How "Apocalypse Now" Should Have Ended

In his new column describing the shot-by-shot screening of Aguirre, The Wrath of God held last week in Boulder, CO at which Werner Herzog himself was present to answer questions and tell stories, Roger Ebert's editor Jim Emerson writes:

The good part of Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979), made not long after Aguirre was released in the U.S. in 1977, owes much to Herzog's jungle epic -- in atmosphere and sometimes particular images. For all the malevolent mayhem of Kinski, at least Herzog had that face and that Richard III posture to work with (though the voice in the German version is actually looped by someone else). When Coppola got all the way upriver all he found himself with was a fat, bald Brando and a non-ending.

Seeing as Apocalypse Now is one of my favorite films, I took umbrage at Emerson's dismissal of Brando, who I think is a mad genius in the film. Emerson is right, though, when he points out the ending as the film's weakness. Calling it a non-ending is a bit uncharitable, but I've always felt that the ending is little off. Specifically that it goes on a beat too long.

If you recall, Willard kills Kurtz, then walks out of the temple and stands at the top of the steps overlooking all the natives and cult members. Then he and Lance get into the boat and drive away. We then hear Kurtz's voice say "The horror, the horror..." Recurring imagery dissolves in and out, culminating in the image of a stone statue's face. Fade to black.

According to the Wikipedia entry on Apocalypse Now:

When Coppola originally organized the ending of the movie, he had two choices. One involved Willard leading Lance by the hand as everyone in Kurtz's base throws down their weapons, and ends with images of Willard's boat pulling away from Kurtz's compound superimposed over the face of a stone idol which then fades into black. Another option showed an air strike being called and the base being blown to bits in a spectacular display, consequently killing everyone left at the base.

I'm not sure why Coppola felt those were his only two options. Personally, here's what I'd have done: have Willard kill Kurtz as is. Have him walk out of the temple, stand at the top of the steps overlooking all the natives. All the natives gaze back up at him in his bloody, insane glory. And CUT TO BLACK.


That's it. How perfect would that have been? Willard ends up becoming what he set out to destroy. Every time I watch the movie I think the same thing. I wish he'd ended it right there. Don't get me wrong. Apocalypse Now is a masterpiece. But Emerson is right when he calls it a "non-ending" because as it stands the ending does not resolve Willard's journey. He does what he set out to do and then leaves. I'm oversimplifying it, of course. But by ending the film with Willard having become the new godhead of the Kurtz compound, the film would have become an even darker meditation on the nature of power and madness.

It's what I'd have done, anyway.