During the U.S.-Viet Nam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe.
It is the height of the war in Vietnam, and U.S. Army Captain Willard is sent by Colonel Lucas and a General to carry out a mission that, officially, 'does not exist - nor will it ever exist'. The mission: To seek out a mysterious Green Beret Colonel, Walter Kurtz, whose army has crossed the border into Cambodia and is conducting hit-and-run missions against the Viet Cong and NVA. The army believes Kurtz has gone completely insane and Willard's job is to eliminate him! Willard, sent up the Nung River on a U.S. Navy patrol boat, discovers that his target is one of the most decorated officers in the U.S. Army. His crew meets up with surfer-type Lt-Colonel Kilgore, head of a U.S Army helicopter cavalry group which eliminates a Viet Cong outpost to provide an entry point into the Nung River. After some hair-raising encounters, in which some of his crew are killed, Willard, Lance and Chef reach Colonel Kurtz's outpost...
Written by Derek O'Cain
Scenes featuring Aurore Clément as the owner of a French plantation were filmed but cut from the finished picture. They were replaced in the 2001 "Redux" edition.
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Goofs
Continuity:
LTC Kilgore's helicopter wasn't carrying surfboards. He sent his helicopter with the injured child and his mother. His helicopter carried rocket pods which weren't present when it left (could have been released after the pods were emptied). The surfboards were on a helicopter to the left of Kilgore's.
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Quotes
[first lines]
Willard:
[voiceover]
Saigon... shit; I'm still only in Saigon... Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle. Willard:
When I was home after my first tour, it was worse.
[grabs at flying insect]
Willard:
I'd wake up and there'd be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said "yes" to a divorce. When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I'm here a week now... waiting for a mission... getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter. See more »
Crazy Credits
There are four different treatments of the end credits, all four are
available in different VHS, laserdisc, DVD and TV prints of the film......
When the film premiered in a limited 70mm format, it had no beginning or
end credits, nothing but a one-line Omni Zoetrope copyright notice at the
end. Programs were passed out to theater goers in lieu of any credits.
When the film went into its wide release its format was 35mm. This
version included end credits rolling over surrealistic explosions and
burning jungle, showing the Kurtz compound being destroyed.
When Coppola heard that people were assuming that the explosions during the
end credits of the 35mm version meant that an air strike had been called in
on the Kurtz compound (which is not what he wanted audiences to think) he
quickly re-edited the 35mm version to have the end credits rolling over a
simple black background and a slightly altered musical score.
The "Redux" version also has the end credits over a black background but in
different screen fonts and including additional "Redux" inserted cast
members.
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