IF EVER A SUMMER NEEDED A CLASSIC, IT'S `NOW'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

Immerse yourself in the chaos and insanity of Francis Ford Coppola's newly revised edition of ``Apocalypse Now'' and it's easy to understand why the director has devoted himself to making unchallenging, disposable fare like ``Jack'' for the last couple of decades.

``Apocalypse Now'' almost drove Coppola to suicide, and it ruined him financially, which is probably why he's hawking $30 bottles of merlot on his Web site these days.

Coppola's motivation for returning to the madness of ``Apocalypse Now'' is equally clear. The 1979 Vietnam War epic about Capt. Willard (Martin Sheen) and his journey up river to Cambodia to terminate with extreme prejudice the renegade Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) was Coppola's last great movie, and his reputation as a visionary has suffered greatly since he has settled for becoming a director for hire. (Really, was Coppola's John Grisham movie any different than Joel Schumacher's? As if the question even merits debate.)

Now it appears Coppola is intent on addressing that vision thing again, having recently announced plans to make a $65 million futuristic film called ``Megalopolis'' that will be partly funded with his own money. (Those wine sales must be doing OK.) He's hoping that others might want to put up some cash, too, saying that when people see ``Apocalypse Now Redux'' it will inspire them.

This new, definitive version of the film, with 49 additional minutes, is indeed inspiring, particularly coming after the horror, the horror of this summer's ``Pearl Harbor'' to ``Planet of the Apes'' slate of trash. After all, most movies are hard-pressed to come up with one indelible sequence. ``Apocalypse Now'' has a boatload of them: the helicopter attack set to Wagner's ``Ride of the Valkyries,'' the horrific encounter between Willard's patrol boat and a family fishing vessel, Robert Duvall's Col. Kilgore (is the name a nod to Kubrick or Dickens?) ordering his surfer soldiers to attack the waves.

The list could go on of course. Most film lovers know them by heart, and if you don't, you should. (And if you know them only from watching them at home on TV, you need to make a pilgrimage to the theater to see them on a big screen.) What's new with ``Redux'' is primarily four new scenes:

1. A lengthy sequence at a French plantation, just before Willard and crew arrive at Col. Kurtz's compound. There's a sensuous lovemaking scene between Willard and a lovely widow (Aurore Clement) and a heated dinner argument where the plantation owner, bristling at Willard questioning why he stays, proclaims: ``We fight to keep what is ours. You Americans fight for the biggest nothing in history.''

Point well taken.

2. An expanded sequence with the Playboy Playmates. Their helicopter, which left after the troops got out of hand during their performance, has run out of fuel. Willard barters fuel so his crew can have a go with the girls.

Coppola wants to contrast the sexual exploitation of the young Playmates with the way the military abused and wasted the lives of draftees, but - surprise - it simply comes off as exploitative and demeaning. Coppola, like many of the great directors that came of age during the '70s, wasn't exactly enlightened when it came to women's issues.

3. A brief new scene with Brando's Kurtz, which in a summer featuring the actor's freakish stunt turn in ``The Score,'' is another reminder how far the mighty have fallen. Not that Brando wasn't already well on his way to self-parody by the time this movie was made. But his performance works here, mostly because no other actor could come close to having the kind of presence necessary to play such an outsized character. It's also impossible to hear the movie without his voice.

Favorite Brando scene: Kurtz to Willard: ``Did they say why, Willard, why they want to terminate my command?''

Willard: ``I was sent on a classified mission, sir.''

Kurtz: ``It's no longer classified, is it? Did they tell you?''

Willard: ``They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.''

Kurtz: ``Are my methods unsound?''

Willard: ``I don't see any method at all, sir.''

And then there's this:

Kurtz: ``I expected someone like you. What did you expect? Are you an assassin?''

Willard: ``I'm a soldier.''

Kurtz: ``You're neither. You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.''

4. Finally, there's new footage of Willard and his patrol crew near the beginning of their river trip, most of which, humorously, involves a surfboard stolen from Kilgore. It's good fun, an innocent prelude to the nightmare that's about to engulf the men.

Coppola and his invaluable editor, Walter Murch, re-edited ``Redux'' from the original raw footage. The result is a three-hour, 16-minute American classic: fascinating, flawed, unforgettable. (Yup, folks, just like ``A.I.'')

Near the beginning of the movie, Willard says in a voiceover, ``I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another.''

Was he speaking for Coppola, too? If ``Megalopolis'' ever gets made, maybe we'll know the answer.

``APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX''

(Rated R: disturbing violent images, language, sexual content and some drug use)

The stars: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Written by Coppola and John Milius. Released by Miramax Films.

Running time: Three hours, 16 minutes.

Playing: Loews Cineplex Century Plaza, Century City.

Our rating: Four stars