Apocalypse Now (film)

Identification Motion picture

Apocalypse Now was an exploration into the horror that was the American experience in Vietnam. It showed how well-intentioned, good people can be perverted by war.

Date Released in 1979

Director Francis Ford Coppola

Key Figures

• Francis Ford Coppola (1939-    ), film director

Apocalypse Now was inspired by Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness (1902), which was set in Africa and used the device of a journey up a river into the heart of Africa to echo the human journey into what is darkest in the human psyche. The novel shows both how people hold to civilized ways and how to avoid becoming “native,” the fate of a high-minded gentleman named Kurtz. Using a similar plot line in 1969, John Milius wrote the screenplay for the film. The location was changed to Vietnam, but the basic outline of the plot was similar.

Beginning in 1975, producer and director Francis Ford Coppola began extensive rewriting of the script. In November, 1975, searching for an actor to play the central role of Captain Benjamin L. Willard, Coppola sent the script to Steve McQueen, who turned it down, as did Al Pacino, James Caan, and Jack Nicholson. The part of Willard finally was offered to Harvey Keitel. After being offered a salary of one million dollars, Marlon Brando agreed to play the part of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz. Other actors in the film include a fifteen-year-old Laurence Fishburne, playing the rock-and-roll-loving “Clean” Miller; Dennis Hopper as a drugged-out photojournalist; and Harrison Ford, early in his career, in the small part of Colonel Lucas.

The Production

On March 1, 1976, shooting began in the Philippines, a location selected because the terrain was similar to that of Vietnam and because the Marcos government agreed to rent American-made helicopters and military equipment. The schedule called for five months of shooting on location, and the budget was twelve to fourteen million dollars. When the shooting finally wrapped in the Philippines, it was in May, 1977, and the budget of the film had grown to thirty million dollars.

Shortly into the filming, Coppola realized Keitel was wrong for the part, fired him, and hired Martin Sheen. Moreover, Coppola had problems with the Philippine government, which kept taking the helicopters they promised for the film to fight communist insurgents. In May, 1976, Typhoon Olga wrecked two major film sets. In September, 1976, Brando arrived on location grossly overweight and shooting had to be rearranged to show him in half-light, making his size less obvious. In March, 1977, Sheen had a heart attack and was in critical condition.

Despite a multitude of problems, the film was completed; it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in the spring of 1979 as a work in progress and won the Palme d’Or grand prize. At Cannes, Coppola told the press, “My film is not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam. It’s what it was really like. It was crazy.” Apocalypse Now was finally released to theaters later that year.

The Film

Apocalypse Now is first an adventure film: the story of Captain Willard, traveling up the Mekong River into Cambodia, to locate Colonel Kurtz, a decorated officer who has gone AWOL and set himself up among the natives as a demigod. Kurtz has seen firsthand the single-minded nature of the Viet Cong soldier and how he would do anything to win, even hack off the arms of innocent Vietnamese children. Prompted by his realization that the United States is fighting a war that it cannot win, Kurtz has gone insane, and Willard’s mission is to terminate Kurtz “with extreme prejudice.”

Apocalypse Now is also an action film, showing troops at war. Some of the scenes became classics of film history, such as the helicopter attack on a Vietnamese village, led by Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall). Helicopters with loudspeakers playing Richard Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries at full volume swoop down on the quiet elementary school courtyard. Once the village is subdued, Kilgore surveys the smoke-laden scene and remarks, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Duvall was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

The film also focuses on the inner journey of Willard as a type of Everyman, who combats a number of obstacles in his quest for the out-of-control Kurtz and, in the process, confronts his own demons. The initial scene of Willard passed out in a hotel room, with the music of the Doors song “This Is the End” in the background, strikes the note of futility and the inevitability of his being, again, in Vietnam. Willard’s drunken dance and the violence of his fist smashing through a mirror is a prelude to the insanity and violence that he will encounter on his journey.

The conclusion of the film has been much discussed. Some call it a failure. Until this point, the film has been full of action, but when Willard finally reaches Kurtz, the pace slows and the mood becomes introspective. Willard completes his mission and then is tested one more time: Will he assume Kurtz’s role in that savage place? Film critic Roger Ebert described it as “one of the most haunting endings in cinema.”

Impact

Apocalypse Now was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It won for Best Cinematography and for Best Sound, and it also won three Golden Globes: Best Director, Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role, and Best Original Score for a Motion Picture. It grossed $150 million. The film was rereleased in 2001 as Apocalypse Now Redux with fifty-three additional minutes of original footage.

Apocalypse Now is regarded as an American film classic, ranking twenty-eighth in the American Film Institute’s list of one hundred best films. It is also a reflection of a troubled time in American history: the United States involvement in Vietnam. The film displays the ambivalent attitude in the 1970’s toward Vietnam. Some aspects of the film celebrate the bravery and commitment of the solders; other aspects show the insane nature of the conflict and illustrate the belief that it was a war that the United States could not win.

Bibliography

Coppola, Eleanor. Notes. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979. Gives a day-by-day record of the making of the film.

Cowie, Peter. “Apocalypse Now” Book. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2001. Provides the story behind the film and includes a number of photographs.

French, Karl. “Apocalypse Now.” New York: Bloomsbury, 1999. Gives a critical analysis of the film.