" You Need to assassinate this man as he is winning a war, we promised we wouldn't win "

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2009)

Americans have always won wars which involved great patriotism. World War I and II were global and fought in conjunction with our allies and were eventually brought to successful conclusions. After that, American wars were not successful as the goals and their ultimate purposes were hazy at best. The Viet-Nam war was a case in point. As the film "Apocalypse Now" tells it, a 'special opts' soldier, Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) is selected to travel up-country in Viet-Nam to assassinate or as they put it, 'terminate' the command of Colonel Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando) as he is doing something which the pentagon officials have promised the politicians they would not do. This determined American individual is winning the war and doing it with such field tactics and savage methods which in their mind boarder on the criminal. Williard is torn between admiration for his target and conviction for his mission. Along the way, the Captain sees just how insane the Viet-Nam war really is. One commander he meets Lt. Col Kilgore (Robert Duvall) borders on sheer lunacy with statements such as " I love the smell of Napalm in the morning." Another individual he meets is a photojournalist (Dennis Hopper) so impressed with Kurtz' ability to win the war, believes him to be not only mystical, but divine. The story is loosely based on Joseph Conrad's book 'Heart of Darkness' where the hero is sent not to kill him, but to save him. However in this adaptation Willard the assassin, who mimicking robot-like soldiers will follow orders regardless how insane those orders are. The great cast includes Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford and Scott Glenn as Lieutenant Colby make this film one of the truly memorable pictures of our time. Winning so many awards, its difficult to tell which aspect of the movie helped make this story a Classic. ****