Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is a war drama you can watch online on iFILM — one of the most debated and studied films ever made. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent upriver into Cambodia with orders to find and kill Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a Special Forces officer who has stopped reporting to command and started running his own army from deep inside enemy territory.

The river journey is the entire film. Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall) blasts Wagner from helicopter speakers before napalming a village at dawn. A dark night at the Do Lung Bridge reveals a firefight with no one in charge. Dennis Hopper's manic photojournalist guards the entrance to Kurtz's compound like a devotee at a temple. A young Laurence Fishburne is part of the boat crew; Harrison Ford appears briefly as a sharp-suited colonel who signs Willard's orders. Coppola shot in the Philippines across several grueling years, a production that nearly broke him — documented in his wife Eleanor's footage.

The film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and two Academy Awards: Vittorio Storaro's cinematography and the sound design. It remains a benchmark of what war cinema can be. Stream Apocalypse Now (1979) online on iFILM.