Apocalypse Now

"This is the end..."

1979 2h 27m EN

🙌

8.3

BANGER

🔥

91%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

8.4

IMDB

★8.3TMDB · 9,446🍅91%Rotten Tomatoes●94Metacritic★8.4IMDB · 769,246

DramaWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

“This is the end...”

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Cast

Martin Sheen
Captain Benjamin Willard
Marlon Brando
Colonel Walter Kurtz
Frederic Forrest
Jay 'Chef' Hicks
Albert Hall
Chief Phillips
Laurence Fishburne
Tyrone 'Clean' Miller
Sam Bottoms
Lance B. Johnson
Robert Duvall
Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore
G.D. Spradlin
General Corman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers: John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola
Languages: Khmer, English, French, Vietnamese
Countries: United States of America, Philippines

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

47 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Khmer, English, French, Vietnamese.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Philippines.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

238+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, shot by Vittorio Storaro. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Carmine Coppola. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Lisa Fruchtman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Francis Ford Coppola directs. Vittorio Storaro behind the camera. Carmine Coppola scores. Lisa Fruchtman cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Philippines. Dialogue in Khmer, English, French, Vietnamese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 4.8× over at the box office.
247 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Khmer, English, French, Vietnamese.
4International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Philippines.
5238+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, shot by Vittorio Storaro. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Carmine Coppola. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Lisa Fruchtman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando and Frederic Forrest carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "This is the end...".
11IMDB entry: tt0078788 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 26 themes, including "guerrilla warfare", "vietnam war", "journalist", "mission".
13Released under 21 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Vittorio Storaro
Original score: Carmine Coppola
Editing: Lisa Fruchtman
Production design: Dean Tavoularis
Makeup / hair: Fred C. Blau Jr.
Sound: Walter Murch
Stunt coordinator: Terry Leonard
Runtime: 147 min · 2h 27m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $31,500,000
Box office: $150,000,000
Return: 476% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Apocalypse Now (1979)
Rotten Tomatoes: 91% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 94/100
IMDB rating: 8.4/10 · 769,246 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Won 2 Oscars. 21 wins & 33 nominations total

Palme d'Or
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Sound
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Francis Ford Coppola

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Ian Beale2017-02-14
★ 5/10
Ponderous, meandering epic with a few bright spots. This film is about a soldiers quest to find a renegade and insane Colonel (a bald Brando in an extended cameo) who has hidden himself away in the depths of the jungle and is causing all manner of commotion. Quite what it was - I can't remember, but it was important enough to go down stream in search of him. Sheen's character decides to head down river with his fellow soldiers and seek out the bald lunatic before its too late. Robert Duvall is hilarious as a war immune soldier - especially when a shell explodes near him and he merely gives it a disinterested glance. Amusing! On the whole, though, this is a ponderous trip - the film seems to meander aimlessly with little to keep this viewer interested. - Ian Beale
Rocketeer Raccoon2017-06-20
★ 1/10
I think a lot of people who think this film is a classic are deranged, the only memorable scene in the film is when they drop exploding napalm and the guy in the hat says "I love the smell of napalm in the morning", the rest of the film is a completely boring bombshell and it's like the film was high on drugs as there's this one part where people are butchering a cow in the most grotesque way possible... poor cow, now I'm offended by this film. This film is just weird, the characters are not memorable at all not even Marlon Brando's character, the story is non-existent and the ending just sucks. Overall this film is absolutely terrible and I don't care what others think, I did not enjoy this film at all.
Wuchak2018-10-27
★ 10/10
One of the greatest films ever made The original "Apocalypse Now" is an awe-inspiring masterpiece and is my all-time favorite film. Memorable scenes abound, starting with the mind-blowing opening with Willard (Martin Sheen) having a mental breakdown in his sweltering Saigon hotel room to the tune of The Doors' "The End." Speaking of Sheen, people overlook the fact that he expertly carries the film. His haunting commentary is one of the most effective narrations in cinematic history and hooks the viewer into the nightmare-adventure. I could go on and on about the noteworthy scenes, but I'll resist, except to comment on Col. Kurtz: Was he really insane or actually a bold genius? General Corman informs Willard: "He's out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct. And he is still in the field commanding troops." And, yet, Kurtz was accomplishing what the US military couldn't or wouldn't do because of political complications and niceties. I bring this up because, as I've aged, I've come to see that I'M Kurtz in some ways -- operating "out there" beyond the parameters and restrictions typically linked to my work. The script was written by John Milius with alterations by Coppola as he shot the film whilst the narration was written by Michael Herr. The meaning of the story is obvious: The trip up the river led by Capt. Willard exposes him to two extreme viewpoints of war represented by the two colonels he encounters on his long journey, both of whose names start with 'K,' which is no accident: Lt. COL. KILGORE (Duvall) is a romantic who embraces war as a lifestyle and even feeds off it, i.e. glorifies it. The fact that he's a romantic can be observed in the air-raid on the village where he literally plays Wagner as a prologue. He feeds off the war to the extent that he "loves the smell of napalm in the morning." War is just another day to him so why not go surfing? Since he lives off of the war there's no way it can kill him or even give him a scratch. Kilgore naturally has the support of the top brass because he's part of the system and plays the game of war. COL. KURTZ (Brando), by contrast, sees through this hypocrisy. He realizes that being in a state of war is humanity gone mad. It's living horror and therefore must be ended through the quickest means possible at whatever cost. He refuses to play the game of war as he expertly takes out double agents, etc. Of course the brass can't have this so they put out a hit on Kurtz via Willard. The existential Kurtz becomes increasingly disillusioned -- even crazy -- after jumping ship from the system and now has no sanctuary. Death is the only way out. His consolation is that Willard will tell his son the truth. The "Redux" version was put together by Coppola and released in 2001 with the addition of 49 minutes of material that he originally cut, not to mention placing Clean's surfing scene later in the story. Coppola made the right decisions with his original 1979 edit of the film (2 hours, 33 minutes) since the extra footage of "Redux" tends to drag the film down with 1 or 2 scenes being dubiously scripted, e.g. the theft of Kilgore's surf board. Not every idea that is birthed during the creative process is worthy of the final product and "Redux" illustrates this. Thus the new footage of "Redux" should've arguably been relegated to the "deleted scenes" section. That said, I've warmed up to "Redux" and feel it's a worthy version of the film, but only if you've watched the Theatrical Cut and want more. "Redux" successfully fleshes out the characters and gives them more dimension, especially Willard and Kurtz. Plus the sequence involving Kurtz reading a couple of TIME magazine articles illustrates beyond any shadow of doubt that he wasn't insane and that the brass simply slandered him as crazy in order to justify the assassination of a decorated American officer. Coppola's preferred cut of the film is the "Final Cut," released in 2019, which runs a half hour longer than the Theatrical Cut. In other words, it trims the fat off of "Redux." There's also a "First Assembly" version, a bootleg, that runs 4 hours, 49 minutes. The film was shot in the Philippines. GRADE: A+