Smell The Napalm: The Story Behind This Incredible Scene | Ep11 | Making Apocalypse Now
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into the making of 'Apocalypse Now,' highlighting the iconic Valkyries Sequence. It details the intense helicopter stunts, dangerous explosions, and the famous 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning' line. The narrative explores the challenges faced by director Francis Ford Coppola, the significance of the surfing scene in the Vietnam War context, and the creative process behind the film's memorable moments, showcasing the blend of reality and surrealism in this cinematic classic.
Takeaways
- 🎬 The script discusses the making of the 'Valkyries Sequence' from 'Apocalypse Now', highlighting the film's iconic lines and complex production.
- 🌅 The famous line 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning' is attributed to the character Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall, and symbolizes a surreal appreciation for the chaos of war.
- 🎥 Director Francis Ford Coppola's commitment to authenticity led to actual helicopters being used for interior shots, despite the risks involved.
- 🚁 The production faced challenges such as coordinating live helicopter stunts and managing the safety of extras during the filming of dangerous scenes.
- 🌊 The script reveals the symbolic significance of surfing in the film, representing a clash of cultures between American surf culture and the Vietnam War context.
- 👶 A poignant moment where Kilgore helps a wounded child was initially cut from the film but later restored, adding depth to his character.
- 🔥 The creation of the napalm explosion scene involved a massive amount of gasoline and was a significant logistical and safety challenge.
- 🎞️ The use of colored smoke in the film was intentional, serving as a visual motif to signify surreal and psychedelic moments.
- 🎵 The Doors' song 'The End' bookends the film, reflecting the Californian culture that is juxtaposed with the Vietnam War setting.
- 📜 The script also delves into the backstory and inspirations, including John Milius' vision of the war as a clash of Californian culture with Asian communism.
- 🤝 The sponsorship by Mubi is acknowledged, promoting a curated streaming service for film enthusiasts, which ties into the cinematic theme of the script.
Q & A
What is the significance of the line 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning' in the context of the movie 'Apocalypse Now'?
-This line, spoken by Colonel Kilgore, reflects his perverse fascination with the destructive power of napalm, symbolizing a certain type of military mindset that can be detached from the human cost of warfare. It has become one of the most quoted lines in cinema history, encapsulating the movie's commentary on the Vietnam War.
Why was the filming of the Valkyries Sequence particularly challenging according to the transcript?
-The Valkyries Sequence was challenging due to the complexity of the helicopter stunts, the large and dangerous explosion sequences, and the need for precise timing and coordination between multiple elements such as helicopters, extras, and special effects.
What role did Francis Ford Coppola play during the filming of the interior air shots in 'Apocalypse Now'?
-Coppola was in the helicopters directing all of the interior air shots himself, alongside cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, even during some of the most dangerous stunts and maneuvers.
How did the production deal with the difficulty of finding light-skinned extras to play American soldiers in the Philippines?
-The production utilized local resources, including children from an American school in Manila, aspiring doctors who couldn't get into medical schools in the U.S., and even Coppola's own sons and other young actors like Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez.
What was the significance of the use of colored smoke in 'Apocalypse Now'?
-Colored smoke was used as a leitmotif in the movie to signify when things become more surreal and psychedelic. It was an intentional visual strategy by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro to create a conflict between artificial and natural light, enhancing the film's visual style.
Why was the napalm drop scene so memorable in the movie?
-The napalm drop scene was memorable due to its massive scale, the real explosion set off with thousands of gallons of fuel, and the iconic line 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning.' It also showcased the surreal nature of war depicted in the film.
What was the original motivation behind Kilgore's character ordering the napalm drop in 'Apocalypse Now'?
-Kilgore's main motivation for ordering the napalm drop was to create conditions suitable for surfing, highlighting the absurdity and disconnection of certain military actions from the realities of war.
How did the production handle the challenge of getting a shot of a helicopter lifting and dropping a patrol boat into the water?
-Since they couldn't obtain a large Chinook helicopter or a flying crane, the production made a lighter version of the boat specifically for the shot and used a Huey helicopter to lift it for the scene.
What was the impact of the napalm explosion on the surfing conditions in the movie?
-The napalm explosion caused the wind to change direction, ruining the waves for surfing. This led to Kilgore's disappointment and the iconic scene of him throwing his megaphone in frustration.
Why was Robert Duvall's character, Kilgore, interested in the surfing scene in 'Apocalypse Now'?
-Kilgore's interest in surfing was tied to the screenwriter John Milius' vision of the Vietnam War as a clash between Californian surf culture and Asian communist culture. Duvall himself went to Malibu to observe surfers to better understand the culture.
What was the significance of the scene where Kilgore helps a wounded child and his mother, and why was it cut from the original release?
-The scene added depth to Kilgore's character, showing a compassionate side amidst the violence. It was cut from the original release possibly to maintain the focus on the spectacle of the napalm drop and to avoid making the movie too long or strange for audiences. It was later included in the Redux version.
Outlines
🎬 Behind the Scenes of Apocalypse Now's Valkyries Sequence
This paragraph delves into the filming of the iconic Valkyries Sequence from 'Apocalypse Now', discussing the challenges faced during production. It includes the famous dialogue between Larry King and Robert Duvall, insights into the dangerous helicopter stunts, and the complex logistics of the scene. The segment also highlights the use of real helicopters for interior shots, the fear experienced by the Filipino pilots, and the close calls with helicopter accidents. Additionally, it touches upon the use of child extras from American schools in the Philippines and the cameo appearances of Coppola's sons and other young actors. The paragraph concludes with a mention of the sponsorship by Mubi and an invitation for viewers to support the series by checking out the offer.
🚁 Dangerous Stunts and Special Effects in Apocalypse Now
The second paragraph focuses on the perilous stunts and special effects that characterized the movie 'Apocalypse Now'. It describes a stunt involving an exploding helicopter with men inside, the use of fireproof suits, and the challenges of coordinating the stunt with changing light conditions. The narrative also includes the difficulties of filming the Medevac helicopter, the close call experienced by the Loach helicopter during an explosion, and the use of colored smoke as a recurring motif in the film. The paragraph provides a detailed account of the creative and technical processes behind the scenes, emphasizing the commitment to realism and the risks taken by the crew.
🌊 Surf's Up: The Cultural Collision in Apocalypse Now
This paragraph explores the cultural significance of the surfing scene in 'Apocalypse Now', drawing parallels between the Vietnam War and Californian surf culture. It discusses screenwriter John Milius' vision of the war as a clash between Asian communism and sixties Californian aesthetics. The paragraph also covers the origin of the surfing scene, inspired by an article about Israeli Major-General Ariel Sharon, and the symbolic act of surfing as a display of dominance. Additionally, it mentions Robert Duvall's preparation for his role as Colonel Kilgore, including learning surfing terminology and observing real surfers in Malibu.
🎥 Filming Challenges and Innovations in Apocalypse Now
The fourth paragraph details the filming challenges and innovations encountered during the production of 'Apocalypse Now'. It describes the difficulties in capturing the napalm drop scene with the use of an Astrovision camera, the coordination of the Philippine F-5 fighters, and the complexities of filming with real jets. The narrative also touches upon the use of a lighter version of the patrol boat for a specific shot, the creative workarounds for the lack of military cooperation, and the symbolic meaning behind the colored smoke used in the film.
🌅 Napalm and Surf: The Iconic Scene in Apocalypse Now
This paragraph centers on the creation of the famous napalm scene in 'Apocalypse Now'. It explains the process of setting up the massive napalm explosion using a long pipe filled with gasoline and the challenges of timing the explosion with the flyover of the jets. The paragraph also discusses the use of sin-surround sound technology, the recording of real napalm drop sounds for the film's audio, and the iconic line 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning'. Additionally, it covers the reactions of the crew and the impact of the explosion on the surrounding environment.
📽️ Reflections on the Valkyries Sequence and Its Impact on Coppola
The final paragraph reflects on the impact of filming the Valkyries Sequence on director Francis Ford Coppola. It discusses the emotional toll the production took on him, the stress of managing the complex and dangerous scenes, and the realization that the film was taking a more surreal direction than initially planned. The paragraph also touches upon the creative process, the decision to cut and later reintroduce certain scenes, and the evolution of the film's vision. Additionally, it acknowledges the support of the episode's sponsor, Mubi, and invites viewers to explore the streaming service for a curated cinema experience.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Napalm
💡Valkyries Sequence
💡Apocalypse Now
💡Robert Duvall
💡Surging and Tail Rotor Safety
💡Special Effects
💡Cinematography
💡Leitmotif
💡Surfing
💡The End
💡Cyclops
Highlights
Robert Duvall's fondness for his role in 'Apocalypse Now' and his character's memorable line about the smell of napalm.
The complex and dangerous helicopter stunts involved in the Valkyries Sequence, including the use of real helicopters in flight for interior shots.
Coppola's hands-on approach to directing from the helicopters during intense action sequences.
The challenges of filming with real helicopters, including the risks to extras and the close calls experienced by the cast.
The use of local children and American businessmen's offspring as extras due to a shortage of light-skinned men in the Philippines.
Coppola's sons and other young actors, including Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, appearing as background extras.
The recruitment of South Vietnamese refugees to play North Vietnamese soldiers, adding authenticity to the film.
The meticulous planning and execution of a dangerous stunt involving an exploding helicopter with stuntmen inside.
The creative solution of using a lighter boat for a helicopter lift scene when a real Chinook was unavailable.
John Milius' vision of the Vietnam War as a clash between Californian surf culture and Asian communist culture.
The symbolic use of colored smoke as a leitmotif to signify surreal and psychedelic moments in the film.
The high cost and multiple takes involved in using colored smoke bombs for visual effects.
The cinematographer Vittorio Storaro's strategy of using artificial light and natural light to convey cultural conflict.
The behind-the-scenes challenges of filming the napalm drop scene, including the use of real gasoline for the explosion.
The innovative use of sin-surround sound and real recordings of napalm drops for the film's sound effects.
Coppola's struggle with the film's direction and the decision to cut and later reintroduce certain scenes for the Redux version.
The influence of literature on the scriptwriting, with Kilgore being likened to the Cyclops from The Odyssey.
The significance of the surfing aspect in the film as a means for Willard to manipulate Kilgore and progress his mission.
Transcripts
Larry King: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
Robert Duvall: “Absolutely.” Larry King: “Did you
like doing Apocalypse Now?” Robert Duvall: “Very much so,
I liked that part a lot. Very much so.” Larry King: “You were crazy.”
Robert Duvall: “Yeah. Well, he had a…he had a…Yeah you’re right, you’re right.”
I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smells like…victory.
The second half of the enormous Valkyries Sequence would involve
even more dangerous helicopter stunts,
A seemingly straightforward shot that turned out to be insanely difficult.
An extremely large and complicated explosion sequence,
As well as one of the most quoted lines in cinema history,
I love the smell of Pumbaa in the morning.
This is the story behind these and many other great moments
in the second half of the Valkyries Sequence.
Someday this war’s gonna end.
Terminate?
With extreme prejudice.
Are you an assassin? I’m a soldier.
A special thanks to Mubi for sponsoring this episode. Get thirty days free by clicking the
link in the description. I’m beginning to add sponsorships to this series to help pay for
editors and it would really mean a lot if you take a moment to check out the offer.
I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.
In his commentary for Apocalypse Now Redux,
Coppola said that every time you see an interior of a helicopter, it is actually up in the air and
flying around as opposed to having a helicopter on the ground being shaken (Commentary).
There are a few interior shots where you can't see outside and I have to
imagine that at least some of these were on the ground... I mean, what's the point?
Here it sort of looks like they are filming something on a platform.
Coppola was in the helicopters directing all of the interior air shots himself
with cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and this was even during some of the crazier things they did.
Alright, alright! It’s just a flare!
Coppola noted that the Filipino pilots were
often "petrified" doing these kinds of things (Commentary).
The part here with the helicopters landing and American soldiers getting out were some of the
more dangerous shots because they had these dolly tracks and several helicopters landing
and taking off while extras were running around. The tail-rotors would get pretty close to the
ground and all it would take would be someone running the wrong way or a helicopter moving
awkwardly as it's taking off and the tail rotor could have chopped someone to bits (Commentary).
Martin Sheen said, "We had some very close calls on those choppers, they were terrifying.
We were warned even when they were on the ground not to get too close to the tails;
they'd all be in position on the beach, the tails spinning, the noise was terrifying, you could not
hear a word, a guy with a mambo stick would whack you if you got too close” (Travers 126).
Perhaps the most terrified was producer Gray Frederickson who said, "I was a wreck for
about two weeks, with all these explosions and helicopters and everybody running around,...
There would be all of this smoke going up in the air, and two or three helicopters
coming from different directions would be flying into these smoke clouds.
I would just sit there, crossing my fingers: 'Don't let them hit each other up in these clouds.
I hope they can see.' They could see, obviously, but it was horrifying when you were looking from
down below. Then they'd have these explosions that would blow these fishnets into the sky.
I'd think, 'My God, if a helicopter rotor caught one of these fishnets,
that would be the end of everybody.' It's lucky we didn't get anybody hurt” (Travers 108).
With the production so far away from the States, it was difficult to find a
lot of light-skinned men to play many of the American soldier extras we see in the movie.
The Philippines had a school for the children of American businessmen,
diplomats, and staff staying in Manila and many of them were thirteen to fourteen-year-old boys that
the production could put in uniforms and position in the background of shots (Cowie 49). Keep
in mind, Laurence Fishburne was still fourteen-years-old when they filmed this sequence.
Coppola's sons as well as a young Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez–brought over by their father,
Martin Sheen–appear as extras in the background of various shots in the
movie (Cowie 49). Other American soldier extras were played by aspiring doctors
who couldn't get into medical schools in the States (Cowie 49).
Actually Lee Ermey initially traveled to the Philippines
because American universities were too expensive, although when he arrived,
he found he didn't have enough money for the Philippine universities either,
but he stayed and acted in commercials before getting involved with Apocalypse Now.
For the extras playing the North Vietnamese soldiers,
the production recruited "several hundred South Vietnamese people" from a "refugee
camp near Manila" (Coppola 29). According to Eleanor Coppola, they would rehearse
little plays while the production was setting up the next shots (Coppola 29).
One of the Hueys lands in the village square near the school house to evacuate some wounded
soldiers. In the margins of Milius' script, Coppola wrote, "Always remember:
this is man-made war at its finest...Everything works like clockwork" (Cowie 40).
I want my wounded out of there and in the hospital in fifteen minutes.
The medic giving water to the wounded soldier is Coppola's nephew Mark Coppola (Commentary). On
April twenty-second, Eleanor Coppola wrote, "The whole day was spent in painstaking rigging and
rehearsing the scene in the village square where the helicopter lands and they load a wounded GI
aboard. I tried to shoot the rehearsals with the helicopter landing. We were so close that the
rotor blades blew dirt and sand and smoke so hard it lifted me and the tripod off the ground...The
main shot, with all its complicated timing of effects, etc., didn’t go until about
five-fifteen. Vittorio was really upset because the helicopter didn’t land in the exact same place
it had during rehearsal, and his camera didn’t get the composition he wanted" (Coppola 38).
The next day, the crew was there before six-thirty in the morning resetting the same shot
so Vittorio could get the composition the way he wanted it (Coppola 39).
Next would come one of stunt coordinator Terry Leonard's most dangerous stunts in the movie.
She’s got a grenade!
This insane stunt involved the Huey "nine feet" above the ground exploding and crashing to the
ground in a fiery wreck with men inside (Cowie 61). Leonard and his team wore fireproof suits
that Leonard himself designed, which were covered in a "flammable liquid" (Cowie 61).
On April twenty-sixth, Eleanor Coppola wrote, "This morning we are waiting, because the Medevac
helicopter wasn’t called early enough. It was needed to stand by in case anyone was hurt in
the big exploding stunt in the square. Now the light has changed. It is starting to sprinkle,
and we have to wait for bright sun to match the shot from the other day. Francis is angry, but
instead of yelling, he went over to the jet ranger and is taking a flying lesson" (Coppola 42).
On the day of the actual shot, you can see that the helicopter is on a collapsable platform–it
was supposed to look like the helicopter was
taking off, but I'm not so sure this translates well in the final film.
During the actual stunt, we can see one man fly out of the helicopter
and land on a ground panel with some kind of padding hidden underneath.
We can see here that another stuntman was inside
the helicopter for a good amount of time before climbing out.
I wasn't able to find any info on where they got the helicopter that they blew up,
but I assume that the production just bought
one of the non-operational Hueys from the Philippine government to destroy.
Fucking savages.
Well that’s pretty hypocritical coming from a man who just decimated an entire village of
people so he could go surfing. Kilgore has no respect for guerrilla warfare, but it gets the
job done when you're out-gunned. As we can see in Apocalypse Now screenwriter John Milius’ Red Dawn,
where American high school students go up against the Russian army.
Wolverines!
The woman and some older civilians run away and are chased by a Loach helicopter.
The Loach does some swift maneuvering and the soldier inside gun them all down.
The Loach takes fire from the jungle and then there is a massive explosion.
Mayday, mayday, I’m going in. The tail rotor is out, I gotta go.
To me, this seems like the craziest stunt, a helicopter flying in the air
has a big explosion go off on the side of it–no computers, no models, it's all done for real.
Coppola says that this was his fault. He kept asking the special effects guys to make it bigger
and that Dick White, the pilot, who you'll remember was one of the first
Cobra pilots in Vietnam, can handle the explosion (Commentary). However,
the explosion was so big that White actually lost control of the Loach for a second (Commentary).
Mayday, mayday, I’m going in. The tail rotor is out, I gotta go.
Here, you can see how close of a call it actually
was with the Loach getting very close to the ground.
Coppola said that he was very grateful that no one was killed
during the making of Apocalypse Now (Commentary).
And Eleanor Coppola noted that "Every day the project seems to get bigger" (Travers 108).
Special effects coordinator Joe Lombardi said, "I hate to say it,
but this whole movie is special effects...You got three stars,
but the action's gonna keep the audience on the edge of their seats" (Travers 108).
What do you think?
Wow, this is really exciting, man. No, no, the waves! The waves!
The helicopter doors were rigged up with these big safety pins through the hinges
so that they could remove the doors and mount a camera quick and easy (Coppola 32).
Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro said,
"Francis and I myself did the helicopter interior shots,... When Robert Duvall was
looking outside the helicopter, and down at the waves checking the surf,
I was seated outside the machine on a piece of wooden board, and perched on an apple-crate. I
had just one belt holding me in place, and my key grip was holding me with the hand-held camera.
I was talking to Francis through the earphones.
I remember looking through the viewfinder, and I could see one machine behind me,
so we would have something in the sky; I kept shouting to Dick, ‘Can you come closer? Closer!
Closer!’ And he said, ‘Are you crazy?’ The rotors were almost touching" (Cowie 58).
After most of the aerial attack shots were completed–before
Kilgore lands on the beach–Eleanor Coppola flew over the Baler location
and looked at the damage that had been done. She wrote,
"It looked sad now that it was almost destroyed: charred bamboo skeletons of houses sticking out
of the water. Smoke fires were already set on the beach for today’s shooting. We landed on the sand
and walked up to the village square to see what the first shot setup was starting to look like.
They were rigging some palm trees to blow up behind the schoolhouse.
It began to rain. No one seemed to notice except the extras who
got under banana palms or in doorways to keep their costumes dry" (Coppola 38).
Kilgore's Huey lands on the beach near some colored smoke.
Francis Ford Coppola: “You know we started to be like these psychedelic soldiers ourselves and say,
‘Wow, look at that yellow smoke, look at that blue smoke.’
And little by little the colored smoke began to become a kind of
leitmotif of this movie, as you’ll see developing up the river (Commentary).”
“Leitmotif” usually refers to a recurring piece of music that signifies something.
Like “dun-nun-dun-nun” signifies that Jaws is nearby. Or a hero’s theme music.
Here, Coppola is referring to his use of colored smoke to signify when things become more surreal
and psychedelic throughout the movie. Sort of like how oranges signify death in The Godfather,
but that was apparently just a coincidence–the set designer liked using oranges to add a bit of
color to the scenes. The colored smoke motif was revealed to be intentional by Coppola himself.
And for as much colored smoke bombs we'll see throughout the movie, it was interesting to
find out that they each cost twenty-five dollars (Coppola 195). Adjusting for inflation, that would
be a little over ninety dollars today. And keep in mind that they would usually do several takes.
The colored smoke was integral to the visual style that cinematographer Vittorio Storaro was trying
to achieve. He said, "When I was planning the visual strategy for the film, I began thinking
that I could convey the conflict of cultures by creating a visual conflict between artificial
light and natural light. The first time I saw that we would be using colored smoke to convey specific
military messages, I thought it was wonderful, because when these artificial colors were placed
next to the natural colors of Vietnam, it created that sense of conflict that I wanted" (AC).
On May fifth, nineteen seventy-six, Eleanor Coppola wrote,
"We got to the set about ten-thirty. It was like a real war going on [...] About eight
helicopters circled and landed in smoke flares, ground rocket fire and water hits. Lines of
GIs off-loaded and ran up the beach, crouching, firing and advancing. Between takes we got a boat
to take us close to where the main camera was. We waded ashore with our gear and got up the beach,
near enough to get some good shots of Bobby Duvall in his cavalry hat, taking the beach.
He looked terrific, he knew it, and was real up and radiating energy" (Coppola 51, 52).
Coppola made a note in the script calling Kilgore [quote] "The Victor – civilizer in a
savage land" (Cowie 40). When Kilgore doesn't react to a nearby explosion,
Incoming!
Coppola writes: "He knows he's won. He's invulnerable" (Cowie 40).
There was a problem though. The production needed a large Chinook helicopter or a flying
crane capable of lifting the patrol boat to drop in the river, but the Philippine government didn't
have one and the United States military refused to cooperate with the production (Travers 107).
In his letter to Donald Rumsfeld that we talked about earlier, Coppola noted that
the John Wayne Vietnam movie, The Green Berets, was allowed to rent what they needed from the US
military (Coppola 35). Eleanor Coppola wrote, "He really needs a Chinook helicopter to lift the PBR
[river patrol boat] into the river for that scene at Village Two. The Philippine Air Force has no
lifting helicopters. It seems like the Defense Department is exerting a kind of censorship.
A film about World War Two gets all sorts of cooperation" (Coppola 35).
By this time, Coppola got a response from Assistant Secretary of Defense
William T. Greener confirming that there were [quote] "no Chinook helicopters assigned to
the US forces in the Philippines" and there were no US helicopters in the area capable
of lifting the eight ton boat, and that the Department of Defense would not loan
Coppola the F-4 Phantoms for the napalm drop without script changes (Cowie 49).
Producer Gray Frederickson had budgeted for only two plastic PBRs (Cowie 49). I'm
assuming they took the engine out of the boat and everything else they could,
but when they tried having a Huey lift the boat for the shot, it was still too heavy and the Huey
"dropped it into the lagoon, splitting open the fabric" wrecking one of their boats (Cowie 58).
This was four days after filming the napalm explosion,
but we'll talk about that in a bit (Cowie 58).
So the production would have to figure out how to get a shot of a helicopter,
unable to lift the boat, to lift the boat and drop it in the water.
The solution was to make a lighter version of the boat just for this shot (Commentary).
Here, we can see one of the Huey's holding the boat. And next to it,
you can see the size of a Chinook that's actually capable of lifting a real boat.
Ok, fellows, quit hiding. C’mon!
The surfing here is more than just bizarre and interesting,
it has a deeper meaning according to screenwriter John Milius.
He thought of the Vietnam War as a Californian war because American culture during that time
seemed to be centered around Californian culture with the rise of the hippies and
the soldiers had a Californian aesthetic (Milius Interview). According to Milius, all the World
War Two movies featured characters from New York or the Midwest (Milius Interview). He
said that the idea for Apocalypse Now was that it was like Asian communist culture
clashing with the sixties Californian psychedelic surf culture (Milius Interview).
John Milius: “That Vietnam, Indochina, had resisted the French, had resisted everything–”
Francis Ford Coppola: “The Chinese.” John Milius: “Yeah, resisted the Chinese,
and had absorbed and resisted everything. And now it had this thin film of communism
on it. But underneath was this deep, Oriental mysticism, this wonderful, you know,
inscrutable Orietnal character that was coming up against California.
Against rock and roll. You know? Drugs, you know, and immense fire power.”
The Doors' song 'The End' that opens and closes the movie features the lyric:
"The West is the best. Get here and we'll do the rest." The Doors was formed in Southern California
in nineteen sixty-five and were a big part of the California culture Milius was talking about.
The other reason for the surfing was that Milius had read an article about the Six-Day War between
June fifth and tenth in nineteen sixty-seven and an Israeli Major-General named Ariel Sharon
who captured the city of Aqaba (Akahbah) in Jordan (Milius Interview). After Sharon's forces captured
the city, Sharon caught and ate some fish that were only found in the Gulf of Aqaba saying in
essence, "Not only have we captured their city, we're eating their fish" (Milius Interview). Not
only did Kilgore's men capture Charlie's point, they're surfing Charlie's waves.
Charlie don't surf!
This episode’s companion PDF features the story of Ariel Sharon in the Six-Day War that inspired
this scene. It’s just one dollar and it really helps the series. Or you can join CinemaTyler
on Patreon at the five-dollar level and get access to all the Companion PDFs I’ve made.
Robert Duvall wanted to know exactly what each surfing term meant
and had Milius tell him all about it (Milius Interview).
I think you're the best cutback there is. Hey thank you, sir.
You can cut out the 'sir' crap, Lance. I'm Bill Kilgore, I'm a goofy-foot.
He also went to Malibu to watch the surfers in action (Milius Interview).
All the big explosions going off on the beach during this portion would blow the water
everywhere. You can see here that it almost looks like it's starting to rain.
Eleanor Coppola wrote on May fifth, "set dressing is sprinkling bags of dry sand so the beach will
not look so wet. During the last take, the water explosions rained down on everything.
In the shot, there was green, purple and yellow smoke, bloody bodies, helicopters landing,
GIs taking the beach and water explosions. Now the wardrobe department is changing the
main actors into dry costumes. They’re about ready for another take. The helicopters are warming up.
The sky is gray with orange, casting unusual light. Everybody is excited and up for this shot.
There are so many explosions. The ones in the lagoon are about a hundred and fifty yards away;
when they go off the beach shakes with a heavy tremor, like an earthquake" (Coppola 52).
A portion that was cut from the movie for the theatrical release, but was put back
in for the Redux version was a moment where Kilgore helps a wounded child and his mother.
Take care of this, alright. Get that out of here! I’m
sorry. Come here, now.
Get him back into my chopper, get him to the hospital. Get going. No no no,
you got to go with him. Go, go!
Robert Duvall:
“And he cut it. To this day I’ll never know why he cut it. And it wasn’t so much a
controversy––because the movie didn’t come out til, what, three years later. Had it come out
six months later or a year I would have been more vehement about it, but it came out so much–it took
so long for the movie to come out. When it came out I felt it was no longer my movie because it
was his, because it had been so long. But to this day–I mean they cut to a reconnaissance plane,
and here was a guy who saved the life of a baby, probably just had killed the father,
sent the mother with it in the helicopter back and while he’s doing it he’s looking at the
waves to see if they’re good for–what kind of surfing, you know. And it was Franicis’
idea to put it in there. We had heard it from certain technical advisors, how these interesting
contradictions happened. You know, I mean, not to make somebody all one color or whatever.
And to me it was strange to cut it out. I mean I don’t know why, I still don’t know why.”
In a separate interview, Duvall said he thought that the moment kept the character from being
so black and white (Travers 120). I sort of think Coppola cut it initially to put
more focus on the giant spectacle that is the napalm drop because the redux version
cuts between Kilgore helping the child and the jets approaching with the napalm.
When Duvall confronted Coppola about it, Coppola told him that he would put it in when Apocalypse
Now went to television (Travers 120). Coppola noted that the moment adds a nice dichotomy
between Kilgore ordering the bombing of the tree line and all the NVA soldiers in there to
be burned alive by napalm and, at the same time, helping a young child and his mother (Commentary).
And let's not forget, Kilgore's main motivation
for ordering the napalm drop was so that Lance would surf.
Dove Four, this is Big Duke Six.
Goddammit I want that treeline bombed! Big Duke Six, roger. Dove One-Three, standby.
Bomb it into the stone age,
son!
On May sixth, the day before filming the napalm explosion,
Eleanor Coppola accompanied David Butler on an MU-2 jet to rehearse how they would
film the fighter jets in the sky using an Astrovision camera (Coppola 53).
Here's an example of what an Astrovision rig looks like.
Eleanor writes, "We took off and got above the clouds. David started looking for the
Philippine F-5 fighters to photograph while they rehearsed for tomorrow’s shot of the napalm drop.
The camera was mounted on the belly of the plane. David operated it by remote control
as he looked at a video screen inside the cabin. The copilot had a VHF radio pressed to his window,
trying to contact the jets. The pilot and David were looking out both sides and yelling over
their headsets. The idea was to line up the MU-2 with the Philippine jets and fly as close
as possible at an angle so the camera could photograph them. David would yell, “Where are
they? Where are they?” Then the jets would streak past on the left in some other position entirely.
David would leap out of his seat, yelling and looking out both sides" (Coppola 53).
Meanwhile, Kilgore gives Lance a gift–a pair of special Air Cav swim trunks.
These are from the Air Cav,
present from me and the boys. I wanna see you do your stuff in them. Out there. Ok?
Here, we can actually see Coppola discussing this moment with Duvall.
To get the giant napalm explosion, special effects coordinators A. D. Flowers and Joe Lombardi
filled a half-mile-long pipe with "twelve hundred gallons of
gasoline" (Commentary, Cowie 57). Flowers, who was in his late fifties was sick with a
fever and losing weight while they were doing this effect (Cowie 57).
They had to wait because the scene so far had been filmed in overcast,
but the sun was out and the light didn't match (Coppola 54).
At ten-thirty AM on May seventh–the day of the napalm drop–Eleanor Coppola wrote,
"The wind is blowing the jet fuel exhaust from the helicopters toward us. It is nauseating.
Everybody is really hustling because the F-5 jets are coming over at eleven A.M.
They can only make three passes. On the third, they’ll drop the canisters that look like napalm,
and special effects will set off a huge fire in the palm trees using thousands of gallons of fuel.
They set it from bunkers dug into the beach. Security has been tightened, but a bunch of
kids snuck out on the set earlier this morning. They are praying they can keep everybody away.
The big effects are really dangerous. There is an air of excitement and anticipation" (Coppola 55).
The jets took a half-hour to fly to the location (Commentary). Coppola says that
they had five cameras set up to capture the
action–although editor Walter Much says there were six (Commentary, Salon).
Everything was ready. Flowers and Lombardi hid in their bunkers dug into the beach
and when the timing was just right, they triggered the explosion (Cowie 57).
The gasoline lit up in a huge fire-ball lasting "about a minute and a half" (Coppola 55). Eleanor
Coppola, who was "about a half a mile away" felt "a strong flash of heat" and wondered
what it must have felt like for the extras on the other side of the lagoon (Coppola 55).
Editor Walter Murch said that the last camera
angle was filming with a telephoto lens that flattened out a close shot of the
tree line at a hundred and twenty frames per second for slow-motion
and that was the angle that was eventually used for the opening image of the movie (Salon).
They were experimenting with sin-surround–a type of surround sound–for the sounds of the
bombers (Commentary). What's interesting though, is that Walter Murch, who spent a full day working
on the sound mix for just the napalm drop actually used a recording of a real napalm drop that the
Swiss Army had made (Salon). Murch said, "We built on that. The trick is always to articulate it,
not to have everything hit at once or else it turns into a ball of mush.
You have to let the ear hear fragments of each thing so that the ear builds it together,
rather than have the film build it for the audience" (Salon).
And this is where we hear one of the most famous lines of dialogue in cinema history.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro said,
"It doesn't matter to [Kilgore] how many people are dying; he's somehow enchanted
by the beauty of napalm. This is the point of view that Kurtz is denouncing" (AC).
The line was an invention of screenwriter John
Milius. Milius isn't a stranger to iconic lines, having also written:
You know the thing about a shark, he's got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes.
Crush your enemies, see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of their women.
You’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya punk?
A little side-note here: In her diary, Eleanor Coppola described a moment that was cut from
this part of the movie where a Viet Cong prisoner is shot in the head on the beach (Coppola 55).
I imagine this might be a reference to this famous Pulitzer Prize winning
photo of a Viet Cong member about to be executed.
There was a long discussion about how the actor should fall to hide the blood tube rigged to his
back and in the behind-the-scenes footage on The Final Cut blu-ray,
we actually get to see a shot of the man with the blood tube. Apparently the military advisor
on set said that if the man was shot at close range with a .45 pistol, it would blow the
man's head off and it wouldn't matter how he fell–maybe that's why they cut it (Coppola 55).
Kilgore's napalm drop made the beach safe to surf,
but the explosion caused the wind to change, ruining the waves.
It’s blowing on shore, it’s coming on shore. It’s going to blow this place out. It’s going to ruin
it! Not cool!
Kilgore begs Lance to wait twenty minutes, but Lance and Willard make their way toward the boat.
Filming the Valkyries sequence was, as you can imagine,
extremely taxing on Coppola. It was taking much longer than anticipated
and he was stressed and depressed and wondering if the production was going to fall apart
before it really began (Commentary). This shot of Kilgore throwing the megaphone in
anger at losing his chance to surf with Lance was actually Duvall doing an impression of the way
Coppola would throw his radio in frustration while filming this sequence (Commentary).
The radios were expensive and get this, there was actually a
crew member assigned to try and get the radio from Coppola before he threw it (Commentary).
During the time they were trying to get Steve McQueen to play Willard,
Coppola wanted Willard to "take-on" Kilgore and out-do him somehow (Cowie 41).
John Milius had grown up studying literature and, while writing these scenes,
he thought of Kilgore as being similar to the Cyclops in Homer's The Odyssey
and Willard would have to fool him by using surfing (Milius Interview). So,
Willard uses surfing and Kilgore's admiration for Lance to manipulate him into doing what he needs.
This guy with you? Yeah.
That’s Charlie’s point.
Sir, we can go in there tomorrow at dawn. There’s always a good offshore breeze in the morning.
I know, I’m really sorry Colonel but I’m afraid that does it. I
mean the kid’s got a reputation, you can't expect him to surf those sloppy waves.
Milius had written in the script, a part here where Lance and Willard are running for the boat:
"Suddenly Lance sees something and stops - Willard continues - In a pile of equipment
that the Hueys have left are two surfboards - Lance runs over - ...Lance grabs the nearest one
and dashes down through the water" (Screenplay).
In the margins, Coppola wrote "Willard should steal it!!... And
risk his life to do it. That might tell us something interesting about Willard:
that he'd risk his life to steal [Kilgore's] surf-board" (Cowie 41).
Incoming! Let go of that surfboard!
This didn't appear in the theatrical cut because Coppola thought people would think the movie was
too strange and long, but it was put back in for Redux and the other versions (Commentary).
Francis Ford Coppola: "But we were very anxious to kind of make the film, at first, into more
of a conventional war film. So we even cut out that nice opening where the helicopter lands and
Kilgore steps out, we saved a little time there, we saved the stealing of the boards, we cut out
the–you know, we cut out a lot of stuff. John Milius: “Oh yeah.”
Francis Ford Coppola: “And then later on, it sorta, the movie started–people
kept going to see it at the cinerama dome. And then, many years later, we said, ‘Well, let’s
put it all back in!’ You know. And that's how it comes that there are two versions.”
Back when Kilgore was still called Colonel Kharnage,
Coppola wrote: "Maybe [Willard] had to trick Kharnage to make this happen. A wily Ulysses — he
succeeded in accomplishing this aspect of his mission . . . At this point Willard must have
won us over to him and we must be clear as to the process that has begun within him." (Cowie 41).
By the time Coppola finished shooting the Valkyries sequence, the first major test
for his vision, he began to realize that the classic war movie ending they had in the script
was not going to work (Commentary). Coppola could see that the movie was
taking him in a more and more surreal direction (Commentary).
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