MovieChat Forums > Apocalypse Now (1979) Discussion > Best Quotes

Best Quotes

posted 9 years ago by Wuchakk
38 replies | jump to latest

It's amazing the wealth of great quotes that are in this movie, like "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." I'll cite a few; feel free to cite some others.

Willard: "Saigon... s***."

Kilgore: "What the hell do you know about surfing, Major? You're from goddamned New Jersey!"

Willard: "He was close, real close."

Willard (about Colonel Kilgore): "Well, he wasn't a bad officer, I guess. He loved his boys, and he felt safe with him. He was just one of those guys with that weird light around him. He just knew he wasn't gonna get so much as a scratch here."

Kurtz: "We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write *beep* on their airplanes because it's obscene!"

Kurtz: "Are my methods unsound?"
Willard: "I don't... see... any method... at all... sir."

Kilgore's taped message to the PBR team: "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."

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

[–] Wuchakk 9 years ago

Here's another favorite:

Photojournalist: "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? Bulls***, man!"

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

[–] bobcat41702 9 years ago

Kilgore: "Someday, this war's gonna end."

... there has been technological advancement, but how little man himself has changed.

[–] Lester_Burnham_Risen 9 years ago

Kilgore's taped message to the PBR team: "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."

---

Notice that was a ref to the recorded message on the rescue tank thing used to "save" those Vietnamese you didn't actually incinerate, "we will not hurt or harm you"

hence "we cut em down with machine guns and give em a band aid - it was a lie"

http://www.kindleflippages.com/ablog/

[–] Wuchakk 9 years ago

"we cut 'em down with machine guns and give 'em a band aid; it was a lie"

Yes, another great quote.

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

[–] Nico877 9 years ago

"We cut 'em down with machine guns and give them 'em a band aid" sounds like a re-write of the following from Michael Herr's Dispatches:

"Once we fanned over a little ville that had just been airstruck and the words of a song by Wingy Manone that I'd heard when I was a few years old snapped into my head. "Stop the War, These Cats Is Killing Themselves." Then we dropped, hovered, settled down into purple lz smoke, dozens of childress broke from their hooches to run towards the focus of our landing, the pilot laughing and saying, "Vietnam, man. Bomb 'em and feed 'em, bomb 'em and feed 'em."

[–] blairjw82 9 years ago

Kilgore to Lance in the Gunship whilst attacking the village to the soundtrack of Wagner -

What do you think so far?

Lance - Its great so far Sir it's really exciting

Kilgore - No! About the surf (Looks out the sidedoor of the chopper at the waves breaking)

Wow, what a character and what an insane movie.

[–] blairjw82 9 years ago

Also

Willard - They'll make me a fu**in Major for this and I am not even in their army anymore (as he hops over the side of the boat before rising up out of the water in that iconic shot)

[–] Wuchakk 9 years ago

I always liked this one by Kurtz to Willard too:

These men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love... but they had the strength... the strength... to do that.

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

[–] Wuchakk 9 years ago

Another Great one:

Kurtz: I expected someone like you. What did you expect? Are you an assassin?

Willard: I'm a soldier.

Kurtz: You're neither. You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

[–] Wuchakk 9 years ago

No! About the surf, the surf

Yeah, that's a good one, lol.

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

[–] blairjw82 9 years ago

So many great lines....just reading about the chaos of making it, it amazes me just how great this movie is and that nothing will ever be made like this again

[–] etabacek 9 years ago

'What's the charge?'

Willard when they are picking him up from the hotel for the mission.

Keith Moon was the greatest 'Keith Moon Style' drummer ever!!

[–] Wuchakk 9 years ago

I forgot about that line, lol, but it's a good one.

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

[–] sgtpowers 8 years ago

"Hey soldier...do you know who is in command here?"
"Yeah."

On paper it sounds not special but when you see this scene, amazing.

[–] Wuchakk 8 years ago

That's a funny one!

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

[–] Tenakoto 8 years ago

Kurtz: "Mutt!"

[–] Wuchakk 8 years ago

Kurtz: “Is that by the river”
Willard: “The OHIO River, Sir?”
Kurtz: “Mmm-mm”

My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/