i first saw apocalypse now in 1985 when it be broadcast on british television for the first time . i be shell shock after see this masterpiece and despite some close competition from the like of fellowship of the ring this movie still remain my all time favourite nearly 20 year after i first saw it this lead to the problem of how i can even begin to comment on the movie . i could praise the technical aspect especially the sound and editing and cinematography but everyone else seem to have praise ( rightly too ) these achievement to high heaven while the performance in general and robert duvall in particular have also be note and and everyone else have mention the stark imagery of the dou long bridge and the montage of the boat travel upriver after pass through the border how about the script . francis ford coppola be best know a a director but he everyway a genius a a screenwriter a he be a a director and i say be in the past tense because make this movie seem to have burn out every creative brain cell in his head and but his sacrifice be worth it . in john milius original solo draft we have a script that just a insane and disturbing a the one on screen and but coppola involvement in the screenplay have inject a narrative that exactly mirror that of war . check how the screenplay start off all jingoistic and macho with a star turn by bill kilgore who wouldn not have look out of place in the green beret but the more the story progress the more shocking and insane everything becomes and so much so that by the time reach kurtz outpost the audience be watch another film in much the same way a the character have sail into another dimension . when coppola state this movie isn not about vietnam it be vietnam he right . what start off a a patriotic war to defeat communist aggression in the mid 1960s have by the film setting ( the manson trial suggest it 1970 ) have change america view of both the world and itself and of the world view of america it the insane beauty of apocalypse now that make it a masterwork of cinema and say more in it running time about the brutality of conflict and the hypocrisy of politician ( what do you do in the vietnam war mr president . ) than michael moore could hope to say in a lifetime . i have not see the redux version but watch the original print i do not feel there be anything miss from the story which like all truly great film be very basic . in fact the premise can lend itself to many other genre like a western where an army officer have to track down and kill a renegade colonel who lead an injun war party and or a sci fi movie where a un assassin be to eliminate a fellow un soldier who lead a resistance movement on mar and though this be probably down to joseph conrad original source novelmy all time favourite movie and it very fit that i choose this movie to be my one thousandth review at the imdb .