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99-609: Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola . The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius , and Michael Herr , is loosely inspired by the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad , with the setting changed from late 19th-century Congo to the Vietnam War . The film follows a river journey from South Vietnam into Cambodia undertaken by Captain Willard ( Martin Sheen ), who

198-558: A black comedy , and intended to shoot it after making THX 1138 , with principal photography to start in 1971. Lucas's friend and producer Gary Kurtz traveled to the Philippines, scouting suitable locations. They intended to shoot the film both in the rice fields between Stockton and Sacramento, California , and on-location in South Vietnam , on a $ 2 million budget, cinéma vérité style, using 16 mm cameras, and real soldiers, while

297-503: A paratrooper and Army intelligence officer, to journey up the Nung river and kill Kurtz. Willard succeeded in his mission only because Kurtz, himself broken mentally by the savage war he had waged, wanted Willard to kill him and release him from his own suffering. Kurtz also murdered Jay "Chef" Hicks by severing his head. Before Willard killed him, Kurtz asked Willard to find Kurtz's wife and son, and explain truthfully to them what he had done in

396-482: A 2015 The Hollywood Reporter interview, Clint Eastwood revealed that Coppola offered him the role of Willard, but much like McQueen and Pacino, he did not want to be away from America for a long time. He also revealed that McQueen tried to convince him to play Willard; McQueen wanted to play Kurtz because he would have to work for only two weeks. Coppola offered the lead role of Willard to Robert De Niro , but he declined due to other commitments. Coppola also offered

495-513: A TV news director filming beach combat; he shouts "Don't look at the camera, go by like you're fighting!". Additionally, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro plays the cameraman by Coppola's side. Although inspired by Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness , it is not a direct adaptation. The novella, based on Conrad's experience as a steamboat captain in Africa, is set in the Congo Free State during

594-541: A fee of $ 2 million for a month's work on location in September 1976. Brando also received 10% of the gross theatrical rental and 10% of the TV sale rights, earning him around $ 9 million. Hackman was set to play Wyatt Khanage, who later became Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall. Dennis Hopper was cast as a war correspondent and observer of Kurtz; when Coppola heard Hopper talking nonstop on location, he remembered putting "the cameras and

693-491: A few days, Coppola was unhappy with Harvey Keitel's take on Willard, saying that the actor "found it difficult to play him as a passive onlooker." With Brando not due to film until three months later, as he did not want to work while his children were on school vacation, Keitel left the project in April and quit the seven-year deal he had signed as well. Coppola returned to Los Angeles and replaced Keitel with Martin Sheen, who arrived in

792-402: A form of psychological warfare and to use human ears to record the number of enemies his indigenous troops had killed. He would send these ears back to his superiors as proof of his efforts deep inside Laos . However, Coppola denies that Poe was a primary influence. He maintains the character was loosely based on Special Forces Colonel Robert B. Rheault , whose 1969 arrest for the murder of

891-435: A great man, and, as a man who reads poetry "out loud". His ruthless nature can be seen in photos presented to Willard, in which Kurtz had used his own men to kill or torture Vietnamese people, however, his truly ruthless nature comes to light when he tortures Willard physically by capturing him at a bamboo-like prison booth, as well as mentally by showing him the severed head of his friend Chef, whom he had killed. Colonel Kurtz

990-529: A hotel and the others were in small houses that were immobilized by the storm. The Playboy Playmate set was destroyed, ruining a month's scheduled shooting. Most of the cast and crew returned to the United States for six to eight weeks. Tavoularis and his team stayed on to scout new locations and rebuild the Playmate set in a different place. Also, the production had bodyguards watching constantly at night and one day

1089-572: A massive scale. Biographical films may be less lavish versions of this genre. They often have a Roadshow theatrical release and are often shot on 70 mm film . Many writers may refer to any film that is "long" (over two hours) as an epic, making the definition epic a matter of dispute, and raise questions as to whether it is a "genre" at all. As Roger Ebert put it, in his "Great Movies" article on Lawrence of Arabia : The word epic in recent years has become synonymous with big-budget B picture . What you realize watching Lawrence of Arabia

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1188-467: A pair of ragged claws/Scuttling across the floors of silent seas," from " The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ." Additionally, Dennis Hopper's character paraphrases the end of "The Hollow Men" to Martin Sheen's character: "This is the way the fucking world ends! [...] Not with a bang, but with a whimper." While working as an assistant for Francis Ford Coppola on The Rain People in 1967, filmmaker John Milius

1287-474: A rough assembly of the footage but still needed to improvise an ending. He returned to the Philippines in early 1977 and resumed filming. On March 5 of that year, Sheen, then only 36, had a near-fatal heart attack and struggled for a quarter of a mile to reach help. By then the film was so over-budget, Sheen worried that funding would be halted if word about his condition reached investors, and he claimed that he had suffered heat stroke instead. Until he returned to

1386-399: A sadist but a confident individual, using his boldness to ensure USA's triumph. General Corman describes Kurtz to have originally been a good man, the kind of person who is filled with rational thought including the capability of seeing the difference between good and evil. Often ruthless, Kurtz has an extremely complex personality, to the point of being unpredictable. When he rose to power as

1485-716: A smoke grenade while under the influence of LSD , attracting enemy fire, causing Mr. Clean's death. Further upriver, the Chief is impaled by a spear thrown by Montagnards and attempts to kill Willard with the spear point protruding from his chest, but Willard overpowers him. Willard reveals his mission to Chef, who is now in charge of the PBR. The PBR arrives at Kurtz's outpost, a Khmer temple teeming with Montagnards and strewn with remains of victims. Willard, Chef, and Lance are greeted by an American photojournalist , who praises Kurtz's genius. Willard encounters Colby and two other soldiers among

1584-482: A suspected double agent generated substantial news coverage. By early 1976, Francis Ford Coppola had persuaded Marlon Brando to play Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979), for a fee of $ 2 million for a month's work on location in September 1976. Brando also received 10% of the gross theatrical rental and 10% of the TV sale rights, earning him around $ 9 million. When Brando arrived for filming in

1683-532: A thousand pages. He was influenced by an article by Michael Herr , "The Battle for Khe Sanh," which referred to drugs, rock 'n' roll, and people calling airstrikes down on themselves. He was also inspired by such films as Dr. Strangelove . Milius says the classic line "Charlie don't surf" was inspired by a comment Ariel Sharon made during the Six-Day War , when he went skin diving after capturing enemy territory and announced, "We're eating their fish." He says

1782-459: A year. These problems included expensive sets being destroyed by severe weather, Brando showing up on set overweight and completely unprepared, and Sheen having a breakdown and suffering a near-fatal heart attack on location. After photography was finally finished in May 1977, the release was postponed several times while Coppola edited over a million feet of film. Many of these difficulties are chronicled in

1881-551: Is a well-known surfer. Kilgore, an avid surfer himself, agrees to escort them through the Nùng's Viet Cong -held coastal mouth. The helicopter squadron, playing " Ride of the Valkyries " on loudspeakers, raids at dawn with a napalm strike. Resisting Kilgore’s attempts to convince Lance to surf with him on the newly conquered beach, Willard gathers the sailors to board the PBR and continue on their mission. Tension arises as Willard insists on

1980-465: Is based on the character of a 19th-century ivory trader, also called Kurtz , from the novella Heart of Darkness (1899) by Joseph Conrad . The movie's Kurtz is widely believed to have been modeled after Tony Poe , a highly decorated and highly unorthodox Vietnam War -era paramilitary officer from the CIA's Special Activities Division . Poe was known to drop severed heads into enemy-controlled villages as

2079-403: Is on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz ( Marlon Brando ), a renegade Special Forces officer who is accused of murder and presumed insane. The ensemble cast also features Robert Duvall , Frederic Forrest , Albert Hall , Sam Bottoms , Laurence Fishburne , Dennis Hopper , and Harrison Ford . Milius became interested in adapting Heart of Darkness for a Vietnam War setting in

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2178-478: Is only about a 20% chance [I] can pull the film off." He convinced United Artists executives to delay the premiere from May to October 1978. In January 1978, Herr received a call from Zoetrope, asking him if he could write the film's narration based on his well-received book about Vietnam, Dispatches . He said that the narration already written was "totally useless" and spent a year creating a new set of narration, with Coppola giving him very definite guidelines. Sheen

2277-418: Is preceded in printed editions by the epigraph "Mistah Kurtz – he dead," a quotation from Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Two books seen opened on Kurtz's desk in the film are From Ritual to Romance by Jessie Weston and The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer , the two books that Eliot cited as the chief sources and inspiration for his poem " The Waste Land ." Eliot's original epigraph for "The Waste Land"

2376-479: Is that the word epic refers not to the cost or the elaborate production, but to the size of the ideas and vision. Werner Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God didn't cost as much as the catering in Pearl Harbor , but it is an epic, and Pearl Harbor is not. The epic is among the oldest of film genres, with one early notable example being Giovanni Pastrone 's Cabiria , a two-and-a-half hour silent film about

2475-527: Is waging a brutal war against NVA , Viet Cong , and Khmer Rouge forces without permission from his commanders. He is based at a remote jungle outpost in eastern Cambodia , where he commands American, Montagnard , and local Khmer militia troops. These troops view him as a demigod . Willard is ordered to "terminate Kurtz's command... with extreme prejudice ." He joins a U.S. Navy river patrol boat (PBR) commanded by Chief Petty Officer Phillips, with crewmen Lance, "Chef," and "Mr. Clean" to quietly navigate up

2574-666: The Green Berets and was part of the hearts and minds campaign , which also included fortifying hamlets . On his next tour, Kurtz was assigned to Project GAMMA , in which he was to raise an army of Montagnards in and around the Vietnamese–Cambodian border to strike at the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA). Kurtz located his army, including their wives and children, at a remote abandoned Cambodian temple which Kurtz's team fortified. From their base, Kurtz led attacks on

2673-539: The Joint Chiefs of Staff sent Kurtz to Vietnam to compile a report on the failings of the current military policies. His overtly critical report, dated March 3, 1964, was not what was expected and was immediately restricted for the Joint Chiefs and President Lyndon B. Johnson only. On May 11, August 28, and September 23, 1964, 38-year-old Kurtz applied for Special Forces , which was denied out of hand because his age

2772-631: The Philippines in September 1976, he was dissatisfied with the script; Brando didn't understand why Kurtz was meant to be very thin and bald, or why the character's name was Kurtz and not something like Leighley. He claimed, "American generals don't have those kinds of names. They have flowery names, from the South. I want to be 'Colonel Leighley'." And so, for a time the name was changed under his demand. When Brando showed up for filming he had put on about 40 pounds (18 kg) and forced Coppola to shoot him above

2871-554: The Punic Wars , which laid the groundwork for the subsequent silent epics of D. W. Griffith . The genre reached a peak of popularity in the early 1960s, when Hollywood frequently collaborated with foreign film studios (such as Rome's Cinecittà ) to use relatively exotic locations in Spain, Morocco and elsewhere for the production of epic films such as El Cid (1961) or Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The genre soon spread to other regions of

2970-875: The University of the Philippines Film Center 1% of the profits, up to $ 1 million, for a film study trust fund. Coppola flew back to the U.S. in June 1976. He read a book about Genghis Khan to get a better handle on the character of Kurtz. When filming commenced in July 1976, Marlon Brando arrived in Manila very overweight and began working with Coppola to rewrite the ending. The director downplayed Brando's weight by dressing him in black, photographing only his face, and having another, taller actor double for him to portray him as an almost mythical character. After Christmas 1976, Coppola viewed

3069-596: The summary execution of four South Vietnamese intelligence agents whom he suspected of being double agents for the Viet Cong, the MACV sent a Green Beret Captain named Richard Colby to bring Kurtz back from Cambodia. Either because he was brainwashed or because he felt a sympathy towards Kurtz's cause, Colby joined up with Kurtz instead of bringing him back to Da Nang. With Colby's failure, MACV then selected Captain Benjamin L. Willard,

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3168-539: The "God-King" of the Montagnards, Kurtz was treated like a Deity , using his extensive military training to form an army of followers and soldiers around him, eventually becoming a philosopher of war, reading poetry and quotes from the Holy Bible , leading him to be seen as truly insane. The photojournalist "Jack" is the first American to meet Kurtz after his transformation into a crazed megalomaniac, yet he describes him as

3267-624: The "epic" film, encompassing such examples as Ben-Hur , Gone with the Wind and more recently, 300 and the Star Wars films [...] none of these comes from literary epics per se , and there is little that links them with one another. Among those who espouse film genre studies, epic is one of the most despised and ignored genres". Finally, although the American Movie Channel formally defines epic films as historical films, they nonetheless state

3366-404: The 19th century. Kurtz and Marlow (whose corresponding character in the movie is Capt. Willard) work for a Belgian trading company that brutally exploits its native African workers. After arriving at Kurtz's outpost, Marlow concludes that Kurtz has gone insane and is lording over a small tribe as a god. The novella ends with Kurtz dying on the trip back and the narrator musing about the darkness of

3465-463: The Montagnard shirt on him, and [shooting] the scene where he greets them on the boat." James Caan was the first choice to play Colonel Lucas, but Caan wanted too much money for what was considered a minor part, and Harrison Ford was cast instead. Before departing for principal photography, Coppola took out an advertisement in the trade press declaring Keitel, Duvall and others as the "first choices" for

3564-459: The Montagnards. He sets out with Lance to find Kurtz, leaving Chef with orders to call in an airstrike on the outpost if the two do not return. In the camp, Willard is bound and brought before Kurtz, after which he is locked in a bamboo cage. One night Kurtz appears and drops Chef's severed head into Willard's lap. Willard is released, and warned not to attempt escape from the camp or he will be shot. Kurtz lectures him on his theories of war, praising

3663-525: The Nùng River to Kurtz's outpost. Before reaching the coastal mouth of the Nùng, they rendezvous with the 1st Squadron , 9th Cavalry Regiment —a helicopter-borne air assault unit of the elite 1st Cavalry Division , commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore—to discuss safe entry into the river. Kilgore is initially inattentive, as he has not received word about their mission through normal channels. However, he becomes more engaged after discovering that Lance

3762-403: The Philippines on April 24. Only four days of reshoots were reportedly required after the change. Typhoon Olga wrecked 40–80% of the sets at Iba and on May 26, 1976, production was closed down. Dean Tavoularis remembers that it "started raining harder and harder until finally it was literally white outside, and all the trees were bent at forty-five degrees." Some of the crew were stranded in

3861-490: The Philippines were not policed or monitored; the American Humane Association gave the film an "unacceptable" rating. Coppola would later say that the animals were part of the production deal. Real human corpses were bought from a man who turned out to be a grave-robber. The police questioned the film crew, holding their passports, and soldiers took the bodies away. Instead, extras were used to pose as corpses in

3960-525: The Philippines, but label contracts ultimately prevented his involvement. In the summer of 1977, Coppola told Walter Murch that he had four months to assemble the sound. Murch realized that the script had originally been narrated but Coppola abandoned the idea during filming. Murch thought that there was a way to assemble the film without narration but that it would take ten months, and decided to give it another try. He put it back in, recording it all himself. By September, Coppola told his wife that he felt "there

4059-450: The US Army following his dismissal, yet, he was a career soldier, fully serving his nation in any means. However, his breaking point led him to become a bitter, psychotic, sinister and manipulative individual, aiming to use his "unsound" methods to make sure his nation would win the war, even though he was using those methods to brutally torture Vietnamese people, nearly to death, yet, he was not

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4158-580: The Wind is the highest-grossing film ever, with two other romantic epics ( Titanic and Doctor Zhivago ) also featuring among the global top ten. So far the most Academy Awards ever won by a single film stands at eleven. This feat has only been achieved by three films: Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), all of which are above three hours long and considered epic films. The previous record holder

4257-451: The assumption that the film would star Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen and Gene Hackman . Steve McQueen was Coppola's first choice to play Willard, but McQueen did not want to leave America for three weeks and Coppola was unwilling to pay his $ 3 million fee. When McQueen dropped out in February 1976, Coppola had to return $ 5 million of the $ 21 million he had raised. Al Pacino was also offered

4356-526: The basis of their enormous scope and the sweeping panorama of their settings such as How the West Was Won or East of Eden that do not have the typical substance of classical epics but are directed in an epic style. When described as "epic" because of content, an epic movie is often set during a time of war or other societal crisis, while usually covering a longer span of time sometimes throughout entire generations coming and passing away, in terms of both

4455-516: The better angels of our nature. Every man has got a breaking point. You and I have one. Walter Kurtz has reached his, and very obviously, he has gone insane... Ever since he was in the US Army, Kurtz was always a patriotic soldier for his nation, thinking on how to achieve victory in the Vietnam War by any kind of means. Seemingly a kindhearted man, Kurtz eventually reached his "breaking point" according to Gen. Corman's words. This point led him to betray

4554-464: The book completely." Some sources state that Milius' original title was The Psychedelic Soldier, but Milius disputed this in a 2010 interview, claiming Apocalypse Now was always the intended title. The title Apocalypse Now was inspired by a button badge popular with hippies during the 1960s that said "Nirvana Now." Milius based the character of Willard and some of Kurtz's on a friend of his, Fred Rexer. Rexer claimed to have experienced, first-hand,

4653-517: The character was loosely based on Special Forces Colonel Robert B. Rheault , who was the actual head of 5th Special Forces Group (May to July 1969), and whose 1969 arrest over the murder of suspected double agent Thai Khac Chuyen in Nha Trang generated substantial contemporary news coverage, in the Green Beret Affair , including making public the phrase " terminate with extreme prejudice ," which

4752-517: The concepts of civilization and progress. Other episodes adapted by Coppola—the Playboy Playmates' (Sirens) exit, the lost souls ("take me home") attempting to reach the boat, and Kurtz's tribe of (white-faced) natives parting the canoes (gates of Hell) for Willard (with Chef and Lance) to enter the camp—are likened to Virgil and "The Inferno" ( Divine Comedy ) by Dante . While Coppola replaced European colonialism with American interventionism ,

4851-469: The country's military equipment. Coppola spent the last few months of 1975 revising Milius's script and negotiating with United Artists to secure financing for the production. Milius claimed it would be the "most violent film ever made." According to Frederickson, the budget was estimated between $ 12 and 14 million. Coppola's American Zoetrope obtained $ 7.5 million from United Artists for domestic distribution rights and $ 8 million from international sales, on

4950-440: The depiction of Kurtz as a god-like leader of a tribe of natives, Kurtz's written exclamation "Exterminate all the brutes!" (which appears in the film as "Drop the bomb. Exterminate them all!") and his last words "The horror! The horror!" are taken from Conrad's novella. Coppola argues that many episodes in the film—the spear and arrow attack on the boat, for example—respect the spirit of the novella and in particular its critique of

5049-568: The documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991). Apocalypse Now was honored with the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival , where it premiered unfinished. When it was finally released on August 15, 1979, by United Artists , it performed well at the box office, grossing over $ 80 million in the United States and Canada and over $ 100 million worldwide. Initial reviews were polarized; while Vittorio Storaro 's cinematography

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5148-414: The entire payroll was stolen. According to Coppola's wife, Eleanor , the film was six weeks behind schedule and $ 2 million over budget; Coppola filed a $ 500,000 insurance claim for typhoon damage and took out a loan from United Artists on the condition that if the film did not generate theatrical rentals of over $ 40 million, he would be liable for the overruns. Despite the increasing costs, Coppola promised

5247-449: The epic film may be combined with the genre of science-fiction and cite Star Wars as an example. Stylistically, films classed as epic usually employ spectacular settings and specially designed costumes, often accompanied by a sweeping musical score, and an ensemble cast of bankable stars . Epics are usually among the most expensive of films to produce. They often use on-location filming, authentic period costumes , and action scenes on

5346-426: The epic is often credited to their ability to appeal to a wide audience. Several of the highest-grossing films of all-time have been epics. James Cameron 's 1997 film Titanic , which is cited as helping to revive the genre, grossed $ 1.8 billion at cinemas worldwide to become the highest-grossing film—a record it held for twelve years. If inflation is taken into account, then the historical romantic epic Gone with

5445-402: The events depicted and the running time of the film. Such films usually have a historical setting, although speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy or science fiction ) settings have become common in recent decades. The central conflict of the film is usually seen as having far-reaching effects, often changing the course of history. The main characters' actions are often central to the resolution of

5544-404: The fictional Kurtz; for example, Poe was known to drop severed heads from helicopters into enemy-controlled villages as a form of psychological warfare and use human ears to record the number of enemies his indigenous troops had killed. He would send these ears back to his superiors as proof of the efficacy of his operations deep inside Laos. Coppola denies that Poe was a primary influence and says

5643-399: The film in the Philippines for its access to American military equipment and cheap labor. Roos, who also served as production coordinator, had already made two low-budget films there for Monte Hellman , and had friends and contacts there. Frederickson went to the Philippines and had dinner with President Ferdinand Marcos to formalize support for the production and to allow them to use some of

5742-518: The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the U.S. Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." In 1969 during the Vietnam War , jaded MACV-SOG operative Captain Benjamin L. Willard is summoned to I Field Force headquarters in Nha Trang . The officers there tell him that U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz

5841-412: The film. During filming, Dennis Hopper and Marlon Brando did not get along, leading Brando to refuse to be on the set at the same time as Hopper. In April 1979, Coppola screened a "work in progress" for 900 people; it was not well received. That year, he was invited to screen Apocalypse Now at the Cannes Film Festival . United Artists was not keen on showing an unfinished version to so many members of

5940-432: The film. It also listed other actors who did not appear in the film, including Harry Dean Stanton , Robby Benson and Michael Learned . Sam Bottoms , Larry Fishburne and Albert Hall all signed seven-year deals, with Coppola including acting training of their choice in their deal. Bottoms was infected with hookworm while filming in the Philippines, and the parasite "wrecked his liver." Robert Englund auditioned for

6039-402: The film. When Star Wars became a major hit, Coppola sent a telegram to Lucas asking for money. The release date was pushed back to spring 1978. Japanese composer Isao Tomita was signed to provide an original score, with Coppola desiring the film's soundtrack to sound like Tomita's electronic adaptation of The Planets by Gustav Holst . Tomita went as far as to accompany the film crew in

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6138-427: The houseboat where Brando was staying at the time. Brando returned to filming with his head shaved, wanting to be "Kurtz" once again; claiming it was all clear to him now that he had read Conrad's novella. Still photographs of Brando in character as Major Penderton, in the film Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), were used later by the producers of Apocalypse Now , who needed photos of a younger Brando to appear in

6237-478: The human psyche: "the heart of an immense darkness." In the novella, Marlow is the pilot of a river boat sent to collect ivory from Kurtz's outpost, only gradually becoming infatuated with Kurtz. In fact, when he discovers Kurtz in terrible health, Marlow makes an effort to bring him home safely (which Willard also does in Milius's draft screenplay). In the film, Willard is an assassin dispatched to kill Kurtz. Nevertheless,

6336-410: The idea of producing the film. He asked Lucas, then Milius, to direct it, but both were involved with other projects (Lucas in particular had gotten the go-ahead to make Star Wars ). Coppola was determined to make the film and pressed ahead himself. He envisioned it as a definitive statement on the nature of modern war, the contrasts between good and evil, and the impact of American culture on the rest of

6435-514: The late 1960s, and initially began developing the film with Coppola as producer and George Lucas as director. After Lucas became unavailable, Coppola took over directorial control, and was influenced by Werner Herzog 's Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) in his approach to the material. Initially set to be a five-month shoot in the Philippines starting in March 1976, a series of problems lengthened it to over

6534-427: The line "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" just came to him. Warner Bros.-Seven Arts acquired the screenplay in 1969 but put it into turnaround . Milius had no desire to direct the film himself and felt that Lucas was the right person for the job. Lucas worked with Milius for four years developing the film, while working on other films, including his script for Star Wars . He approached Apocalypse Now as

6633-492: The local VC and the regular NVA in the region. Kurtz employed barbaric methods not only to defeat his enemy but also to send fear. At first Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) did not object to Kurtz's tactics, especially as they proved successful. This soon changed when Kurtz allowed photographs of his atrocities to be released to the world. In late 1967, after Kurtz failed to respond to MACV's repeated orders to return to Da Nang and resign his command after he ordered

6732-530: The message of Conrad's book is still clear. It is often speculated that Coppola's interpretation of the Kurtz character was modeled after Tony Poe , a highly decorated Vietnam-era paramilitary officer from the CIA's Special Activities Division . Poe's actions in Vietnam and in the "Secret War" in neighboring Laos, in particular his highly unorthodox and often savage methods of waging war, show many similarities to those of

6831-408: The movie screen. The 35 mm release used the new Dolby Stereo optical stereo system, but due to limitations of the technology at the time, the 35 mm release that played in most theaters did not include surround sound. In May 1978, Coppola postponed the opening until spring of 1979. The cost overruns had reached $ 18 million, for which Coppola was personally liable, but he had retained rights to

6930-556: The murderer who gets up the river, kills the king, and then himself becomes the king – it's the Fisher King , from The Golden Bough ." Principal photography ended on May 21, 1977, after 238 days. The budget had doubled to over $ 25 million, and Coppola's loan from United Artists to fund the overruns had been extended to over $ 10 million. UA took out a $ 15 million life insurance policy on Coppola. By June 1977, Coppola had offered his car, house, and The Godfather profits as security to finish

7029-410: The picture in perpetuity . A water buffalo was slaughtered with a machete for the climactic scene in a ritual performed by a local Ifugao tribe, which Coppola had previously witnessed with his wife Eleanor (who filmed the ritual later shown in the documentary Hearts of Darkness ) and film crew. Although it was an American production subject to American animal cruelty laws, such scenes filmed in

7128-664: The poetic genre exemplified by such works as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the works of the Trojan War Cycle . In classical literature, epics are considered works focused on deeds or journeys of heroes upon which the fate of many people depends. Similarly, films described as "epic" typically take a historical character, or a mythic heroic figure. Common subjects of epics are royalty , gladiators , great military leaders, or leading personalities from various periods in world history. However, there are some films described as "epic" almost solely on

7227-570: The press. However, since his 1974 film The Conversation had won the Palme d'Or , Coppola agreed to screen Apocalypse Now with the festival only a month away. Epic film Epic historical films would usually take a historical or a mythical event and add an extravagant setting, lavish costumes, an expansive musical score , and an ensemble cast , which would make them extremely expensive to produce. The most common subjects of epic films are royalty and important figures from various periods in world history. The term "epic" originally came from

7326-516: The priority of his mission over the Chief's usual patrol objectives. Slowly making their way upriver, Willard partially reveals his orders to the Chief to convince him that the mission is important and should proceed despite the difficulties they’ve encountered. As Willard studies Kurtz's dossier, he is struck by the mid-career sacrifice Kurtz made by leaving a prestigious Pentagon assignment to join Special Forces, with no prospect of advancing beyond

7425-509: The rank of colonel. At a remote U.S. Army outpost, Willard and Lance seek information on what is upriver and receive a dispatch bag containing official and personal mail. Unable to find any commanding officer, Willard orders the Chief to continue. Willard learns via the dispatch that another MACV-SOG operative, Special Forces Captain Richard Colby, was sent on an earlier mission identical to Willard's and has since joined Kurtz. Lance activates

7524-564: The role of Colonel Kurtz to Orson Welles and Lee Marvin , both of whom turned it down. Coppola and Roos had been impressed by Martin Sheen 's screen test for Michael in The Godfather and he became the second choice to play Willard, but he had already accepted another project. Harvey Keitel was cast in the role based on his work in Martin Scorsese 's Mean Streets . By early 1976, Coppola had persuaded Marlon Brando to play Kurtz, for

7623-413: The role of Lance Johnson. On March 1, 1976, Coppola and his family flew to Manila and rented a large house there for the planned four-month shoot. Sound and photographic equipment had been coming in from California since late 1975. John Ashley assisted with production in the Philippines. The film was due to be released on Coppola's 38th birthday, April 7, 1977. Shooting began on March 20, 1976. Within

7722-462: The role, but he too did not want to be away that long, and was afraid of falling ill in the jungle as he had done in the Dominican Republic during the shooting of The Godfather Part II . Jack Nicholson , Robert Redford and James Caan were approached to play either Kurtz or Willard. Keith Carradine , Tommy Lee Jones , Nick Nolte , and Frederic Forrest were also considered for Willard. In

7821-513: The ruthlessness of the Viet Cong, and asks him to tell his son the truth about his mutiny. Later, as the Montagnards ceremonially kill a water buffalo , Willard assassinates Kurtz with a machete . Everyone in the camp sees Willard departing, carrying a collection of Kurtz's writings, and bow down to him. Willard finds Lance, leads him back to the PBR, and they depart back down the river, away from Kurtz’s outpost. Co-writer, producer, and director Francis Ford Coppola makes an uncredited cameo playing

7920-461: The scene relayed by Brando's character wherein the arms of villagers are hacked off by the Viet Cong; and that Kurtz was based on Robert B. Rheault, head of Special Forces in Vietnam. Scholars have never found any evidence to corroborate Rexer's claim, nor any similar Viet Cong behavior, and consider it an urban legend. At one point, Coppola told Milius, "Write every scene you ever wanted to go into that movie," and he wrote ten drafts, amounting to over

8019-448: The set on April 19, his brother Joe Estevez filled in for him, being shot from behind so close-ups of Sheen could be shot after he got better. Coppola later admitted that he could no longer tell which scenes were of Joe or Martin. A major sequence in a French plantation cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but was cut from the final film. Rumors began to circulate that Apocalypse Now had several endings, but Richard Beggs , who worked on

8118-467: The several unsuccessful attempts to adapt it into a movie. Blacker challenged his class by saying, "No screenwriter has ever perfected a film adaption of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness ." Coppola gave Milius $ 15,000 to write the screenplay with the promise of an additional $ 10,000 if it were green-lit . Milius claims that he wrote the screenplay in 1969. He wanted to use Conrad's novel as "a sort of allegory. It would have been too simple to have followed

8217-464: The societal conflict. In its classification of films by genre, the American Film Institute limits the genre to historical films such as Ben-Hur . However, film scholars such as Constantine Santas are willing to extend the label to science-fiction films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars . Lynn Ramey suggests that "Surely one of the hardest film genres to define is that of

8316-418: The sound elements, said, "There were never five endings, but just the one, even if there were differently edited versions." These rumors came from Coppola departing frequently from the original screenplay. Coppola admitted that he had no ending because Brando was too fat to play the scenes as written in the original script. With the help of Dennis Jakob, Coppola decided the ending could be "the classic myth of

8415-483: The time and resources to record jungle sounds and ambient noises. Murch and his crew fabricated the mood of the jungle on the soundtrack. Apocalypse Now used novel sound techniques for a movie, as Murch insisted on recording the most up-to-date gunfire and employed the Dolby Stereo 70 mm Six Track system for the 70 mm release, which used two channels of sound behind the audience as well as three channels from behind

8514-526: The waist, making it appear that Kurtz was a 6-foot 6-inch (198 cm) giant. Many of Brando's speeches were ad-libbed, with Coppola filming hours of footage of these monologues and then cutting them down to the most interesting parts. Filming was put on a week-long hiatus so that Brando and Coppola could resolve their creative disputes. It is claimed that someone left Joseph Conrad 's source text from Heart of Darkness (1899), which Coppola had repeatedly referred to Brando but which Brando had never read, in

8613-433: The war was still going on. However, due to the studios' safety concerns and Lucas's involvement with American Graffiti , and later Star Wars , Lucas decided to put the project on hold. Coppola was drawn to Milius's script, which he described as "a comedy and a terrifying psychological horror story," and acquired the rights. In the spring of 1974, he discussed with friends and co-producers Fred Roos and Gray Frederickson

8712-411: The war. Well, you see Willard, in this war, things get confused out there: power, ideals, the old morality, practical military necessity. But out there with these natives, it must be a temptation to be god, because there's a conflict in every human heart, between the rational and the irrational, between good and evil, and good does not always triumph. Sometimes, the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called

8811-617: The world, such as India where it's flourishing Bollywood industry produced the landmark Mughal-E Azam (1960), which is widely considered as one of the greatest films of all time and a milestone in Asian epics. This boom period of international co-productions is generally considered to have ended with Cleopatra (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). Nevertheless, films in this genre continued to appear, with one notable example being War and Peace , which

8910-869: The world. He said he wanted to take the audience "through an unprecedented experience of war and have them react as much as those who had gone through the war." In 1975, Coppola hoped for cooperation from the United States Army and scouted military locations in Georgia and Florida, but the Army was not interested. While promoting The Godfather Part II in Australia, Coppola and his producers scouted possible locations for Apocalypse Now in Cairns in northern Queensland , as it had jungle resembling Vietnam's, and in Malaysia. He decided to make

9009-441: Was Gone with the Wind (1939), also an epic, with ten awards. Colonel Kurtz Colonel Walter E. Kurtz , portrayed by Marlon Brando , is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Francis Ford Coppola 's 1979 film Apocalypse Now . Colonel Kurtz is based on the character of a nineteenth-century ivory trader, also called Kurtz , from the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad . Walter Kurtz

9108-715: Was a career officer in the United States Army; he was a third-generation West Point graduate who had risen through the ranks and was seen to be destined for a top post within the Pentagon . A dossier read by the narrator, Captain Willard , implies that Kurtz saw action in the Korean War after receiving a master's degree in history from Harvard University . He later graduated from the US Army Airborne School . In 1964,

9207-501: Was encouraged by his friends George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to write a Vietnam War film. Milius had wanted to volunteer for the war, and was disappointed when he was rejected for having asthma. He came up with the idea for adapting the plot of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam War setting. He had read the novel as a teenager and was reminded about it when his college screenwriting professor, Irwin Blacker of USC, mentioned

9306-448: Was released in the former Soviet Union during 1967–1968. Epic films continue to be produced, although since the development of CGI they typically use computer effects instead of an actual cast of thousands. Since the 1950s, such films have regularly been shot with a wide aspect ratio for a more immersive and panoramic theatrical experience. Epic films were recognized in a montage at the 2006 Academy Awards . The enduring popularity of

9405-489: Was this passage from Heart of Darkness, which ends with Kurtz's final words: Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision, – he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath – When Willard is first introduced to Dennis Hopper's character, the photojournalist describes his own worth in relation to that of Kurtz with: "I should have been

9504-500: Was too advanced for Special Forces training. Kurtz continued with his ambition and even threatened to quit the armed forces, when finally his wish was granted and he was allowed to take the airborne course. Kurtz graduated in a class where he was nearly twice the age of the other trainees and was accepted into the Special Forces Training, and eventually into the 5th Special Forces Group . Kurtz returned to Vietnam in 1966 with

9603-407: Was too busy to record the voice-over narration so Estevez, whose voice was almost identical to his brother's, was called back in to record the narration instead. Murch had problems trying to make a stereo soundtrack for Apocalypse Now because sound libraries had no stereo recordings of weapons. The sound material brought back from the Philippines was inadequate because the small location crew lacked

9702-401: Was used prominently in the movie. It is considered that the character of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore is based on several characters, including John B. Stockton, commander of the 1st Squadron , 9th Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam, and infantry general James F. Hollingsworth . In the film, shortly before Colonel Kurtz dies, he recites part of T. S. Eliot 's poem " The Hollow Men ." The poem

9801-623: Was widely acclaimed, several critics found Coppola's handling of the story's major themes anticlimactic and intellectually disappointing. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards , including Best Picture , Best Director (Coppola), and Best Supporting Actor (Duvall); it went on to win Best Cinematography and Best Sound . Apocalypse Now is retrospectively considered one of the greatest films ever made ; it has been assessed as Coppola's masterpiece and appeared on various best-of films in 20th-century and of all time lists. In 2000,

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