The running time is 3 hrs. 22 mins..
First off, this set contains both the 1979 version and the 2001 Redux version across two discs. This doesn't mean that the film has to be compressed in any extra amount since it is spread across two discs. As a matter of fact, the film looks phenomenal. Apocalypse Now makes great use of color and several scenes lend particularly well to the remastered transfer, especially the scenes with Marlon Brando at the end of the film with the tremendous balance of color with the deep dark blacks of Kurtz's domicile. Of course, having to switch discs midway through the film does suck, I can't tell you how many times I would have watched Ben-Hur, Titanic, Gangs of New York or even the extended editions of Lord of the Rings if they weren't on two separate discs. I guess I will just have to wait for HD DVD or Blu-ray on all of these titles.
On top of having the two films you get a ton of special features, many of which you have never seen considering both the original and Redux releases didn't come equipped with much at all. Now you have an audio commentary by Francis Ford Coppola on the 1979 version and an expanded commentary on Redux, a Redux Marker to tell you when you are watching an additional scene while watching the extended version, deleted scenes and several featurettes.
Among the featurettes there are a couple worth noting. First there is a feature called "The Hollow Men" which features Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz reading the entire T.S. Eliot poem of which he references in the film. The feature runs about 17 minutes as it pauses through the reading to show some behind-the-scenes footage, at times it can be a bit disturbing.
Next there is a large post-production featurette on disc two that shows a large amount of behind-the-scenes footage of creative meetings between Coppola and his production team including the iconic editor Walter Murch. The featurette delves deep into the editing and scoring of the film as we learn they had nearly one-and-a-half million feet of film to edit and they took nine months to do the sound mixing. Nine months! At times they said they pulled 12 hour days, this is about 8 months longer than it takes now. Perhaps we would have more classics if filmmakers took this kind of care in making their films. In addition to this, disc one, has a sound featurette that shows a quick look at the opening scene and the usage of surround sound thru visuals.
The deleted scenes didn't particularly appeal to me although there is one called "Monkey Sampan" that is quite disturbing and I am surprised it wasn't in the film.
Finally is the Coppola audio commentary, which has a ton of good stuff and was recently recorded. There are plenty of nuggets to hear in here. One such nugget is that Harvey Keitel was originally cast as Captain Benjamin L. Willard which was ultimately played by Martin Sheen. To hear Coppola describe it you can tell it wasn't an easy decision to make.
It really shouldn't take much convincing to get you to buy this DVD. The damn thing is currently priced at $12.99 at Amazon.com! If you read even half of what I have told you you should already be clicking BUY NOW. The only reason you wouldn't buy this is if you already own either the 1979 or Redux edition, or even both and aren't interested in the upgrade. I guess you could also be waiting for the high def version so you won't have the hassle of two discs. If that is the case more power to you. If not, go buy this, you won't regret it.