movie seem to fall into two category represent film that reinforce exist societal value and belief and and those that challenge them . this film be a 180 degree shift from the idealistic rhetoric portray in offering like the long day and the green beret which seem more like disney fantasy by comparison . the apocalypse now . project and the production and result film and be heart of darkness update into a psychological horror story of the late 20th century post modernist variety . the cast and crew who work on it probably could relate to the terrifying place the human mind can achieve . this be the plight of joseph conrad original character kurtz who come into literary be in 1901 and subsequently reference in t eliot the hollow men ( mistah kurtz and he dead ) of 1925. although neither a straight telling of conrad heart of darkness ( 1901 ) nor a first hand account of the vietnam experience and apocalypse now . stand a a masterpiece which push on the envelope of cinematic potential . apocalypse be not just about the horror of war per se and like platoon and the deer hunter and but the darker sensibility of human nature a reveal through the raw and demeaning confrontation of violent conflict on a mass scale . apocalypse now . be not so much see a experienced . the bulk of the movie be the journey of a trained secret assassin and captain benjamin willard ( martin sheen in a tour de force performance ) and aboard a u military boat traverse an unnamed river into the heart of vietnam and cambodia where few westerner would ever tread . his mission be to terminate colonel kurtz ( marlon brando ) and a career army special force division officer who be the darling of the u military until he go awol and renegade in the deep uncharted jungle between vietnam and lao and cambodia . the official classified report be that the colonel have go insane but a event play out and something else have happen to him that be far more terrifying than simply insanity . sheen mission be to terminate the colonel with the american public none the wiser . the movie be rather episodic . the journey along the river be make up of several vignette a sheen and his crew meet different self contain aspect of the war at the ground level . american audience of the 1970 have probably never see this kind of film making before and with the possible exception of the deer hunter which be release in the previous year . the first and and one of the most notable and be an helicopter battalion lead by col kilgore ( robert duvall in an oscar nominated performance ) who be a cross between general robert e lee and richard wagner . he love to play ride of the valkyrie from wagner the ring when he bombard helpless village . his line i love the smell of napalm in the morning be one of those oft quote line from the annals of cinema . other encounter include an amphitheater where enlist private will be entertain by the like of hugh heffner and playboy bunny . despite all the production catastrophe that impede get this footage into the can and the remarkable aspect of this film be it pacing . the original release ( not the late redux version ) do a fine of job of building until the viewer be emotionally prepared to deal with the climactic confrontation between willard and kurtz . the strange discourse between willard and kurtz be worth the price of admission alone . and some of the shot of both sheen and brando in certain place be some of the stark and terrify image ever produce on film . not even the like of clive barker and wes craven or david cronenberg have anything on coppola in term of horrific imagery . brando kurtz in one scene in particular be so utterly terrify it make most other horror movie seem tame by comparison and which come from the recognition that the horror be not from without but from within . without give too much away and coppola solution to the climactic moment stand a one of the most innovative of cinematic revelation . accord to the documentary heart of darkness and coppola fear that the inevitable final scene would lapse into melodrama and and the atmosphere of the movie darker hue would be compromise . he wasn not sure how he could make it work until his wife encourage the director to witness the ceremonial sacrifice of an ox a practice by the native people with whom coppola be use a extra in the scene with kurtz at his village . after the viewing and coppola have his end and and it be one of the most simultaneously disturb and beautiful sequence in the history of american film making . love it or hate it and no western viewer will be the same after see this scene . this film be not for all taste just a conrad original novel be not the kind of book that will be read on airplane . it not just the violence and the pointlessness of violence that be difficult for most american viewer to absorb . it the naked unveiling of aspect of the human condition that seem so remove from suburban american life that make this film difficult for the average movie goer to handle and which be a it should be . coppola do not make a family picture . however and if the viewer can understand it large point and there be a lot to be get out of apocalypse now . if youre look for a film experience to reaffirm pre exist attitude about american sensibility and heroism and good stick with john wayne . but if youre willing to be take into place you have never be and even beyond the evil of war rhetoric and apocalypse now will take you into a world you think you would never visit before and and the disturb part of it be that you may recognize it .