Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic war film directed, produced and co-written by Francis Ford Coppola and co-written by John Milius with narration by Michael Herr. It stars Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Larry Fishburne and Dennis Hopper. The screenplay written by Milius updates the setting of Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness to that of the Vietnam War and draws from Herr's Dispatches and Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972). The film revolves around Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Sheen) on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, a renegade who's presumed insane. The film has been noted for the problems encountered while making it, chronicled in the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991). These problems included Brando arriving on the set overweight and completely unprepared, expensive sets being destroyed by severe weather, and its lead actor (Sheen) having a breakdown and suffering a near-fatal heart attack while on location. Problems continued after production as the release was postponed several times while Coppola edited thousands of feet of footage. Apocalypse Now was released to universal acclaim. It was honored with the Palme d'Or at Cannes and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. It is considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. The film was also ranked No. 14 in the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound greatest films poll in 2012. The film ranks #7 on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
Plot
During the Vietnam War in 1969, Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz has gone insane and now commands his own Montagnard troops, inside neutral Cambodia, as a demi-god. Colonel Lucas and General Corman, increasingly concerned with Kurtz's vigilante operations, assign Army Captain and Studies and Observations Group veteran Benjamin L. Willard to terminate Kurtz with extreme prejudice. Willard, initially ambivalent, joins a Navy PBR commanded by Chief, with crewmen Lance, "Chef", and "(Mr.) Clean" to head upriver. They rendezvous with surfing enthusiast Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, 1st Cavalry commander, to discuss going up the Nùng. Kilgore scoffs, but befriends Lance after discovering his surfing experience and agrees to escort them through the Nùng's Viet Cong-held coastal mouth. They successfully raid at dawn, with Kilgore ordering a napalm sortie on the local cadres. Willard gathers his men to the PBR and journeys upriver. Tension arises as Willard believes himself in command of the PBR while Chief prioritizes other objectives over Willard's. Slowly making their way upriver, Willard reveals his mission partially to the Chief to assuage his concerns about why his mission should precede. As night falls, the PBR reaches the American Do Long Bridge outpost on the Nùng River. Willard and Lance enter seeking information for what is upriver. Unable to find the commander, Willard orders the Chief to continue as an unseen enemy launches a strike on the bridge. The next day, Willard learns from dispatch that another SOG operative, Captain Colby, who was sent on an earlier mission identical to Willard's, had joined Kurtz[a]. Meanwhile, as the crew read letters from home, Lance activates a smoke grenade, attracting the attention of a camouflaged enemy, and Mr. Clean is killed. Further upriver, Chief is impaled by a spear thrown by the natives and attempts to kill Willard by impaling him. Willard suffocates him and Lance buries Chief in the river. Willard reveals his mission to Chef but despite his anger towards the mission, he rejects Willard's offer for him to continue alone and insists that they complete the mission together. The PBR arrives at Kurtz's outpost and the surviving crew are met by an American freelance photojournalist, who manically praises Kurtz's genius. As they wander through they come across a near-catatonic Colby, along with other US servicemen now in Kurtz's renegade army. Returning to the PBR, Willard later takes Lance with him, leaving Chef behind with orders to call in an airstrike on Kurtz's compound if they do not return. Chef is later killed by Kurtz. In the camp, Willard is subdued, bound and brought before Kurtz in a darkened temple. Tortured and imprisoned for several days, Willard is released and given the freedom of the compound. Kurtz lectures him on his theories of war, the human condition, and civilization while praising the ruthlessness and dedication of the Viet Cong. Kurtz discusses his family and asks that Willard tell his son about him after his death. That night, as the Montagnards ceremonially slaughter a water buffalo, Willard stealthily enters Kurtz's chamber as he is making a recording and attacks him with a machete. Mortally wounded, Kurtz, whispers "...The horror... the horror..." and dies. All in the compound see Willard departing, carrying a collection of Kurtz's writings, and bow down to him. Willard then leads Lance to the boat and the duo motor away. Kurtz's final words echo eerily as everything fades to black.
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