, which contains tons of extras and commentary from director Francis Ford Coppola.

My recent viewing was my first to see the film start to finish unedited. It's truly a one-of-a-kind cinematic undertaking that I'm sure will never occur again. Listening to Coppola's commentary is like sitting in on a great conversation about what it takes to make a classic. He put so much work and effort into this film -- down to composing all the music with the help of his father -- that nobody could ever reproduce the undertaking.

One of the really interesting revelations is that "Apocalypse Now" could have fallen into the hands of another director entirely -- one George Lucas. Apparently Lucas, Coppola and screenwriter John Milius were all friends in film school. Coppola basically bankrolled the efforts of the other two to keep them collaborating on the film's screenplay with the idea that Lucas would make the picture.

When the time came to begin the film-making process, which took nearly thee years and 1,000,000 feet of exposed negative, Lucas was busy making "Star Wars." And it's a good thing; Lucas' vision was to make "Apocalypse" in a documentary style with a small cast and very little military equipment. In short, it would have really stunk (in all likelihood). The Lucas connection also accounts for Harrison Ford's small role at the beginning of the film.

Another great piece of insight concerned the film's slow-motion napalm helicopter opening. Coppola came to the editing room one Saturday to help fill in when the leading editor had to leave. The director, out of curiosity, grabbed some spare footage sitting in a barrel waiting to be discarded. As he scrolled through the seemingly useless images at a slow pace, he played The Doors track over the sequences . . . and a memorable open was crafted by accident. Real movie-making genius!

This movie -- and the great TV series "Lost" -- inspired me to finish reading Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," which became Coppola's basis for the film more than the original screenplay.