Coppola on why more is best

This definitive version of the film presents the theme in a broader, more diverse way.

I am not anxious about what anybody will say about it but I hope they'll agree with me that it's a better film in its complete form. I own the negative so I can do what I want to it. And, anyway, if you survive long enough, people re-evaluate your pictures - even critics.

Back in 1979 a three-hour-22-minute movie wouldn't have been tolerated. This version is cut down from a rough version that ran for four hours 20 minutes. It adds 53 minutes to the original. We re-edited the film from the original raw footage ? quite a job because we shot 1.1 million feet of film.

I restored the 12-minute French plantation scene which was not in the original at all, lengthened the up-river patrol boat trip and expanded the Playboy bunny scenes - war exploits youth and the Playmates were misused just like the boys. I also added a new Brando scene. We discussed it but I don't think he's seen this version yet. The ending, which has not changed, seems more meaningful and satisfying and less ambiguous than before.

The old version looked tame to me when I caught it a couple of years ago on TV in a London hotel. Audiences have changed, styles have changed and I thought that today's audience could deal with a more bizarre film because they are much more sophisticated now. This version is less of a genre war film - it expresses a different theme. It is an anti-lie film.