Best cinematography ever. You could not do this today. Coppala is extraordinarily gifted. So much going on in this scene and its historically accurate of the time. Robert Duvall should have gotten an Oscar for his role. So should have Sheen. Brilliant work all the way around. Apocalypse Now in my opinion is the best Vietnam war movie ever made. Platoon is second.
+François Royal No, if you saw the movie. The village was in a location accepted by both sides as "Charlie's point". The Colonel wanted to take it because it was a good location for surfing. He wanted to watch a new guy in the unit, who was a champion surfer, surf.
They plunder, they slaughter, and they steal: this they falsely name Empire, and where they make a wasteland, they call it peace. Calgagus was a Caledonian (Scotland) chieftain who fought the Romans
Well. Airmobile.... those boys just couldnt stay put. As a former Cav trooper, I can say that Duvall wearing that stetson and ascot is still our spirit animal. A half century later
Yeah, that's a GREAT hat Kilgore is wearing. Wish I could wear one, but it's just TOO cool. I'm afraid I'd fail to do it justice and come off like an doofus.
Coppolla said every actor on the set took a few weeks to find their way with respective characters but not Duvall, he arrived the complete article with Kilgore. Sheen said with all the explosions and helicopters flying around he felt unsafe but was stunned at Duvall walking through it all in complete character. What an actor.
Killgore is both a parallel to Kurtz and also a contrast. They both saw the same things but one of them handled it better than the other. A perfect reflection on how our leaders and our people saw Vietnam.
They literally shot the movie and took 2 years to edit it, and it really shows. Everything in scenes like this is a commentary on some aspect of the war. The callous nature with which the Lt Col drops the playing cards on corpses, how casually the Captain covers himself whenever a bomb goes off next to him, the American translator telling the locals that they're there to liberate them when bombs and fire are going off in the background destroying their village. I like movies that have something to say.
@Takeshi Matimoto Yes, actually, I do think that we in the free world are learning from media like this. Back when the US and Iran were seriously considering war a few years ago, I recall that Americans polled 80% against a war in Iran. And the US' treatment of the locals in the Middle-east has been a lot better than how the US treated the locals in Vietnam due to more oversight. I think that things are changing and that the US and other first world nations are becoming much more hesitant to invade other countries with outright military aggression, but it doesn't feel like it because we get bombarded with bad news 24/7 and we're still a ways off.
My dad always said that "The greatest lesson ever learned from the Viet-Nam war was don't let the American people see soldiers dying while they are eating their dinner." He was a WW2 and Korea vet and got called up for Viet Nam when he was 56, But he never wound up going, Had a mild heart attack 2 days before he was to report and was grounded.
Your dad's full of shit. They showed Americans dying on TV during WW2. The movie was called With the Marines at Tarawa and contrary to the assumption it would demoralize, it actually prompted support. The reason being people supported the war and its aims. The reason bodies seen on TV with Vietnam didn't is because it was not a moral conflict that deserved the support of the public. If you have to lie and deceive the people to get their support for a conflict that costs their citizens' lives and costs the lives of other people from over there then its not a cause worth fighting for. With all the power to control the narrative the government had they still couldn't convince the people. To suggest hiding it is to have contempt for democracy.
@@andrewbecker9062 Seeing the bloody cost is what got people to turn away from the Vietnam war, a thoroughly evil enterprise for any group of people to support. If it takes ruining your dinner then so be it. You sitting there comfy enjoying yourself while people get maimed and killed in the jungle? You shouldn't be allowed to be so ignorant.
Your father spoke the truth, war is brutal and not meant to be seen by civilians at home. Let these men fight and do what their country has asked of them. Once the public seen men with their intestines hanging out snd the media putting a spin on everything the people at home lost their support of the war and that’s not good for us to win. It should have been an all out war and we should of limited the media’s access. And let the military do what was needed. We would of won the war instead we won every battle and skermish which would of led to winning the war but politics won and we lost.
@@zero-nh3rj Close. Colonel Patton commanded the 11th ACR. Armored Cavalry Regiment, not air Cavalry. His motto was "Find the Bastards and Pile on! " PFC Killer, 3/11th, How Battery. 75-77.
This whole 10ish min scene is hilarious to me. The death cards, the procession while fire burns behind them, all the dead bodies with the PA "we are here to help you!" how passionate Kilgore gets about giving that guy water before completely ignoring him after one of his guys points out Lance. Its such a chaotic scene but it does a lot to show just how hopeless the fighting really was, bc all it did was ensure the locals hated us.
@@MAC-ws8fz Exactly! Lots of airborne units used that motto. Never saw it used by AirCav. “The horse that no one could ride. The river that couldn’t be crossed. The size of the lies they told. The color that told it all”. Never forgot those comments about the 1st Cav shoulder patch! Lol!
Yeah the actual flying and pyrotechnics made the movie. The actors reaction to explosions and debris was more believable than what CGI is now. CGI is okay for sci-fi movies but recreating actual battle reaction or car stunts nothing replaces the real thing.
Speaking as a writer, this moment could be to show willard has forgotten some ground rules while on furlough or because he dont usually operate in a battlefield situation, so dont know any diff.
@Leo Peridot I would agree with you. It was a dumb, useless war. Most of them are, and every country has their Vietnam. England had WW1. France had Vietnam. Germany had WW1 & WW2. Russia had WW1. The list goes on and on.
@@bkreed27 not that straight I guess.. I've seen a documentary of this film where he's toking up big time! And if I recall he was only 16 or 17 when this film was made.
I saw this film at the Post Theater at Fort Campbell, Kentucky as a member of the 101st. It came out in late '79 so a sizable portion of the audience we're Vietnam vets. It was quite an experience.
I saw this movie in a packed theater stoned out of my mind opening🙂 week-end August 1979 in New Jersey. "What do you know about surfing Major you're from God Damn New Jersey" The crowd roared!
I wonder if Martin's character intentionally stared at the camera to ensure the footage was never used and there would be no evidence of him being there. With the top secret mission and all
@@Kier4n99 He was on a top secret mission When Willard has the meeting with the Colonel and the CIA dudes WILLARD "Sir, I am unaware of any such activity or operation, nor would I be disposed to discuss an operation, if it did in fact exist, sir." He keeps his missions secret later COLONEL "You understand, Captain, that this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist." There is nothing in the script about your aspect VOICE (O.S.) "Go on, keep going. It's for television. Don't look at the camera." Willard and the two who are following stop incredulously, their M16s still in hand. But surely being on tv and keeping the mission secret would be a conflict!
i love how the talk about the arc light and say charlie dont ever see em or hear em man but later on down the river they pass under a downed B-52 pretty deep i love it
no there's the part with the helicopter and the little girl wearing the helmet but there's also a part where they pass underneath the tail wing on a b-52
you know John they say American Sniper passed it at the box office and Sniper was a good movie but with all the great actors and being about the Vietnam war I like better and with my dad and uncle also served there as well
Some critics didn’t like the Wizard Of Oz either and it was a financial box office flop and wasn’t until 10 years later in 1949 upon the re-release did it make any profit. ““It has dwarfs, music, technicolor, freak characters and Judy Garland,” Ferguson wrote. “It can’t be expected to have a sense of humor as well -- and as for the light touch of fantasy, it weighs like a pound of fruitcake soaking wet.””
"What happened Captain, Na Trang forgot all about your mission"? Duvall had so many great lines as Lt. Col. Killgore. His character was based on a real life dude named "Bullwhip Six" who made quite a name for himself in Vietnam, pissed the top brass off more than once. My kind of officer.
@Alexander Atkinson In 'nape? "Big Duke Six" was actor Duvall's call sign in the FILM, the real life character's nick-name/call sign was "Bull Whip Six". I researched it years ago, did you?
@Alexander Atkinson No worries, mate, throw another shrimp on the barbie and hand me a frosty :) The Aussies (and South Koreans) gave the VC and NVA a lot more trouble than the pathetic ARVN . Sorry about missing the term 'nape, that one flew right past me. "Willy Peter" (white phosphorus) was also a nasty weapon used against "Victor Charles".
I watched the film again last night for the first time in years. Duvall was incredible. Read a comment on another clip where someone said they "couldn't stand Kilgore because of his macho personality". They completely missed the point that the man is not full of bluster and machismo, he would require sanity to muster either. This is how his personality handles the madness of the situation he finds himself in. Any less and he would be unable to perform.
You do NOT salute in a combat zone and thus given possible enemy snipers to see who the officers are and you do NOT wear shiny badges of rank (as Lt. Col Kilgore does) for the same reason, to give snipers targets.....and we are here to help you !
I recommend The Critical Drinker's channel, one of his videos is an in-depth look at what it took to get this film made. Sheen had a heart attack, Coppola lost 100 lbs and had a nervous breakdown, Brando showed up obese and totally unprepared, etc. Yet the finished film is a masterpiece
The Viet Nam War was a tragedy. I know a few vets of it, including a South Nam guy who really appreciated the American soldiers who came to their defense. He watched the Viet Cong slaughter his neighbors. Mike was grateful to America and came here and ran his own deli in Tampa. Great guy
such an outstanding scene. completely absurd and chaotic, just the way it should be to introduce Lt.Col Kilgore.. it finely portrays his unorthodox leadership.
Great lines: "Don't look at the camera! Just go through like you're fighting. Don't look at camera!" I'm not looking at the camera, Francis. "We are here to help you..." Yes, of course you are.
I flew a F4 from early 70 to late 73, drop 3651 bombs , we were so close we could see them running, Full metal jacket rocked me ! I live that and saw it every day, had never heard of ptsd. One day we were clearing out complete villages and the next day I landed in the states. No debriefing nothing. Took me 5 years just to learn how to be around people again. My father had 80 acres in Virginia. I pitch a tent by the creek and stayed there so long. I still see the people running.
Years ago I saw on PBS the making of this movie...what ended up on the cutting room floor was Martin Sheen comes across this French area going up the river (from the time France was in Nam) and he goes into this large French house and all the French people were dressed up for dinner and having dinner like there is no war and the whole thing was so surreal..I wish they left that in the movie..
You are correct. The French hinted that Americans had been friendly with Ho CHi Minh. That was true in 1945 when Ho rescued American airmen shot down in Vietnam by occupying Japanese. OSS supported Ho. Doubt it? Look up Vietnamese Declaration of Independence written by Ho that still stands to day. You will know the very first sentence he wrote. All Americans know it.
As a modern cavalry trooper I can personally verify that the operating procedure of the cavalry has not changed since Vietnam and the world is safer because of it
He actually quotes it later in the movie after the helicopter raid, this is the scene where they meet. The later scene is when they invade the village to go surfing for a few hours.
The extended version was better... some of the cutscenes including when they were surfing really added a lot to the movie I suggest watching the uncut version
Fun fact after not smoking for most of my adult life and then taking up smoking marijuana that was the first movie I saw was the uncut version of this really crazy experience
