Apocalypse Now (1979)

Apocalypse Now context

Film Context:

• Whilst working as an assistant for Francis Ford Coppola, John Milius was encouraged to write a screenplay about the Vietnamese war. 
• Milius wished to volunteer for the Vietnam War but was turned down due to asthma.
• Coppola gave Milius $15,000 to write the screenplay. But it was originally written in 1969, as the Vietnamese war was going on and titled 'The Psychedelic Soldier'.
• Plot adapted from Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness', however that is a rescue mission whereas this is with the intention of killing.
• Kurtz was inspired by Robert B. Rheault, head of the special armies of Vietnam.
• Originally there were ten drafts of the screenplay.
• Inspired by the film Dr Strangelove (1964), which stars Peter Sellers and is set during The Cold War, which was also coinciding with the Vietnam War. 
• Coppola invested millions of his own dollars when the film went over budget which resulted in him mortgaging his house and winery to finish the film.
• Was supposed to be a 5 month shoot but ended up being 16 months

1969-70 America/Vietnamese War (when the film is set): 

• America troops in Vietnam peaked in 1969 at 543,000.
• Number of casualties and tension escalated.
• Rebellions in America against the war occurred, for example Harvard students tried to overthrow officials and locked themselves in the school.
• About 30,000 American soldiers are wounded or killed by North Vietnamese soldiers. 
• The Battle of Hamburger Hill in May 1969 where American and south Vietnamese soldiers united against north Vietnamese. 
• Ho Chi Minh, leader of the communist Vietnamese, died aged 79 on the 2nd September 1969.  
• The battle of Fire Support Base Ripcord with U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division and North Vietnamese Army from July 1st 1970 - July 23rd 1970.
• Operation Jefferson Glenn was the last major operation involving U.S. ground forces in September 1970.
• In 7th October, President Nixon called a cease-fire in South Vietnam.
• The U.S. asked for North Vietnam to remove its forces in South Vietnam however they believed that because they are both of the same country, they could remain.
• Operation Ivory Coast - a failed rescue mission in North Vietnam by United States Special Operation Forces.  
  

1979 America (when the film was made/released)/the after  effects of the Vietnam War on America: 

• 58,000 American's had died.
• Nixon abandoned the Truman Doctrine, since they had lost against their cause, proving the Domino Theory to be incorrect.
• The cost had been so great that President Johnson's 'Great Society programme of social reform' had to be cancelled.
• People were shocked by the amount of violence caused, such as the killings at 'My Lai' and therefore lost it's superiority and trust with the society.
• 700,000 Vietnamese ex-soldiers had psychological aftereffects.