Original subtitles

This is the end Beautiful friend

This is the end

Lost in a Roman wilderness of

pain

Saigon. Shit.

I'm still only in Saigon.

Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle.

When I was home after my first tour, it was worse.

I'd wake up and there'd be nothing.

I hardly said a word to my wife until I said yes to a divorce.

When I was here, I wanted to be there.

When I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle.

I'm here a week now.

Waiting for a mission.

Getting softer.

Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker.

And every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger.

Each time I looked around... The walls moved in a little tighter.

yeah come on yeah

chill chill chill chill

chill chill

Everyone gets everything he wants.

I wanted a mission.

And for my sins, they gave me one.

Brought it up to me like room service.

Captain Willard, are you in there?

Yeah, I'm coming.

It was a real choice mission.

And when it was over...

Are you all right, Captain?

How's it look like?

Are you Captain Willard, 505th Battalion? Affirmative.

173rd Airborne? Yeah. Signed, SOG. Hey, buddy, you gonna shut the door?

We have orders to escort you to the airfield.

What are the charges?

Sir? What'd I do?

There's no charges, Captain.

You have orders to report to CommSec Intelligence, and I'll try.

See? Right?

And they're trying for me.

That's right.

Come on, Captain. You still have a few hours to get cleaned up.

Captain?

Dave, come here and give me a hand. We've got a dead one.

Come on, Captain.

Let's take a shower.

I was going to the worst place in the world and I didn't even know it yet.

Weeks away and hundreds of miles up a river that snaked through the war like a

main circuit cable, plugged straight into Kurtz.

It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz's

memory, any more than being back in Saigon was an accident.

There is no way to tell his story without telling my own.

And if his story is really a confession...

Then so is mine. Good.

Come on in. Thank you, sir.

Stand at ease.

Yeah.

Want some air?

No, thank you, sir.

Captain, have you ever seen this gentleman before?

No, sir.

You met the general or myself?

No, sir. Not personally.

You've worked a lot on your own, haven't you, Captain?

Yes, sir, I have.

Your report specifies intelligence counterintelligence with ComSec I-Corps.

I'm not presently disposed to discuss those operations, sir.

Did you not work for the CIA and I-Corps?

No, sir.

Did you not assassinate a government tax collector, Quantree Province, June 18,

1968?

of any such activity or operation.

Nor would I be disposed to discuss such an operation if it did in fact exist,

sir.

I thought we'd have a bite of lunch while we talked.

I hope you brought a good appetite, Captain.

I noticed that you have a bad hand there. Are you wounded?

That little fishing accident on R&R, sir.

Fishing on R&R?

Yes, sir.

But you're feeling fit. You're ready for duty.

Yes, General, very much so, sir.

Well, let's see what we have here. Roast beef, and usually it's not bad.

Try some, Jerry. Pass it around.

Save a little time. We might pass both ways.

Uh, Captain, I don't know how you feel about this shrimp, but if you'll eat it,

you'll never have to prove your courage in any other way.

Well, why don't I just take a piece here?

Captain, you've heard of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz?

Um, yes, sir, I've heard the name.

Oh, Jesus.

Operations officer, 5th Special Forces.

Luke, would you play that tape with the captain, please?

Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir. Listen to this carefully, Captain.

Back over 9-0-4-30 hours, Sector Peter Victor King. These are monitored out of

Cambodia.

This has been verified as Colonel Kurtz's voice.

I watched a snail crawl along the edge of

a straight razor.

That's my dream.

It's my nightmare.

Crawling, slithering along the edge of a

straight razor and surviving.

Transmission 11 received 68 December 30, 0500 hours. Sector King, Zulu King.

But we must kill them.

We must incinerate them.

Pig after pig.

Cow after cow.

Village after village.

Army after army.

And they call me an assassin.

What do you call it when the assassins accuse the assassin?

They lie.

They lie and we have to be merciful.

For those who lie.

Those nabobs.

I hate them.

I do hate them.

Walt Kurtz was one of the most outstanding officers this country's ever

produced.

He was brilliant. He was outstanding in every way.

And he was a good man, too.

A humanitarian man.

A man of wit and humor.

He joined the Special Forces.

And after that, his, uh... ideas...

methods... became...

unsound.

Now he's crossed into Cambodia with this Montagnard army of his that worship the

man like a god and follow every order, however ridiculous.

Well, I have some other shocking news to tell you.

Colonel Kurtz was about to be...

Arrested for murder.

I don't follow, sir.

Murdered whom?

Kurtz had ordered the execution of some Vietnamese intelligence agents.

Men he believed were double agents.

So he took matters into his own hands.

Well, you see, Willard... in this war, things get...

confused out there.

Power... ideals and the old morality and practical military necessity.

But out there with these natives, it must be a temptation

to be God.

Because there's a conflict in every human heart between the rational and the

irrational.

between good and evil.

And good does not always triumph.

Sometimes... the dark side... overcomes what Lincoln called the

better angels of our nature.

Every man has got a breaking point.

You and I have.

Walt Kurtz has reached his.

Very obviously, he has gone insane.

Yes, sir.

Very much so, sir.

Obviously insane.

Your mission is to proceed up the Nung River in a Navy patrol boat.

Pick up Colonel Kurtz's path at New Mung Bah, follow it, learn what you can along

the way.

When you find the Colonel, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and

terminate the Colonel's command.

Terminate the Colonel.

He's out there operating without any decent restraint.

Totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct.

And he's still in the field commanding troops.

Terminate with extreme prejudice.

You understand, Captain, that this mission does not exist.

Nor will it ever exist.

How many people had I already killed?

There were those six that I knew about for sure.

Close enough to blow their last breath in my face.

But this time, it was an American.

And an officer.

That wasn't supposed to make any difference to me.

But it did.

Shit.

Charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets at

the Indy 500.

I took the mission.

What the hell else was I gonna do?

But I really didn't know what I'd do when I found him.

I was being ferried down the coast in a Navy PBR, a type of plastic patrol boat,

pretty common sight on the rivers.

They said it was a good way to pick up information and move without drawing a

lot of attention.

That was okay.

I needed the air and the time.

Only problem was I wouldn't be alone.

The crew were mostly just kids.

Rock and rollers with one foot in their graves.

How old are you?

Seventeen.

The machinist, the one they called Chef, was from New Orleans.

He was wrapped too tight for Vietnam.

Probably wrapped too tight for New Orleans.

Lance, on the forward 50s, was a famous surfer from the beaches south of L.A.

To look at him, you wouldn't believe he'd ever fired a weapon in his life.

Clean.

Mr. Clean was from some South Bronx shithole, and I think the light and the

space of Vietnam really put the zap on his head.

Then there was Phillips, the chief.

It might have been my mission, but it sure as shit was the chief's boat.

There's about two points where we can draw enough water to get into the Nang

River.

They're both hot.

Along the Charlie.

Don't worry about it.

Don't smoke.

No, I pulled a few special ops in here.

About six months ago, I took a man who was going up past the bridge at Dolong.

He was regular Army, too.

Heard he shot himself in the head.

At first, I thought they handed me the wrong dossier.

i couldn't believe they wanted this man dead third generation west point top of

his class korea airborne about a thousand decorations etc etc

i'd heard his voice on the tape and it really put the hook in me

but i couldn't connect up that voice with this man

Like they said, he had an impressive career.

Maybe too impressive.

I mean perfect.

He was being groomed for one of the top slots in the corporation.

General, chief of staff, anything.

In 1964, he returned from a tour with advisory command in Vietnam and things

started to slip.

His report to the joint chiefs of staff and Lyndon Johnson was restricted.

Seems they didn't dig what he had to tell them.

During the next few months, he made three requests for transfer to Airborne

Training, Fort Benning, Georgia, and was finally accepted.

Airborne?

He was 38 years old.

Why the fuck would he do that?

1966.

joins special forces, returns Vietnam.

Hey, what's that?

Arc light.

What's up?

B-52 strike.

Yeah.

What's that?

Arc light. I hate that.

Every time I hear that, something terrible happens.

Charlie don't never see them or hear them, man. There they are.

Concussion will suck the air out of your damn lungs.

Something terrible's gonna happen.

Smoke!

Secondary burning.

Huey's over there.

Lots of Hueys. Let's have a look, Chief.

It was the air cab, first of the night.

That's them. Our escorts to the mouth of the Nung River.

But they were supposed to be waiting for us another 30 kilometers ahead.

Well, air mobile.

Those boys just couldn't stay put.

First to the ninth was an old cavalry division that cashed in its horses for

choppers and gone tear-assing around Nam looking for the shit They'd given

Charlie a few surprises in their time here What they were mopping up now

hadn't even happened yet an hour ago

Lieutenant,

bomb that tree line back to about 100 yards.

Give me some room to breathe!

Yes, sir!

Bodyguards! Sir, bring my bodyguards! Yes, sir!

We're all at the base. It's all right, Captain.

Captain Willard, I carry priority papers from ComSec Intelligence, 2 Corps.

I understand the Trang has briefed you on the requirements of my mission.

What mission? I haven't heard from the Trang.

Sir, your unit's supposed to escort us into the Nung.

Well, we'll see what we can do, but just stand in my way till this is done,

Captain.

All right, let's see what we have.

Two spades, three spades, four diamonds, six of clubs.

Eight of spades.

Isn't one worth a jack and a whole bunch?

Hey,

Captain, what's that?

Death cards.

What?

Death cards. Let Charlie know who did this.

Cheer up, son.

What do they have to say?

This soldier is very busy.

He wants water.

He can drink heavy water.

What's your name, sailor?

Gunner's mate, third class, Al Johnson, sir. Gunner's mate, third class. Lance

Johnson, the surfer?

Yes, sir.

Well, it's an honor to meet you, Lance.

I've admired your nose riding for years.

I like your cutback, too. I think you have the best cutback there is.

Thank you, sir.

You can cut out the surcraft, Lance. I'm Bill Kilgore. I'm a goofy fuck.

This guy with you? Yeah.

I'm going to need some guys.

Spike from San Diego?

Far out. Johnny from Malibu?

Gone hot. Pretty solid surfer.

None of us are anywhere near your class, though. No way.

We do. We do a lot of surfing around here, Lance. I like to finish operations

early.

and the words I take and gave us. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be

thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Kilgore had a pretty good day for himself They choppered in the t-bones

and the beer and turned the LZ into a beach party The more they tried to make

it just like home the more they made everybody miss it

Well,

he wasn't a bad officer I guess he loved his boys and You felt safe with him.

He was one of those guys that had that weird light around him.

You just knew he wasn't going to get so much as a scratch here.

What happened to your mission, Captain?

To try and forget all about you?

Airborne.

Sir?

Two places we can get into the river.

Yeah. Here.

And here.

It's a pretty wide delta, but these are the only three spots I'm really sure of.

Well, that village you're pointing at is kind of hairy, Willard.

What do you mean, hairy, sir? It's hairy.

Got some pretty heavy ordnance.

I lost a few recon ships in there now and again.

What's the name of that goddamn village?

Vindren... Dop or Lop?

Damn gook names all sound the same.

Mike, you know anything about this point at Vindren Drop?

That's a fantastic peak.

Peak? About six foot.

It's an outstanding peak. It's got both a long right and left slide with a bowl

section. It's unbelievable.

It's just Tube City.

Why didn't you tell me that before, a good peak? There aren't any good peaks

in this whole shitty country.

It's all goddamn beach break.

It's really hairy in there, sir. That's where we lost McDonald's. They shot the

hell out of us there.

That's Charlie's point.

Sir, we can go in there tomorrow at dawn.

There's always a good offshore breeze in the morning.

We may not be able to get the boat in. The draft at the mouth of that river may

be too shallow.

Yeah, we'll pick your boat up and put it down like a baby right where you want

it. This is the first of the ninth air calves, son. Air mobile.

I can take that point and hold it just as long as I like, and you can get any

place up that river that suits you, young captain.

Hell, a six-foot creek.

All right, take a gunship back to the division.

Lance, go with Mike, let him pick out a board for you, and bring me my Yator

spoon, the 8-6.

I don't know, sir. It's a... What is it, soldier?

Well, I mean, it's pretty hairy in there. It's Charlie's point.

Charlie, don't serve!

This place is clean, you ain't gonna believe this. Look!

I never have gotten used to a light board, and I can't get used to them. I'm

used to a heavy board. I know. It's a real drag.

Do you prefer a heavier or a light board?

Heavier. Really?

Yeah. But all the young guys like lighter boards.

You can't write the nose on those things.

Big Duke 6, this is Eagle Thrust 7. We've got it spotted. Big Duke 6 to

Eagle Thrust. Put on heading 270.

Assume attack formation.

That's a roger, Big Duke.

Okay, we're going in. Here we go.

We'll come in low out of the rising sun, and no matter what, we'll put on the

music. Music?

Yeah, I use Wagner.

It scares the hell out of the slopes.

My boys love it.

Hey, we're going to play music.

How come all you guys sit on your helmet?

duke six eagles for us put on cy war up make it loud and the romeo fox shall

we dance

I've spotted a large weapon down below.

We're going to go down and check it out. All right, this is all fine. All right,

what a shot.

Outstanding there, team.

Outstanding. Get your case of beer for that.

6-4-1-0. We're over the village right now. I think I see a vehicle down in the

courtyard. I'm going to check it out. Well done, Hawks. Well done.

Want some 20-mic-mic Vulcan right along those tree lines.

Ripple the shit out of them.

Got a vehicle on the bridge.

50 caliber on board. He's moving across.

He's flying the weapon.

Big Duke 6.

Clear the area. I'm coming down myself.

These people let me give up.

Get it out.

It's just a flare. It's all right. It's just a flare.

Everybody all right? Lance, you all right?

We've got secondaries down there in the plaza. Blue 3, Blue 4, hold on over

position X.

Duke 6, Duke 6, we've got Boyd down there.

in the hospital in 15 minutes. I want my men out. Somebody stay in there tight

with Big Big.

Christ, she's a sap. I'm going to get that dink bitch.

Get over there, Johnny. Roll in there. Put the right skid right up her ass.

We're going to get some air in these streets. Let's goddamn eat up that enemy

down here. I'm taking fire. I'm taking hits all over our country.

Three o'clock. Three o'clock, my position.

Drawn fire. Drawn heavy fire.

Mayday, mayday. I'm going in. The tail loader's out. I got control.

What do you think of that?

Hey, hey, hey, Lance, come here, look, look! It's coming!

Time doesn't come in for six hours!

You wanna wait here for six hours?

If I say it's safe to surf this beach, Captain, it's safe to surf this beach!

I mean, I'm not afraid to surf this place.

I'm afraid to surf this f***ing place!

Get the hell out of here, Logan!

Not more than this big Duke Six!

Let me take care of this. All right? Get that out of here. I'm sorry.

Come here now.

All right.

No, man. Sorry.

Jimmy! 5-1-2, 5-1-3, Roger. They need some napalm down in the tree line. Can

you get Twisted Round Time to put it down there?

5-1-3, we'll fix the fuck with it. What's the target?

I'm going to press some mortar fire off the tree line down there.

Roger, here we come.

Good. Give it all you got. Bring in all your ships.

Wing of breath.

I'm about to be like Chopper. Get him back to the hospital.

Yes, sir!

Don't you worry.

Give me those shorts.

These are from the aircraft.

Pleasant with me and the boys.

I want to see you do your stuff in them.

Out there, okay?

the world smells like that i love the

smell of napalm in the morning you know one time we had a hail bomb for 12 hours

when it was all over i walked up we didn't find one of them not one stinking

dink body smell you know that gasoline smell the whole

hill smelled like

Someday this war's gonna end.

Lance! The wind!

Huh? The wind!

What? It's blowing on shore! It's coming on shore! It's gonna blow this place

out! It's gonna ruin it! Not cool!

It's gonna blow up! It's the goddamn napalm. That's what's doing it. I know.

I'm really sorry, Colonel, but I'm afraid that doesn't mean the kids got a

reputation you can't expect them to surf those sloppy waves. I understand what

you're saying. Yeah, I'm an artist, Bill.

I couldn't surf that stuff.

Relax. Look, I apologize. It's not my fault. The waves are getting blown out

by the napalm. Hey, Bill, don't get me wrong. It was the bombs causing the

vortex with the wind. I accept your apology.

All right, then, but if you hang around just 20 minutes. Just 20 minutes. Okay,

Bill. I haven't heard it. Keep walking.

I couldn't see. Okay, give it a try, guys.

One dose left and one dose right.

All plans.

You through surfing?

Yeah. Want to say goodbye to the colonel? No. You sure?

Yeah. Get the fuck out of here. It's a fucking day club.

Just wait 20 minutes.

But it's mine!

Someday this war's gonna end.

That'd be just fine with the boys on the boat.

They weren't looking for anything more than a way home.

Captain?

Trouble is, I'd been back there.

And I knew that it just didn't exist anymore.

If that's how Kilgore fought the war, I began to wonder what they really had

against Kurtz.

It wasn't just insanity and murder.

There was enough of that to go around for everyone.

I'm not here.

I'm walking.

through the jungle gathering mangoes.

I meet Raquel Welch.

We make a nice mango cream pudding.

You know, kind of spread it around on us.

She's into mangoes, too.

She's like one limb above me.

We're both in the jungle here, nude.

Hey, Chief?

Yeah? Here comes that Colonel guy again.

You know how hard it is to find a board you like.

He's a determined motherfucker, ain't he?

I will not hurt for one.

Just give me back the board, Lance.

It was a good board, and I liked it.

You know how hard it is to find a board you like.

I will not hurt for one.

Jesus Christ.

That guy's too fucking much, man. Do you think he would have shot us?

He wouldn't have shot us on the beach, but I think he'd have shot us if he saw

me taking his board.

Let's go surfing now, everybody's learning how.

Let's get this board out of my turret.

Sucker. I mean, how am I going to shoot him next time he comes around? Hey,

chef, make some room back there for the board.

if that's the same chopper. Oh, hell, he's probably got them all over the

river with that recording.

We'll have to hold up here till dark, Chief.

Don't worry, Lance. He won't follow us too far.

What makes you say that?

You think that big calf colonel wants everyone up river to know we stole his

board? I didn't steal it.

Captain. Just how far up this river are we going?

It's classified, Chief. I can't tell you.

I'm going up pretty far.

Is it gonna be Harry?

I don't know, kid.

Yeah, probably.

You like it like that, Captain?

When it's hot, Harry?

What?

Maybe you get a chance to know what the fuck you are in some factory in Ohio.

Hey, Chief, I'm gonna go get those mangoes now, okay?

Take somebody with you. Yeah, I'll take, uh... I'll go with him.

Sir.

Yes, sir?

How come they call you that?

Call me what, sir?

Chef. Because you like mangoes and stuff?

No, sir. I'm a real chef.

I'm a saucier.

Saucier?

Yes, sir.

See, I come from New Orleans.

I was raised to be a saucier.

Great saucier.

What's a saucier?

We specialize in sauces.

Gotta be a mango tree here somewhere.

And then I... I was supposed to go to Paris. Study at the Scoffier School.

Then I got, uh, orders for my physical.

Hell, I joined the Navy.

Heard they had better food.

Cook school.

That did it.

Oh, yeah? How's that?

Oh, you don't want to hear about that.

They lined us up in front of a hundred yards of prime rib.

All of us, you know, lined up looking at it.

Magnificent meat.

Really.

Beautifully marbled.

Magnifique.

Next thing, they're throwing the meat into these big cauldrons.

All of it.

Boiling it.

I looked inside, man. It was turning gray.

I couldn't fucking believe that one.

That's when I applied for radio in school, but then they gave me the

engine.

60k!

Fuck it out.

Never get out of the boat.

Absolutely goddamn right.

Unless you were going all the way.

Kurtz got off the boat.

He split from the whole fucking program.

How did that happen?

What did he see here that first tour?

38 fucking years old.

If he joined the Green Berets, there was no way you'd ever get above Colonel.

Kurtz knew what he was giving up.

The more I read and began to understand, the more I admired him.

His family and friends couldn't understand it, and they couldn't talk

him out of it.

He had to apply three times, and he put up with a ton of shit.

But when he threatened to resign, they gave it to him.

The next youngest guy in his class was half his age.

They must have thought he was some far-out old man humping it over that

course.

I did it when I was 19. It damn near wasted me.

A tough motherfucker.

He finished it.

He could have gone for general.

But he went for himself instead.

Here, Eva.

Today was really a new one.

I almost got eaten alive by a fucking tiger.

Really un-fucking-believable, you know?

We're taking this guy, Captain Willard, up the river, but he hasn't told us yet

where we're taking him.

October 1967.

On Special Assignment Khantoum Province 2 Corps.

Kurt staged Operation Archangel with combined local forces.

Rated a major success.

He received no official clearance.

He just thought it up and did it.

What balls.

They were going to nail his ass to the floorboards for that one.

But after the press got a hold of it, they promoted him to full colonel

instead.

Oh, man.

The bullshit piled up so fast in Vietnam, you needed wings to stay above

it.

This sure enough is a bizarre sight in the middle of this shit.

Expecting us this time?

Damn, if I know.

Hello? Hello? I'm coming in.

Jesus.

I'm fat. You ever been up here before, Chef? I bet you we can score up here.

Yo, man, check out the bikes, man.

Swing, Yamaha, Zuki.

Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, Sukiyaki.

This must be the

guy. Right over there.

Three drums of diesel fuel, PBR5... Come on, man, move!

We don't have time! One hour, that's all! What do you want? Can I get a

little Panama Red with it?

Panama Red, yeah, I'll get you Panama Red. Sergeant.

Destination. I don't have no destination. You can't do a goddamn

thing without a destination.

You got a destination?

I need diesel fuel. All right, you got a destination?

I need a destination. I can't do a goddamn thing about it without a

destination. Hey, Sarge, Sarge, these guys are with me.

Destination's classified.

I carry priority papers from CompSec Intelligence 2 Corps. Okay, right, sir.

Hey, listen, it's a real big night. Eight bucks for that camo.

Hey! Hey.

Just give him some fuel.

You got it.

Dog starts barking. Hey, listen, Captain.

I'm really sorry about tonight. It's really bad around here, and...

Just take this over the man at the supply desk and you got hey listen Would

you guys like some seats some press box seats for the show you want those?

I said, how you doing out there?

I want to say hello to all of us up here, to all of you out there who've

worked so goddamn hard on Operation Brute Force.

Hello, all you paratroopers out there and the Marines and the sailors.

We want to let you know that we're proud of you because we know how tough and how

hard it's been.

Yeah.

And to prove it, we're going to give you some entertainment we know you're going

to like.

Miss August, Miss Sandra Bates.

Miss May, Miss Terry Tarray.

Yeah. And the Playmate of the Year, Miss Terry Foster.

Yeah. Oh, Susie Q.

Oh, Susie Q.

Oh, Susie Q.

You talk.

I'm here, baby.

I'm here.

You fucking bitch!

Take it off!

Hey, lover, you wanted to come over?

I sure did.

What did you tell him?

Charlie didn't get much USO.

He was dug in too deep or moving too fast.

His idea of great R&R was cold rice and a little rat meat.

He had only two ways home.

Death or victory.

No wonder Kurtz put a weed up Command's ass.

The war was being run by a bunch of four-star clowns who were going to end

up giving the whole circus away.

Hey, you know, man, that was far fucking out.

I collected every picture of her since she was Miss December, Chief.

Hey, Cleen, look at that. She was here, man.

I even wrote the gun.

She didn't write me back.

You can really get hung up on these broads, man, just like that cat in the

Delta. Yeah, I can't believe it. Run, cat.

The one that went up for murder, he was an army sergeant. Remember? This cat,

man, he really dug his playboy, man.

I mean, like, this cat, when the thing arrived, he was there to meet it, yeah?

He just knew. Look at these beautiful fucking chugs, man!

Yeah, so anyway, he was working on them patrols, you know? That one of them

cocky, gook-asshole lieutenants and shit.

And one day, the gook took his magazine from him and wouldn't give it back to

him. He said, give me my magazine back.

Gook said, you'll shut up. That's how you'll call my shop.

You know? Typical fucking Arden, man.

So like then, the gook starts to go too far, see?

Remember? Take the wheel. This dude started to stick pinholes in the labels.

He started sticking pinholes in the centerfold and all kinds of shit like

that. And the sergeant said, you better not do that to her.

You leave your shitty little gook hands off of that girl. Don't do it like that,

right? Gooks say, fuck you.

The Vietnamese, eh?

Sergeant, man, he ain't got nothing to handle no more.

He just picked up his iron, flicked it to rock and roll, and, too, gave that

little zero a long burst straight through the playboy, man.

It blew his ass clean off of the dock. There wasn't no more lieutenant that

day. That was it for his ass.

They burning for it?

The sergeant?

Yeah, man.

They stuck his ass in the LBG.

It's too bad he didn't get no medals in it.

Fucking Arvin, man.

They should have killed the fucker.

Should have given the fucker a silver star.

Bummer for the gooks, though, aren't they?

Yeah!

Their only goal is satisfaction. All right.

We're done, please.

Get down, Bubba.

I can't get no satisfaction.

Hang on, man.

Commitment and counterinsurgency by Colonel Walter E. Kurtz.

As long as our officers and troops perform tours of duty limited to one

year, they will remain dilettantes in war and tourists in Vietnam.

As long as cold beer, hot food, rock and roll, and all the other amenities remain

the expected norm, our conduct of the war will gain only impotence.

We need fewer men, and better, if they were committed, this war could be won

with a fourth of our... present for us.

Late summer, autumn, 1968.

Kurtz's patrols in the highlands coming under frequent ambush.

The camp started falling apart.

November.

Kurtz orders 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.

He joined the Special Forces.

And after that is... The Army tried one last time to bring him back into the

fold. And if he'd 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.

I know where I'm going. I'm going to the White House to have dinner with the

President of the United States, baby.

That's what I'm doing.

Hey, Chef.

Put the cover on that.

Me.

How long has that kid been on this boat?

Seven months.

He's really specializing in busting my balls.

Very possible, Captain. He thinks the same of you.

Oh, yeah?

What do you think, Chief?

I don't think.

My orders say I'm not supposed to know where I'm taking this boat, so I don't.

But one look at you and I know it's going to be hot, wherever it is.

We're going upriver about 75 clicks above the Dolong Bridge.

That's Cambodia, Captain.

That's classified.

We're not supposed to be in Cambodia, but that's where I'm going.

You just get me close to my destination and I'll cut you and the crew loose.

All right, Captain.

Dear son, I'm afraid that both you and your mother will have been worried at

not hearing from me during the past weeks.

But my situation here has become a difficult one.

I have been officially accused of murder by the army.

The alleged victims were four Vietnamese double agents.

We spent months uncovering them and accumulating evidence.

When absolute proof was completed, we acted. We acted like soldiers.

The charges aren't justified.

They are, in fact, and in the circumstances 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.

What is often called ruthless.

What may in many circumstances be only clarity.

Seeing clearly what there is to be done and doing it.

Directly. Quickly.

Awake.

Looking at it.

I would trust you to tell your mother what you choose about this letter.

As for the charges against me, I am unconcerned.

I am beyond on their timid lying morality.

And so I am beyond carrying.

Medivac, do you read? Over. You have all my faith.

Your loving father.

Jesus. No wonder I couldn't get him on the radio.

What a dump.

Hi there.

How you doing?

Wow, that's a nice little boat you got there. I've never seen one up here

before. You know, we called in a request for a medevac. You guys receive it?

Medevac? No.

Yeah, we passed a down huey with some KIAs.

On your way here?

Yeah. So you're going up this river?

Way up river?

Whoa, forget it. Why?

Why? Well, we want to send some people down river.

Just forget it.

The fuck was that?

Be back in a couple of days.

Yeah, right.

She'll be back.

Hey, Chase?

Yeah, Captain?

Why don't you see what you can do with that engine? I'm going to have a look

around. All right.

Hey, don't leave without me.

Hey, soldier, where's your CO?

Don't ask me, man.

Where's the CEO?

He stepped on a landmine about two months ago.

Got all blown to hell. Who's in charge here?

Charge?

I don't know, man. I'm just a night man.

Just doing what I'm told, shit.

I'm just a working girl. What about you, fella?

And last, man, I'm telling you it's going to jam when you mark my words.

Keep doing that and do shit. Hey, get off my shit. Get off my shit. Come on,

man.

Hey, how you doing, Captain?

I want you to meet your people.

Hey, guys.

Hey,

fellas.

Hey, guys.

I just made a deal with the people from How Fat.

I negotiated two barrels of fuel for a couple of hours with the buddies.

Hey, hey, you're shitting me.

No, I'm not. Grab a couple of barrels and get up in that big tent. Come on.

Yes, sir.

Captain, you're giving away our fuel for a playmate of the month?

No, playmate of the year, Chief.

Captain,

if you get in a firefight and run out of fuel, I want you to tell me how she was.

I made a deal for all of us, Chief.

How about you?

You got some mamas in there?

Some what?

Forget it, Captain.

I'll stay with the boom.

Hey, Captain!

Give me a hand!

Well, I got every one of your pictures.

I got the centerfold,

the playmate's review, the playmate of the year runoff.

I even got the calendar.

Hey, Wazzo.

Wait, how come you got a bird?

I used to be the bird girl at Busch Gardens.

Busch Gardens?

Yeah, I used to train birds there.

But you are Miss December, aren't you? Miss May.

Is it coming?

Mr. Simba has black hair. It's over there.

He's not one of my regular gourds.

Come on, come on, baby. Snatch a crack. Come here.

Being playmate of the year is the loneliest experience I can imagine.

It's like...

You try to express your feelings to someone and show them your heart. Yeah,

I want to hear about your burdock.

I'd love to hear about your burdock.

But, uh, do you mind just... putting this... Do you just, uh, mind putting

this black wig on for me, please?

And there's this glass wall between you.

This invisible glass.

And they can see your mouth moving. I used to train birds for at least two

years at Busch Gardens. This was kind of cascading over your right shoulder, and

this was open here.

But they can't hear what you're saying.

I used to train them to stand on their head and fly upside down and ride a

little bicycle. Your right hand was kind of over there.

Hey, come on. Get out of here, man.

Get out. Later. Later.

Later. Give me 15 minutes. Because you can never really make them hear what

you're trying to say.

You okay with kind of bending?

It's the biggest arm. That's it, yeah, your ass. Just a little. Hey, man, fuck

off!

That's why I tried so desperately to show somebody that I had some

talent. Little baby McGraw.

Have you ever seen a baby McGraw?

Come on, man, take off, would you?

They make you do things that you don't want to do.

Like this picture here.

I started feeling repulsed with myself.

You were just kind of bending forward, just your ass kind of out a little bit.

And that's over there.

That's it.

That's it. That's it.

Voila.

Beautiful. I just want to, you know.

I can't believe it.

Me, Jay Hicks.

I mean, I can't believe I'm really here, you know?

Maybe I'm unfit to have a relationship with a beautiful,

innocent boy.

Just think, if it hadn't been for the Vietnam War, I never would have met you,

Mr. Simber.

Miss May, I wish, I wish I could find...

Just one person that could share my point of view.

Oh,

you're just like a bird! Oh, God!

Kiss me! Kiss me!

Well, I'm next, man.

Ha, ha! Hell, I didn't know it was a cherry!

Didn't know you never got no pussy, Bubba! Shut the fuck up! Sure, sorry

about that.

If I'd have known, I'd take you to New Orleans.

Man, fuck you. Introduce you to Coos, Bubba! Lay off, Jeff.

Cherry!

You are a sailor.

So get out of that frizzly almond-looking shirt and stop smoking

that dope. You hear me?

Babe, what's with all the green paint?

Camouflage. How's that?

So they can't see you. They're everywhere, Chief.

Uh-huh. I want you to stay awake up there, man. You got a job to do.

Sandpan off the port bow sandpan off the port bow.

Let's take a look

What's

up chief

Junk boat captain we're gonna take a routine check Well, let's forget routine

now. Let him go these boats are running supplies in his Delta captain.

I'm gonna take a look

Chief, my mission's got priority here. Hell, you wouldn't even be in this part

of the river if it wasn't for me.

Until we reach your destination, Captain, you're just on for the ride.

Stand by, lads. Throw the rope, asshole.

Come on, hurry up, motherfucker.

Move it. Come on.

Keep your eyes open clean.

I got you, chief.

Okay.

That's them.

They're okay.

There's a fucking boat. There ain't nothing on it, Chief. Go order and

search it.

There's baskets, there's ducks, fucking bananas.

There ain't nothing on here. Give me shit, Chef.

What's wrong with you? Go order and search it. There's the goat, some fish.

Chef. There's a bunch of fucking beds. There's nothing on the fucking boat. Get

on that boat!

What's in that vegetable basket?

Don't come. Get out of here. Come on.

Get over here.

Check that vegetable basket.

All right. Shut up, Sloan. There ain't nothing in here. What's in that box?

Look in that tin can. Nothing. That rusty can. There's fucking rice in that

doll. There ain't nothing on it. Check the yellow can. Check the yellow can.

Nothing.

Take it easy. Take it easy.

Blow down and take it easy.

Calm down. Just wait a minute. Wait a minute, Chef. Bring her up, Chef. Is she

breathing, Chef?

She's hurt.

She's bleeding.

Bring her on board.

We're taking her to an Arvin. What are you talking about?

We're taking her to some friendlies, Captain. She's wounded. She's not dead.

The book says, Captain.

Fuck him.

I told you not to stop. Now let's go.

It was the way we had over here of living with ourselves.

We'd cut them in half with a machine gun and give them a band-aid.

It was a lie.

And the more I saw them, the more I hated lies.

Those boys were never going to look at me the same way again.

But I felt like I knew one or two things about Kurtz that weren't in the dossier.

Dolong Bridge was the last army outpost on the Nang River.

Beyond it, there was only Kurtz.

Lance.

Hey, Lance.

What do you think?

It's beautiful.

Huh? I mean, what's the matter with you? You're acting kind of weird.

Hey, you know that last tab of acid I was saving?

Yeah.

I dropped it.

You dropped acid?

Borrowed.

I was sent here from the trang with these three days ago, sir.

Expected you here a little sooner. This is mail for the boat.

You don't know how happy this makes me, sir.

Why? Now I can get out of here. If I can find a way.

You're in the asshole of the world, Captain.

Captain, where are you going?

See if I can find some fuel and get some information.

Pick me up the other side of the bridge.

Somebody go with him.

Yeah, I'll go I want to go

Son of a bitch! Lance!

Get down here!

You still got a commanding officer here? Beverly Hills.

What?

I'm sorry, sir. There are groups out there by the wire, but I think I killed

them all.

Oh, you ain't shot shit, man.

Listen.

He's trying to call his friends, man. Son of a...

You think you bad, huh? They're all dead, stupid.

There's one still alive underneath them bodies.

Who's the commanding officer here?

Ain't you?

You think you so bad, huh?

I got something for your ass now, nigga. I got something for you now.

He's underneath them bodies, man.

Go get the roach, man.

Go get the roach, nigga.

I'm gonna go get the roach. Go get him.

Got slopes on the wire, man. You hear him?

Lance! Well, do you hear him?

Well, bust him!

You hear

him out there on the wire, man?

Yeah You need a flare

He's close man,

he's real close

Hey soldier Do you know who's in

command here?

Yeah

They're chief, man. Two guys just got blown off that bridge.

You hang on, man.

You're gonna be okay.

What's that?

Mail, man. I don't believe it. Later on the mail. Watch them trees.

There's no diesel fuel, but I picked up some ammo.

Let's move out.

Did you find the CO, Captain?

There's no fucking CO here.

Let's just get going.

Which way, Captain?

You know which way, Chief.

You're on your own, Captain.

Do you want to go on?

Like this bridge.

We build it every night. Charlie blows it right back up again.

Just so the generals can say the road's open.

Think about it.

Who cares? Just get us up river.

Jeff, on the bow.

Stand by, Clee. Let's go!

Shit, you got another one clean. Oh shit, wait a minute.

Is that it?

That's it for you, Lance?

Mr. L.B. Johnson, there you go.

Far out, man. All right, I've been waiting for this one.

I got another one.

Got a box from Eva.

Lance, I'm fine, I'm fine.

Sue and I were tripping at Disneyland.

Man,

I want to get back to Antoine's. Yes, I remember the time. How could I fucking

forget, man?

Beautiful! There could never be a place like Disneyland, or could there? Let me

know. Jim?

It's here. Really is here.

What?

There has been a new development regarding your mission, which we must

now communicate to you.

Months ago, a man was ordered on a mission which was identical to yours.

We have reason to believe that he is now operating with Colonel Kurtz.

Saigon was carrying him MIA for his family's sake, but they assumed he was

dead.

Then they intercepted a letter he tried to send to his wife.

Captain Richard Colby.

He was with Kurtz. Hey, look at this guy.

Disney.

Fuck, man, this is better than Disneyland.

Charles Miller Manson.

Ordered the slaughter of all in the home anyway as a symbol of protest.

That's really weird, ain't it?

Purple Haze, look! I got a tape from my mom.

Rainbow reality, man.

Hey, get a good whip.

Eva can't picture me in Vietnam.

She pictures me at home having a beer and watching TV.

That's much more than I can say for some of your friends.

If this tape is any good, I will have Dad and the family send you a tape of

their own.

Oh my god.

Pretty soon,

not too soon, but pretty soon, I'll have a lot of grandchildren to love and

spoil. And then when your wife's getting back, she'll be mad with me.

Ha, ha, ha.

Even Aunt Jessie and Mama will come to celebrate your coming home.

Granny and Dad are trying to get enough money to get you a car, but don't tell

them because that's our secret.

Anyhow. do the right thing stay out of the way of the bullets and bring your

honey home all in one piece because we love you very much love mom

Hold on.

Throw me the glasses.

Lance, take a 16 on the bow.

Chef, chef, on the 16.

But me.

Cover the captain.

Lanz, cover the captain.

Sheriff,

pick up that weapon. Pick it up. Pick it up.

All right, you men, put on your weapons.

We lost one of our men.

We French always pay respect to the dead of our allies.

You are all welcome.

My name is Hubert Desmarais.

This is my family's plantation.

It has been such for 70 years and it will be such until we are all dead.

Captain, accept the flag of Tyrone Miller on behalf of a grateful nation.

This food is really wonderful, isn't it? The wine, the sauces.

I can't believe it.

Hey, can I speak with the chef?

Chef speaks Vietnamese.

No kidding. He cooks like this and he can't even speak French?

Hey, Lance.

Chef, slow down.

Hey, Lance!

This is Baudelaire.

It's a very cruel poem for children, but they need it, because life sometimes is

very cruel, as you can see.

Attack repulsed by the family.

Just for this war.

Viet Cong, 58.

North Vietnamese, 12.

South Vietnamese, 11.

Americans, six.

Yes, well, there were perhaps mistakes.

May I present Captain Willard. He's of the Paratroop Regiment.

Do you remember this

story, Barry?

When the baron said that we were cutting the angel.

I don't think it's a good story.

Can you possibly stay here?

I'll stay forever.

No, no, I mean... Why don't you go back home to France?

I mean,

this is our home, Captain.

Sooner or later, you're gonna get... No!

You don't understand our mentality.

The French officer mentality.

At first, we lose in the Second World War.

I don't say that you Americans win, but we lose.

In 1945, yeah.

After the Japanese war, your president, Roosevelt, didn't want the French people

to stay in Indochina.

So, new Americans implant the Viet Minh.

Yeah, that's true.

The Viet Cong were invented by the Americans, sir.

And now you take the French place, and the Viet Minh fight you.

And what can you do?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The Vietnamese are very intelligent.

You never know what they think.

The Russians want to help them.

Come and give us our money. We are all communists.

Chinese, give us guns. We are all brothers.

They hate the Chinese.

Maybe they hate Americans less than the Russians and the Chinese.

I mean, if tomorrow the Vietnamese are communists, they will be Vietnamese

communists. And this is something that you never understood, you American.

Well, I don't know. Maybe in the future we can make something with the

Vietnamese.

Don't you understand?

The VC say, go away, go away.

That's finish for all the white people in Indochina. If you're French,

American, that's all the same.

Go. They want to forget you.

Look at that. Look,

this is a true.

An egg.

The white left.

The yellow.

Stay.

When I was in Saigon, I spoke to an American politician,

and he explained it very well. He said, look, yesterday it was Korea, today

Vietnam, tomorrow Thailand, the Philippines.

Then maybe Europe.

Why not Europe?

Look what happened in Czechoslovakia recently.

And even before the Second World War, the Americans knew exactly what was

going on. They don't want the chief to take over.

Lefebvre! Lefebvre, arrête!

All you white people are shit. They are fighting, fighting for freedom. Freedom?

Bullshit!

French bullshit, American bullshit!

All soldiers know they are already dead.

You know anything about Dien Bien Phu?

Yeah, I know. No, you don't.

Not really.

Dien Bien Phu was an error, you know.

A military mistake.

A mistake?

A voluntary mistake!

Voluntary!

All the soldiers knew.

We knew we would be dead.

The generals and the colonels believe it's impossible for the Viet to get the

cannon up there on the mountains.

But they do.

Then they wait for the rain to come.

When it comes, no airplane can fly there.

And our paratroopers jump at 90 meters.

I mean, you know, 90 meters, 70 meters. I mean, that's crazy.

No army in the world can do that.

And they only do that to be dead with their friends.

The French army was sacrificed.

Sacrificed by the politicians safe at home.

They put the army in an impossible situation where they couldn't win.

The students are marching in Paris, protesting, demonstrating.

They stabbed the soldiers in their back.

The soldier would open the grenade.

It wouldn't work.

A piece of paper would fall.

Union des femmes françaises.

Union of French women.

We are for the Viet.

Traitors!

Communist traitors at home!

French is shit.

No one cares, no one wants to... Why don't you Americans learn from

us, from our mistakes?

With your army, your strength, your power, you can win if you want to.

You can win.

I'm sure we can make something there.

I'm sure about it.

I never do something bad to the people here.

I'm sure you know, but the communists at home have never been traitors.

Excuse me, I have to go.

Captain, good night.

I know we can stay. I know that we can stay and make plantations. We can.

You know,

we always help the people. We work with the people.

So we can make plantations. We are happy.

See, Captain, when my grandfather... I mean, my uncle's

father came here, there was nothing, nothing.

The Vietnamese were nothing.

So we worked hard, very hard. We brought the rubber from Brazil

and then printed here.

We took the Vietnamese.

Work with them.

Make something.

Something out of nothing.

So when you ask me why we want to stay here, Captain, we want to stay here

because it's ours. It belongs to us.

It keeps our family together.

I mean, we fight for that.

While you, American, you are fighting for...

the biggest nothing in history.

I'm sorry, Captain.

I will see if your men need any help to repair your boat so that you can go on

with your war.

Good night, son.

I

apologize

for my family, Captain.

We have all lost much here.

Hubert, his wife and two sons.

And I have lost a husband.

What did you do?

You are tired of the war.

I can't see on your face.

It was the same in the eyes of the soldiers of our war.

We called them les soldats perdus.

The lost soldiers.

If you like, we can have some cognac.

No, uh... I see about my men, and...

The war will be still here tomorrow.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

I noticed you had no wine at dinner.

No, I, uh...

Don't drink wine.

I do like cognac, but I don't like it now, thank you.

Well, then I must drink alone.

Will you go back after the war to America?

No.

Then you're like us? Your home is here.

Do you know why you can never step into the same river twice?

Yeah.

Because it's always moving.

I used to prepare a pipe for my husband.

It was the morphine he took for the wounds he suffered in his heart.

He would rage and he would cry, my lost soldier.

And I said to him, there are two of you, don't you see?

One that kills and one that loves.

And he said to me, I don't know whether I am an animal or a god.

But you are both.

You want more?

All that matters is that you are alive.

You are alive, Captain.

That's the truth.

There are two of you, don't you see?

One that kills, and one that loves.

Can't see nothing.

We stopping.

You're not authorized to stop this boat, Chief.

I said I can't see a thing, Captain. I'm stopping this boat.

I ain't risking no more lives.

I'm in command here. God damn it, you do what I say.

You see anything, Chef?

Watch it over here, Chief.

Got a stump.

Lance, on the 50s.

He was close.

He was real close.

I couldn't see him yet, but I could feel him.

As if the boat were being sucked upriver and the water was flowing back into the

jungle.

Whatever was going to happen...

It wasn't gonna be the way they call it back in the train

And now you can't get us out because you don't know where the hell you're going,

do you?

Do you?

You son of a bitch, you bastard!

My mission is to make it up into Cambodia.

There's a Green Beret colonel up there who's gone insane. I'm supposed to kill

him.

That's fucking typical.

Shit. Fucking Vietnam mission.

I'm short and we gotta go up there so you can kill one of our own guys.

That's fucking great.

That's just fucking great, man.

Shit. That's fucking crazy.

I mean, I thought you were going in to blow up a bridge.

Or some fucking railroad tracks or something.

Sorry. No, no, wait. Wait, we'll go together.

On the boat. We'll go with you.

We'll go up there, but on the boat.

Okay?

Part of me was afraid of what I would find and what I would do when I got

there.

I knew the risks.

Or imagined I knew.

But the thing I felt the most, much stronger than fear, was the desire

to confront him.

Just keep moving Lance Keep your hands away from the guns

It's all right.

It's all been approved.

I ain't coming in there.

Them bastards attacked us.

Uh, sap him with your siren, man. Sap him with the siren.

Huh?

There's mines over there. Mines over there, too.

And watch out. Those goddamn monkeys bite you, I'll tell you.

Ah, that's a pretty one. Move it right in toward me.

I'm an American!

Yeah! An American civilian.

Hi, Yanks.

Hi. American.

American civilian. It's all right.

And you got the cigarettes, and that's what I've been dreaming of.

Chef.

Who are you?

Who are you?

I'm a photojournalist.

I've covered the wars since 64.

I've been in Laos, Cambodia, Nam.

I'll tell you one thing.

This boat is a mess, man. Who are all these people?

Yeah, well, they think you've come to take him away.

And I hope that isn't true.

Take who away?

Him.

Colonel Kurtz.

These are all his children, man, as far as you can see.

Hell, man, and out here, we're all his children.

Could we, uh, talk to Colonel Kirk?

Hey, man, you don't, uh, you don't talk to the colonel, uh, um... Well, you

listen to him.

Uh, the man's enlarged my mind. Uh, he's a poet warrior in the classic sense.

I mean, sometimes he'll, uh... Well, you say hello to him, right, and he'll just

walk right by you, and he won't even notice you, and then suddenly he'll grab

you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say, do you know that if is

the middle word in life?

If you can keep your head when all about you're losing theirs and blaming it on

you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you. I mean, I don't know. I

can't. I'm a little man. I'm a little man. He's a great man.

I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent

seas. I mean... Stay with the boat.

Hey, don't go without me, okay?

I want to get a picture.

He can be terrible, and he can be mean, and he can be right.

He's fighting a war.

He's a great man.

I mean... I wish I had words, you know?

I wish I had words.

I can tell you something like the other day he wanted to kill me.

Something like that.

Why do you want to kill you?

Because I took his picture.

He said, if you take my picture again, I'm gonna kill you.

And he meant it.

See, just lay cool.

Lay cool.

Lay back.

Take it.

He gets friendly again. He really does.

But you don't judge a colonel.

You don't judge a colonel like an ordinary man.

Okay, watch it now. These are Americans.

Americans!

I can feel the vibe of this place.

Let me take your picture.

Hey, could you... Hey, hello?

Hello? Could you hold it for a minute?

Call me.

The heads.

You're looking at the heads.

I, uh... Sometimes he goes too far, you know.

He's the first one to admit it.

He's going crazy.

Wrong, wrong.

If you could have heard the man just two days ago, if you could have heard a

man... God.

You gonna call him crazy?

Fucking A.

I just want to talk to him.

Well, man, he's gone away.

He's gone away. He disappeared out in the jungle with his people. I'll wait

for him. He feels comfortable with his people.

He forgets himself with his people.

He forgets himself.

Captain, maybe we should wait back at the boat.

Okay, Sheriff.

We'll go back to the boat for a while.

Yeah.

Stay with Lance.

This Colonel guy, he's wacko, man.

He's worse than crazy. He's evil.

I mean, that's what the man's got set up here. Man is fucking pagan idolatry.

Look around you.

Shit, he's loco.

Then you help me.

Help you? Fucking A, I'll help you. I'll do anything to get out of this joint.

We could blow all them assholes away. They're so fucking spaced out, they

wouldn't even know it.

I ain't afraid of all them fucking skulls and...

Altars and shit.

I used to think if I died in an evil place, then my soul wouldn't be able to

make it to heaven.

But now... Fuck.

I mean, I don't care where it goes as long as it ain't here.

So what do you want to do?

I'll kill the fuck. No, no.

Get out of here.

I'm gonna need you to wait here, Shep.

I'll go up with Lance, scrounge around, check the place out.

See if I can find the Colonel.

Okay?

Well, what do you want me to do? All right.

Here, take the radio.

And if I don't get back by 2200 hours, you'll call in the

airstrike.

Airstrike?

The code is almighty.

Coordinates 0-9-2-6-4-7-1-2.

It's all in there.

Everything

I

saw told me that Kurtz had gone insane.

The place was full of bodies.

North Vietnamese, Viet Cong, Cambodians.

If I was still alive, it was because he wanted me that way.

It smelled like slow death in there.

Malaria.

Nightmares.

This was the end of the river, all right.

Where you from, Willard?

I'm from Ohio, sir.

Were you born there?

Yes, sir.

Whereabouts?

Toledo, sir.

How far are you from the river?

The Ohio River, sir?

Uh-huh.

About 200 miles.

I went down that river once when I was a kid.

There's a place in the river I can't remember.

Must have been a gardenia plantation or...

flower plantation at one time it's all wild and overgrown now but for about

about five miles you think that heaven just fell on the earth in the

form of gardenias

Have you ever considered any real freedoms?

Freedoms in the opinion of others?

Even the opinions of yourself?

They say why Will it Why they want

to donate my command

I

was sent on a classified missions

no longer classified.

Did they

tell

you?

They told me that you had gone totally insane.

And that your methods were...

Unsound.

Are my methods unsound?

I don't see any method.

At all.

I expected...

What did you expect?

Are you an assassin?

I'm a soldier.

You're neither.

You're an errand boy sent by grocery clerks.

to collect and build.

Why, huh?

Why would a nice guy like you want to kill a genius?

Going on pretty good, huh?

Why?

You know?

Do you know that the man... The man really

likes you?

He likes you. He really likes you.

But he's got something in mind for you.

Aren't you curious about that?

I'm curious.

I'm very curious.

Are you curious?

There's something happening out here, man.

You know something, man? I know something that you don't know.

That's right, Jack.

The man is clear in his mind, but his soul is mad.

Oh, yeah.

He's dying, I think.

He hates all this. He hates it.

But the man's, uh... He

reads poetry out loud, all right?

And a voice.

He likes you because you're still alive.

He's got plans for you.

No, no.

I'm not going to help you.

You're going to help him, man.

You're going to help him.

I mean, what are they going to say, man, when he's gone, huh?

Because he dies when it dies, man. When it dies, he dies.

What are they going to say about him? What are they going to say? He was a

kind man?

He was a wise man?

He had plans. He had wisdom.

Bullshit, man.

Am I going to be the one that's going to set them straight? Look at me. Wrong.

You.

Almost eight hours.

God.

I'm asleep.

I'm asleep.

than dreamin' about this shitty boat.

Fuck.

Has it been eight hours?

Hello, almighty, almighty.

This is PBR Street Gang.

Radio check. Over.

What?

Time magazine.

The weekly news magazine.

September 22nd, 1967.

Volume 90, number 12.

The war on the horizon.

The American people may find it hard to believe that the U.S. is winning the war

in Vietnam.

Nevertheless, one of the most exhaustive inquiries into the status of the

conflict yet compiled...

offers considerable evidence that the weight of US power two and a half years

after the big build-up began is beginning to make itself felt.

White House officials maintain the impact of that strength may bring the

enemy to the point where he could simply be unable to continue fighting.

Is this familiar?

Because Lyndon Johnson fears that the US public is in no mood to accept its

optimistic conclusions he may never permit the report to be released in full

even so he is sufficiently impressed with the findings and sufficiently

anxious to make their conclusions known to permit experts who have been working

on it to talk about it in general terms no date time magazine

Sir Robert Thompson, who led the victory over communist guerrillas in Malaya, is

now a RAND Corporation consultant, recently returned to Vietnam to sound

out the situation for President Nixon.

He told the president last week that things felt much better and smelled much

better over there.

How do they smell to you, soldier?

You'll be free. You'll be under guard.

Read these at your leisure.

Don't lose them.

Don't try to escape. You'll be shot.

We can talk of these things later.

We're the hollow men.

We're the stuffed men, leaning together, headpiece filled with straw.

Alas, our dried voices, when we whisper together, are quiet and meaningless as

wind in dry grass.

A rat's feet... Oh, he's out there. ...in our dry cellar.

He's really out there. Shape without form.

Shade without... Color.

Paralyzed force.

Gesture without motion.

Do you know what the man's saying?

Do you? This is dialectics.

It's very simple dialectics, one through nine.

No maybes, no supposes, no fractions.

You can't travel in space. You can't go out into space, you know, without like,

you know, with fractions.

What are you going to land on? One quarter, three eighths? What are you

going to do when you go from here to Venus or something?

That's dialectic physics, okay?

Dialectic logic is there's only love and hate. You either love somebody or you

hate them.

Muck!

You muck.

This is the way.

The fucking world ends. Look at this fucking shit we're in, man.

Whimper. And with a whimper, I'm fucking splitting, Jack.

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 the 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.

I've seen horrors.

Horrors that you've seen.

But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me.

You have a right to do that.

But you have no right to judge me.

It's impossible through words.

describe what is necessary to

those who do not know

what horror means.

Horror.

Horror has a face.

And you must make a friend of horror.

Horror and moral terror are your friends.

If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared.

They are truly enemies.

I remember when I was with Special Forces.

Seems a thousand centuries ago.

We went into a camp to inoculate some children.

We left the camp after we had inoculated the children for polio.

And this old man came running after us, and he was crying. He couldn't see.

we went back there and they had come and hacked off every

inoculated arm there they were in a pile pile

of little arms and

i remember i i i cried

i wept like

some grandmother.

I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I wanted to do.

And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it.

I never want to forget.

And then I realized, like I was shot, like I was shot with a

diamond, a diamond bullet right through my forehead.

genius of that the genius the will to do that

perfect genuine complete crystalline pure

and then i realized they were stronger than

me because they could stand it these were not monsters these were men trained

cadres these men who fought with their hearts who have families, who have

children, who are filled with love, but they have the strength... the

strength... to do that.

If I had ten divisions of those men, then our troubles here

would be over very quickly.

You have to have men... who are moral,

and at the same time were able to utilize their

primordial instincts to kill

without feeling, without passion, without

judgment, without judgment.

Because it's judgment that defeats us.

I worry that my son might not understand what I've tried to be.

And if I were to be killed in Willard, I

would want someone to go to my home and tell my son everything.

Everything I did, everything you saw.

Because there's nothing that I detest more than the stench of lies.

And if you understand me, Willard, you... you will do this

for me.

. .

.

. .

They were gonna make me a major for this and I wasn't even in their fucking army

anymore 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-ass renegade.

Even the jungle wanted him dead.

And that's who he really took his orders from anyway.

come on baby take a chance with us

come on baby

take a chance with us

come on baby take

a chance with us and meet me at the back of the blue

We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow

them to write fuck on their airplane because it's

obscene.

street gang tbr street gang this is almighty if you read me over

tbr street gang tbr street gang