During the 1970s, Hollywood made the transition from small time films to completely blowing up and producing some of the most iconic, and rather spectacular films of all time. One of the most prestigious directors of all time, especially during the 1970s, was Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola, whose most famously known for the classic Godfather series, directed a Vietnam war film that premiered in 1979. The name of this classic war film is Apocalypse Now, and will go down as one of the most beautifully shot and directed war films of all time.
Apocalypse Now stars the father of Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, as well as features the likes of a young Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall and Laurence Fishburne. The film opens with a PTSD-struck soldier, portrayed by Martin Sheen, who is both metaphorically and physically "stuck" in the jungle and is tasked with going up river in Vietnam in order to assassinate a rogue American soldier. As Sheen's character travels upstream with a ragtag group of soldiers, they not only discover the "horrors" and tragedy of war, but of humanity as well.
What this film does so well is show the slow mental, physical and emotional deterioration of soldiers during this horrific war and how the bloodbath that was Vietnam tore them apart both inside and out. If anything, this was very much an anti-Vietnam war film which is interesting because many Americans would agree it was one of the most unnecessary wars we have partaken in as a united nation. Apocalypse Now is my personal favorite war movie for it's use of spectacular special and practical effects and it's unique outlook on war.
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