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begins self mutilation under the influence of his past in the jungle, clearly illustrate the toll the war takes on all. Even Kurtz, the perfect caricature of the tortured soul, had been the most decorated man in the Army and was groomed to be a Chief of Staff before he went mad. Something inside of him snapped. Willard reads out of a manuscript Kurtz had amended with the words, “Drop the bomb. Exterminate them all.” What happened to them? What happened to these once perfect men, fathers, sons, brothers? Consumed by the rigors of jungle combat, these men went mad with paranoia and anguish, mentally and physically.

Enter Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore (the best character in the movie played masterfully by Robert Duvall) who is a complete nut. In the most bizarre sequence in the entire film, Kilgore takes his men to storm a beach where Charlie’s occupation is especially “hairy”. This would not be so odd on its own, however, the reason behind the raid is because Kilgore loves to surf and the water at that particular point happens to be very good for surfing!! Also add to this when he orders his choppers into an attack formation and follows the command by sadistically cueing up Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” as the hueys charge in. “Charlie don’t surf.” Another scene of immense power stems

“Saigon, shit. I’m still only in Saigon.” The very opening sentence of Apocalypse Now clearly and dismally sets the scene for this Vietnam epic. The movie takes place sometime in the middle of the conflict, however, a year is not exactly specified. This does not detract from the story but rather, the viewer is made to feel that this was just one tale of many that took place in the horrors of Nam.

Apocalypse Now follows Captain Willard of the US Army and CIA. After his R&R is rudely interrupted, he is taken to a briefing where he learns from General Corman and Colonel Lucas (references to Coppola’s mentor and protegee, Roger Corman and George Lucas- also look for Harrison Ford) that he must infiltrate renegade Special Forces Colonel Kurtz’s troops and terminate his command. Kurtz has assumedly gone insane and has established his own private army, which both fights with great skill and worships Kurtz as a god. Kurtz has been charged with the murder of Vietnamese intelligence agents who he believed to be double agents. While he is successful, his methods are considered to be highly unsound. Willard then makes his way to Kurtz’s camp in Cambodia on the Nung River via a Navy patrol boat housing a crew of sailors representative of the melting pot of cultures gathered for battle. Included are Mr. Clean, a 17-year old from the Bronx, Chef, a New Orleans saucier and chef who is always nervous and upset, Lance B Johnson, a well-known surfer from LA (note: LBJ), and Chief Philips, the boat’s steadfast commander. This is when things pick up.

from a letter Kurtz writes to his son “In a war, there are many moments for compassion and tender action. There are many moments for ruthless action, for what is often called ruthless...I’m beyond caring.” A sampan is ordered to a stop by the Chief to be searched for illegal arms. When one man makes his way towards a basket, the soldiers lose it and begin to fire wildly, killing everybody on board. One girl still moves however Willard quickly and coldly silences her with his pistol. In the basket- rather than arms- was a small puppy. Symbolically, the puppy is then adopted by Lance as a momento of his dying innocence as he will later carry the puppy

into combat. This can be seen as the metaphorical representation of Tet. After a time, they arrive at Kurtz’s temple and are met by a strange scene of stolid Montagnards standing in boats and then, on land, by an American photojournalist who now worships the wise Kurtz and vomits out breathless sentences in the form of T.S. Eliot poems. The photojournalist is none other than wacked-out Dennis Hopper in a role that doesn’t seem like too much of a dramatic stretch. As for Kurtz himself, Marlon Brando is worth every penny of the then-jawdropping salary he was paid by the week for the miniscule role. Bathed in shadow and rattling off philosophy, I will only say that he is something to behold and his subsequent cat-and-mouse game with Willard reaches an intensity rarely rivaled on the big screen.

War is hell! and more specifically, Vietnam was hell. This film not only takes the viewer into the raging firefights and napalm battles but, more importantly, into the battles that lay within each soldier. (This is also what I believe makes The Thin Red Line a better film than the shoot-em-up-go-America Saving Private Ryan) More than any other war of this century, Vietnam has created a mental stir in the American people that is still felt today. While today’s youth may read about the motorcyclists rolling thunder campaign down Pennsylvania Avenue on Memorial Day or may even have parents who went to hell and back in the 1970’s, there is no possible way to more clearly understand these still-disturbed and war-addled soldiers than to see what they lived through. The opening sequence alone, in which Captain Willard gets drunk and

Love it or hate, this film is now a classic and I believe rightfully so. Through the very colorful characters, viewers may find a better sense of what the hellish conditions of Vietnam were like and how horrible it must have been for the soldier who lived through it. For everyone whose knowledge of Vietnam is tainted by the various types of shrimp dishes that a certain private can make, Apocalypse Now delivers a you-are-there reality of the torturous nature of war. While I am not refuting that Coppola’s vision is a bit of extreme revisionist history, how insightful to challenge the minds of his time to reconsider such a fresh and still-open wound. This movie was being developed well before The Godfather and finally made it to release in 1979. Also keep in mind, that Coppola is not trying to make the definitive Vietnam movie. The Vietnam conflict merely provides the all-too-perfect backdrop for Joseph Conrad’s brilliantly layered novella, Hearts of Darkness. Certainly that was not meant to be about Vietnam- Orson Welles had performed the radiocasting of the story back in the 1920’s. (actually, Welles was going to make Hearts of Darkness as a feature but opted instead to take a chance at a little project called Citizen Kane) Though, like Hearts of Darkness, like Apocalypse Now, Vietnam is the true American tragedy of lost innocence both for individuals and for national unity. I am not saying to watch Apocalypse Now as the tell-all truth to the ravages of Vietnam, but instead, I am saying to watch in order to gain respect and perspective on the Vietnam era as it captures brilliantly the troubling idea of disillusioned youth dropped literally in the middle of nowhere and left to fend for themselves- not for their country. Laurence Fishburne was only 15 when they started shooting! The American government had robbed the cradles of its mothers in order to fight its losing battle against Communism on distant shores. This film is not about Vietnam, this film is about the loss of an entire generation to unnecessary violence and radical change in the face of an ever unstable homefront. What better backdrop for such torrid disenchantment with authority than Vietnam. Apocalypse Now is about people, not specifically about Vietnam, though I feel it does provide unique insight into the Vietnam experience, clearly showing the manic insanity/uncertainty of that unstable, though American, situation.

it is slowly revealed that he is in fact not happy at all. Nor is he mad. He simply means to appear honorable and just in the memories of his son. “He just wanted to go out like a soldier, standing up, not like some poor, wasted, rag-assed renegade.” The crew of the boat Willard sails on is another bunch of headcases. Chef is a grown man who weeps like a child, often and nervously. He is confused about the hand that he has been dealt. Lance and Mr. Clean are just boys. They are out to fight a good fight, however, they do not wish to kill or be killed. To them, survival is the name of the game. Mr. Clean is unfoundedly cocky, though and Lance is repugnantly vain. Their immaturity leads to both of their respective matches with madness. Clean with his itchy trigger finger and short fuse and Lance with his unaffected airs and puppy that he salvages from the face of destruction that he created. Willard himself is a wash-up. A cheap drunk of a Captain whose wits and sense went out with his orders. He seeks salvation through accomplishment and finds it in blood. He becomes savage. Lastly, even the eccentric Kilgore is professed to have a certain light over him and he loves and protects his men with everything he has. This plays to an interesting juxtaposition in the storming of the beach in which he chauvinistically declares, “Get dressed [to surf], you either fight or you surf.” He says this, of course, as the missiles continue to smash down all around him. He seeks to live life like a true cowboy and not let anything get in his way. Plus, he loves the smell of napalm in the morning! What does all of this have to say about the American Character? Well, the American Character means never giving up. It means holding on with all you’ve got and having a method to your madness. The characters in Apocalypse Now combine to make a composite of the collective American people and their youth, ideals and dreams. The American Character never gives up. Even at the heart of a horrible war in which all is stacked against one, one cannot lose face over the tribulations which plague a man’s soul. As each of these characters experiences their own level of personal hell and the madness within, he exemplifies the American Character that refuses to be crushed in the face of disaster and who attempts to rise from the pits of hell with honor and good graces.

Simply stated, Apocalypse Now is amazing. And I haven’t even begun to talk about the odyssey Francis Ford Coppola underwent in making this labor of blood, sweat, and tears. It was honestly almost the end of him, taking years to complete and facing countless tragedies and setbacks. As accompanied viewing, whether you love or hate this film (and I know there are plenty on each side of the fence) you must see Eleanor Coppola’s Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse. If ever there was a film made that captured the true rigor and toil of a trapped and troubled man it is this brilliant and challenging documentary. Apocalypse Now has etched its own way into the history books as not only one of the brilliant films, but also for being one of the most infamous sets in cinema. Murphy’s Law was the law of Coppola’s land and to see someone go to their limits for their art like he did, product notwithstanding, is truly inspiring to behold. Francis

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”-Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil. Again, Apocalypse Now, more than anything else, is a character study. From the crazy Kilgore to the brooding Willard to the innocent Lance, this movie has a lot to say about the American character. Perhaps this is best seen in the monster himself, Kurtz. Worshipped as a god in his current state he remains unaffected by his charges of murder and maintains a very effective fighting force in Cambodia, beyond enemy lines. However