In addition, Willard's crew engages in drug use and listens to rock music, the first time that soldiers were shown in what might be considered "realistic" ways. This was in stark contrast to The Green Berets of ten years previous where John Wayne led highly disciplined men who did not stray from traditional war film portrayals of soldiers. Until Apocalypse Now, soldiers were allowed to engage in drinking on film, but the drug use and casual disregard for military behavior was not seen in a major motion picture release until Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter, released at approximately the same time and in production at the same time as Apocalypse Now.

One of the most memorable scenes in the film comes when the boat crew encounters Robert Duvall's military detachment. The attack helicopters that Duvall commands blast Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries in order to frighten the inhabitants as napalm is sprayed over the jungle. It is obvious that there is no attempt to distinguish between civilian and military targets, and Duvall's camp is loud and chaotic. One of the most memorable lines in the filmù"I love the smell of napalm in the morning"ùis found in this scene, as well. This scene also illustrates the attempt by soldiers to maintain some sense of home in their att

True to Conrad's original story, Apocalypse Now remains an inward journey of one manùWillardùcoming to grips with the challenges of interacting with a foreign culture and the changes that have been brought by the culture and the events surrounding him to another countrymanùKurtz. It is also, to some degreeùalthough Coppola does not draw out exactly how Kurtz became the renegade having total control over his corner of the warùthe story of Kurtz's descent away from "civilized" behavior. Like the reaction to Vietnam War itself, the film is ambiguous in its evaluations of both Kurtz and Willard. The audience does not necessarily find one morally superior to the other, and the audience definitely does not leave a viewing of this film with a positive "feel good" attitude about the United States or its role in Vietnam. As the 2004 presidential election illustrated, the nation still has considerable issues yet to be resolved in the national conscience about the war, those who served, and the actions they performed.

Apocalypse Now was made after the last helicopters left Saigon and after the nation had time to reflect on what the war and the protests against it had meant. The Vietnam War was different than any war before or since in that it was the first war that was televised and the last war where the military did not exercise extreme control and even censorship over the images that were seen by the "folks back home." Dead Vietnamese and dead Americans were shown on the evening news, and protests rocked the nation. Students were killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University as they protested, and much of the popular music of the late 1960