At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.
Direction
Coppola lost his mind so you could feel this.
Cinematography
Vittorio Storaro turned napalm into poetry.
Sound
Those helicopters. That synth. Pure dread.
Director
Francis Ford Coppola
Martin Sheen
Captain Benjamin Willard
Marlon Brando
Colonel Walter Kurtz
Frederic Forrest
Jay 'Chef' Hicks
Albert Hall
Chief Phillips
Laurence Fishburne
Tyrone 'Clean' Miller
Sam Bottoms
Lance B. Johnson
Robert Duvall
Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore
G.D. Spradlin
General Corman
Harrison Ford
Colonel
Scott Glenn
Lieutenant Richard M. Colby
James Keane
Kilgore's Gunner
Tom Mason
Supply Sergeant
Cynthia Wood
Playmate of the Year
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Marlon Brando showed up 40 pounds overweight and hadn't read Heart of Darkness. Coppola read him the book aloud while filming improvised scenes.
The 'Ride of the Valkyries' helicopter attack was originally mocked as too absurd—then became the defining image of Vietnam in pop culture.
US
