Script review – “Apocalypse Now” (1975) by John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola

Basically the same structure and story as Milius' 1969 draft, given a very good rewrite – trimmed dialogue, strengthening character work, re-named characters, a new ending. It still includes scenes in French plantation (only here Willard outsmarts the French at the end instead of getting ripped off by them) and meeting the playboy girls on the way; there's an opening from the mid 70s with Willard as a bodyguard for some rich dude.

The ending has changed – this one they arrive, Williard meets Moonby, an Aussie deserter, and Colby, a former US officer (apparently Scott Glenn played him in the film but was cut out), bonds with Kurtz, there’s an attack by the NVA which wipes out most of Kurtz's men, then he dies on a boat, like Kurtz in the novel, even saying "the horror". Willard goes a bit loony, shooting at evacuating helicopters, but recovers to visit Kurtz’s wife. More Milius than Coppola on the page, I think - but it required the poetry of Coppola the director to capture what was on the page.