The definitive Vietnam movie, Francis Ford Coppola's war epic faced a fittingly arduous road to the big screen. The 14 month shoot was beset by problems, delays plagued the year-long post-production and the budget more than doubled from the initial estimate of $14.5m to $31.5m. When it finally hit theaters in August 1979, audiences witness the most audacious war movie ever assembled; nightmarish, mythical, harrowing and completely mesmerizing. The basic narrative boils down to Martin Sheen's Willard being sent into the jungle to terminate Marlon Brando's AWOL Kurtz 'with extreme prejudice', but is really a metaphor about a journey into the self and how the horrors of war can lead to madness. As well as being loaded with symbolism, philosophical undertones and surrealist imagery, Apocalypse Now is full of now-iconic moments; from Willard's voice-over, Kilgore's love for the smell of napalm and the unforgettable helicopter charge set to 'Ride of the Valkyries'. The movie was a resounding success, earning $150m at the box office and scoring eight Academy Award nominations, and is now regarded as a hugely influential work and one of the best war movies ever made. A visually stunning epic laced with potent social commentary, Apocalypse Now is a haunting study of war from a director of astounding vision.
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