The war movie classicApocalypse Nowhas failed to impress Vietnam War Historian and Military history professor Bill Allison, with the expert taking issue with the accuracy shown in Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal film. Released back in 1979,Apocalypse Nowfollows US Army officer Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen) who is serving in Vietnam and is asked to kill a rogue colonel (Marlon Brando). While the movie is now considered to be a masterpiece, with even the historian giving it a perfect 10 as “a piece of film,” he could only award it “about a five” in terms of accuracy.
Reviewing the movie forInsider, during which he also critiques the likes ofWe Were Soldiers(2002),Full Metal Jacket(1987),Platoon(1986), expert Bill Allison took aim at some of the strategies used, but called a lot of the equipment “pretty accurate.”
“All that’s pretty accurate. The helicopters themselves are the UH-1 Hueys, as well as the helicopter in the scene, the smaller helicopter, that’s a Loach. That’s actually Filipino pilots. They borrowed those helicopters from the Filipino Army to use for this scene.”
“Now, you might wonder why they’re attacking this village. It’s supposedly a VC stronghold. VC, the Viet Cong. Why do they have to get it over this village into the river? Why can’t they just go up the coast? If you’ve not seen the film, there’s a river patrol boat they need to get on the Nung River. Problem there is, the tidal flow is not deep enough for the boat to actually get across the sandbars, and that actually is real. That’s a problem. Playing “Valkyries” just kind of blew your mind, right? Is that real? Probably less so.”
One thing he did approve of, however, was the idea of napalm having a “smell” in the morning. Though whether you love it or not is down to personal preference. He also heaped praise on Robery Duvall’s character, Lieutenant Colonel William “Bill” Kilgore.
“Napalm does smell. Obviously, with everything that’s in it, it’s going to have a very gasoline-y, petroleum-like smell. So it has a very distinct odor to it, for sure. Now, there’s Robert Duvall as Col. Kilgore, probably one of the most iconic characters in any Vietnam film. He is based on a guy, in part by a guy, named John Stockton, who was the commander of the unit that’s depicted here, the 9th Cav of the 1st Cavalry Division.”
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Apocalypse Now Is Considered One of the Greatest Movies of All Time
Apocalypse Now
Despite these historical misgivings, Allison could not deny thatApocalypse Nowis not onlyone of the greatest war moviesof all time, but one of the greatest movies, period.
“As far as it being a piece of film, I’d give it a 10. Right? In reality, eh, you know, it’s a little ludicrous on a lot of levels. So I’m guessing probably about a five.”
Produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola,Apocalypse Nowis the epic to end all war epics, and examines both the psychological and the moral implications and challenges of war. Nominated at the time for eight Academy Awards,Apocalypse Nowhas since been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the U.S. Library of Congress due to its cultural, historical and aesthet significance.
