History Awesome / ApocalypseNow

%% [[caption-width-right:350:Cue "Music/RideOfTheValkyries".]]

%% [[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

* While the AccidentalMurder of the riverboat of innocent Vietnamese is horrific, and Willard giving a wounded girl a MercyKill to avoid diverting his mission is likewise upsetting - there is something very satisfying with the TranquilFury in his voice as he says to Chief "I told you not to stop". Effectively reminding the man that his SkewedPriorities got a boatload of innocent people killed AllForNothing, as well as wasting ammo and traumatizing the others. He says it with such a badass politeness, especially in contrast to Chief's rude "until we reach your destination, you're just along for the ride" earlier when he insisted on stopping the boat.

* A meta-version of Awesome for Robert Duvall, for his delivery of the "[[MemeticMutation I love the smell of napalm in the morning]]" monologue. Actors ''kill'' to get dialogue like that.
** They also get Oscar nominations for it.
* Alternatively you could look at Marlon Brando's presence in the film under the same light. Very few actors could overshadow every other scene in a movie with approximately 10 or so minutes of screen time. In a way Kurtz and Brando were exactly the same, big characters that cast a shadow over the story but only actually show up at the very end.
** Additional props go to Brando doing the whole thing off the cuff because he didn't read the script. It really speaks to his talent as an actor that he's able to make a movie defining performance for a script he didn't even read.
* Another meta-version - if you watch the behind-the-scenes documentary, the fact that Coppola managed to finish the movie at all, much less make one of the most iconic movies of all time, is nothing short of a miracle. Whether or not this should be considered awesome, considering the torture that not just Coppola, but the entire cast went through, is debatable.

-->'''Roach''': [''stares at him. Pause''] ...Yeah. [''turns away'']

* The entire introduction of the Air Calvary counts as one for ''filmmaking''. Every shot has dozens of moving parts, with helicopters buzzing, landing, taking off, soldiers moving, talking and fighting, civilians evacuating, tanks spraying fire, journalists poking through the ruins, vehicles rumbling ashore or being loaded with civilians, all while actors move and talk in long, barely interrupted tracking shots. The audio mixing alone is a work of pure art, with each audio setpiece (the medics, the flamethrower, the radioman, the translated announcer and the preacher) seamlessly blending into one another under the dialog and accompanied by the constant drone of the choppers. Seeing and hearing it in motion is almost unbelievable, especially knowing it was made and mixed before computers.

-->'''Gunner''': Well, bust him. [''Roach very slowly makes his way over to Willard and turns off the radio''] He's out there on the wire, man.

-->'''Roach''': [''looks up, shakes his head no, barely audible''] No. [''listens. Pause''] He's close, man. Real close.\\

-->'''Roach''': [''stares at him, Pause''] ...Yeah. [''turns away'']

-->'''Gunner''': Hear him?
-->'''Roach''': Yeah.
-->'''Gunner''': You need a flare --
-->'''Roach''': No, it´s cool.\\
[''Roach loads his grenade launcher and rests it on his arm, listening to the VC soldier screaming, calculating.'']
-->'''Roach''': He's close. Real close.\\
[''Roach points the grenade launcher high up, listens and fires. Pause except for screaming. Explosion. No more screaming.'']
-->'''Willard''': Do you know who's in charge here?
-->'''Roach''': [''stares at him for a moment''] ...Yeah.

* Another meta-version - if you watch the behind-the-scenes documentary, the fact that Coppola managed to finish the movie at all, much less make one of the most iconic movies of all time, is nothing short of a miracle. Whether or not this should be considered awesome, considering the torture that not just Coppola, but the entire cast went through, is debatable.

* A meta-version of Awesome for Robert Duvall, for his delivery of the "[[MemeticMutation I love the smell of napalm]] in the morning" monologue. Actors ''kill'' to get dialogue like that.

** They get Oscar nominations for it.

** They also win Oscars for it.

* The entire introduction of the Air Calvary counts as one for ''filmmaking''. Every shot has dozens of moving parts, with helicopters buzzing, landing, taking off, soldiers moving, talking and fighting, civilians evacuating, tanks spraying fire, journalists poking through the ruins, vehicles rumbling ashore or being loaded with civilians, all while actors move and talk in long, barely interrupted tracking shots. The audio mixing alone is a work of pure art, with each audio setpiece (the medics, the flamethrower, the radioman, the translated announcer and the preacher) seamlessly blending into one another under the dialog and accompanied by the constant drone of the choppers. Seeing and hearing it in motion is almost unbelievable, especially knowing it was made and mixed before computers.

** Alternatively you could look at Marlon Brando's presence in the film under the same light. Very few actors could overshadow every other scene in a movie with approximately 10 or so minutes of screen time. In a way Kurtz and Brando were exactly the same, big characters that cast a shadow over the story but only actually show up at the very end.