Apocalypse Now

***Apocalypse Now*** is a 1979 American epic drama movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

It tells a fictional story which takes place in the 1960s during the Vietnam War. It tells the story of an Army Captain who is sent on a boat deep into the Cambodian jungle to capture a Special Forces colonel who, it is suggested, has gone insane. It was partly based on Joseph Conrad's novel about a journey down the Congo River, _Heart of Darkness_.

It is now thought to be a great movie, but in the making it ran into problems. Its key star Martin Sheen, is on the screen for almost all the movie. He had a breakdown, and a heart attack. Editing the mile plus of film took years. It was unfinished when it was shown in the Cannes Film Festival.

_Apocalypse Now_ is today considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards at the 52nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Coppola), and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Duvall. It went on to win for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. It ranked #14 in _Sight & Sound_s greatest films poll in 2012, and #6 in the Director's Poll of greatest films of all time.

The film as now shown on streaming channels is the Director's "Final Cut". This was first shown in 2019 at the Tribeca Film Festival. It runs for 3 hours, 3 minutes.

## Awards and honors

|Award|Category|Nominee|Result||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan=8|52nd Academy Awards|Best Picture|Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Roos, Gray Frederickson and Tom Sternberg||
|Best Director|Francis Ford Coppola||||
|Best Actor in a Supporting Role|Robert Duvall||||
|Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium|John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola||||
|Best Sound|Walter Murch, Mark Berger, Richard Beggs, and Nat Boxer||||
|Best Art Direction|Art Direction: Dean Tavoularis and Angelo P. Graham; Set Decoration: George R. Nelson||||
|Best Cinematography|Vittorio Storaro||||
|Best Film Editing|Richard Marks, Walter Murch, Gerald B. Greenberg and Lisa Fruchtman||||
|1979 Cannes Film Festival|Palme d'Or|_Apocalypse Now_|||
|rowspan=2|1st American Movie Awards|Best Actor|Martin Sheen||
|Best Supporting Actor|Robert Duvall||||
|rowspan=9|33rd British Academy Film Awards|Best Film|_Apocalypse Now_||
|Best Actor|Martin Sheen||||
|Best Supporting Actor|Robert Duvall||||
|Best Direction|Francis Ford Coppola||||
|Best Original Film Music|Carmine Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola||||
|Best Cinematography|Vittorio Storaro||||
|Best Editing|Richard Marks, Walter Murch, Gerald B. Greenberg, and Lisa Fruchtman||||
|Best Production Design|Dean Tavoularis||||
|Best Soundtrack|Nathan Boxer, Richard Cirincione, Walter Murch||||
|5th César Awards|Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger)|Francis Ford Coppola|||
|David di Donatello Awards|Best Foreign Director (Migliore Regista Straniero)|Francis Ford Coppola|||
|32nd Directors Guild of America Awards|Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures|Francis Ford Coppola|||
|rowspan=4|37th Golden Globe Awards|Best Motion Picture – Drama|Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Roos, Gray Frederickson, and Tom Sternberg||
|Best Director|Francis Ford Coppola||||
|Best Supporting Actor|Robert Duvall||||
|Best Original Score|Carmine Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola||||
|22nd Annual Grammy Awards|Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture|Carmine Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola|||
|1979 National Society of Film Critics Awards|Best Supporting Actor|Frederic Forrest|||
|32nd Writers Guild of America Awards|Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen|John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola|||

- American Film Institute lists
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – No. 28
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
    - "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." – No. 12
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – No. 30

## Infobox (movie)

- **name**: Apocalypse Now
- **producer**: Francis Ford Coppola
- **director**: Francis Ford Coppola
- **screenplay**: John Milius
Francis Ford Coppola
- **narrator**: Michael Herr
- **starring**: Marlon Brando
 Robert Duvall
 Martin Sheen
 Laurence Fishburne
 Dennis Hopper
 Harrison Ford
- **music**: Carmine Coppola & Francis Ford Coppola
- **cinematography**: Vittorio Storaro
- **editing**: Lisa Fruchtman
Gerald B. Greenberg
Walter Murch
- **distributor**: United Artists
- **released**: May 10, 1979
- **runtime**: 153 minutes
- **country**: United States
- **language**: English
- **budget**: $31,500,000