Continuity mistake: After the napalm attack we see the back of the PBR as the men prepare to continue up the river. Later we see the back again after the scene at the Do Lung Bridge and the boys have a different boat, which now has three lights on its back section. (00:49:00 - 01:49:10)
Other mistake: Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore says, "You smell that? Do you smell that? I love the smell of Napalm in the morning", right after the jet attack and there's no indication that his character isn't smelling exactly what he says he is. There's no way he could possibly smell Napalm in the ten seconds of uninterrupted movie time that has elapsed from the attack. The explosion is several hundred yards away and looking at the smoke canisters, quite a brisk wind is blowing all the smoke away from them and not in their direction. (00:49:15)
Continuity mistake: When Colonel Kilgore talks to the men and says, "It smelled like victory," a line of sweat and dirt appears on the right side of his chest around his dog tags between shots. (00:49:45)
Continuity mistake: Before Colonel Kilgore looks at Captain Willard and says, "Someday this war's gonna end," the Vietnamese women and the soldier waving behind him to his left have moved between shots. (00:49:45)
Continuity mistake: After Colonel Kilgore looks at Captain Willard and says, "someday this war's gonna end" he gets up to walk away and the soldier to his right straps his rifle around his right shoulder twice between shots. (00:49:55)
Continuity mistake: Kilgore walks towards the beach and notices that the wind is starting to blow on shore and ruin the surf, and intense red green and yellow smoke canisters appear on his left between shots. (00:50:00)
Continuity mistake: As he looks towards the surfers, Colonel Kilgore says, "Lance, the wind, the wind" and it's quite overcast. Then in the next shot of the surfers the sun is out. This scene switches between close ups of Kilgore and the other men and the sun is out in the close-ups but not in the other shots. (00:50:10)
Visible crew/equipment: As he looks out to the surfers Lt. Col. Kilgore says, "It's gonna blow this place out, it's gonna ruin it it's the napalm that's what's doing it" and a mortar shell soon explodes in the water. If you look closely behind the surfer on the left you can see the explosive device floating in the water before the explosion. (00:50:15)
Continuity mistake: As Captain Willard tries to get Lance away from Colonel Kilgore the band-aid on his right cheek angles upward as it nears his eye. Later we see it up close as they pull him into the boat with the surfboard and it does not angle upward but goes straight across his face. (00:50:40 - 00:51:45)
Audio problem: As Captain Willard walks Lance away from Kilgore you hear him say, "just keep walking". If you look closely at his lips you'll see he's saying much more before that which is dubbed out. (00:50:45)
Audio problem: Colonel Kilgore takes the megaphone and says to the surfers, "Okay give it a try guys, one goes left and one goes right "and his lips do not match what he says. In these several shots he's saying a lot more than what we hear. (00:50:50)
Continuity mistake: Captain Willard and Lance run away from Lieutenant Col. Kilgore and the captain says, "get the f&% outta here". As this happens a helicopter is flying towards the colonel and two soldiers are helping an injured soldier. The camera cuts away for three seconds then back to a wide shot of the colonel again and the helicopter and the injured soldier have disappeared. (00:51:00)
Continuity mistake: As Captain Willard and Lance run away from Colonel Kilgore, their boat is coming towards them with no colored smoke behind it. A few seconds later we see it again with green and purple smoke behind it. (00:51:05)
Continuity mistake: Chef and Clean pull Lance into the boat after they ditch Col. Kilgore but in the next shot as Lance climbs in the boat Clean has disappeared. (00:51:15)
Continuity mistake: Chef and Clean pull Lance entirely into the boat. Than Captain Willard says, "Don't leave without me "as he runs to steal the colonel's surf board and we see Lance's legs dangling over the side as he is pulled into the boat a second time. (00:51:20)
Continuity mistake: Captain Willard steals Colonel Kilgore's surfboard from the men sitting in the colonel's helicopter. The helicopter has changed since the colonel and his surfboard flew in on it earlier in this scene. The words "Death From Above" and the two crossed sabers that were painted on the front of the helicopter are not on the front of this one. (00:51:20)
Continuity mistake: On the beach at Vin Din Dop Captain Willard steals the surfboard from Lt. Col. Kilgore's men and the tail rotor on the lieutenant's helicopter that just flew in has been removed. (00:51:25)
Continuity mistake: At the beach party Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore says, "bring me my Yater Spoon the eight-six". Later when Captain Willard steals this surfboard from his helicopter it's not a Yater Spoon, which has a distinctive flat tail and can be seen at www.yater.com. (00:51:25)
Continuity mistake: As they pull Colonel Kilgore's surfboard into the boat it's sitting sideways on the railing of the boat. Then in the next shot the tail fin is back in the water. (00:51:30)
Continuity mistake: As they leave Colonel Kilgore on the beach at Vin Drin Dop the boat sails off to the left of the screen towards the bridge that was destroyed earlier in the attack. If you look at the far left of the screen there's a small Vietnamese temple with no fire anywhere near it. As they pass closer to the temple a large fire is now burning in front of it. (00:51:50)
Answer: It should be noted that "transmutation" is a word Coppola has used to describe the film making process. Https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LFTQcwgq4CY.
Bishop73