--- title: "Apocalypse Now" year: 1979 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/apocalypse-now" fi1m_id: "apocalypse-now" imdb_id: "tt0078788" tmdb_id: 28 wikidata_id: "Q182692" fi1m_score: 92 critics_score: 84 critics_reviews: 21 published: "2026-09-12" updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:13.581131+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Apocalypse Now (1979) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola · 2h 27m · MPA R · Drama, War ## Identity Apocalypse Now - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/apocalypse-now - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** apocalypse-now - **IMDb ID:** tt0078788 - **TMDB ID:** 28 - **Wikidata ID:** Q182692 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/28, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q182692 **Fi1m score: 92** · Critics 84 from 21 reviews *In a sentence:* A war film that makes admiring the photography feel like something to confess > Francis Ford Coppola’s war film is frightening, absorbing and worth the discomfort. We recommend it without hesitation, though its later stretches sometimes labour over thoughts that the fighting has already made horribly clear. ## Synopsis Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) serves in the Vietnam War, where officers give orders and soldiers struggle to make sense of the fighting. Colonel Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando) and Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall) are among the men who wield that authority. Chief Phillips (Albert Hall), Chef (Frederic Forrest), Clean (Laurence Fishburne) and Lance (Sam Bottoms) also have to find their way through the conflict. Francis Ford Coppola’s film draws on Joseph Conrad’s *Heart of Darkness* to follow men confronting violence, obedience and the possibility of losing control. ## Review We would recommend *Apocalypse Now* even to people who generally avoid war films. That is no promise of an easy evening. Francis Ford Coppola wants the fighting to disturb our judgement as well as our nerves, and for long stretches he manages both. The Vietnam War becomes frightening partly because the men carrying it out can seem so assured. We keep looking for someone whose authority deserves our confidence, and the performances keep making that difficult. Martin Sheen’s Captain Benjamin Willard gives us a face we can keep watching when the film threatens to become too much. Sheen keeps the performance contained, making attention itself seem exhausting; he does not compete with everything Coppola puts around him. Robert Duvall takes the opposite approach as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, making certainty so forceful that it becomes alarming. Duvall is funny without making the officer harmless. The humour unsettles because the confidence behind it is also entirely convincing. Vittorio Storaro’s photography makes the Air Cavalry assault look orderly enough to admire before its violence has properly registered. We were horrified by the attack, and disturbed by how eagerly we had watched its approach. The careful arrangement of the aircraft makes the destruction harder to dismiss as somebody else’s madness. Coppola understands the appeal of military power well enough to make it dangerous to watch. That does not excuse every beautiful image here, but the assault gives this troubling way of photographing warfare a purpose. Editors Walter Murch, Gerald B. Greenberg and Lisa Fruchtman give the action enough clarity for that response to develop. We can take in the size of an assault without the cutting turning every movement into another jolt. The difficulty comes in sustaining attention once spectacle gives way to more deliberate, troubled encounters, and the editing mostly lets the actors set the pace. The music by Francis Ford Coppola and Carmine Coppola adds a further unease, making the fighting difficult to settle into as entertainment. The sound keeps us tense through passages where the pace slows. Dean Tavoularis’s production design gives the warfare a physical weight that holds up against Coppola’s increasingly strange way of presenting it. There is enough disorder in the surroundings to keep the soldiers from looking like actors placed in front of an impressive backdrop. Albert Hall, Frederic Forrest, Laurence Fishburne and Sam Bottoms help for much the same reason. Their performances give the film people worth attending to beyond its officers, and make its talk about damaged humanity feel earned. The reservations arrive when John Milius and Coppola’s writing becomes more insistent about what the war means. The debt to Joseph Conrad’s *Heart of Darkness* is understandable, but the later solemnity sometimes makes a thought feel important simply because we are being made to wait over it. Marlon Brando’s Colonel Walter Kurtz has enough presence to hold our attention through much of this, though presence cannot make every line worth the time it takes. Some of the words could go without costing the performances anything. Those passages are frustrating because Coppola has already shown how much he can do without spelling things out. Among war films, this is unusually alert to the pleasure an audience takes in watching an operation carried out well, and unusually willing to make that pleasure uncomfortable. The 147 minutes demand attention, including during the passages that strain for depth. Give it an uninterrupted evening, and do not expect the spectacle to make for easy company. *Fi1m score 92, published 12 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are close to unanimous: twenty-one read, one negative, none mixed. The praise gathers around Vittorio Storaro’s photography and the sound design, which most critics credit with making the river journey something felt rather than followed. The helicopter assault on the village is the sequence named again and again, as proof of Coppola’s command of rhythm and space. Sheen, Brando and Duvall are singled out, though this is treated as the director’s film first. The reservations cluster at the end. Several critics, particularly those writing in 1979, find the final half-hour around Kurtz loses conviction after two hours of black comedy and horror; The Guardian, reviewing from the festival, goes furthest and calls the second half overtaken by literary pretension. A few note the narrow, American view of Vietnam. Critics also disagree about which cut to watch: the theatrical version is preferred for its tension, though Redux and the Final Cut each have defenders for the sound. ## Straight answers **Is Apocalypse Now worth watching?** *Apocalypse Now* is worth watching, even for people who usually avoid war films, and we scored it 92. Francis Ford Coppola makes the fighting disturb the judgement as well as the nerves, helped by Martin Sheen's contained lead and Robert Duvall's alarming Kilgore. The later stretches labour over thoughts the combat has already made clear, so give it an uninterrupted evening. **How long is Apocalypse Now, and what is it rated?** *Apocalypse Now* runs 2h 27m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and war film. **Where can I watch Apocalypse Now in the US?** *Apocalypse Now* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Apocalypse Now, and is it suitable for children?** *Apocalypse Now* is rated 18 in the UK and R in the US, and it is not suitable for children. The violence is frightening rather than exciting, and the Air Cavalry assault horrified us partly because Vittorio Storaro's photography makes it so orderly to watch. The music and sound keep the tension up even when the pace slows, so the squeamish should think twice. **How does Apocalypse Now compare to Come and See?** *Apocalypse Now* and [*Come and See*](https://film.one/film/come-and-see) are both war films we strongly recommend, but they frighten in different ways. Coppola shows the war through the men who run it, and makes the appeal of military power dangerous to watch; Elem Klimov shows it through a boy's terror, with scarcely a moment to recover. Klimov's film is the more relentless, Coppola's the more strange and reflective. **Is Apocalypse Now based on a true story or a book?** *Apocalypse Now* is based on a novel, Joseph Conrad's *Heart of Darkness*, rather than on a true story, though it moves the material to the Vietnam War. Coppola and John Milius draw on Conrad for the journey towards Colonel Kurtz and the film's ideas about obedience and losing control. You do not need to know the book, and in our view the later scenes are where the debt to it weighs heaviest. **What should I watch after Apocalypse Now?** After *Apocalypse Now*, try [*Come and See*](https://film.one/film/come-and-see) (1985, Fi1m 92): A child’s view of war, with scarcely a moment to recover. Then [*Aguirre, the Wrath of God*](https://film.one/film/aguirre-the-wrath-of-god) (1972, Fi1m 91): For another journey in which a commander’s certainty becomes everyone’s problem; and [*The Battle of Algiers*](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers) (1966, Fi1m 93): For military power examined through street fighting, with less room for mysticism. ### Reviews we read (21) - **Little White Lies**, Matt Bochenski (5/5/5): The critic hails Apocalypse Now as a gilt-edged masterpiece and one of the defining films of 1970s Hollywood, touched by genius in its portrayal of war's horror and madness. He singles out Coppola's absolute mastery of the frame and the precise layering of images in unforgettable dramatic moments like the Air Cavalry assault. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/apocalypse-now-1979) - **The Times**, Ed Potton (★★★★★): Coppola’s latest cut of his Vietnam opus remains a masterpiece with improved visuals and sound that capture the hallucinatory horror, even if some added scenes feel inessential. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/apocalypse-now-final-cut-review-a-masterpiece-any-way-you-slice-it-hmx863rf0) - **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (5/5): The critic lauds the lean original cut reissue as slick and streamlined, highlighting its pure sensation of light, noise and moral ambiguity in depicting war's horror and thrill. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/apocalypse-now) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (95/100, inferred): The critic calls the film one of the greatest of the century and a masterpiece for its river journey into darkness and unforgettable sequences like the helicopter attack on a village. He singles out the haunting ending, Brando's performance as Kurtz, and how the film reveals truths about war and the human soul. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-apocalypse-now-1979) - **Evening Standard** (90/100, inferred): The piece calls Apocalypse Now one of the best films about war ever made, noting its grand, metaphysical ambition drawn from Conrad and its visceral power despite flaws in the ending and some historical accuracy. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/apocalypse-now-is-one-of-the-best-films-about-war-ever-made-7425050.html) - **Film Comment**, Kent Jones (90/100, inferred): The piece praises Coppola's command of rhythm and space, highlighting the helicopter attack sequence in Apocalypse Now as unparalleled. It frames the film as part of Coppola's exploration of power, security, and emotional depth. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/myth-maker-francis-ford-coppola/) - **Slant Magazine**, Jake Cole (90/100, inferred): The film is lauded as a magnum opus and debated New Hollywood landmark for its psychedelic, impressionistic vision of the Vietnam War and iconic sequences. While its Americentric perspective is critiqued as reductive, the nightmarish hallucination captures the madness of imperialism, with the theatrical cut remaining the definitive version despite flaws. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/apocalypse-now-the-final-cut-blu-ray-review-francis-ford-coppola/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Arthur Knight (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a major achievement that holds attention throughout its long runtime and praises Coppola's mastery in blending nightmare visuals and hallucinatory sound with real human elements. He singles out the brilliantly staged set pieces, Vittorio Storaro's photography, the ensemble performances (especially Sheen, Brando, and Duvall), and the deeper exploration of war's dehumanizing madness and evil in men's hearts. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/apocalypse-now-review-movie-1979-1235172359/) - **The Telegraph** (*****): A welcome re-release of Coppola’s Vietnam War masterpiece that should be seen on the big screen for its epic sweep and visual grandeur. Prefers the original cut over Redux for preserving narrative tension. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/8539563/Apocalypse-Now-1979-review.html) - **Total Film** (90/100, inferred): The review praises the Redux cut for strengthening the original masterpiece with well-integrated new scenes and superior sound, calling it one of the most powerful cinematic experiences. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/apocalypse-now-redux-review/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Dennis Lim (85/100, inferred): The critic calls it an imperfect classic and cult film for the ages whose force has grown over time. It excels as a sensory experience through its sound design and cinematography that evokes the confusion and madness of war, though the ending remains problematic and the Redux cut has mixed results. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-oct-17-la-ca-second-look-20101017-story.html) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (85/100, inferred): The critic deems the Redux re-release a great movie whose power has only grown, praising the restoration of footage and the film's visionary ambition despite its limited perspective on Vietnam and occasional incoherence. He highlights the added sequences and the art's enduring sublimity over its making-of legend. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/03/movies/critic-s-notebook-aching-heart-of-darkness.html) - **Empire**, Angie Errigo (70/100, inferred): The critic calls the film flawed but staggering cinema whose unforgettable setpieces and Vittorio Storaro's Oscar-winning cinematography evoke the psychoses of war. She singles out the surreal, nightmarish encounters and the ambiguous ending that crystallizes the reality of the Vietnam War. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/empire-essay-apocalypse-now-review/) - **The Independent** (70/100, inferred): The Redux version restores strangeness and power to the original, expanding its political dimension and symphonic structure while giving Brando’s Kurtz more humanity, though some added material feels awkward. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/eloge-d-amour-pg-apocalypse-now-redux-15-9249836.html) - **The New Yorker**, Veronica Geng (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the first two hours amazingly successful as black comedy and horror with brilliant set pieces, crediting Coppola's direction and Michael Herr's narration for capturing the war's surreal intensity without easy interpretation. She faults the final half-hour for overreaching into grand ideas and losing conviction around Kurtz. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1979/09/03/apocalypse-now-movie-review) - **Variety**, Dale Pollock (70/100, inferred): The film is a brilliant but bizarre validation that 'war is hell,' with strong action-adventure elements for most of its runtime that give way to surreal symbolism in the ending. It reaffirms Coppola as a top filmmaker through realistic, extreme war imagery and strong performances but may struggle commercially due to its literary roots in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' and political content. [Read](https://variety.com/1979/film/reviews/apocalypse-now-2-1200424565/) - **The Guardian** (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the first half flashy and visually striking but criticizes the second half for being overtaken by literary pretensions and for Coppola's indecision about the ending. The film is seen as overly pretty and not living up to the hype around its long production and high cost. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/19/apocalypse-now-review) - **Den of Geek**, Michael Leader (90/100, inferred): The critic celebrates the film's troubled production and its emergence as a surreal, atmospheric masterpiece despite chaos and excess. The sound design, cinematography, and feverish nightmare quality are singled out as key strengths. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/looking-back-at-apocalypse-now/) - **/Film**, Jason Gorber (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the Final Cut a challenging and riveting reminder that the film remains a masterpiece in any form, praising its unparalleled scope, ambition, and immersive depiction of war's moral rot and psychological horror as captured in Vittorio Storaro's photography and the restored sound design. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/568513/apocalypse-now-final-cut-review/) - **The Wrap**, Steve Pond (85/100, inferred): The critic finds the Final Cut the most satisfying of the three versions of the film. He highlights its visceral and surreal journey into madness as a hallucinatory landmark that remains unparalleled in its depiction of the Vietnam War. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/francis-ford-coppola-apocalypse-now-final-cut-steven-soderbergh/) - **The Ringer**, Brian Phillips (80/100, inferred): The critic reappraises the film after decades, finding it more powerful and immersive than initially remembered despite its length and volume. He singles out its visual spectacle, sound design, and the journey into psychological darkness for particular impact. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2020/08/14/movies/apocalypse-now-summer-blockbuster-francis-ford-coppola) ## Details - **Director:** Francis Ford Coppola - **Director:** Francis Ford Coppola - **Writer:** John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola - **Novel:** Joseph Conrad - **Cinematography:** Vittorio Storaro - **Editor:** Walter Murch, Gerald B. Greenberg, Lisa Fruchtman - **Music:** Carmine Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola - **Production design:** Dean Tavoularis - **Producer:** Francis Ford Coppola - **Cast:** Martin Sheen as Captain Benjamin Willard; Marlon Brando as Colonel Walter Kurtz; Frederic Forrest as Jay 'Chef' Hicks; Albert Hall as Chief Phillips; Laurence Fishburne as Tyrone 'Clean' Miller; Sam Bottoms as Lance B. Johnson; Robert Duvall as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore; G.D. Spradlin as General Corman - **Runtime:** 2h 27m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 10 October 1979 - **Genres:** Drama, War - **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 1979); [BAFTA Best Film winners](https://film.one/collections/bafta-best-film.md) (Nominee, 1979); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Nominee, 1979); [Palme d'Or winners](https://film.one/collections/palme-dor.md) (Winner, 1979); [Films where the soundtrack is the real star](https://film.one/collections/soundtrack-is-the-star.md) - **Budget:** $32 million - **Box office:** $150 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l-ViOOFH-s ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-12.* Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, CA, CH, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, GB, HU, IN, IT, LT, NL, NO, PT, RO, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1980: Best Director (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Production Design (nominated); Best Supporting Actor (nominated); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated); Best Cinematography (won); Best Sound (won) - Cannes Film Festival 1979: Palme d'Or (won) ## If you liked this - *Come and See* (1985), Fi1m 92: A child’s view of war, with scarcely a moment to recover — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/come-and-see.md) - *Aguirre, the Wrath of God* (1972), Fi1m 91: For another journey in which a commander’s certainty becomes everyone’s problem — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/aguirre-the-wrath-of-god.md) - *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), Fi1m 93: For military power examined through street fighting, with less room for mysticism — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md) - *Fires on the Plain* (1959): Hunger and exhaustion strip soldiering of its promises, without offering much relief - *The Thin Red Line* (1998), Fi1m 84: For soldiers thinking through terror, and landscapes that offer them no comfort — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-thin-red-line.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/apocalypse-now