waltt (05/10/83)
It might be interesting to note that the recent television screening of Apocalypse Now bears an inescapable parallel to a short (50 pages) story written by Joseph Conrad at the turn of the century. The story is called "Heart of Darkness" and deals with an ivory trader named Kurtz (get the parallel) who has gone wacko and set up an empire deep in the heart of Africa. A man is sent up the river to either kill him or bring him back. In the end, Kurtz is killed. His last words are "the horror! the horror!" (the same as Brando at the end of Apocalypse). After watching "Apocalypse", I closely watched the credits for some acknowledgement to Conrad. No luck.
schnitzl@hplabs.UUCP (06/11/83)
Not only was Apocalypse Now based on Heart of Darkness, but they both have their roots in Dante's Inferno.