A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.
- Won 2 Oscars
- 21 wins & 33 nominations total
Laurence Fishburne
- GM3 Tyrone 'Clean' Miller
- (as Larry Fishburne)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe United States military refused to lend Francis Ford Coppola any military equipment, due to the order to "kill Colonel Kurtz". Coppola instead had to borrow local military equipment.
- GoofsWhen Captain Willard first meets Colonel Kilgore, they exchange salutes while they are still in a combat zone. It is usually military protocol not to salute in a combat zone. Saluting would show a possible sniper who the commanding officer is. (e.g. in Forrest Gump (1994) Lt. Dan correctly instructed Gump and Bubba not to salute him in the field.)
- Crazy creditsThere are no opening credits in the film. The title can be seen as graffiti in the Kurtz compound late in the film.
- Alternate versionsThe theatrical and Redux DVDs released by Paramount Pictures and Lions Gate Studios in the United States, as well as the earlier letterbox VHS and LaserDisc releases, were re-framed in DP Vittorio Storaro's preferred 2.00:1 "Univision" format. The Lions Gate US Blu-ray release, however, restores the film's original 2.39:1 aspect ratio (although the packaging reads 2.35:1).
- ConnectionsEdited into Apocalypse Pooh (1987)
- SoundtracksThe End
by Jim Morrison (as The Doors), Ray Manzarek (as The Doors), Robby Krieger (as The Doors), and John Densmore (as The Doors)
Performed by The Doors
Courtesy of Elektra/Asylum Records
Featured review
Crumbles under its own weight
I have nothing but respect for Francis Ford Coppola. He is deservedly one of the greatest directors of all time and his style of film-making is pretty much inimitable. Yet I can't really say I enjoyed this movie. At least not the Redux version I saw.
First the good parts. It's a damn beautiful film. The mood, as they slowly drift up the Vietnamese river, keeps building and building and you can smell the heat and wetness in the air, feel the sweat dripping down your back, hear the hollow echoing screaming around you. The script was heavily inspired by the classic novella Heart of Darkness and that's exactly the mood and atmosphere they achieved.
The acting is also topnotch, with one glaring exception, and I've never seen Charlie Sheen do a more convincing role than here. You can almost see the cracks in their souls as the heaviness of the war settles around them as they are pulled from combat and send to face almost certain deaths as they hunt their elusive quarry.
It's a well-made film. Everything from camera-work to sets to directing works, and works so well, but the fact remains that's it's just too long. At least the Redux version. You can only stretch the atmosphere and suspense for so long until you start to look at the clock. That's partly the purpose and to this film's credit, any other film would have crumbled way sooner, but crumble it does, eventually.
I also have problems with Marlon Brando's performance. Apparently the man showed up hugely overweight, completely unprepared and pretty much being as unprofessional as you can be. And it shows. The final third of the film throws the suspense straight out of the window and pretty much the only question left is "Brando, what happened, man?"
I can see why people love this film. It's a haunting take on war, has amazing atmosphere, vivid imagery, memorable characters and as a whole there are very few movies like it. Personally I lost interest after the halfway point, but that's just me.
First the good parts. It's a damn beautiful film. The mood, as they slowly drift up the Vietnamese river, keeps building and building and you can smell the heat and wetness in the air, feel the sweat dripping down your back, hear the hollow echoing screaming around you. The script was heavily inspired by the classic novella Heart of Darkness and that's exactly the mood and atmosphere they achieved.
The acting is also topnotch, with one glaring exception, and I've never seen Charlie Sheen do a more convincing role than here. You can almost see the cracks in their souls as the heaviness of the war settles around them as they are pulled from combat and send to face almost certain deaths as they hunt their elusive quarry.
It's a well-made film. Everything from camera-work to sets to directing works, and works so well, but the fact remains that's it's just too long. At least the Redux version. You can only stretch the atmosphere and suspense for so long until you start to look at the clock. That's partly the purpose and to this film's credit, any other film would have crumbled way sooner, but crumble it does, eventually.
I also have problems with Marlon Brando's performance. Apparently the man showed up hugely overweight, completely unprepared and pretty much being as unprofessional as you can be. And it shows. The final third of the film throws the suspense straight out of the window and pretty much the only question left is "Brando, what happened, man?"
I can see why people love this film. It's a haunting take on war, has amazing atmosphere, vivid imagery, memorable characters and as a whole there are very few movies like it. Personally I lost interest after the halfway point, but that's just me.
helpful•6923
- Vartiainen
- May 5, 2015
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Apocalypse Now: Final Cut
- Filming locations
- Baler Bay, Baler, Aurora, Philippines(beach with soldiers surfing)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $31,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $96,042,913
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $118,558
- Aug 19, 1979
- Gross worldwide
- $104,911,671
- Runtime2 hours 27 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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