We’ve picked out the best military movie quotes of all time, singled out the greatest lines from “Full Metal Jacket” specifically, and now it’s time to turn our attention to “Apocalypse Now.”
The Vietnam-war classic from Francis Ford Coppola yields a number of classic lines that fans can quote at will, from Kilgore’s comments about napalm to an intelligence officer’s use of the phrase “with extreme prejudice.”
These are WATM’s picks for the top 12 quotes from the 1979 film.
1. Col. Kilgore: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like … victory.”
2. Capt. Willard: “Saigon… sh-t. I’m still only in Saigon.”
3. Col. Kilgore: “Someday this war’s gonna end.”
4. Capt. Willard: “Terminate the Colonel?”
Civilian intelligence official: ” … Terminate with extreme prejudice.”
5. Capt. Willard: “Oh man… the bullsh-t piled up so fast in Vietnam, you needed wings to stay above it.”
6. Capt. Willard: “Charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500.”
7. Capt. Willard: “‘Never get out of the boat.’ Absolutely goddamn right! Unless you were goin’ all the way… Kurtz got off the boat. He split from the whole f–kin’ program.”
8. Col. Kilgore: “If I say its safe to surf this beach, Captain, then its safe to surf this beach!”
9. Chef: “I just wanted to learn to f–kin’ cook, man!”
10. Capt. Willard: “Who’s the commanding officer here?”
Soldier: “Ain’t you?”
11. Col. Kilgore: “Charlie don’t surf!”
12. Col. Kurtz: “The horror … the horror.”
