gory vioence. brutal and disturbing. for mature pickles only.
Apocalypse Now
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Is it age appropriate?
About our ratings -
Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
Disturbing tale of war horrors isn't for kids.
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 16–17
What to watch out for
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Violence:
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Sex:
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Language:
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Consumerism:
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of Apocalypse Now was written by Kelly Kessler
Parents need to know that this film has dark and violent overtones. It is not recommended for kids. This is not a historical piece that glorifies the moral journeys of American soldiers. It includes excessive swearing, violence, and drug use. The film also presents American soldiers as overall hostile and excessively violent.
Families Can Talk About
Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
- Families can talk about moral and cinematic issues. The film portrays Vietnam soldiers in various ways: cold-blooded murderers, drug addicts, kids, etc. Does Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore's obsession with battleground surfing present any ideological problems? How does the film draw on Lance's drug use to comment on the overall experience and psyche of the Vietnam soldier? How do Willard's and Kurtz's horrific visions and acts comment on the murkiness of war? How does this film add to the existing historical and journalistic discourse regarding Vietnam veterans? What liberties does the film take with its source material, Heart of Darkness?
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More on Apocalypse Now
What’s the Story?
Francis Ford Coppola's APOCALYPSE NOW served as the director's artistic follow-up to his first two Godfather films (1972, 1974). The film chronicles Capt. Benjamin J. Willard's (Martin Sheen) journey down a hostile Vietnam river to find and kill a crazed Green Beret, Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). The majority of the film follows Willard and his shipmates (Laurence Fishburne, Sam Bottoms, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall) as they travel to their classified destination. Ultimately, Willard must face the horror of the world Kurtz has created.
Is It Any Good?
One of the crown jewels of Zoetrope Studios, Apocalypse Now infamous for its director's over-budget and over-schedule process. The six-week shoot ultimately took 16 months. The project was plagued by problems. Coppola shot nearly 200 hours of film and took almost three years to edit the project. Despite multiple glitches in the process, the final product is a gripping and incredibly disturbing image of the murkiness of war and the depths of human depravity. Despite it being one of the greatest films of all time, parents might want to consider the film's psychological suspense and extreme violence before letting their teens watch it.
Apocalypse features outstanding performances by Sheen, Fishburne and Forrest. Robert Duvall gives a disturbing performance as Lieutenant Kilgore, a man who finds surfing and combat compatible activities and the character credited with one of the films most famous lines, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." The film went on to garner two Academy Awards, six additional nominations, and won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival.
Movie Details
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment, Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Run time: 153 minutes
Theatrical release: 01/01/1979, DVD release: 11/09/1999
MPAA Rating: R for disturbing violent images, language, sexual content and some drug use
Run time: 153 minutes
Theatrical release: 01/01/1979, DVD release: 11/09/1999
MPAA Rating: R for disturbing violent images, language, sexual content and some drug use
Our Members Say
See all 6 member reviews
Most Recent Reviews
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I rate this title off for age 15 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate language
good for teens who love cookies.
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I rate this title off for age 17 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Drinking, smoking, or drug use
- Negative role models
One of the Best Movies of All Time, but Not for Kids
Though I've lived a short life of only 18 years, I've seen around 700 films, especially romantic comedies because my mom loves them and I wasn't smart enough to leave the room for I had nothing better to do. After many years of not being allowed to watch rated R movies, I'm doing a heavy overdose now that I'm old enough. After all of my viewing experience, this is probably the best movie I've seen yet, better than Star Wars or The Dark Knight or any other film. It is visceral, brilliant, and rises to the occasion on every level. The other truth is, this film is not for children. The plot is extremely amoral, everything is dark, people are killed and a water buffalo is truly slain before the camera's eyes, and people take drugs all of the time. You would have to be a bad parent to let anyone under age 17 watch this film. I prefer the Redux edition, which contains more sexual parts than the original, which of course makes it worse in age appropriateness. I find this film to be one of the pinnacles in movies, but I can't seen anyone young watching this at all.
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I rate this title on for age 14 and give it
Excellent war film. Apocalypse Now illustrates the horror, the absurdity, and the futility of war, but most important it portrays war's damaging psychological effects. A descent too far inward thus becomes a descent into hell—a hell brought on by the metaphorical journey upriver. The atrocities of war have caused the each character to lose all sense of self and to become an other, an empty shell that can no longer recognize itself or, like Kurtz, discriminate along moral lines. But while Apocalypse Now implies that war effectively displaces the self and the rights and wrongs of morality, its conclusion suggests that the soul is capable of rejecting such darkness.
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I rate this title on for age 13 and give it
Really Good
Really good war film, and the last scene isn't that graphic, as you don't see most of it. Suitable for 13+
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I rate this title on for age 0 and give it
slow but wonderful
this movie is a complete and utter masterpeice, although , at some points in the film , i was found wandering off in my mind, just because this movie is quite slow and serious, but if ur looking for a classic , look no further, this is great!
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I rate this title pause for age 0 and give it
A Surreal Odyssey
An insane depiction of the lostest civility of mankind. War.
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Ratings at a Glance
| 100% | of parents say it's too violent |
| 100% | of parents say it has language their kids can't use |
| 50% | of parents don't feel there are good role models |
| 50% | of parents don't think the messages are positive |
| 50% | of parents say there's too much drinking, drugs, or smoking |
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