Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now (1979)

563 mistakes - chronological order

(28 votes)

Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the movie when we first see Chef's tattoos up close the tip of the serpent's tongue on his left arm is entirely red. Later in the movie before he gets onto the Vietnamese sampan we see it again up close and the tip of the serpent's tongue is green. (00:24:05 - 01:35:55)

????

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After Captain Willard looks at the picture of Colonel Kurtz being decorated by General Westmorland, they're all startled by the "Arc light" B-52 strike, note the rear machine gun is pointing forward and a helmet is hanging from the middle machine gun. In the next shot the rear machine gun is pointing aft and the helmet is now gone. (00:24:05)

????

Continuity mistake: Clean's dog tag and cross change between scenes. When he first hears the "Arc light" B-52 strike we see the cross hanging at the same level as the dog tag then when he meets Colonel Kilgore the chains have been rearranged so that the dog tag is two inches lower than the top of the cross. (00:24:10 - 00:30:05)

????

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Captain Willard is wearing green, tan and black camouflage trousers on the PBR when they spot Kilgore's air-cav unit. They immediately proceed toward shore and as he jumps off of the boat he's wearing different camouflage trousers, which are brown and green. (00:24:15 - 00:25:15)

????

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As they all sit on the boat and listen to the "Arc light" B-52 strike Lance is sunbathing in direct sunlight. In the next shot he's in the shadow of the roof of the boat as he gets up and says "there they are". (00:24:15)

????

Audio problem: Sitting on the boat listening to the B-52 strike, when Clean says, "Charlie don't never see 'em or hear 'em, man." his lips do not match his words. (00:24:20)

????

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Continuity mistake: On the boat as they look for the B-52's, Lance says, "There they are," standing in the center of boat under the flag. In the next shot, Clean is standing in that spot. (00:24:25)

????

Audio problem: As they look at the B-52 strike from the boat Clean says, "Secondary burning," then he says something else that was edited out. (00:24:25)

????

Continuity mistake: Before they swing the boat around and head to shore to meet up with Lieutenant Kilgore it's the middle of the afternoon with the sun above them. When they reach the shore in the next shot and get off the boat it's sunset. (00:24:30)

????

Visible crew/equipment: As the Captain takes the binoculars from the chief and first holds them up to look at the shoreline and Colonel Kilgore you can see the reflection of a crew member in the binoculars' lenses. (00:24:35)

????

Continuity mistake: When Chief throws the binoculars to Captain Willard, Clean puts on his flak vest. 7 seconds later, Clean is not wearing the flak vest, then he puts it on again. (00:24:37)

jddsonic

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As they watch Lieutenant Col. Kilgore's helicopter battle from their boat the captain says "It was the air-cav. 1st of the 9th" and Clean appears in the middle of the boat under the flag between shots. (00:24:40)

????

Continuity mistake: When the Captain asks the Chief for the binoculars the boat is standing still but in the next shot as the Captain is watching Kilgore's men they're moving rapidly towards the shore. However, in the next shot, a close-up of the Captain, the ship is back in the same place and standing still. (00:24:40)

????

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: As they get the boat ready to head for shore if you look closely at the left the screen turbulence from the engines of the camera boat can be seen in the water as it passes them. (00:24:45)

????

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As they approach the shore to meet up with Colonel Kilgore, there's another boat with teeth painted on it's front next to them on their right. In the next shot they arrive on shore and the other boat is much further behind them. (00:25:00)

????

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Captain Willard gets off the PBR and goes looking for Kilgore. A large piece of driftwood appears floating in the water to the right of the boat between shots. (00:25:15)

????

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As they come to shore to meet up with Colonel Kilgore, the Captain is crouching on the front of the PBR. In the next shot as he jumps off the boat he's standing. (00:25:15)

????

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As the men walk on the shore looking for Colonel Kilgore there's a field behind them across the bay. There's only a tank there but in the previous shot as they landed there were four helicopters along with the tank. (00:25:30)

????

Continuity mistake: As the Captain goes looking for Colonel Kilgore, there's a sampan docked on the shore with it's sail unfurled. In the previous shot, as the PBR approached the shore, the sail had been folded up. (00:25:30)

????

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Francis Ford Coppola appears in the movie as a TV director, he asks the captain to, "Just keep on going," and a small boy is playing on a black Agent Orange drum in the background. If you watch the labeling on the drum you can see that it's been moved between shots. (00:25:50)

????

Kilgore: I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

More quotes from Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now trivia picture

Trivia: The man shooting the movie during the attack on the beach who says "Don't look at the camera" is actually director Francis Ford Coppola. (00:25:38)

More trivia for Apocalypse Now

Question: Would anyone happen to know what song is playing in the background on the radio beside the intelligence officer sitting at the bar when Martin Sheen enters the Generals trailer and is being interviewed by Harrison Ford for the first time?

Answer: It's not any specific song; it's just the kind of generic piano music you'd hear at dinner at a high-class restaurant of the era. Think of scenes in movies, films, etc. set or made in the '50s and '60s, where the characters go to a nice dinner and there's someone at the piano playing unobtrusive music to accompany the food/conversation.

More questions & answers from Apocalypse Now

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.