The Title "Apocalypse Now"
 

Does anybody know why Apocalypse Now is called Apocalypse Now? I recall seeing the words written on a stone when they finally found the insane soldier, but i don't know why it was written there. Any thoughts?

It's probably an ironic twisting of the anti-Vietnam protestor chant "Peace now!"

Incidentally, writer Milius's original title for the film was The Psychedelic Soldier.

Highly recommended is the 1991 Hearts of Darkness documentary on the making of the film.

Failing that, there's always Apocalypse Pooh.

Actually, "Apocalypse Now" was inspired by "Heart of Darkness" which was a novel by Joseph Conrad.

The novel was about a European, also named Kurtz, who went into the deepest reaches of the Congo and sets himself up as a GOD.

"Heart of Darkness" was also the title of the documentary of the making of the movie. Much, if not all of it, came from notes taken by Coppola's wife.

As for the meaning of the title, maybe, if I did hallucinogenic drugs, I might have come up with a good answer as to why it was chosen!

RB

Not to be too nitpicky but the documentary is "Hearts of Darkness" (with an 's') you can get it used at Amazon

Actually the full name listed there is "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" haven't seen it yet, but a friend told me that it's really good. Hope people are able to track it down if they're interested. I've seen it at one private video rental store before.

Cheers,
Brian