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,
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,
I'd never want another,
What do you want?
- Are you all right, captain? - What does it look like?
- Are you Willard, 505th Battalion? - Affirmative.
- 173rd Airborne? - Yeah.
- Assigned to SOG? - Hey, buddy, gonna shut the door?
We have orders to escort you to the airfield.
- What are the charges? - Sir?
- What did I do? - There's no charges, captain.
You have orders to report to COMSEC Intelligence at Nha Trang.
Now, you see? All right?
- Nha Trang, for me? - That's right.
Come on, captain. You still have a few hours to get cleaned up.
- I'm not feeling too good. - Captain?
Dave, come here and give me a hand. We got a dead one.
Come on, captain. Let's take a shower.
- Don't be an asshole. - Get ahold of him good.
We're gonna take a shower, captain. In we go.
Stand underneath this, captain.
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,
Captain Willard reporting, sir.
Then so is mine,
- Captain. Good. Come on in. - Thank you, sir.
Stand at ease.
General.
Do you want a cigarette?
No, thank you, sir.
Captain, have you ever seen this gentleman before?
- No, sir. - 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 in I Corps?
No, sir.
Did you not assassinate a government tax collector,
Quang Trí Province, June 18, 1968?
Captain?
Sir, I am unaware 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 talk.
I hope you brought a good appetite, captain.
I noticed that you have a...
...bad hand there. Are you wounded?
I had a little fishing accident on R and R, sir.
- Fishing on R and 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, and pass it around.
To save a little time, we might pass both ways.
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.
Actually, why don't I just take a piece here.
Captain, you've heard of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz?
Yes, sir, I've heard the name.
Oh, Jesus.
Operations officer, 5th Special Forces.
Luke, would you play that tape for the captain, please?
- Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir. - Listen to this carefully, captain.
October 9, 0430 hours, sector Peter, Victor, King,
These were 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,
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 ideas, methods...
...became...
...unsound.
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 who?
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, 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 them.
Walt Kurtz has reached his...
...and 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 Nu Mung Bha,
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 is 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,
Did you check the tank?
Yeah.
I was being ferried down the coast in a Navy PBR,
a type of plastic patrol boat, a 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, and that was okay,
I needed the air and the time,
Only problem was I wouldn't be alone,
Morning, captain.
The crew were mostly just kids,
rock 'n' 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,
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 Nung River.
They're both hot. Belong to Charlie.
Don't worry about it.
Don't smoke.
You know, I've pulled a few special ops in here.
About six months ago,
I took a man who was going up past the bridge at Do Lung.
He was regular Army too.
Heard he shot himself in the head.
Good morning, Vietnam,
I'm Army Specialist Zack Johnson on AMVN,
It's about 82 degrees in downtown Saigon right now, also very humid,
And we have an important message for all GIs
who are living off-base from the mayor of Saigon,
Yeah!
He'd like you to hang your laundry indoors instead of on the windowsills,
The mayor wants you to keep Saigon beautiful,
Here's another blast from the past
going out to Big Sam, who's alone in the mantle room out there
with the 1 st Battalion, 35th Infantry, and dedicated by the fire team
at An Khe to their groovy CO Fred the Head;
- The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction," - All right!
Watch out, Clean!
Get down, bubba!
Hang on, Lance!
Get down, bubba!
Tell them you did it, Lance. Tell them you did it.
I see you is right on target today, baby.
Work out! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
All right!
Look out, Lance!
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,
et cetera, et cetera,
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.
The concussion will suck the air out of your damn lungs.
Something terrible is gonna happen.
Smoke!
Secondary burning.
Hueys over there. Lots of Hueys.
Let's have a look, Chief.
- It was the Air Cav, 1st of the 9th, - 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, Airmobile, those boys just couldn't stay put,
Hey, kid, come on. Get down. Come on.
First of the 9th was an old cavalry division
that had cashed in its horses for choppers
and gone tear-assing around Nam looking for the shit,
They had given Charlie a few surprises in their time here,
What they were mopping up now
hadn't even happened yet an hour ago,
Just keep running by. We're for television.
Don't look at the camera. Just keep... Go on. Keep going.
This is for television. Don't look at the camera.
Just go by like you're fighting. Like you're fighting.
Don't look at the camera. It's for television.
Just go through. Go through. Just go by. Keep on going. Keep going.
Don't look at the camera. Go on. Keep going.
All right, come on. Go.
Yes. Over here. Over here.
- Where can I find the CO? - Can't miss him, sir. He's over there.
Looking for a tank? I got five tanks broken...
We're all right with the tanks. It's all right, captain.
Captain Willard! I carry priority papers
from COMSEC Intelligence II Corps.
I understand Nha Trang has briefed you
on the requirements of my mission.
What mission? I haven't heard from Nha Trang.
Sir, your unit is supposed to escort us into the Nung.
- We'll see what we can do, - Colonel.
But just stay out of my way till this is done, captain.
All right, let's see what we have. Let's see what we have.
A two of spades, three of spades, four of diamonds,
six of clubs, eight of spades.
There isn't one worth a jack in the whole bunch.
Four of diamonds.
- Hey, captain, what's that? - Death cards.
- What? - Death cards.
- Death? - Lets Charlie know who did this.
- Cheer up, son. - We will not hurt or harm you.
- Fire in the hole! - Fire in the hole!
We are here to help you.
We are here to extend a welcome hand
- Come on. Everybody in? - To those who would like to return
to the arms of the South Vietnamese government.
Get in. Hurry up.
- Move it out. - This is an area that is controlled
by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese.
Hey! Hey, what's this?
What is this?
This man's hurt pretty bad, sir.
About the only thing that's holding his guts in, sir, is that pot lid.
Yeah? What do you have to say?
This soldier is dirty VC.
He wants water. He can drink paddy water.
Get out of here! Give me that. Give me that canteen.
- He's VC. - Any man that's brave enough to...
Get out of here! I'll kick your fucking ass!
He killed a lot of our people!
Any man brave enough to fight with his guts strapped on him
can drink from my canteen any day.
Hey, colonel, I think one of those sailors is Lance Johnson, the surfer.
Where? Here? You sure?
Down there.
Yeah? Here.
Repeat, we have a body count. We have...
What's your name, sailor?
Gunner's Mate Third Class L. Johnson, sir.
- Gunner's Mate Third Class... - Hey. Lance Johnson, the surfer?
Yes, sir.
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 "sir" crap, Lance.
I'm Bill Kilgore. I'm a goofy foot.
- This guy with you? - Yeah.
I want you to meet some guys.
- This is Mike from San Diego. - Far out.
Johnny from Malibu.
- John, hi. - Pretty solid surfers.
- Far out. - None of us are anywhere near
- your class, though. - No way.
We do a lot of surfing around here, Lance.
I like to finish operations early.
Fly down to Vung Tau for the evening glass.
Where you been riding, Lance? Been riding since you got here?
No way. I haven't surfed since I been here.
- Through Christ, our Lord, from whom all good things come.
Through him in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father.
- Amen. - Let us bring our iniquities
to the Father in the words our savior 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.
Give us this day, our daily bread...
- as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Kilgore had 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,
Make my meat rare. Rare but not cold.
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 gonna get so much as a scratch here,
What happened to your mission, captain?
Nha Trang 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 two 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?
- Vin Drin Dop or Lop? - Drop.
Damn gook names all sound the same.
Mike, you know anything about this point at Vin Din Drop?
That's a fantastic peak.
- Peak? - About 6 foot.
It's an outstanding peak. It's got both the 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.
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.
We'll pick your boat up and put it down right where you want it.
This is the 1 st of the 9th, Air Cav, son.
Airmobile.
I can take that point and hold it as long as I like.
You can get anyplace up that river that suits you, young captain.
Hell, a 6-foot peak.
All right, take a gunship back to the division.
Lance, go with Mike, let him pick out a board.
Bring me my Yater Spoon, the 8' 6".
- I don't know, sir, it's... - What is it, soldier?
I mean, it's pretty hairy in there. It's Charlie's point.
Charlie don't surf!
Hey, Jesus, Clean, you ain't gonna believe this. Look.
Hey, man. They're picking up the boat.
How are you feeling, Jimmy?
Like a mean motherfucker, sir!
All right, son. Let her rip.
Let's go.
I never have got used to a light board.
I can't get used to one.
- I'm used to a heavy board. - I know, it's a real drag.
- You prefer a heavy or light board? - Heavier.
- Really? - Yeah.
I thought all the young guys like lighter boards.
You can't ride the nose on those things...
Big Duke Six, Big Duke Six,
This is Eagle Thrust 7. We got it spotted.
Big Duke Six to Eagle Thrust. Put on heading 2-7-0.
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 about a mile out, we'll put on the music.
- Music? - Yeah, I use Wagner.
Scares the hell out of the slopes. My boys love it.
Hey, they're gonna play music.
How come all you guys sit on your helmet?
So we don't get our balls blown off.
Big Duke Six to Eagle Thrust. Put on psy-war-op.
Make it loud. This is a Romeo Foxtrot.
Shall we dance?
Yes, sir.
- Come on. - All right, all right.
We got a couple characters at that tree line,
We're taking fire from the holes,
Run, Charlie!
This should make everything down burn,
We got a couple of people ahead here,
What's going on down here?
We got an automatic, Shoot to kill!
Shoot to kill in the open,
I spotted a large weapon down below. We're gonna go and check it out.
All right, this is Foxtrot, We're pulling in,
What a shot.
Outstanding, Red Team. Outstanding. Get you a case of beer for that.
Six-four-one-zero, we're over the village right now.
I think I see a vehicle in the courtyard. I'm gonna check it out.
Well done, Hawks. Well done.
Want some 20 mike-mike Vulcan right along those tree lines.
Ripple the shit out of them.
Got a vehicle on the bridge. .50-caliber onboard.
He's moving across to resupply the weapon.
Big Duke Six, clear the area. I'm coming down myself.
Don't these people ever give up?
Nice shot, Bill.
- Shit! - All right, all right!
It's just a flare!
- Get me out of here! - Don't ask that shit.
Get it out of here! Don't ask to get it out.
Get it out. It's just a flare. It's all right. It's just a flare.
Everybody all right? Lance, you all right?
I'm fine!
Get down!
I'm not going! I'm not going!
I'm not going!
Now we just got secondaries down in the plaza,
Blue Three, Blue Four, hold on to your position,
Duke Six, Duke Six, we've got wounded down there,
Get a stretcher over here!
Please, God! Help me!
- Give him some morphine. - My God!
Oh-three-seven-seven-four-two.
Where's that duster?!
I want my wounded out of there and in the hospital in 15 minutes.
I want my men out.
Somebody stay in there tight with Big Duke,
This is 10-10, We're gonna be in, throw them on and get out,
She's got a grenade!
Oh, Jesus, the whole goddamn thing blew up.
- She blew the shit out of... - Fucking savages.
Get a medevac,
Holy Christ, she's a sap, I'm gonna get that dink bitch,
Get over there, Johnny, Put the right skid right up her ass,
We gotta get air in these trees. It's damn eat-up with enemy down here.
I'm taking fire. I'm taking hits all over.
Three o'clock! Three o'clock.
I'm drawing fire. I'm drawing heavy fire.
I'm hit! Mayday! Mayday! I'm going in, My tail rotor's out, I got control,
- What do you think? - Wow, this is really exciting, man.
No, no, the waves!
- The waves! - Oh, right.
Look at that. Breaks both ways. Watch.
Watch.
Look! Good 6-foot swells!
Come here, Lance.
Incoming!
This LZ is still pretty hot, sir. You ought to surf somewhere else.
What do you know about surfing, major?
You're from goddamn New Jersey.
Come here. Come here!
- Change. - You mean right now, sir?
I wanna see how rideable that stuff is. Go change.
It's still pretty hairy out there.
- Do you wanna surf, soldier? - Yes, sir.
That's good, son, because you either surf or fight, that clear?
Now get going.
I'll cover for them. And bring a board for Lance.
We can't do shit until the boat gets here.
Lance, I'll bet you can't wait to get out there.
- What? - See how they break both ways?
One guy can break right, one left, simultaneous.
What do you think of that?
I think we ought to wait for the tide to come up.
- Lance, come here. Look, look. - Incoming!
The tide doesn't come in for six hours!
You wanna wait here for six hours?
Chief!
Okay, fellas, quit hiding, Come on! Let's go!
- Dickheads, take off! - Goddamn it!
Don't you think it's a little risky for R and R?
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'll surf this fucking place.
Give me that RT, soldier.
Dove Four, this is Big Duke Six. Goddamn it!
I wanted that tree line bombed!
Big Duke Six, roger. Dove One-Three, stand by.
Blow them into the Stone Age, son!
Hawk One-Two, Dove One-Three, Roger,
They need napalm in the tree line, Can you put it down there?
Right, One-Three, We're fixing to fuck with them, What's the target?
We're trying to suppress some mortar fire off the tree line there,
Roger, Here we come,
Good, Give it all you got, Bring in all your ships,
Don't worry.
We'll have this place cleaned up in a jiffy, son. Don't you worry.
Big Duke Six, the jets are inbound now,
You got 30 seconds, Get your people back and heads down,
This is gonna be a big one,
You smell that?
- Do you smell that? - What?
Napalm, son.
Nothing else in the world smells like that.
Come on. Move it! Move it! Move it!
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
You know, one time we had a hill bombed for 12 hours.
And when it was all over, I walked up.
We didn't find one of them, not one stinking dink body.
But the smell... You know, that gasoline smell.
The whole hill...
...smelled like...
...victory.
Someday this war's gonna end.
- Lance. - Chef, light up, man.
Come on. Let's get high.
- Wanna smoke? - Just do it, man. Light up.
Someday this war's gonna end,
That would 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,
Buddha time. Here.
All right, that's great, motherfuckers. Yeah.
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 mean, he never was hurting for pussy.
I'm not here. I'm walking through the jungle gathering mangoes.
I meet Raquel Welch.
I make a nice mango cream pudding.
You know, kind of spread it around on us.
Hey, captain, I wanna get some mangoes.
Just don't go out there by yourself.
You don't want to go in there alone.
Not unless you really know the territory.
Any poisonous snakes around here?
Fuck it. I'm gonna go get some mango.
Chef?
- 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, a great saucier.
- What's a saucier? - We specialize in sauces.
Gotta be a mango tree here somewhere.
Then I was supposed to go to Paris,
study at the Escoffier school.
But then I got orders for my physical.
Hell, I joined the Navy.
Heard they had better food.
Cook school, that did it.
- Yeah, how's that? - You don't wanna 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.
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 radioman school, but then they gave me the...
What is it?
Charlie?
It's a tiger!
Son of a bitch. It's a tiger, man! It's a tiger!
Battle stations. Lance, up front.
- Get on your 60. - Got it.
- Holy shit. A fucking tiger. - Chef, come on!
- Captain, come on. - Let's hop in and go.
Let's go!
Chief, you were right. Never get out of the boat.
- Bring that 60 forward! - Why never get out of the boat?
I gotta remember. Never get out of the boat.
- What happened? How many is it? - A fucking tiger!
- What? - A fucking tiger.
- A tiger? - Yes.
I've had it! I've had the whole goddamn fucking shit, man!
You can kiss my ass on the county square
because I'm fucking bugging out.
I didn't come here for this.
I don't fucking need it! I don't want it.
I didn't get out of the goddamn eighth grade for this kind of shit!
All I wanna do is fucking cook!
I just wanted to learn to fucking cook, man!
You're all right. You're all right.
What happened, bro?
You're all right. You're gonna be all right.
All right. It's gonna be all right?
It's gonna be all right.
Never get out of the fucking boat. Never get out of the fucking boat.
Hi, tiger. Bye, tiger. Goodbye!
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?
Thirty-eight fucking years old,
If you 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've 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,
"Dear Eva, today was really a new one.
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.
Thought you might have heard by now from Elwood."
October 1967,
On special assignment, Kontum Province, II Corps,
Kurtz 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 gonna nail his ass to the floorboards for that one,
But after the press got ahold 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?
Damned if I know.
Jesus.
- It goes back up into the truck. - What?
We gotta get all that stuff up.
Hau Phat. You ever been up here before, Chef?
I bet you we can score up here.
Yo, man. Check out the bikes, Lance.
Yamaha, Suzuki. Yeah.
- That's a good one. - Yeah, Sukiyaki.
Yeah, man. This is something.
- Please. - This must be the guy.
Right over there.
Sergeant. Sergeant.
Three drums of diesel fuel, PBR five...
Come on, man. Move. We don't have time.
One hour. That's all. What do you want?
- Can I get some Panama Red? - Yeah, I'll get you Panama Red.
- Sergeant? - Destination?
- I don't have no destination. - Can't do a goddamn thing without it.
- Sarge? Sarge? - Got a destination?
I need a destination. Can't do a goddamn thing without it.
Sarge, these guys are with me. Destination's classified.
I carry priority papers from COMSEC Intelligence.
Okay. Right, sir. Hey, listen, it's a real big night.
- Eight bucks for that... - Hey.
All right. Damn.
- 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.
Just take this over to the man at the supply desk and you got it.
Would you guys like some seats...? Some press-box seats for the show?
You want those? The show out here.
- Bunnies, bunnies. - Playboy bunnies?
You got it. Are you gonna be here?
Hey, listen, captain, on the house.
No hard feelings, huh?
How you doing out there?
I said, how you doing out there?
Wanna say hello to you from all of us up here,
to all of you out there who have worked so goddamn hard
on Operation Brute Force.
Hello, all you paratroopers out there.
And the Marines. And the sailors.
We wanna let you know we're proud of you.
We know how tough and how hard it's been. Yeah!
To prove it, we're gonna give you entertainment
we know you're gonna like.
Miss August, Miss Sandra Beatty.
Miss May, Miss Terri Teray! Yeah!
And the Playmate of the Year, Miss Carrie Foster! Yeah!
Hello up there!
- Hello! - What's the matter?
Come on, baby doll, pussy looks good tonight!
Grease my gun!
I'm ready to powwow, baby!
All right! You're cute. I like you.
I'm here, baby. I'm here.
Yeah!
- You fucking bitch! - Take it off!
Take it off!
Hey, lover! You want us to come over?
- I sure do! - Sign my centerfold!
Sign my centerfold!
Come on, baby! Come up here now!
Get your goddamn hands off of my...
Start her up. Hey!
Get out of the way! Come on!
Come on.
Will you sign this? Please?
Hey, girls! Let's go!
Come on! Hurry!
So long!
Charlie didn't get much USO,
He was dug in too deep or moving too fast,
His idea of great R and 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 gonna end up giving the whole circus away,
- Believe that. - Believe what?
Miss December, I gotta come here and find her here? Fuck!
- Shit. Chicken time. - Holy shit.
You ain't shitting, bro. The motherfucking...
- Who is that? - What's going on?
- I'm stuck inside, Chief. - Don't punk out, man.
- Is that you, Lazzaro? - Come on, Chief.
Don't chicken out now.
Fire on the canopy!
I got it! I got it! I got it! Get out of there!
I got it! I got it! I got it!
Lance, get down!
Put that fucker out, man!
What the fuck they think they're doing?
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, his...
The Army tried one last time to bring him back into the fold,
- methods...
And if he'd pulled over, it all would have been forgotten,
- unsound,
But he kept going,
- Now he's crossed into Cambodia - And he kept winning it his way,
with this Montagnard army of his...
And they called me in,
- who worship the man like a god and follow every order, however ridiculous.
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 where I'm going.
Hey, Chef, put the cover on that.
Clean.
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 gonna be hot, wherever it is.
We're going upriver about 75 klicks above the Do Lung 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 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 are unjustified,
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,
but may in many circumstances be only clarity,
seeing clearly what there is to be done and doing it
- directly, quickly, awake, - Alpha, Tango, Tango,
- Echo, Tango, Alpha. - Looking at it,
Request dust-off. Three, maybe four KIAs. Over.
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 their timid, lying morality, and so I am beyond caring,
You have all my faith,
Your loving father,"
Shove it, fuck-up.
Sorry about that. If I'd have known, I'd take you to New Orleans.
- Man, fuck you. - Introduce you to cooz.
You're a fucking dog!
Come on down to New Orleans. I'll get you fixed up, you prick.
Lay off, Chef.
You're the only fucking prick I see around here.
If I wanna play with a prick, I'll play with my own.
You wouldn't know what to do with it, cherry boy.
Chef, I said lay off!
Chef, knock it off! Give him a break! What do you think I said?
Then give your jaws a rest!
And this ain't the Army. You are a sailor.
So get out of that frizzly Army-looking shit,
and stop smoking that dope. You hear me?
Lance, what's with all the green paint?
- Camouflage. - How's that?
So they can't see you. They're everywhere, Chief.
I want you to stay awake up there, man. You got a job to do.
Sampan off the port bow. Let's take a look. Lance.
Bring them in. Clean, on the 60. Chef, get a 16.
Clean, get on that 60!
What's up, Chief?
A junk boat, captain. We're gonna take a routine check.
Well, let's forget routine now and let them go.
These boats are running supplies in this delta, captain.
I'm gonna take a look.
Chief, my mission's got priority.
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, Lance. - Come on. Throw the rope, asshole.
All right. Come on. Let's bring it over.
Look in that forward hooch. Bring the people out of there.
Come on! Hurry up, motherfucker! Move it!
- You too. Come on. - Keep your eyes open.
I got you, Chief.
It's clear, Chief.
Okay, that's them. That's them. They're okay.
- Board and search it. - It's just a fucking boat.
- There ain't nothing on it. - Board it and search it.
There's baskets, there's ducks. Fucking bananas.
Ain't nothing on it.
- What's wrong with you? Search it. - There's the goat. Some fish.
- Chef. - Fucking vegetables...
- Get on that boat! - There's nothing on it, man!
- Get on it! - All right!
Move it, asshole! Move it, goddamn it!
Some pigs. Look, mangoes.
- What's in the rice bag? - Fucking rice.
- Look in there, Chef. Look in it. - Coconuts and fucking fish.
More coconuts. Rice. Here's rice.
- What's in that vegetable basket? - Get out of here! Come on!
- Get over there, goddamn it! - Chef, check that vegetable basket.
- All right. - Shut up, slope!
- There ain't nothing in here. - What's in the boxes?
- Look in that tin can. That rusty can. - Nothing.
Just fucking rice and that's all! There ain't nothing on it!
Check the yellow can. She was sitting on it. What's in it?
Chef!
Motherfuckers!
Motherfuckers! Motherfuckers!
- Hold it! - Come on! Let's kill them all, huh?
- Motherfucking cocksucking mothers! - Hold it! Hold it!
Let's kill all the assholes! Shoot the shit out of all of them.
- Hold it, Chef! Hold it! - Why not? Jesus Christ.
Why the fuck not?
- Clean? - I'm good.
- You okay, Lance? - Fuck! Shit!
- Chef, you okay? - Look what she was hiding, huh?
- You all right? - See what she was running for?
It's a fucking puppy.
- Give me that dog! Give me that dog! - No! You're not gonna get it!
- Fucking give it to me! - No, give me the fucking dog, asshole!
Fuck you!
- Chef. Chef. - Fucking mango too! You want that?
Chef, she's moving behind you. She's alive. Check her out.
Chef! She's moving behind you. Check her out!
All right. All right.
- Come on, Clean! - She's not dead. She's wounded.
- Clean, give him a hand. - Fuck it.
Just take it easy. Take it easy.
- Slow down and take it easy. - All right, Chef, just wait a minute.
- Bring her up. - Is she breathing?
- She's hurt. She's bleeding. - Oh, man.
Bring her onboard. We're taking her to an ARVN.
- What are you talking about? - We're taking her to some friendlies.
- She's wounded. She's not dead. - Get out of there, Chef.
The book says, captain...
Fuck, yeah. Fuck them.
I told you not to stop. Now let's go.
It was a 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 of them,
the more I hated lies,
Those boys were never gonna 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,
Do Lung Bridge was the last Army outpost on the Nung River,
Beyond it, there was only Kurtz,
Lance. Hey, Lance.
- What do you think? - It's beautiful.
I mean, what's the matter with you? You acting kind of weird.
Hey, you know that last tab of acid I was saving?
- Yeah. - I dropped it.
You dropped acid? Far out.
- Hey, friendly! - Friendly!
- Take me home! - Goddamn it!
- Fucking shore police! - Man, you wanna die?
Don't keep going!
- You fucking police! - Don't leave me!
Fuck you!
You'll get what you deserve!
- Is there a Captain Willard onboard? - Yeah.
- Captain Willard? - Yeah. Who's that?
- Lieutenant Carlsen, sir. - Get that light off me.
I was sent here from Nha Trang with these three days ago, sir.
They 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 if I can find a way.
You're in the asshole of the world, captain.
Captain, where you going?
I gotta find somebody. I need some information.
Pick me up at the other side of the bridge.
- Somebody go with him. - Chef.
I'll go.
I wanna go.
Get your ass in gear,
Man, listen to the music, man.
Where can I find the CO?
- You came right to it, son of a bitch. - Lance!
Get down here!
You still got a commanding officer here?
- Beverly Hills. - What?
Straight up the road
there's a concrete fucking bunker called Beverly Hills!
Where the fuck else do you think it would be?
Goddamn it. You stepped in my face.
- We thought you were dead. - Well, you thought wrong, damn it.
I told you to stop fucking with me, didn't I?
You think you're so bad, huh, nigga?
What are you shooting at, soldier?
Man, what the fuck you think I'm shooting at?
I'm sorry, sir. There are gooks out there by the wire.
But I think I killed them all.
Oh, you ain't shot shit, man. Listen.
Oh, shit. He's trying to call his friends, man. Send up a flare.
Think you're so bad, huh, nigga? You think you bad, huh?
They're all dead, stupid. There's one still alive underneath the dead 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 the bodies, man.
- Go get the Roach, man. - Man, he's asleep.
- Go get the Roach, nigga! - I'm gonna go get the Roach.
Go get him.
Roach. Roach.
Roach.
Got slopes on the wire, man. You hear them?
- Lance! - Do you hear them?
We'll bust them.
Hey, GI, fuck you!
You hear him out there on the wire, man?
Yeah.
I kill you, GI!
You need a flare?
No.
He's close, man.
He's real close.
GI, fuck you!
GI! GI, fuck...
Motherfucker.
Hey, soldier.
Do you know who's in command here?
Yeah.
Holy shit.
Hey, Chief, man. Two guys just got blown off that bridge.
Yo, hang on, man. You're gonna be okay.
- What's that? - Mail, man.
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.
Still wanna go on? It's 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 upriver!
Chef, on the bow.
- Stand by, Clean. - Let's go!
Whose package is that?
- Shit, you got another one, Clean. - No 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.
I got a box from Eva.
"Lance, I am fine.
Sue and I went tripping in Disneyland.
Sue skinned her knee."
Man, I wanna get back to Antoine's.
Yes, I remember the time. How could I fucking forget, man?
- Beautiful. - Man, you know, that's the best.
"There could never be a place like Disneyland, or could there?
Let me know."
Jim, it's here. It really is here.
"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 his wife,"
Captain Richard Colby,
He was with Kurtz,
Disneyland.
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. - Hey, Lance, put away that smoke.
I got a tape from my mom for Chief.
Rainbow reality, man.
Hey, Chief, get a good whiff.
Eva can't picture me in Vietnam.
She pictures me at home having a beer, watching TV.
- Hey, Lance, man. - Hot potato, hot potato.
I'm so glad you decided to join the Navy,
Eva's not sure she can have a relationship with me, you know.
Here I am 13,000 fucking miles away
trying to keep a relationship open, my ass.
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, - Hey, Lance.
There! Over there!
Take this, motherfuckers!
There! Over there!
Chef! Chef, check out Clean!
Captain, he's hit, he's hit. Clean's hit.
- Lance! - Where'd the dog go?
Lance, check out Clean!
Where's the dog? We gotta go back and get the dog.
Hey, Clean. Hey.
Hey, bubba. Bubba, you can't die, you fucker!
- Hey, bubba! - And so I'm hoping that pretty soon...
Not too soon, but pretty soon
I'll have a lot of grandchildren to love and spoil,
And then when your wife get them back, she'll be mad with me,
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 heinie home all in one piece,
Because we love you very much,
Love, Mom,
Clean...
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, goddamn it. You'll do what I say.
You see anything, Chef?
Why don't they fucking attack, man?
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 going to be the way they called it back at Nha Trang,
Arrows! Fire!
Chef, open up! Fire!
Chef, fire!
Chef! Chef, it's okay. Quit firing.
They're just little toy arrows.
Cut it out! Quiet!
Chief, tell them to hold their fire!
They're just little sticks. They're just trying to scare us.
Quiet!
You got us in this mess, 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!
Lance, get the wheel!
You savages, come and get it! You son of a bitches!
A spear.
My mission is to make it up into Cambodia.
There's a Green Beret colonel up there who's gone insane
and 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 right! It's all been approved!
I ain't coming in there! Them bastards attacked us!
Hey, zap them with your siren, man. Zap them with your siren!
There's mines over there and over there too.
And watch out. Those goddamn monkeys bite you, I'll tell you.
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 about.
Chef.
Who are you?
I'm a photojournalist.
I've covered the war since '64.
I've been in Laos, Cambodia and Nam.
Baby. 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, out here, we're all his children.
Could we talk to Colonel Kurtz?
Hey, man, you don't talk to the colonel.
Well, you listen to him.
The man's enlarged my mind.
He's a poet warrior in the classic sense.
I mean, sometimes he'll... Well, you say hello to him, right?
And he'll just walk right by you, and he won't even notice you.
And suddenly he'll grab you
and he'll throw you in a corner and he'll say,
"Do you know 'if' is the middle word in 'life'?
If you keep your head when all about are losing theirs and blaming you...
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you..."
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.
Don't go any... Don't go without me, okay?
I wanna get a picture.
He can be terrible, and he can be mean,
and he can be right.
He's fighting the war.
He's a great man.
I mean...
I wish I had words, you know. I wish I had words.
I could tell you something. The other day he wanted to kill me.
Something like that.
Why'd he wanna kill you?
Because I took his picture.
He said, "If you take my picture again,
I'm gonna kill you."
And he meant it.
So you just lay cool. Lay cool, lay back, dig it.
He gets friendly again. He really does.
But you don't judge the colonel.
You don't judge the colonel like an ordinary man.
Okay, watch it, now. These are Americans. Americans!
Feel the vibe of this place.
Let me take your picture.
Hey, could you hold...? Hey, hello? Hello?
Could you hold it for a minute?
Colby.
The heads.
You're looking at the heads.
Sometimes he goes too far, you know.
He's the first one to admit it.
- He's gone crazy. - Wrong, wrong.
If you could have heard the man just two days ago.
If you could've heard him then. God.
- You were gonna call him crazy? - Fucking A.
I just wanna talk to him.
Well, man, he's gone away.
He's gone away. He disappeared 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.
- I think you... - Okay, Chef.
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.
It's fucking pagan idolatry. Look around you.
- Shit, he's loco. - Then you'll help me?
Help? Fucking A, I'll help you. I'll do anything to get out of this joint.
Good boy.
We could blow all them assholes away.
They're so fucking spaced out, they wouldn't even know it.
Well, 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 wanna do? I'll kill the fuck.
- No, no. - Get out of here.
I'm gonna need you to wait here, Chef.
I'll go up with Lance and scrounge around,
check the place out
and see if I can find the colonel, okay?
Well, what do you want me to do?
- Damn it. - Here. You take the radio.
And if I don't get back by 2200 hours...
...you call in the air strike.
Air strike?
The code is "Almighty,"
coordinates zero-niner-two-six- four-seven-one-two.
It's all in there.
Zero-niner-two-six- four-seven-one-two.
Everything I saw told me that Kurtz had gone insane,
The place was full of bodies,
North Vietnamese, Vietcong, 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 are 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?
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've been a gardenia plantation or a flower plantation at one time.
It's all wild and overgrown now.
But for about five miles
you'd think that heaven just fell on the earth
in the form of gardenias.
Have you ever considered...
...any real freedoms?
Freedoms from the opinion of others?
Even the opinions of yourself?
Did they say why... Willard?
Why they want to terminate my command?
I was sent on a classified mission, sir.
It's no longer classified...
...is it?
What 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, sir.
I expected someone like you.
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 the bill.
Why, huh?
Why would a nice guy like you wanna kill a genius?
Feeling pretty good, huh?
Why?
Do 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...
He reads poetry out loud, all right?
And a voice...
A voice.
He likes you because you're still alive.
He's got plans for you.
No, no. I'm not gonna help you. You're gonna help him, man.
You're gonna help him.
I mean, what are they gonna say, man, when he's gone, huh?
Because he dies when it dies, man. When it dies, he dies.
What are they gonna say about him? They gonna say he was a kind man?
He was a wise man? He had plans? He had wisdom?
Bullshit, man.
Am I gonna be the one that's gonna set them straight?
Look at me. Wrong!
You.
Almost eight hours,
I'm asleep,
I'm asleep and dreaming I'm on this shitty boat,
Fuck.
Has it been eight hours?
Hello. Almighty. Almighty.
This is PBR Street Gang. Radio check. Over.
PBR Street Gang, this is Almighty standing by, Over,
Oh, shit!
Oh, Christ.
We are the hollow men
We are 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
- Or rats' feet over broken glass - 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? - Those who have crossed,,,
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 you gonna land on? One-quarter? Three-eighths?
What are you gonna 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.
Mutt!
You mutt.
This is the way the fucking world ends.
Look at this fucking shit we're in, man.
Not with a bang. A 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 Nha 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 the 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 for words...
...to 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'd 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.
A pile of...
...little arms.
And I remember...
l... l... 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 wanna remember it. I never wanna forget it.
I never wanna forget.
And then I realized,
like I was shot...
Like I was shot with a diamond...
A diamond bullet right through my forehead.
And I thought, "My God, the genius of that.
The genius.
The will to do that.
Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure."
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.
That they had 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 who are 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, 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,
PBR Street Gang, this is Almighty, Over,
PBR Street Gang, this is Almighty standing by, Over,
PBR Street Gang, this is Almighty standing by, How do you copy?
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-assed renegade,
Even the jungle wanted him dead,
And that's who he really took his orders from anyway,
"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."
The horror.
Calling PBR Street Gang,
PBR Street Gang, this is Almighty, Do you read me? Over,
PBR Street Gang?
PBR Street Gang, this is Almighty...
The horror,