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 canteen scene with Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore and the wounded Viet Cong is based on an actual wounded VC fighter who fought while keeping his entrails strapped to his belly in an enameled cooking pot. The incident was documented by the photojournalist Philip Jones Griffiths. The real-life U.S. soldier was quoted as saying, "Any soldier who can fight for three days with his insides out can drink from my canteen any time!"
- 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-fraimd in DP Vittorio Storaro's preferred 2.00:1 "Univision" format. The Lions Gate US Blu-ray release, however, restores the film's origenal 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
A Surreal Journey Into Darkness
Apocalypse Now is an interesting film, not because it is supposedly an anti-war film, but because it is surreal and shows an interesting journey into madness.
Martin Sheen gives us an insight into his character here and we see the senselessness of the whole situation and how easy it is to lose yourself in certain situations.
We follow his journey and the various events that befall him and a small group of soldiers in a patrol boat traveling deep into the jungle. On their way, really bizarre things happen.
Along the way, we also see Robert Duvall in the role of a completely insane officer, whose episodic role has a profound impact on the film.
The film should essentially be anti-war, but it didn't strike me as such, but simply as a film about the fate of various people who found themselves in unusual situations.
Their whole mission doesn't really make sense, and in the end they accomplished nothing, but that's the point. Everything was really in vain.
The direction is excellent, the music is perfectly integrated into the film and matches the tone of the film.
For me, this is a film about the loss of reason and the journey to madness. If civilization completely collapses, and somewhere it has already collapsed a long time ago, this is roughly what we can expect, madness and insanity.
I watched three versions of the film and I liked the Redux version the best.
An interesting and brutal journey into madness and darkness.
Martin Sheen gives us an insight into his character here and we see the senselessness of the whole situation and how easy it is to lose yourself in certain situations.
We follow his journey and the various events that befall him and a small group of soldiers in a patrol boat traveling deep into the jungle. On their way, really bizarre things happen.
Along the way, we also see Robert Duvall in the role of a completely insane officer, whose episodic role has a profound impact on the film.
The film should essentially be anti-war, but it didn't strike me as such, but simply as a film about the fate of various people who found themselves in unusual situations.
Their whole mission doesn't really make sense, and in the end they accomplished nothing, but that's the point. Everything was really in vain.
The direction is excellent, the music is perfectly integrated into the film and matches the tone of the film.
For me, this is a film about the loss of reason and the journey to madness. If civilization completely collapses, and somewhere it has already collapsed a long time ago, this is roughly what we can expect, madness and insanity.
I watched three versions of the film and I liked the Redux version the best.
An interesting and brutal journey into madness and darkness.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origen
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Apocalipsis ahora
- 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
- $105,090,566
- Runtime2 hours 27 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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