Adam Savage's Apocalypse Now Kurtz Dossier Replica Project!

[@SargesCustoms]

I started off my Army career back in '86 in the era of personnel jackets, DA and DD Forms, and folders that you lugged from duty station to duty station. It was really cool to instantly recognize forms when you were thumbing through the Ivory folders. I ended my career in '06 with the electronic era where everything is transmitted with the click of a button. This is a really tremendous job of recreating the folders and are reminiscent of what would have existed 'back in the day' for us old military guys.

[@SuperSecretSquirell]

I got out in '13 and still carried a hard copy of every DA/DD Form for anything related to schools/PCS/ETS and I made all of my guys have hard copies as well. You never knew when you might need something and can't get to a computer for some reason.

[@RealMr_Wonderful]

Hey Adam, Mr Webber here. Only just seeing this now. Thanks again for all the pleasure and pain working on this with you. You left out the Colby adendum though, a small but great piece to work on. Would be proud to work with you again on anything.

[@YOUAREATUBE85]

Adam Savage is exactly the type of guy you would need in a POW camp to fake documents to aid in an escape attempt.

[@largol33t1]

If I'm going back in time, I'm kidnapping Mr. Savage in case I need phony documents to escape a sticky situation to get back to my own time...😁

[@jorahtheexplorer3262]

The Forger, yes. He'd be a good Tinker as well.

[@vaultboy6455]

Amazing prop Adam, as always. I do have one correction for you. The photo of the boy in your 'Ivory One' folder is not supposed to be of young Kurtz. It is meant to be a picture of his son. The actor in that photo is Anthony Cistaro, whom I have met. He told me that, when he was a boy, he was cast to play Kurtz's son in a flashback sequence, which ended up being cut from the film and the only thing that remained was his photo in the dossier. Kurtz does talk about his son in the end of the film, saying that he hopes someone will tell the boy the 'truth' about his father. Thought you might like to know.

[@michaelhall2709]

And the woman of course is not Kurtz’s mother, but his wife, whom Willard was supposed to visit in a scene at the story’s conclusion (riffing on the end of “Heart of Darkness”) but was never filmed. The photo was of actress Michael Learned, already famous for her role in the TV show “The Waltons,” who had agreed to be in the film. Poke around enough and you can find an interview with her where she laughs that “You can see a picture of me floating down that river.”

[@Meraclus]

Who asked?

[@mattylamb658]

This dossier project is so good - I think it is one of the best things I have seen, period!

[@jeffreypryor4549]

That is amazing. I was in the Army from '87 thru '92, working in Battalion level S-1 personnel action center, and I recognized a lot of those forms in the dossier. Mr. Savage, that was a fun video, I love Apocalypse Now.

[@Bad_Wolf_Media]

Adam needs to invite Martin Sheen to the Cave to look this over. I would watch a 4-5 hour Tested episode of that visit!

[@marvindebot3264]

He didn't say who "the friend" was, did he?

[@harbl99]

He should remove that nice full-length mirror first though.

[@BentFrontWheel]

Hell yeah.

[@BentFrontWheel]

@@harbl99 stole my comment lol.

[@JonBaldry]

I would absolutely watch the hell out of that!!

[@teddyjones8027]

Thank you very very much for sharing. I've noticed as I get older I realize and really appreciate just how much work and detail went into most of the films during this Era and I love some of the CG stuff but nothing feels as real like you are there with the cast as these films. Everyone keep yourselves and love ones safe and healthy.

[@heythere9380]

Thank you for this. A true labor of love and respect not only for the man but also the film. I learned something which had been staring me in the face all along but I never realized it until just now: Scott Glenn was in the movie. The film is one of my favorites. I've seen the extended versions and still consider the first the best, I guess simply because that's the one I saw when it blasted its way into our collective memories. Quick time-machine flashback: my best friend and I saw this in our home town movie theater, located a few miles north of where you grew up. The line twisted and snaked around the building. We were the last two in line for a full house. There was one and only one theater. We were still in high school, and probably the youngest in attendance; the overwhelming majority of the audience were way, way older, and many had served in Vietnam. From the opening of the Doors' "The End" until the final credit went by, during the entire film there was absolute silence. Only upon the formal closure of the movie did the audience finally react and started clapping and shouting. My friend said to me, " We are so lucky we weren't old enough for that shit."

[@marvindebot3264]

Wow, never have I desired a movie prop so badly. I must have missed this when it came out, I'm here because someone in the comments of Cinema Tyler's excellent YT making of Apocalypse Now series happened to mention it. Incredible work Adam.

[@retrovideoquest]

Same, lol :)

[@marvindebot3264]

@@retrovideoquest I missed out on one of two hats Robert Duval wore in the Col. Kilgore scenes a few months back. It sold just minutes before I found the sale. $6,000US. It would have broken me but how could you say no to that artifact?

[@joelsbowlsarejoelsgoals9636]

The movie Jack is amazing. Robin really had a wide range of acting abilities. Now that i know Adam was apart of it makes it even better.

[@jrcp106]

Adam, the Brando film you are thinking of is called : Nutty Professor 2 The Klumps.

[@kennyH20]

I woke up yesterday morning, made my coffee and watched Apocalypse Now.... great timing.

[@RobbBoswell]

Wow.. I applaud and appreciate this level of detail you put into this. Simply amazing.

[@rifle2563]

One of my favorite films, with a prop that is in the scenes I have replayed most. Some of that dialog willard delivers is burned into my brain, such amazing cinematography and pacing! Thank you so much for this, it's so unbelievably cool!

[@jeffwalters8180]

Cinema Tyler sent me! Awesome channel that mentioned you and this re-creation. Thanks for doing this Adam, so good!

[@Whisky_Four-Three]

Balm for the soul. Fantastic, utterly, utterly awesome.

[@milesfinch]

Adam, you are a treasure to use all. Your dedication, commitment, OCD and focus to deliver the goods brings joy and a ray of sunshine whenever your presence is felt. Thank you for being you and bringing the joy to mine, and I'm sure many others, lives.

[@jasemac5391]

Being a movie fan prop builder and Military collector I absolutely love watching all the stuff you do Adam 👍🏻🇦🇺 bloody amazing and awesome to watch ;)

[@leighharron]

Of all the nerdy film stuff covered on this channel, that was right up there as top stuff. A real labour of love.

[@RustenCurrie]

This is simply AMAZING work! My all time favorite film. Bravo Adam!!!

[@billyc9151]

Dude, probably one of the COOLEST projects I've seen you present on here.

[@c15page]

It's props like this and the Grail Diary that makes me want to collect and work on my own hypperreal texts. Thank you, Adam and all who love this kind of craft

[@svjim1]

Someone mentioned Brando in uniform in Bedtime Story. But he was also in military uniform in Sayonara (1957) and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967). German in The Young Lions (1958).

[@paul7572]

Wow, I just watched Apocalypse Now last night, what a coincidence!

[@bicivelo]

Goes to a winery to take high res photos of the original dossier. Friggin legend!!!

[@888johnmac]

Fascinating Deep dive & props to Adam & Tim for doing such a meticulous job

[@IsabellaCatherine19XX]

Thank you for this video, Adam! What a treat!

[@PrimarchX]

Coppola's interview with John Milius on the writing of Apocalypse Now is somewhere on KZbin and a great treat for fans of the film.

[@DoBoDird]

The code name “Ivory” is a reference to “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad which is what the movie is based on. Good read highly recommend it

[@annetessari1004]

OMG. I want one of these dossiers. This is beautiful. Id pay whatever to have this ....incredible reproduction. Thank you so much for sharing this work. As soon as I could I watched the movie again. Added an extra layer of intrigue trying to look for the dossier every scene. Can you make it into a book or something ???? Genius project. Wish I had the resources to attempt this myself. I wouldn't get close.

[@michaelhall2709]

He can’t sell copies directly, of course, due to multiple copyright issues (including that of Brando’s estate), but with Coppola’s blessing a book based on the dossier would be a possibility, and you can bet I’d be in line to buy a copy. Make it happen!

[@annetessari1004]

@@michaelhall2709 I actually made my own amateur attempt. Got the Time magazines, maps, photos map bag etc etc. Nearly completed

[@papersamurai]

I would guess the folders are called ivory 1, 2 etc, because in the Heart of darkness, Kurz is a ivory "trader", and supposedly amazing at it.

[@GregRenoff]

Absolutely agree. Definitely a tip of the hat to Conrad’s novella.

[@MrAlldaybreakfast]

love him. I bought a wide mouth klein canvas tool bag and he inspired me to get creative with it and I painted it up and weathered it to look like an old dynomite bag. i didnt have any source material to copy, it was purely a vision i had for it. I approached it in the same way he would - with excitement and the whole time i worked on it, i was on cloud 9. It looks amazing and its was shocking to realize how much ive learnt from him.

[@bboysix]

I signed into RPF for the first time in a LONG time in years. I miss all that’s been going on there. Wish I had time to work on old stuff.

[@captainblackheart999]

this is insane to watch as i bought replicas from the movie creepshow many years back and i have been a little obsessed by that dossier also i just thought it was SO awsome and to see you have been making this thing is just so awsome XD

[@vampgaia]

Wow! That is a deep dive. Thanks for sharing. Now I want to go watch Apocalypse Now.

[@Mikesding]

Thank you for uploading in 60fps, it looks great!

[@nmfrankl]

As an "old man", I don't think there will be a time where I don't find high frame rates distracting. The world keeps turning though...I get it.

[@Mikesding]

@@nmfrankl do you find that just for video content? What about when using a computer / phone / iPad ?

[@nmfrankl]

@@Mikesding Good point. Just video.

[@mkegadgets4380]

Of all of your movie pops you’ll have owned and shown and shared with us. This is the one I would like to own the most. I want to see Apocalypse now opening night in 1979 with my date. Who became my wife a few years later. Been a Francis Ford Coppola‘s winery and seen some of the props and his museum there. Thanks for sharing with us. It looks like you had a blast making this.

[@gl15col]

Speaking from experience, you might want to either turn the photos around so they don't touch the clear vinyl, or put something like the onion skin between the front of the photos and the vinyl or the pictures may transfer onto the clear vinyl.

[@DecanFrost]

its not a real photo but a laser print. i dont think that will stick to it

[@SuzakuX]

@@DecanFrost even if they were real, I think it's clear he wants to naturally weather these replicas through use (and maybe misuse).

[@Dreadnought242]

@@DecanFrost It will stick to the laser printed photos, esp if printed on glossy paper.

[@notfeedynotlazy]

@@DecanFrost Even worse than actual photos. Ask me how I know :-)

[@MssrTay]

Ah, for a second there, I thought you meant "because it's classified, they wouldn't have the classified materials facing outward." Which makes sense to me, but probably he's doing it in line with the movie.

[@vigunfighter]

This reminds me of 'Pocket Litter'. Where a spy agency, when creating a persona for an operative, makes all the stuff that an actual person would have on them. If you look at a person's wallet, it's not clean, with some currency, a driver's license and a couple of credit cards. It will also have person photos of family, notes on slips of paper, maybe telephone numbers, the pickup ticket stub from a dry cleaner. membership card from some club or organization, etc. To go real deep, they may put some cat or dog hair in it. If the persona worked in a saw mill or metal shop, there might be a little bit of saw dust or metal filings. The wallet itself will be bent, like it's spent 4 years in someone's pocket. and the finish worn in spots.

[@aserta]

Just the right amount of frayed stitching, chipped leather, and credit card bend in the leather.

[@stevenwolfoldfartatplay4372]

I’ve been hoping you’d show this! The Kurtz dossier is on of my Mt. Rushmore of props.

[@suspense8282]

Oh man!!! I love Apocalypse Now, I’m also into Vietnam reenacting too! Love this, I’m hoping to build a replica of Kurtz’ 1st pattern jungle uniform

[@MrDukeSilverr]

As a big milsurp guy I can’t tell you the joy I get of finding anything OG-107, my rip stop jungle jacket from 1969 might be one of my favorite pieces to wear

[@suspense8282]

@@MrDukeSilverr the 107 is actually my fav color, my impression is 1/27/25th ID, my jacket is 68, pants are 69, then the boots.. not the best but they work, dated 67.

[@Taller2A]

Holy cow that IS a deep dive. A fascinating one!

[@metalheadbill]

Apocalypse Now is my all time favorite film, a true masterpiece. Love this!

[@garetkonigsfeld2]

As far as I'm concerned. That's your best prop. I saw the movie at the drive in at 7 years old. Loved every minute of in and the F-ing Tiger seen stuck with me til this day. What a cool thing to have. Thanks for sharing 👍.

[@keeganpenney169]

I've got to say as someone who works with reproductions of photos and manipulations I'm genuinely impressed by the details and lengths you guys went to. If you handed me this package and told me it was the original prop from the film I wouldn't hesitate to believe.

[@LRRPEXILE]

Apocalypse Now! My #1 War film of all time!

[@badhareday7509]

This is such an impressive piece of work. The enormous effort Adam put into this project is almost tangible. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if he took a a boat upstream through Vietnam just to make it more authentic.

[@FamineStudios]

Really loving these type of breakdowns of Adam’s favorite items.

[@kamuelalee]

As i recall, I think the first photos are of Col. Kurtz's son and wife back home. As Willard is looking through those photos the voice over is reading a letter Kurtz wrote to his son.

[@marvindebot3264]

The little green monster is raging, that was amazing and I'd so love one. Off to check those links and see what's still there.

[@stevew.9007]

The character of Col. Kurtz is based Col. Robert Rheault, commander of the 5th Special Forces group in Vietnam in 1969. He was court martialed for the killing of a Vietnamese double agent by S.F soldiers under his command. The charges were later dropped and Rheault was allowed to retire. After a stint in the Army in the mid-eighties, I worked at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School. Bob Rheault was an instructor and Program Director there. Although I did not work directly with him, I saw him often. I knew that he had a military background, as he led a program for Vietnam veterans. He was a super nice guy and a great instructor. I had no idea about his past until I read his obituary upon his passing.

[@harrykane3840]

Sweet! Now all we need is Jaime in the background mopping his brow in half shadow and quoting T. S. Eliot! "Are you a mythbuster?"

[@IsabellaCatherine19XX]

So, when I read about Adam Savage's prop replica of the Kurtz Dossier and ephemera I had to make my own. Once we were deep in lockdown in 2020 I spent a lot of money acquiring materials including that same vintage issue of Newsweek, exact bag, onion paper and, like Adam said, I too have so many boxes of. It's far from finished as I've put the project aside. I have so many questions about the Kurtz Dossier. I find it so fascinating. I had the two RPF threads open ALL the time. They were unbelievably helpful. I have an old era-correct Budweiser can. I'm still looking for a vintage soft pack of Winston cigarettes. I did get a 5th Special Forces Green Beret, minus the officer flash. I got era-correct medals that Kurtz has received. The medals featured in the film are wildly inaccurate for some reason.

[@annetessari1004]

so you have to be a RPF member to access the links for replica documents by the looks? I would love to try to replicate even if its a rubbish version. just want to try to do it.

[@IsabellaCatherine19XX]

@@annetessari1004 If you mean the pictures in the two RPF threads I don't think so. I am not logged in and I am able to view the images just fine.

[@lxpang]

This beyond awesome!!! Astonishing

[@Walsfeo]

I've never seen the movie, I hadn't ever really been interested. Now I may have to give it a watch.

[@aaronl_trains_and_planes]

I had to go and watch Apocalypse Now redux. I forgot how bad ass and wonderful of a film it is. The dossier looks perfect!

[@-MrFozzy-]

Love you rT-shirt Mr Adam. Also love the person/persons whom would want to wear that T-shirt! I truly would love if everyone subscribed to that bunch of words/ideas and truly embrace them.

[@Weazle13XIII]

Something tells me that Adam would love the Halo Reach Limited edition, the extras included remind me a lot of this project, and is to this day one of the best "world building" props included with a game. Down to the point where the journal has hand torn pages, and newsprints with "low ink" stripes

[@bentationfunkiloglio]

Seems like the real utility of crafting detailed and deep props like the dossier could be that it helps directors flesh out complicated characters, convey their vision to actors, and maintain consistency throughout a long shoot. It's similar to master artists filling sketchbooks with studies that will be used to create large paintings in collaboration with their students.

[@foolishjonny]

A pool table good bye story. Thank you

[@ClassicDOOM]

This was a great episode. Thanks for sharing.

[@martinschissler9208]

You are a prop maniac, sir. Love it.

[@dougidoug]

Thanks for showing that. Just incredible. You have done an amazing job on recreating the prop. So much detail and so well put together. Have you made a holy grail diary?

[@Cragun.]

Awesome movie and great prop to have. Love it.

[@invaderhaywire]

Between this and the Grail Diary... MUST HAVE!!!

[@jameschawkinsart]

Awesome! I just watched the Redux version a few days ago.

[@bobchronister3429]

That page in Vietnamese at 22:29 of this video Google translated to "The Boards in the NGU Con San Cave. And the rest that I could see appears to be directions of some sort....very interesting stuff. great job on the dossier Adam.

[@johnford9742]

If Adam wanted to gaslight somebody they would be helpless to resist. He could convince me that Kurtz was a real person with this

[@michaelstarr592]

One of my All-time favorite movies. I saw the extended cut rerelease in the theater twice in one day at the IMAX theaters in SF. I'd love to see this archive in person sometime. I would take the time to read everything and investigate every picture. I live in Richmond, Ca, so I'm close by

[@michaelstarr592]

I just thought of something. My birthday is actually May the 4th be with you. And plus my last name. Anywho it would be there best birthday present ever. I'll be 52.

[@1800astra]

The military film Brando had previously appeared in (and in which he's photographed dressed in uniform repurposed for Kurtz in Apocalypse Now) was John Huston's "Reflections in a Golden Eye" (1967)

[@michaelhall2709]

Interestingly, when APOCALYPSE came out Huston trashed it in the press. A great (if uneven) filmmaker, but of course when it came to this movie he was full of shit.

[@trxtr_j]

i bought that same map bag back in the 80’s when i was maybe 10 at an Army Navy Store in Chattanooga. still have it

[@Malum09]

Some of Brando younger pictures are taken from the movie "Reflections in a Golden Eye" on which Coppola helped with the script.

[@IsabellaCatherine19XX]

Oh shit oh shit he's going to show it! Finally!

[@DThunder85]

This makes me want to put together my "I love me" book but in the old-school MPRJ format. Instead of a 3-ring binder, it would be a handful of files compiled in a large envelope.

[@davidrenton]

i think it's just simpler to think that Kurtz was actually real , and Adam just got hold of his actual files

[@nicholashritz6770]

Now to get a Seiko like Captain Willard wore.

[@VBplays01]

I'm sure ivory plays a big part in the original story, maybe it's a really obscure reference

[@theplourde]

I think Francis Ford Coppola would be impressed with this

[@CyberKerb]

no idea what this was shot on - but the video was awesome!

[@581daform]

I would love to try to make my own copy of the Dossier. Apocalypse Now was my favorite movie after getting back from Iraq in 2003.

[@The_Jaganath]

Looooove Apocalypse Now, incredible film and amazing prop! This vid was super clear btw, even at 1080 - using a new camera perhaps? 🧐

[@OldManTheseDays]

That level of obsessive attention to detail can only mean genuine love.

[@ACDChico]

That’s so awesome. My fave war movie ever. Wondering if you could pass this to Francis. Would be awesome to see his reaction.

[@sschmidtevalue]

I commend you for using real onionskin paper. I still used it often for my job around 1980, although it started diminishing around that time.

[@robertrootes]

I don't know what camera you're using but WOW what a difference

[@MikesFoggyIdea]

Wow, that's an Insanely incredibly reproduced prop. I never paid much attention to it during the movie there was so much going on.

[@scottharpel9367]

Adam, Dennis Gassner breaks down making this on the Team Deakins podcast, a great podcast btw.

[@squiddle5193]

Ha! I did this for an art project in school, but I only got a C because the teacher didn't even consider opening the sealed envelope. Tragic, I know.

[@souleatingpanda]

Loving the 60fps!

[@johnoswald9143]

No way, I always wondered if Adam had the Kurtz dossier. You'll need some chocolate and a pack of Marlboro to read it.

[@taylormetcalf4564]

Is this dossier for sale? I have to have this!

[@Eremon1]

I would have thought Adam would have some movie industry contacts he could utilize to talk with some of the folks that worked on Apocalypse Now to get some of the answers he didn't have about the movie prop. I always appreciate the level of detail that Adam has and I've learned a lot from this man over the years. Here's to many more of those years to come. Cheers.

[@talon262]

Man, did I miss y'all saying y'all upgraded cameras? The video is really nice here, super crisp at 1080p.

[@rickyj5547]

The movie was called Reflections In a golden eye 1967.

[@qubeks6533]

Where can I find the visible issues of the dossier papers in the video? I really want to read them but I couldn’t find any in RPF links.

[@michaelnolan6054]

Tell me you have a Navy P.B.R. (Patrol Boat River) to display this. It's on your to do list I'm sure. Nicely done!

[@Talhalarasha]

Maybe only as Kit. There are no originals around anymore.

[@glenfisher728]

Masterpiece models do parts to detail the Tamiya kit in to PBR STREET GANG .

[@randallpatterson2079]

The movie in which Brando played another military person was sayonara in which he played a officer stationed in Japan during the Korean War.

[@MagnaRyuuDesigns]

You know who would be a real good source to ask about Vietnam photography questions. Tom Savini, he was a combat photographer in Vietnam.

[@carlosmvega]

I found that hilarious, did you pick Asheville North Carolina yourself? I live in West Jefferson North Carolina, I just like the fact that he was born in the Appalachian mountains