May 10, 1979: Apocalypse Now premieres, Francis Ford Coppola’s film that moved Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness from colonial Africa to the Vietnam War. This is a long movie: 2 hours and 33 minutes. Even the trailer is 4 minutes long.
The filming was long, too: Coppola started in the Philippines in July 1976 -- just over a year after the fall of Saigon -- and ending in May 1977. Things were complicated by Coppola's re-editing, by Marlon Brando being way overweight and more eccentric than ever, and Martin Sheen suffering a heart attack at the age of 36.
The film stars Sheen as a U.S. Army Captain -- named Ben Willard, combining the names of the 1971 horror-film rat and the misfit boy who takes care of him -- assigned to find rogue Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, played by Brando, and "terminate, with extreme prejudice."
This film made Sheen a bigger star, but it almost killed him. It gave Robert Duvall, after 2 Godfather movies, his own catchphrase. And it made it impossible to ever again view Brando as a dashing matinee idol. The joke was that, in the 1950s, men wanted to look like Brando; but, from the 1980s onward, men wanted to not look like Brando.
Also, next time you watch Back to the Future II, set in 2015, check out a poster at the travel agency: "Surf Vietnam." It is an inside joke, a reference to Duvall's line in this film: "Charlie don't surf!" I don't know if surfing is good on the Vietnam coast, but the country does now welcome American tourists. It's their former colonial masters, the French, that they really hate.
Later in 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released. It, too, was a lot longer than it should have been, earning it the nicknames "Star Trek: The Motionless Picture" and, in a nod to this movie, "A Spockalypse Now." (With the antagonist V'Ger resembling the that of the series' episode "The Changeling," it was also nicknamed "Where Nomad Has Gone Before."
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May 10, 1979 was a Thursday. This was also the day the Boston Bruins committed the most famous penalty in hockey history, leading to them losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals to the Montreal Canadiens, 5-4 in overtime at the Montreal Forum. I have a separate entry for that event.
The World Hockey Association's last Finals, as it turned out, began the next day. The Winnipeg Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers in 6 games.
Football was out of season. The NBA's Conference Finals were in progress, but no games were scheduled for this day. These games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-1 at Yankee Stadium. Tommy John went the distance for the win. Mickey Rivers hit a home run. Reggie Jackson went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
* The New York Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 14-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Andy Messersmith was the winning pitcher, but injury ended his career after 4 more starts. This was the 130th and last win of his career, only 33 years old. His place in baseball history was secure, however, not because he a 4-time All-Star and a 20-game winner for a Pennant winner (the 1974 Dodgers), but because he was the free agent whose arbitration broke the reserve clause after the 1975 season.
Ron Cey, Bill Russell and Steve Yeager hit home runs for the Dodgers. Lee Mazzilli hit one for the Mets.
* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Don Aase outpitched Dennis Eckersley. Rod Carew went 2-for-5. Brian Downing hit a home run for the Angels, Jim Rice for the Red Sox.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Gary Roenicke hit a home run. Eddie Murray went 0-for-4.
* Unusually, both Chicago teams were at home on the same day. The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Comiskey Park. Claudell Washington hit a home run. George Brett went 0-for-4.
* And the Chicago Cubs played the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field. The game went to extra innings, and, because Wrigley did not have lights, it was called due to darkness in the top of the 10th, with the score 7-7. It was resumed on July 23.
Each team scored a run in the 11th. Ken Henderson led off to the bottom of the 18th inning with a single, and was bunted over to 2nd base by relief pitcher Lynn McGlothen. Dave Kingman was intentionally walked to set up the double play. It didn't work, as Steve Ontiveros singled Henderson home, and the Cubs won, 9-8. So, while both Chicago teams were at home on the same day, and both won, they did not both win at home on the same day.
Kingman hit a home run, surprising few people. Barry Foote and Ted Sizemore also hit home runs, surprising nearly everybody. Johnny Bench went 2-for-8 with 3 RBIs, but Dave Concepción hit the only Cincy homer.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 1-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 1-for-5.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 3-1 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium.) Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4. Dave Winfield went 1-for-3 with a walk.
Nino Espinosa outpitched Gaylord Perry. Perry did, however, hit a home run, the 5th of 6 he would hit during his career. Legend has it that, early in his career, Giants manager Alvin Dark saw Perry take a pathetic batting practice, and said that a man would be on the Moon before he hit a home run. Was Dark right? Sort of: Perry did indeed hit his 1st major league home run on July 20, 1969, apparently just a few minutes after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, but a few hours before Armstrong stepped onto its surface.
* The Montreal Expos beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Steve Rogers (not the fictional superhero of the same name, a.k.a. Captain America) pitched a 3-hit shutout.
* And the Detroit Tigers, the Minnesota Twins, the Texas Rangers, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Atlanta Braves and the Pittsburgh Pirates were not scheduled.
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