The cynical tone and downbeat ending of this film, while viewing Vietnam with extraordinarily acuity, was difficult for audiences to swallow. We were so confused about Vietnam. The Deer Hunter succeeded astounding well because it did not deal with the realities of the war but created it own central image. In some ways it was also a very patriotic film that did not force the public to make a direct confrontation with the mistakes of the Vietnam years. Apocalypse Now is another seminal Vietnam movie.
Apocalypse Now is the perfect evocation of the insanity of and absurdity of war.
Whether or not the events depicted in the film bare any relation to truth or accuracy makes little difference. The film distills the very essence of the insanity into its purest form. Apocalypse Now , a window of opportunity presented itself for Oliver Stone to attempt a small budget project that reflected his own experiences as a Vietnam dog soldier. This was to be Stone's third film as director in a dozen years during which his greatest successes were as a screenwriter of Scarface and Midnight Express. He had been hoping to make this film for a number of years, but the trepidation of Hollywood toward Vietnam had continued.