I'd heard alot about this so called perfect Vietnam warfilm, so myself, being a strong fan of action films and war films so I was rather excited when I purchased this. Instead, I recieveed an overfantasised fairy tale like mess, which is far from being a classic.
First off, Martin Sheen is horrible as Cpt. Willard, far to soft to be anything like a true solo Special Operations man, not only is Sheen horrible, Fishbourne and numerous other characters are horrible and just dont fit into there roles. The biggest dissapointment, was Marlon Brando's, to me, shocking performance. Brando is hardly in it, and just acts like a complete moron with no knowledge at all.
If you can deal with the stroppy acting, then you can probably gain some good enjoyment out of the characters, or at least find a favourite. my personal favourite being Robert Duvall, who definately outshines the cast with his portrayal of Kilgore, who mutters the immortal quote 'I love the smell of Napalm in the mornin',
Casting aside, the story starts off extremely promising, with a cracking up Spec Ops general being sent after a rouge Colonel Kurtz, however this goes to hell early on. With the unrealistic surfing characters and randomly being attacked by tigers and unseen vietcong, the story loses all sense of realism and understanding around 3 quarters of the way through. In which the film decends into complete madness, that features Demi-Gods, Decapitations, War Tribes and a Freakish Old Man that lasts about 10 minutes.
There are of course some good points in the film, such as the epic helicopter march to 'Ride of the Valkyries' a true classic among many other memorable moments, such as the Playboy scene and the classic chilling character 'Roach' and the humurous 'Chef'.
In my opinion, all these add up to a slightly below average film which I am extremely dissapointed in Capolla in making, I agree with the original reviews, this is surely no classic, and is a farfetched, poorly produced and ridicilious film. Avoid if you think this is a classic, you will not understand anything at all, you have been warned.

This movie changed the art of film making, telling a complex story in a powerful new way. The film mixes brutal realism with fantasy, intercutting a modern war with strange scenes full of technicolour smoke. The film uses music not as a score laid in later, but as a practical part of the scene playing from speakers, radios etc. Coppola uses a classic piece of literature as inspiration, taking scenes and characters, and putting them into entirely different surroundings. That is a tricky and brave thing to do. Then he takes a superstar, Brando, pays him a fortune, and films him so that you can barely see his face. The pure guts that such a move requires is astounding, and it works beautifully. This movie belongs in the top ten. Stick with this not the redux.

Conrad's Heart Of Darkness retold in the madness of Vietnam replaces British colonialism with American hegemony. Coppola aided with a story by Lucas and Milius' flare for the flamboyant (Kilgore is the ultimate Milius hero), between them created the ultimate movie-brat feature.
The story of the making of Apocalypse Now is well documented in the excellent Hearts Of Darkness; heart attacks, civil war, drugs, all contibuted to Coppola's best work. From the napalm dissolves, to the Air Cav attack, through to the Playboy fiasco; he paints a canvas so rich, so arch that no other movie can quite match it's enigmatic grandeur. And infecting every frame is the lure of Kurtz-and Brando.
We are constantly reminded through snippets of Sheen's deadpan narration, files, muffled tape-recordings and service photographs that a confrontation between Sheen and Brando will come; but in a form that will disarm and frustrate the audiences' genre expectations.
For that reason alone Apocalypse Now deserves regular visits from anyone remotely interested in film because it's like comes around only once in a generation.

Godfather, Outsiders, Rumble Fish, The Conversation...

The list is endless of this great directors fine work, but in my opinion this is in fact his finest piece. The greatest war film of all time? It has an array of great actors Brando, Hopper, Ford, Fishbourne, Duvall. A fine story line set on the background of one of the most vicious and terrifying wars.
If you have not seen this film then you haven't experienced Cinema.
Every time I see this movie the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention.

The opening scene with the song 'this is the end' and the explosions coming in at the same time as lyrics just lets you know what your in for.

This film is really good, however it does get very dark towards the end.

The sergeant played by Robert Duvall is a great character, who is unintentially funny, cruel, and arrogant.
His character is so fascinating as he can standss there without flinching whilst explosions go off around him, and later we see him helping a native by offering him his cantine, and then upon hearing that the surfer lance is there forgets all about the dying man.

However, Sheen and Brando also act incredibly well in this film, Sheen especially. He comes across as an initally troubled character, and then as soon as he picks up his gun is in complete control.

A must-buy.

good war movie but really really weird and confusing. after i watched this movie with my dad we just sat there for like an hour trying to figure out what went on, but after the second watch it becomes clearer and less complicated and astually is a prety good film.
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The title may not sell the movie to you but when I say 2nd best that is not a bad thing as my best war movie is 'Saving Private Ryan'.

Apocolypse Now has been described as a masterpiece and I totally agree. Everytime I think of Vietnam the picture this film portray's is what comes to mind.

Brilliant performances from all actors. Please buy it as it is a historic movie in the war film category.

this film is amazing,Sheens and Brando's performance's in it are breath taking and Duvall as the gun hoh colonal is haunting and has alot of dark humour in it.
With classic scenes like the attack on the village while playing wagners ride of the valkaries this film has everything, and is the greatest war film of all time, like the reveiw above me said "buy it, it will make your day"