Apocalypse Now Smells Like Victory

Description

In the classic movie Apocalypse Now, Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (played by Robert Duvall) loves two things… His choppers and surfing. When Willard and the PBR need transportation to Nung River, Kilgore declines… That is until he learns that one of the PBR crew, Lance Johnson, is a professional surfer.

On the way there, Kilgore commands that “Ride of the Valkyries” play over loudspeakers mounted on the exterior of the lead helicopters in order to frighten the VC below. He focuses more on finding Lance the perfect spot to surf than the actual battle. Once on the barely-secured beach, amidst skirmishes between infantry and VC, a giant napalm strike in the nearby jungle dramatically marks the climax of the battle. Kilgore exults to Willard, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning… The smell, you know that gasoline smell… Smells like, victory” as he recalls a battle in which a hill was bombarded with napalm for over twelve hours.