n Beret with a top service record, had apparently gone stark raving mad. He had set himself up as an exalted leader of a primitive band of Cambodian tribesmen, and began following an independent path of murder, for reasons known only to himself. Willard was ordered to venture upriver into Cambodia, track down Kurtz, and assassinate him.
Coppola added thoughts, in Sheen's voice, to the sound track in order to develop Willard's character. But Willard never really becomes more than a man with a mission, as the film proceeds through a series of scene changes which convey the violence and contrasts. His character develops in the following scenes: from a room in Siagon, to a helicopter a helicopter assault on a Vietnamese village, to a USO show featuring Playboy Bunnies, to aimless drugged-up soldiers lacking command, and finally to kurtz's kingdom in the jungle.
The structure of the film was based on these contrasts. Neither Willard nor Kurtz had any relevance to the scenes, except for the concluding phase of the film, which brought the two together. The helicopter assault on the village was simultaneously the most spectacular and most unbelievable scene in the film. Actor Robert Duvall played an air cavalry officer who ordered the attack. He insisted on blasting stereo-phonic music on the approach, to scare the hell out of the villagers.
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