Epic war drama starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall. In Vietnam, war-weary Captain Willard is drawn into a nightmarish world when he is ordered to assassinate a rebel American officer, Colonel Kurtz, who has established his own private army deep in the Cambodian jungle.
Director Francis Coppola inherited a modest movie about the Vietnam War from writer John Milius and turned it into this phantasmagorical ride, in which Martin Sheen travels up the Mekong river to terminate Marlon Brando's rebel command "with extreme prejudice". Working under difficult conditions in the Philippines and running way over budget, Coppola delivered a harrowing masterwork that bursts with malarial, mystical images, such as Playboy playmates in the jungle and the Wagnerian helicopter attack that ends with marines surfing and Robert Duvall famously saying, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Notable faces in support include Harrison Ford and Dennis Hopper, the latter playing a photographer among the fanatical Brando followers. Coppola restored a whopping 50 minutes of extra footage for Apocalypse Now Redux, which was released in 2001.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Captain Willard | Martin Sheen |
| Colonel Kurtz | Marlon Brando |
| Lt Col Kilgore | Robert Duvall |
| Chef | Frederic Forrest |
| Chief | Albert Hall |
| Lance | Sam Bottoms |
| Clean | Laurence Fishburne |
| Photo journalist | Dennis Hopper |
| General | G D Spradlin |
| Colonel | Harrison Ford |
| Captain Richard Colby | Scott Glenn |
| Agent | Bill Graham |
| First Playmate | Cynthia Wood |
| Second Playmate | Colleen Camp |
| Third Playmate | Linda Carpenter |
| Soldier in trench | Jack Thibeau |
| Machine gunner | Damien Leake |
| Lieutenant Carlsen | Glenn Walken |
| Johnny from Malibu | Jerry Ross |
| Supply sergeant | Tom Mason |
| TV director | Francis Ford Coppola |
| TV cameraman | Vittorio Storaro |
| TV crew member | Dean Tavoularis |
| Helicopter pilot | R Lee Ermey |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Francis Ford Coppola |
