Useless Movie Trivia For
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
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Memorable Movie Quotes
Kurtz: I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight... razor... and surviving.
Willard: If that's how Kilgore fought the war I began to wonder what they really had against Kurtz. It wasn't just insanity and murder, there was enough of that to go around for everyone.
Willard: Oh man, the shit piled up so fast in Vietnam you needed wings to stay above it.
Willard: No wonder Kurtz put a weed up Command's ass. The war was being run by a bunch of four star clowns who were gonna end up giving the whole circus away.
Willard: Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another.
Willard: They were gonna make me a major for this, and I wasn't even in their fuckin' army anymore.
Kurtz: We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene!
Kilgore: I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...
Willard: The 1st of the 9th was a old calvary division that traded in their horses for helicopters, and went tear-assing around 'Nam looking for the shit...
Willard: Someday this war's gonna end. That'd be just fine with the boys on the boat. They weren't looking for anything more than a way home. Trouble is, I'd been back there, and I knew that it just didn't exist anymore.
Kilgore: I will not hurt or harm you. Just give me back the board, Lance. It was a good board - and I like it. You know how hard it is to find a board you like.
Trivia
George Lucas was originally set to direct "Apocalypse Now" from a screenplay by John Milius. Lucas' initial plan was to shoot the movie as a faux documentary on location in South Vietnam while the war was still in progress. Francis Ford Coppola, who was to be the executive producer, tried to get the film made as part of a production deal with Warner Bros. The deal fell through, and Coppola went on to direct The Godfather (1972). By the time both men were powerful enough to get the film made, Saigon had fallen and Lucas was busy making Star Wars (1977). Milius had no interest in directing the film. Lucas gave Coppola his blessing to direct the film himself.
While in pre-production, director Francis Ford Coppola consulted his friend and mentor Roger Corman for advice about shooting in the Phillipines. Corman's advice: "Don't go."
The back of the seat in the forward turret of the PBR (Lance's position) has the words "God's country" written on it. The steel shield protecting the turret on the back of the boat is imprinted with the words "Canned Heat".
Francis Ford Coppola believed that Marlon Brando was familiar with Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and had prepared for the role before the legendary actor arrived on the set. When Brando did come out, Coppola was horrified to find that Brando had never read "Heart of Darkness", did not know his lines, and had become extremely fat (Kurtz had always been written as a tall but starvingly-thin man). After some panicking, Coppola decided to film the 5'10" Brando as if he was a massively built, 6'5" brute (to explain Brando's size) and steered the camera clear of Brando's huge belly.
Martin Sheen was actually drunk in the scene where Willard is drunk alone in his hotel room. All of Sheen's actions in that scene were a result of his real intoxication. When Sheen punched the mirror (which was real glass), he really did cut his hand as shown in the film. While drunk, Sheen also began sobbing and tried to attack Francis Ford Coppola.
When Francis Ford Coppola asked Al Pacino to play Willard, Pacino turned him down saying, "I know what this is going to be like. You're going to be up there in a helicopter telling me what to do, and I'm gonna be down there in a swamp for five months." The shoot actually lasted 16 months.
Marlon Brando so angered Francis Ford Coppola that the director turned over the filming of Brando's scenes to Jerry Ziesmer, the assistant director.
Francis Ford Coppola lost 100 pounds while filming.
Martin Sheen had a heart attack during the filming and some shots of Willard's back are of doubles, including Sheen's brother who was flown out specially. Coppola was so worried that backing would be withdrawn by the studio and distributor if news of Sheen's heart attack leaked out, that he kept it quiet, even to the extent of explaining Sheen's hospitalization as being due to "heat exhaustion" in the official Shoot Schedule.
Coppola shot nearly 200 hours of footage for this film.
During some sequences, the sound of the helicopters was created on a synthesizer to blend in with the music.
Marlon Brando was paid $1 million in advance. He threatened to quit and keep the advance. Coppola told his agent that he didn't care, and if they couldn't get Brando, they would try Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, and then Al Pacino. Brando eventually turned up late, drunk, 40kg overweight, and admitted he hadn't read the script or even "Heart of Darkness", the book it was based on. He read Coppola's script, and refused to do it. After days of arguments over single lines of dialogue, an ad-lib style script was agreed upon, and this was shot according to Brando's stipulations that he appears in shadows.
Some of the photographs in the dossier on Col. Kurtz are taken from Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) in which Marlon Brando played an Army officer.
The character played by Harrison Ford wears a name badge that reads "Lucas". George Lucas directed Ford in American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977), two films which made Ford famous. G.D. Spradlin's character is named "R. Corman", after producer Roger Corman.
Laurence Fishburne lied about his age (he was 14 at the time) when production began in 1976.
The character of the photojournalist (Dennis Hopper) was reportedly inspired by legendary photographer Tim Page, author of "Nam" and "Derailed in Uncle Ho's Victory Garden", among others.
Besides being a straightforward pun, Col. Kilgore's name is also the name of the hometown of a gung-ho helicopter door gunner described by writer Michael Herr in his book "Dispatches".
Carmine Coppola (director's father) wrote the score for this film.
John Milius originally wrote the script in 1969. It was then known as "The Psychedelic Soldier".
Was voted "Best Picture of the last 25 years" by the Dutch movie magazine 'Skrien' on December 3rd 2002
The first film to use the 70mm Dolby Stereo surround sound system.
The canteen scene with Lt. Col. Kilgore and the wounded Viet Cong is based on an actual incident. The real-life army officer really did say, "Any man brave enough to fight with his guts strapped to him can drink from my canteen any day".
One of the sequences cut from the original release version but added to the "Redux" version is a sequence featuring the soldiers making out with two Playboy playmates. Colleen Camp was the playmate surrounded by birds. Camp said her character trained birds at Busch Gardens; Camp actually did this in real life.
The movie's line "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." was voted as the #12 movie quote by the American Film Institute.
The visit by the Playboy Playmates was based on an actual visit by 1965 Playmate of the Year Jo Collins. She was so popular with the troops that she was made an honorary GI. The Playmate of the Year character in the movie was played by 'Cyndi Wood (I)' , who was herself Playmate of the Year in 1974.
Francis Ford Coppola invested several million dollars of his own money in the film after it went severely over budget.
Francis Ford Coppola threatened suicide several times during the making of the film.
The scene at the beginning with Captain Willard alone in his hotel room was completely unscripted. It was the last scene to be shot, and Martin Sheen told the shooting crew to just let the cameras roll. The crew was so disturbed by his actions, such as punching the mirror, then rubbing the fresh blood on his face that they wanted to stop shooting, but director Francis Ford Coppola wanted to keep the cameras going.
Goof
The maximum gross weight of a Huey helicopter is 10,500 pounds. It would be impossible for such an aircraft to lift a Patrol Boat, Riverine (PBR) which weighs anywhere between 15,000 and 19,000 pounds.
After the canopy of the boat is destroyed and is replaced by giant leaves, the canopy reappears while they are at the bridge. In subsequent shots after, the canopy is gone again and replaced by the leaves.
When attacking the village, Kilgore's helicopter has rocket pods on each side and no surfboards. When it lands it has surfboards on each side and no rocket pods.
The tape player that "Clean" picks up to play his mother's taped letter has no batteries in the bottom.
Willard's band-aid on his face appears out of nowhere during the battle scene with Kilgore, a few moments after their helicopter lands.
When the Playboy chopper takes off with the two men holding on you can see a safety wire holding the man who partially drops when the pants of the other man partially give way.
During the air-strike on the village, Kilgore calls for "20 mike-mike Vulcan" to be shot from the Huey gunship. The UH-1 Huey does not carry an M-61A1 20mm Vulcan cannon. The Gatling gun which that is shown being shot is a Minigun, which shoots a 7.62mm NATO (.308 cal. Winchester) cartridge.
LTC Kilgore's stetson hat has a rank insignia on it when he is first seen, but the rank is missing in the Ride of the Valkyries attack.
Many M16 rifles are shown with 30-round magazines installed. These were rarely used in Vietnam. The standard magazine of the Vietnam era was shorter, and held 20 rounds.
In The Credits
There are no opening credits in the film. The title can be seen as graffiti
in the Kurtz compound late in the film.
Box Office Info In USA
Budget $31,500,000
Gross $4,626,290 (USA) (15 November 2001)
Filming Dates: March 1976 - August 1977
Filming Locations
Philippines
Baler Bay, Baler, Luzon, Philippines
(beach with soldiers surfing)
Baler, Luzon, Philippines
(Helicopter attack on village)
Chavon River, Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Iba, Luzon, Philippines
Laguna, Luzon, Philippines
Luzon, Philippines
Metro Manila, Luzon, Philippines
Pagsanjan River, Philippines
(Magdapio River - Do Long Bridge)
Pagsanjan, Laguna, Luzon, Philippines
(Do Long Bridge - Kurtz' Compound)