Apocalypse Now (1979)

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers:

John Milius (screenplay) and
Francis Ford Coppola (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 August 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

The Horror. . . The Horror. . .

Plot:

During the on-going Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Green Beret who has set himself up as a God among a local tribe.

Plot Keywords:

Colonel | Jungle | Army | Boat | Vietnam

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 32 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Dec. 4

2:30 AM

HBO

Cast

Marlon Brando	...	Colonel Walter E. Kurtz
Martin Sheen	...	Captain Benjamin L. Willard
Robert Duvall	...	Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore
Frederic Forrest	...	Jay 'Chef' Hicks
Sam Bottoms	...	Lance B. Johnson
Laurence Fishburne	...	Tyrone 'Clean' Miller (as Larry Fishburne)
Albert Hall	...	Chief Phillips
Harrison Ford	...	Colonel Lucas
Dennis Hopper	...	Photojournalist
G.D. Spradlin	...	General Corman
Jerry Ziesmer	...	Jerry, Civilian
Scott Glenn	...	Lieutenant Richard M. Colby
Bo Byers	...	MP Sergeant #1
James Keane	...	Kilgore's Gunner
Kerry Rossall	...	Mike from San Diego

Also Known As:

Apocalypse Now Redux (International: English title) (longer version)

MPAA:

Rated R for disturbing violent images, language, sexual content and some drug use. (2001 director's cut)

Runtime:

153 min | 202 min (Redux version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Vietnamese | Khmer

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (Redux version) | Dolby (35 mm prints) | DTS (Redux version)

Certification:

USA:R (certificate no. 25751) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (Redux version) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia) (Redux version) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (re-rating) (1992) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (Redux version) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) (original rating) | Italy:VM14 | Hungary:16 | Italy:T (re-rating) (Redux version) | Philippines:R-18 | Brazil:14 (original version) | Brazil:16 (Redux version) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-15 (Redux version) | Finland:K-16 (original rating) | France:-12 | Germany:16 (bw) (Redux version) | Iceland:16 | Ireland:18 | Israel:PG | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 (Redux version) | Norway:15 (Redux version) | Norway:18 (original rating) | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/16 (Redux version) | Singapore:M18 (Redux version) (re-rating) | Singapore:R(A) (Redux version) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 (Redux version) | UK:18 (re-rating) (1985) | UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Philippines

Company:

Zoetrope Studios

Trivia:

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #30 Greatest Movie of All Time.

Goofs:

Continuity: Near the end when Willard gets of the boat to kill Kurtz, he doesn't wear camouflage make-up on his face. When he emerges from the water, he does.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Willard: [voiceover] Saigon... shit; I'm still only in Saigon... Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle.
Willard: When I was home after my first tour, it was worse. I'd wake up and there'd be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said "yes" to a divorce. When I was home after my first tour, it was worse.
[grabs at flying insect]
Willard: I'd wake up and there'd be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said "yes" to a divorce. When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I'm here a week now... waiting for a mission... getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter.

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: America's Greatest Movies (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Let The Good Times Roll

Coppola conveyed the drama and spectacle of this truly outstanding film…

After the success of the first two 'Godfather' films in 1972 and 1974 respectively, Francis Ford Coppola embarked on an ambitious attempt to bring home the reality of the war in Vietnam, which had concluded with the fall of Saigon to the Vietcong in 1975… The plot was loosely based on the book 'Heart of Darkness,' a story by Joseph Conrad about Kurtz, a trading company agent in the African jungle who has acquired mysterious powers over the natives…Coppola retains much of this, including such details as the severed heads outside Kurtz's headquarters and his final words, "The horror… the horror…"

In the film, Sheen plays an army captain given the mission to penetrate into Cambodia, and eliminate, with "extreme prejudice," a decorated officer who has become an embarrassment to the authorities… On his journey up the river to the renegade's camp he experiences the demoralization of the US forces, high on dope or drunk with power…

Although, as a result of cuts forced on Coppola, the film was accused of incoherence when first released, it was by the most serious attempt to get to grips with the experience of Vietnam and a victorious reinvention of the war film genre… In 1980 the film won an Oscar for Best Cinematography and Best Sound…

"Apocalypse Now" was re-released in 2001 with fifty minutes restored… As a result, the motion picture can now be seen as the epic masterpiece it is…