Apocalypse Now Redux

Apocalypse Now Redux. Francis Ford Coppola, 2001.

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Edition screened: Paramount Blu-ray included in Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure box set, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 196 minutes.

Summary: Murder of a water buffalo.

Details:

1) An adult water buffalo or cow with her feet bound is suspended in a net and airlifted by helicopter, 30:42-31:15.

2) A tethered water buffalo is killed by several hard machete strikes, 3:07:53 - 3:08:37. There are about three actual strikes to the animal’s neck and back, with these clips repeated several times and intercut with Colonel Kurtz being killed in a similar manner. It is violent and real, but not as horrific and exploitatively vulgar as slaughter scenes in many other films.

Drive, He Said

Drive, He Said. Jack Nicholson, 1970.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #547, included in America Lost and Found: The BBS Story box set, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: Disregard for animals’ well-being.

Details:

1) A long scene late in the film shows a student setting all the reptiles, insects, and rodents loose in a college biology lab. Although we see no harm to any animal, there is stress and tension because predators and prey are turned loose on the floor together.

2) A caged leopard is exhibited throughout the film as a college basketball team’s mascot. There is no physical harm to the cat although psychological stress caused by the tiny cage and noisy environments is apparent.

Sanjuro

Sanjuro (Tsubaki Sanjûrô). Akira Kurosawa, 1962.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #53, released 2010. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Scarlet Street

Scarlet Street. Fritz Lang, 1945.

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Edition screened: Kino Lorber 4K Ultra HD, released 2024. English language. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film, except for Dan Duryea awkwardly exclaiming For cat’s sake! a dozen times throughout the film as part of his singularly annoying performance.

Yojimbo

Yojimbo (Yôjinbô). Akira Kurosawa, 1961.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #52, released 2010. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

You’re Human Like the Rest of Them

You’re Human Like the Rest of Them. B.S. Johnson, 1967.

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Edition screened: BFI Flipside Blu-ray/DVD set #25, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 18 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The BFI release of this engaging short film also includes other works by Johnson, all free of animal cruelty and most of rewarding intellectual and artistic content:

Paradigm (1968 B.S. Johnson, approx. 10 minutes)

The Unfortunates (1969 B.S. Johnson, approx. 45 minutes)

Up Yours Too Guillaume Apollinaire! (1969 B.S. Johnson, approx. 2 minutes)

Unfair! (1970 B.S. Johnson, approx. 8 minutes)

March! (1971 B.S. Johnson, approx. 13 minutes)

Poem (1971 B.S. Johnson, approx. 1 minute)

B.S. Johnson on Dr. Samuel Johnson (1972 B.S. Johnson, approx. 26 minutes)

Not Counting the Savages (1972 Mike Newell, approx. 28 minutes)

Fat Man on a Beach (1974 Michael Bakewell, approx. 40 minutes)