Apocalypse Now

Visible crew/equipment: Captain Willard is on the right side of his bed dancing and he sticks his right fist towards the camera. Watch the bedspread closely as he pulls his fist back and you can see the shadow of the camera moving on the bedspread. (00:06:50)

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Visible crew/equipment: At dinner as Harrison Ford says, "Now he's crossed into Cambodia…" you can see the cameraman's reflection moving in the background to the left of his head. (00:15:20)

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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)

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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)

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Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: As the boat crew steps ashore to find Kilgore, the obvious shadows of two crew and their equipment are seen moving across the backs of the soldiers and then the raised netting slightly further away. This isn't the documentary crew they meet shortly afterwards, who are further onto the mainland. (00:27:20)

johnrosa

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: In this scene, the boat crew immediately encounter a camera crew filming the soldiers. This is their shadows.

While they do encounter a documentary film crew, this does not happen until a few seconds after the mistake occurs. The shadows of the film crew are shown when they are walking onto shore, whilst the documentary film crew are shown more onto the main land. Plus, it seems a little weird Francis Ford Coppola would decide to randomly include shadows of a documentary film crew when the cameo doesn't happen until a few seconds later. Clearly this is the shadow of the camera and cameraman cast on them, and is a valid mistake.

Casual Person

Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: If you keep your eyes on the right side of the screen before Colonel Kilgore gives the injured VC soldier a drink you can see a crew member's hand holding a light meter pass quickly in and out of the shot. (00:29:20)

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Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: In the helicopter after Colonel Kilgore talks to Lance he says, "My boys love it" and you can see the silhouette of the crouching cameraman in his sunglasses. (00:36:50)

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Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: As they sit in the foxhole watching the surfers, Lance's helmet gets wet and you can see the reflection of two studio lights, and the crew standing between them, in it. (00:47:10)

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Visible crew/equipment: After a soldier hands Colonel Kilgore the Air-Cav shorts that he gives to Lance, the reflection of several crew members can be seen moving in the middle of the megaphone to the right of the screen. (00:48:40)

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Visible crew/equipment: Kilgore points at the jets as they approach the tree line just before the napalm explosion. Look closely above Lance's head as some stage equipment makes a very quick appearance. (00:48:50)

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Apocalypse Now mistake picture

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)

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Visible crew/equipment: In the shot of Captain Willard and Lance joking about the colonel Lance says, "how am I going to shoot him the next time he comes around?". Look closely between the two actors as an equipment shadow moves from left to right than back again against the trees behind them. (00:54:45)

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Visible crew/equipment: Just before the Playboy helicopter leaves the USO show there's a shot of the stage from behind the audience and you can see the shadow of the cameramen moving from left to right on the shirts of the soldiers. (01:10:15)

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Visible crew/equipment: Just before the Playboy helicopter takes off from the stage the first stuntman who hangs off the skid runs up, taps on the window to signal the pilot, then reaches down for several seconds as he attaches a cable to himself. You can see the second stuntman as he holds onto this cable with his right hand when he pulls the first stuntman's pants down. (01:10:20)

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Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: On the boat while reading Kurtz' file Captain Willard recalls Harrison Ford saying, "and follow every order, however ridiculous" while having lunch with the general earlier in the movie. If you look at the close-up of his eye you can see a cameraman and another person's reflection as they stand in front of him. (01:18:35)

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Apocalypse Now mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: Captain Willard says he made a deal with the playmates for all the guys and Chief Phillips says," you got some mama's in there?". You can see all the stage lights reflecting off their raincoats. (01:27:10)

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Visible crew/equipment: Before we see Chef with his Bunny, the camera pans along from the rear of the helicopter to the front. First we see the reflected studio lights, then we see a great reflection of a cameraman with his equipment under a hood in the window of the copter. (01:27:50)

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Visible crew/equipment: Inside the helicopter Chef says to Miss May, "Miss December has black hair." As the camera pulls back its shadow can be seen on the rear seat. (01:28:20)

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Audio problem: As Playmate of the Year Carrie Foster is brought out to the audience carried by two Green Berets watch the band behind her closely. The bass player stops playing as he scratches his head but the bass on the soundtrack keeps going. (01:07:55)

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More mistakes in Apocalypse Now

Chef: Why do all you guys sit on your helmets?
Soldier: So we don't get our balls blown off.

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: Why was only one officer (Captain Willard) sent to assassinate Colonel Kurtz? Isn't it very unlikely for a captain like Willard to be able to kill a powerful and influential and "insane" colonel like Kurtz?

L0gical

Chosen answer: Kurtz was protected by political connections and his military record from being relieved of command, and the Montagnard people whose village he was in were considered American allies, so they couldn't just send a force in to kill him or relieve him of command, but an individual assassin. (The US Government's "official" policy is that they do not engage in assassination, which is why "this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist").

Captain Defenestrator

More questions & answers from Apocalypse Now

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