Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script by John Milius (rewritten by Coppola) which was inspired by Joseph Conrad's classic novella Heart of Darkness. Set in the Vietnam War, a taciturn American soldier is sent to "terminate with extreme prejudice" the command of a rogue United States Army Special Forces colonel. The narrative of his journey and its culmination are studded with events which, while bizarre, are based on real Vietnam stories. The soldier's journey becomes increasingly nonlinear and hallucinatory. Coppola's agenda clearly involves larger themes; the film's subtext concerns a journey into the darkness of the human psyche.

Synopsis

U.S. Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard is stationed in Saigon; a seasoned veteran, he is deeply troubled and apparently no longer fit for civilian life. A group of intelligence officers approach him with a special mission up-river into the remote Cambodian jungle to find Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, a former member of the United States Army Special Forces.

Related Topics:
Saigon - Cambodian - United States Army Special Forces

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They state that Kurtz, once considered a model officer and future general, has apparently gone insane and is commanding a legion of his own Montagnard troops deep in neutral Cambodia. Their claims are supported by very disturbing radio broadcasts and/or recordings made by Kurtz himself. Willard is asked to undertake a mission to find Kurtz and dispose of him 'with extreme prejudice'.

Related Topics:
General - Montagnard

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Willard studies the intelligence files during the boat ride to the river entrance and learns that Kurtz, isolated in his compound and in a strange mental state, has assumed the role of a warlord and is worshipped by the natives and his own loyal men. Another officer, sent earlier to kill Kurtz, has apparently become one of his lieutenants.

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Willard will begin his trip up the Nung river on a PBR (Patrol Boat, River), with an eclectic crew composed of by-the-book and formal Chief Phillips, a black Navy boat commander; GM3 Lance B. Johnson, a tanned all-American California surfer; GM3 Tyrone, AKA "Clean", a black 17-year-old from The Bronx; and the Cajun Engineman, Jay "Chef" Hicks.

Related Topics:
Patrol Boat, River - Chief - GM3 - California - The Bronx - Cajun

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The PBR arrives at a Landing Zone where Willard and the crew meet up with Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore, the merciless commander of the AirCav in the region, following a massive and hectic mopping-up operation of a conquered enemy town. Kilgore, a keen surfer, befriends Johnson. Later, he learns from one of his men that the beach down the coast which marks the opening to the river is perfect for surfing, a factor which persuades him to capture it. The problem is, his troops say, it's "Charlie's point" and heavily fortified. Dismissing this complaint with the explanation that "Charlie don't surf!", Kilgore orders his men to saddle up in the morning so that the AirCav can capture the town and the beach. Riding high above the coast in a fleet of Hueys, Kilgore launches an attack on the beach. The scene, famous for its use of Richard Wagner's epic "Ride of the Valkyries", ends with the soldiers surfing the barely claimed beach amidst skirmishes with infantry and VC. After helicopters swoop over the village and demolish all visible signs of resistance, a giant napalm strike in the nearby jungle dramatically marks the climax of the battle. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning", Kilgore remarks to Willard and the boat crew, explaining that it "smells like...victory." The quote made it to #12 onto the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, a list of top movie quotes.

Related Topics:
Landing Zone - Lt. Colonel - AirCav - Surfing - Charlie - Huey - Richard Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries - Napalm - American Film Institute - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes

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[[Image:Apocalypse_Now_Smell_Like_Victory.jpg|thumbnail|"I love the smell of napalm in the morning...It smells like...victory."

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The lighting and mood darken as the boat navigates upstream and Willard's silent obsession with Kurtz deepens. Episodes on the journey include a run-in with a tiger while Willard and Chef search for mango fruits, an impromptu inspection of a Vietnamese sampan that leads to accidental slaughter, a surreal stop at the last American outpost during a Vietnamese attack against a wood bridge under construction there, and the shocking deaths of both "Clean" and Chief Phillips during a gunfire ambush with hidden Vietnamese soldiers and a spear thrown by a native on the shore, respectively.

Related Topics:
Tiger - Mango - Sampan

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Once arrived at Kurtz's compound, Willard leaves Chef behind with orders to call in an air strike on the village if he does not return. They are met by a rather eccentric freelance photographer (played by Dennis Hopper) that explains the greatness and philosophic skills of Kurtz to provoke his people into following him. At this point, the narrative becomes increasingly nonlinear and abstract, and slows to an excruciating pace. While brought before Kurtz and held in captivity in a darkened temple, Willard?s constitution appears to weaken as Kurtz lectures him on his theories of war, humanity, and civilization. When bound outside in the pouring rain, Kurtz places the severed head of Chef in Willard's lap. Coppola makes little explicit, but we come to believe that Willard and Kurtz develop an understanding nonetheless: Kurtz wishes to die at Willard's hands, and that Willard, having subsequently granted Kurtz his wish, is offered the chance to succeed him in his warlord-demigod role. Juxtaposed with a ceremonial slaughtering of a cow, Willard enters Kurtz's chamber during one of his message recordings, and kills him with a machete. Lying bloody and dying on the ground, Kurtz whispers "The horror...the horror," most likely in reference to the war and man's potential for great power and violence. The natives and soldiers do not try to stop Willard; instead, they look up to him as a god, replacing the recently deceased Colonel Kurtz. Willard looks back at them and puts down his weapon. The natives imitate him and he and Lance slowly leave the temple area and depart downriver in the patrol boat.

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Redux

In 2001 Coppola released Apocalypse Now: Redux, which restored several scenes that were cut from the original film, including stopovers at a French plantation and a rain-soaked American base camp.

Related Topics:
2001 - French

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Also in this version Willard steals Kilgore's surfboard, which can still be seen briefly onboard the PBR in the original cut.

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Alternate Endings

Coppola denied having any actual alternative endings. In the DVD commentary, he states that they simply had a massive amount of footage to edit with and thus had some choices to make. They did consider using the explosion footage made during their destruction of the Kurtz compound, but he later decided that implying that the air strike had been called in was contrary to his wish to offer some slight hope that we could overcome the horrors of war.

Related Topics:
DVD - War

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However, there are multiple slightly varying versions of the ending credits.

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One version, from the 70mm release, ends with no credits, and shows the boat pulling away. Another version, for the 35mm wide release, rolls the credits while the Kurtz compound is destroyed in what must be implied as an air strike. Yet another version ends silently, without the explosions, and the credits roll over a black background.

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