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Apocalypse Now (1979)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
15 August 1979 (USA) moreTagline:
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. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
Won 2 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 32 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(85 articles)
AFI's 100 Years ...100 Movie Quotes (From Extra. 4 November 2009, 4:45 AM, PST)
People Briefs: Actor Dennis Hopper suffering from prostate cancer
(From Monsters and Critics. 30 October 2009, 10:40 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
The bravest , most honest account of the futility of war ever filmed. more (764 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| 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 |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for disturbing violent images, language, sexual content and some drug use. (2001 director's cut)Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
153 min | 202 min (Redux version)Country:
USAColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.00 : 1 moreSound 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) (Redux version) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (re-rating) (1992) | 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:16Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The poem quoted by The Photojournalist (Dennis Hopper) (the line about "a pair of ragged claws") is from the poem "The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot. moreGoofs:
Continuity: In the shots where the Northrup F-5s drop the napalm, the number of jets varies between three and five. Also, their formation changes as well. moreQuotes:
[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.
more
Soundtrack:
Let The Good Times Roll moreFAQ
A NOTE REGARDING SPOILERSWhat are the differences between the Redux version and the original version?
Did the crew really kill the water buffalo?
more
more (764 total)
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During the final throes of the Vitnam war, our central character, Capt. Willard (Martin Sheen) is dispatched by the CIA on an illegal one-man mission to assassinate a renegade US Marine commander, Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has allegedly gone 'completely insane', but who is successfully waging a private cross-border war from his base in Cambodia, a neutral and therefore off-limits country.
The entire narrated story of what Willard sees and does as he is ferried up the Da Nang river by an undisciplined and terrorised navy patrol boat crew to murder Kurtz is a grand metaphor for the excesses, decadence and ultimately the weakness of the Anglo-Saxon psyche: If we don't understand something, and we are unable to control it, exterminate it. Kurtz had eventually come to know this.
Unless you pay complete attention to every emotional gesture, to every word of the dialogue between the protagonists, especially in the scene where the two of them are alone in Kurtz's darkened lair, you will miss one of the central themes of this incredible movie. Kurtz's subtle deal with his executioner, his unilateral 'surrender' in return for Willard agreeing (did he nod?) to tell Kurtz's 'son' (another metaphor for us, the next generation, the ones watching the movie) the truth about all the horrors that they had both seen in Vietnam, is mind-expanding stuff.The bonding between the two men whilst Kurtz cross-examines Willard,--interlaced with some of his own horror stories, is incredible, nay, genius, film. The closing (intercut)scene of the ritual slaughter of a sacrificial bull is the single most powerful of symbols. Coppolla has made, intentionally or not, the ultimate anti-war statement, one that should resonate through the ages.