Talk:Apocalypse Now

Ride of the Valkyries and Military
The helicopter attack scene with the Ride of the Valkyries has its historical model in the Die Deutsche Wochenschau of June 4, 1941 (from minute 12:30), in which the air landing of the Germans on Crete was highlighted with the same piece. See and hear here: https://archive.org/details/1941-06-04-Die-Deutsche-Wochenschau-561 My English is too bad, so an English speaking author can put this in the article.--Mike Ax (talk) 13:06, 12 June 2023 (UTC)


 * Very interesting, thank you for sharing that.The problem we would face is in directly connecting that to Apocalypse Now as the work the inspiration derived from. The Ride of the Valkyries was used in film long before Die Deutsche Wochenschau - in The Birth of a Nation. So, absent a specific statement from Francis Ford Coppola that the former was the inspiration, rather than the latter, we'd be engaging in original research. The only reference I ran across that discussed this - https://flypaper.soundfly.com/discover/how-apocalypse-now-etched-wagners-ride-valkyries-into-our-brains/ - was regarding the efforts to use Sir Georg Solti's version, as  stated by editor Walter Murch. However, I did not intensely or deeply research beyond that. If you can find a source that confirms a direct connection, then it could be added.  cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 20:17, 12 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Hello Anastrophe, thanks for the information, this music was used so early in the film. Greetings Mike Ax Mike Ax (talk) 18:02, 13 June 2023 (UTC)
 * (This affords me one of the very rare opportunities to humble brag that I worked on Apocalypse Now, in the most trivial way - I sat and monitored the recording machines at Skywalker Sound while Mr. Murch was remixing AN for the laserdisc release - so long ago!) cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 20:22, 12 June 2023 (UTC)

Charlie
The phrase "Charlie don't surf" needs explanation. It's been almost 50 years since I saw the film, so I can't be 100% sure which group "charlie" refers to. (South) Vietnamese? Viet-Cong? North Vietnamese Army Regulars? I also note that the line is stereotyping and may be (mildly) offensive (today) - I really don't know. The line is notable enough to warrant explanation, I'd say. Since some American soldiers surfed during the Vietnam War, it is possible (or even likely) that both Vietnamese civilians and possibly even Viet Cong (of a certain age) did surf as well, just speculation but copy-catting is human nature.40.142.183.146 (talk) 22:09, 7 July 2023 (UTC)

Charlie refers to the Vietcong. Vietcong were known as VC, which is Victor Charlie in the NATO alphabet, hence Charlie. PatGallacher (talk) 21:24, 28 June 2024 (UTC)

Questions about Category.
In the categories section, the category "existentialist films" is selected, but I don't understand since there is nothing philosophical about the film aside from Kurtz's ramblings at the end of the film. If anyone can explain, that would be great. ONE RING (talk) 23:59, 26 January 2024 (UTC)

Golden Bough
Just one point I am bit surprised nobody has mentioned. At one point we see that Kurtz appears to have been reading The Golden Bough, about the ritual sacrifice of kings, not the sort of things directors would insert by accident. When Willard emerges from Kurtz's quarters at the end, people's reaction suggests that he who has killed the king has become the king himself. PatGallacher (talk) 21:30, 28 June 2024 (UTC)