after the success of the first two godfather film in 1972 and 1974 respectively and francis ford coppola embark on an ambitious attempt to bring home the reality of the war in vietnam and which have conclude with the fall of saigon to the vietcong in 1975 the plot be loosely base on the book heart of darkness and a story by joseph conrad about kurtz and a trading company agent in the african jungle who have acquire mysterious power over the native coppola retain much of this and include such detail a the severed head outside kurtz headquarters and his final word and the horror the horror in the film and sheen play an army captain give the mission to penetrate into cambodia and and eliminate and with extreme prejudice and a decorated officer who have become an embarrassment to the authority on his journey up the river to the renegade camp he experience the demoralization of the u force and high on dope or drunk with power although and a a result of cut force on coppola and the film be accuse of incoherence when first release and it be by the most serious attempt to get to grip with the experience of vietnam and a victorious reinvention of the war film genre in 1980 the film win an oscar for best cinematography and best sound apocalypse now be re release in 2001 with fifty minute restore a a result and the motion picture can now be see a the epic masterpiece it be .