Apocalypse Now

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Apocalypse Now

R

1979

2h 27m

War

Drama

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Popcornmeter

91%

Tomatometer

148 Reviews

94%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who has reportedly gone completely mad. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall), and a crazed freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness.

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Critics Consensus

A voyage to hell where the journey is more satisfying than the destination, Francis Ford Coppola's haunting, hallucinatory Vietnam War epic is cinema at its most audacious and visionary.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

09/23/2024

4/4

Years and years from now, when Coppola’s budget and his problems have long been forgotten, “Apocalypse” will still stand, I think, as a grand and grave and insanely inspired gesture of filmmaking.

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Gene Siskel

Chicago Tribune

09/23/2024

2.5/4

It's precisely in the last 25 minutes that Apocalypse Now dissolves into gibberish. I've seen the film three times with two different endings, and neither ending has been satisfactory. That's because the problem with the picture isn't at its very end.

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Bruce McCabe

Boston Globe

09/23/2024

Some critics fault Coppola for not delivering a seamless, flawless film. But this is to misperceive and misread the film in a crucial way. The film by definition couldn't be flawless. It attempts too much.

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Carson Timar

ClapperCast

Dec 17

A projection of madness, Apocalypse Now is perhaps the most important text in Coppola's filmography and remains an incredibly worthy and relevant journey through the jungle, which looks at the nature of both power and chaos.

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Megan Fisher

Loud and Clear Reviews

01/11/2025

It’s an enthralling, powerful miracle of a movie.

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Peter V

Jan 25

Revisiting Apocalypse Now in 2025 is a strangely dissonant experience. You don’t go into Francis Ford Coppola’s hallucinatory odyssey unaware of what’s coming. You know the helicopters will rise over the horizon. You know Wagner’s "Ride of the Valkyries" will thunder triumphantly as American forces descend on a Vietnamese village. You know the spectacle of destruction—operatic, choreographed, unforgettable—will unfold with a kind of terrible beauty. And because you know it, the emotional impact shifts. What once shocked now feels like a moral burden you’re bracing for. The scene is meant to expose the absurdity and cruelty of American military power, yet its scale and bravura filmmaking can feel like they’re pulling in the opposite direction. I don’t want to infect my soul with unnecessary death and destruction.

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Johannes S

Jan 24

What an absolutely stunning and abstract war movie. Probably the greatest effort to produce authenticity ever. It keeps your eyes glued to the screen! Also, CHARLIE DON'T SURF!

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Sharar R.

@sharar10 Jan 15

Ending was anticlimactic

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Guillermo A

@Guillermo.Almeida Jan 13

Return my damn surfboard!

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Patrick S

@PatrickStruik Jan 2

The best Vietnam war movie ever made.

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Kelsey W.

@moonlit Dec 15

First 2/3rds of the movie are stellar. The last bit is a hard watch.

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Francis Ford Coppola

Director

Marlon Brando

Colonel Kurtz

Martin Sheen

Captain Willard

Robert Duvall

Lt. Col. Kilgore

Frederic Forrest

Chef

Albert Hall

Chief

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Synopsis

In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who has reportedly gone completely mad. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall), and a crazed freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Producer: Kim Aubry
Screenwriter: Joseph Conrad, John Milius, Michael Herr
Distributor: United Artists, Miramax Films, Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Zoetrope Studios
Rating: R
Genre: War, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 15, 1979, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 29, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $74.4K
Runtime: 2h 27m
Sound Mix: Surround

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