full title Apocalypse Now
director Francis Ford Coppola
leading actors Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando
supporting actors Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Albert Hall, Frederic
Forrest, Laurence Fishburne (credited Larry Fishburne), Sam Bottoms
type of work Feature film
genre War film (Vietnam)
language English
time and place produced Shot February 1976 through May 1977 in
the Philippines; postproduction took place in California from May 1977 to
May 1979
awards
· 1979 Academy Awards:
· Winner, Best Cinematography (Vittorio Storaro)
· Winner, Best Sound (Walter Murch, Mark Berger, Richard
Beggs, and Nathan Boxer)
· Nominated, Best Picture (Francis Ford Coppola, Fred
Roos, Gray Frederickson, and Tom Sternberg)
· Nominated, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Robert
Duvall)
· Nominated, Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola)
· Nominated, Best Screenplay Based on Another Medium
(John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola)
· Nominated, Best Art Direction (Dean Tavoluaris and
Angelo Graham, art direction; Ian Whittaker, set decoration)
· Nominated, Best Film Editing (Richard Marks, Walter
Murch, Gerald B. Greenberg, and Lisa Fruchtman)
· 1979 Cannes Film Festival
· Winner, Golden Palm Award
· Winner, FIPRESCI Prize
· 1980 American Movie Marquee
· Winner, Best Supporting Actor (Robert Duvall)
· 1980 British Academy of Film
and Television Award
· Winner, Best Direction (Francis Ford Coppola)
· 1980 David Di Donatello Award
for Best Director of a Foreign Film (Francis Ford
· 1980 Golden Globes
· Winner, Best Director, Motion Picture (Francis Ford
Coppola)
· Winner, Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role
(Robert Duvall)
· Winner, Best Original Score in a Motion Picture (Carmine Coppola,
Francis Ford Coppola)
· 1980 Germany’s Golden Screen
Award
· 1980 National Society of Film
Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (Frederic Forrest)
· 1981 London Critics Film Circle
award for Film of the Year
date of release 1979
producers
· Francis Ford Coppola (credited as Francis Coppola)
· Coproduced by Fred Roos, Gray Frederickson, and Tom Sternberg
setting (time) 1968
setting (place) Vietnam
protagonist U.S. army captain Benjamin Willard
major conflict Willard must struggle against the horrors and hypocrisies
of war and the darkness within himself to complete his mission and
kill Colonel Kurtz.
rising action As Willard works his way upriver to Kurtz, his target,
he faces and participates in several of the war’s atrocities and
absurdities, including a preemptive air strike on a Vietnamese village,
a seedy USO show, and an attack on innocent Vietnamese peasants
in a sampan, leading him to realize fully the futility of war and question
whether he will complete his mission and kill Kurtz, a man whom
he has come to admire and emulate to a disturbing degree.
climax Willard’s mud-covered emergence from the river cements
his Kurtzlike transformation and signals that he has given in to
the dark side of his nature and will murder Kurtz in a ruthless, ritualistic
fashion.
falling action After murdering Kurtz, Willard is given the opportunity
to replace the colonel as a godlike figure. In rejecting this opportunity,
he rejects the acceptance of human evil as king.
themes The hypocrisy of Western imperialism; madness as a
result of war; the emptiness of American values
motifs Darkness; escape; home
symbols Masks; the river; fog
foreshadowing The film opens with helicopters lurking ominously over
the jungle, accompanied by the Doors’ moody song “The End”; Chef
and Willard encounter a tiger when they venture off the boat to
look for mangoes; Willard murders the Vietnamese peasant woman in
the sampan; Lance smears his face with paint like the members of
Kurtz’s army
