But the excesses that plagued "Apocalypse" carried over onto "Heart" and Coppola eventually built huge indoor re-creations of the Vegas strip, imported real passenger planes for an airport scene and commissioned detailed, 75-footlong models of the city. The budget ballooned. Upon its release, the film tanked and Coppola's little studio went bankrupt.

Since then, "Heart" has remained discussed but largely unseen, leading curious film fans to wonder, "Could it really be that bad?"

Now it's out on DVD and the answer is available: "Yes, it's really that bad."

"Heart" follows two estranged lovers (Teri Garr and Frederick Forrest) through a charmless musical fantasy. The story and characters are slim and feel slimmer in the midst of the huge, flashy sets. Tom Waits wrote all the songs, but they don't approach his best work. And, ironically in light of the film's title, an air of artificiality hangs over the picture; much like the black ceiling that can clearly be seen above the nighttime streets of Coppola's Las Vegas, the movie's sugary ideas about love and romance feel hopelessly fake.

As an experiment, though, the film is interesting; it borrows the look and feel of classic musicals yet remains a unique attempt, and it's arguably a forerunner of "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago," but that's not enough to redeem "Heart." As a DVD, though, it's worth checking out for the second disk's exhaustive extra features, particularly the documentaries that explore the ups and downs of Zoetrope Studios, the processes behind Waits' compositions and the debacle surrounding this odd, frustrating movie.

All of those films deal with people. They are character studies of sorts. When Coppola is dealing with people, rather than special effects, or plot formula driven films he succeeds.

Make no mistake about it Coppola has limitations. Every director has limitations. Coppola has proven he can not direct comedies (Jack), horror fillms (Bram Stoker's Dracula), and jazz bio's where effects came before characters (The Cotton Club). But look at the films that deal with characters first. "The Godfather" series, "Apocalypse Now", "The Conversation", "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "The Rain Maker". Here is where Coppola shines.

A lot of people as I understand it, had problem with Coppola directing a romantic film. I wasn't bothered by that, because as I thought about it there were elements in "The Conversation" that possessed as certain romanticism. At least I thought so.

"One from the Heart" fails on so many levels it's hard to fins a place to start. The movie lags. The pacing of the film is off. This is what I like to call "coma inducing". "Coma inducing" works are works that can put you to sleep for a very long time. Or they at least have the ability to do so. "One from the Heart" has the ability to do so.

The characters are not believeable. I understand this was suppose to be a lighthearted fantasy, but I found nothing romantic about the film. The situations and the characters are flat. You can't relate to them or the situations they are put it. If you found that you do relate to them, you must have tried really hard.

The acting is here dreadful. Fredic Forrest stars as Hank, a man pining after his ex-girlfriend, of many times, Frannie (Teri Garr). The problem is they have no chemistry. And Forrest is not a leading man type. There is nothing about him that makes you want to watch him for the duration of the film. In fact no one look good in this film. People such as Harry Dean Stanton, who plays Hank's friend, seems to disappear after a while. I'm not entirely sure what purpose he served to the story. The same goes for Natassja Kinski who's role is pretty much a joke and Lainie Kazan. There is no depth given to any of these characters. And to be honest, after a while, I really didn't care to know anything about them. All I wanted to know was when would the movie end.

Another problem I had with the film was the music. It is also thought this film is a musical, but a number of songs sang by Tom Waits I felt did not fit. I also thought in the beginning moments of the film too much music was being used. Though Waits was nominated for an Oscar. I'm still trying to figure that one out. But, the Academy is always doing something wrong.

But, this is not to say I am not able to find anything positive about this film. I did enjoy Vittorio Storaro's cinematography. He is my absolute favorite. Though, I have to be critical here again, because Storaro's work doesn't quite build up to some of the other films he's done such as "The Last Emperor" and "Goya in Bordeaux".

Overall though what he have here is a bad movie from a good director. In other words, I wish I never saw this film.

Bottom-line: Not just one of Francis Ford Coppola's worst, but one of the worst films I've ever seen. A boring, slow moving, unsympathetic, style over substance film.

My favorites are the rare Tom Waits songs on the 2nd disc, and the "soundtrack only" audio track for the movie.

Recommended!