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
