Francis Ford Coppola: Apocalypse Now

Director - Francis Ford Coppola
Writers - Francis Ford Coppola, John Milius, Michael Herr (narration) and Joseph Conrad (novel)

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
Albert Hall  ... Chief Phillips
Harrison Ford ... Colonel Lucas
Dennis Hopper   ... Photojournalist
G.D. Spradlin ... General Corman

Plot:

During the Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe.  -imdb.com

[On Apocalypse Now (1979)] My movie is not about Vietnam ... my movie is Vietnam. [Cannes 1979] -imdb.com


The films begins with a shot of the jungle in Vietnam being napalmed with a song by The Doors called The End. Willard sleeps with a gun under his pillow. He is in Saigon. He wants a mission and gets one. Colonel Lucas greets Willard as he enters. They offer him food and give him a picture of Kurtz. Kurtz is in Cambodia. Willard is told that Kurtz was one of the most outstanding officers this country has ever produced. He joined the Special Forces. Willard is told to terminate the Colonel. Terminate with extreme prejudice.

Willard feels guilt in having to kill an American and an officer. This is his hypocrisy and drawback. He takes a PBR, a Navy patrol boat, upriver toward Kurtz. The kids on the boat ski in the water and listen to rock music. Willard studies the information on Kurtz in the packet he received. They meet up with Air Mobile on the beach . A soldier on a PA system says we are here to help you to the Vietnamese.

Willard talks to Kilgore to figure out where they can enter the river but Kilgore tells him it's dangerous. A mile out Kilgore says he'll  play music by Wagner because it scares the Vietnamese who he calls "slopes." The Vietnamese villagers hide and their soldiers prepare for battle. One helicopter pilot spots a 50 caliber gun on a car on the bridge. They take it out. One villager woman throws a grenade into the helicopter and blows it up. Kilgore calls them, "Fucking savages." In an intense over the shoulder shot they shoot the Vietnamese woman who threw the grenade at them. When they land on the beach Kilgore says they can either surf or fight. The bombs are being blown on the beach so it's dangerous either way. "In the airstrike, sampan, and bridge scenes, Coppola clearly depicts the death and destruction that result directly from U.S. involvement. Instead of helping innocent civilians, American troops kill them. They are strangers in a strange land, yet they act as if they own it, staking out territory and firing without provocation." (Sparknotes Editors, 2004)



Kilgore orders the jets to napalm the tree line to suppress mortar fire. Kilgore asks, "Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning." He tells Lance that smell smells like victory. The guys on the boat except Willard get high on weed. Chef and Willard get off the boat and look for mangoes and spot a tiger coming towards them. They get scared and run to the boat. Upriver they buy some fuel drums go to a USO show with Playboy Bunnies.

Kurtz is charged with killing four Vietnamese double agents - this is why Willard is offered to kill him. Willard narrates that he is starting to admire Kurtz. Willard is becoming like Kurtz. "The omnipresent darkness in the film emphasizes the absence of civilization. Much of the film is shrouded in shadow, and it gets progressively darker as the PBR ventures farther in to the jungle." (Sparknotes Editors, 2004) They search the sampan and Chef insists there's nothing on it besides food. A Vietnamese woman rushes towards him and Clean shots all the Vietnamese on the boat. The woman survives and Chief Phillips insists they take her to some ARVNs but Willard shoots and kills her because it slows down his mission.

"By cloaking scenes in fog and mist, Coppola emphasizes the fear of the unknown, the perils of venturing too far in to the subconscious and the supremacy of the wilderness." (Sparknotes Editors, 2004) A war-torn camp shows the closer they get to Kurtz the closer the insanity becomes. Captain Richard Colby was sent to kill Kurtz but instead joined him. Willard finds this out as his superiors write to him.

On the PBR Clean gets hit by what looks like a flare by people hiding in the jungle. It contrasts with  the smoke bomb Lance was playing with before. In the fog they are scared naturally. Once it clears arrows are shot at them. Willard says they're toy arrows. Chief is hit and killed by a spear. Chef says he'll take him all the way to Willard's destination. They pass through a bunch of natives on boats. A photojournalist, played by Dennis Hopper, welcomes them. Willard finds out Kurtz is there. Willard finds the natives there worship him as a god.

They bind Willards hands. Kurtz talks to Willard. His face is hidden by darkness. Kurtz asks why Willard was sent to terminate his command. Willard says his methods were unsound. Kurtz says he is an errand boy sent to collect a bill. Chef is beheaded and his head is placed on Willard's lap. Willard is eventually freed to be with Kurtz. Kurtz tells Willard you have to do things without judgement because judgement defeats us. Willard will be promoted to Major if he kills Kurtz. Hypocrisy is shown when Kurtz speaks into the recording device saying, "We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write fuck on their airplanes because it's obscene." and Willard going to kill him , a fellow officer. Kurtz last words are, "The horror, the horror."


Works Cited:

SparkNotes Editors. "SparkNote on Apocalypse Now."
SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC.2004. Web. 24 May 2017.