Apocalypse Now quotes

View Quote They were gonna make me a major for this, and I wasn't even in their ****in' army anymore.

View Quote Late summer-autumn 1968: Kurtz's patrols in the highlands coming under frequent ambush. The camp started falling apart ... November: Kurtz orders the assassination of three Vietnamese men and one woman. Two of the men were Colonels in the South Vietnamese army. Enemy activity in his old sector dropped off to nothing. Guess he must have hit the right four people. The army tried one last time to bring him back into the fold. And if he pulled over, it all would have been forgotten. But he kept going, and he kept winning it his way, and they called me in. They lost him. He was gone. Nothing but rumors and random intelligence, mostly from captured VC. The VC knew his name by now, and they were scared of him. He and his men were playing hit and run all the way into Cambodia.

View Quote On the river, I thought that the minute I looked at him, I'd know what to do, but it didn't happen. I was in there with him for days, not under guard, I was free, but he knew I wasn't going anywhere. He knew more about what I was going to do than I did. If the Generals back in Nha Trang could see what I saw, would they still want me to kill him? More than ever, probably. And what would his people back home want if they ever learned just how far from them he'd really gone? He broke from them, and then he broke from himself. I'd never seen a man so broken up and ripped apart.

View Quote Everybody wanted me to do it, him most of all. I felt like he was up there, waiting for me to take the pain away. He just wanted to go out like a soldier, standing up, not like some poor, wasted, rag-assed renegade. Even the jungle wanted him dead, and that's who he really took his orders from anyway.

View Quote (Willard reads a letter Kurtz has sent to his son)
"Dear son,
I'm afraid that both you and your mother would have been worried for not hearing from me these past weeks. But my situation here has become a difficult one. I've been officially accused of murder by the Army. The alleged victims were four Vietnamese double agents. We spent months uncovering and ac****ulating evidence. When absolute proof was completed, we acted, we acted like soldiers. The charges are unjustified. They are in fact, under the cir****stances of this conflict, quite completely insane. In a war there are many moments for compassion and tender action. There are many moments for ruthless action, for what is often called ruthless, what may in many cir****stances be only clarity; seeing clearly what there is to be done and doing it directly, quickly, aware ... looking at it. I would trust you to tell your mother what you choose about this letter. As for the charges, I'm unconcerned. I'm beyond their timid, lying morality. And so I'm beyond caring.
You have all my faith.
Your loving father."

View Quote I will not hurt or harm you. Just give me back the board, Lance. It was a good board – and I like it. You know how hard it is to find a board you like. (repeated over helicopter loudspeaker)

View Quote Someday this war's gonna end ...

View Quote Unass that shit, get it out of here.

View Quote **** it. I'm gonna get me some mangoes.

View Quote [sobbing; after Willard executes a dying Vietnamese woman] **** you. **** you. **** them.

View Quote ****ing tiger!

View Quote [after the tiger attack] You can kiss my ass 'cause I'm bugging out! I didn't drop out of the goddamn eigth grade for this shit, man! I only wanted to learn to cook, I only wanted to ****in' cook, man!

View Quote (after learning the purpose of Willard's mission) Shit. ****in' Vietnam mission! I'm short and we gotta go up there so you can kill one of our own guys? That's ****in' great! That's just ****in' great, man. Shit. That's ****in'... crazy! I thought you were going in there to blow up a bridge, or, some ****ing railroad tracks or somethin'.

View Quote I'm asleep. I'm asleep and dreaming I'm on this shitty boat.

View Quote Never get out of the boat!