As America once again teeters on the verge of a land war in Asia, these narratives merit our attention. Both narratives have become key instances of the larger narrative of America’s war in Vietnam, yet in both narratives Vietnam acts merely as the exotic backdrop for Caucasian angst. Whereas in Greene’s novel the fight was between a European and an American over a woman who symbolized Vietnam yet had little to say for herself, in Apocalypse Now, the fight is between two Americans in Indochina’s jungle, surfing the edge of a thematic heart of darkness. It may be the most iconic film about the American conflict in Vietnam, yet, much like Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American, which in many ways predicted the escalating American involvement in the post-colonial civil struggles in Indochina, the greatest absence in Apocalypse Now is Vietnam itself. It has become integrated into our mass media culture. There are lines from the film that have worked their way into the national psyche: “Terminate with extreme prejudice” “Charlie don’t surf” “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Its style continues to influence Hollywoodland, with the most recent version of King Kong, 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, deliberately lifting visual elements nearly wholesale.Īt this point, more people probably know of Apocalypse Now than have actually seen it. And in a time of bloated-budget computer-generated tent-pole productions, it is precious, like a rare beast from a by-gone era.įor three decades, Francis Ford Coppola‘s Apocalypse Now has been referenced or parodied by TV shows that are themselves iconic instances of American mass entertainment: Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, Sex and the City, more. It is considered one of the finest American films of the 20 th century. Approach Apocalypse Now with much trepidation, as you must an elephant.
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