Lessons On Movies.com
  Free Handout + MP3 + 8 Online Quizzes on Apocalypse Now

  GAMES:

  • Fill-in-the-blank
  • Matching
  • Hangman
  • Flash cards
  • Sentence jumble
  • Missing words
  • No letters
  • Crossword puzzle

Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic war film set during the Vietnam War. It was directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola and stars Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Martin Sheen. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard (played by Sheen), an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Brando's role). The screenplay by John Milius and Coppola came from Milius's idea of adapting Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness into the Vietnam War era. It also draws from Michael Herr's Dispatches, the film version of Conrad's Lord Jim and Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972).

On the review website Rotten Tomatoes.com, Apocalypse Now has an incredibly high 99% rating. The consensus is: "Francis Ford Coppola's haunting, hallucinatory Vietnam war epic is cinema at its most audacious and visionary". In his original review, Roger Ebert wrote: "Apocalypse Now achieves greatness not by analyzing our experience in Vietnam, but by re-creating, in characters and images, something of that experience." The Los Angeles Times' Charles Champlin wrote: "It towers over everything that has been attempted by an American filmmaker in a very long time". The movie is widely regarded by many as a masterpiece of Hollywood, and is frequently cited as one of the greatest films of all time.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Now 

  TRAILER AND POSTER

APOCALYPSE NOW POSTER

1. SIX WORDS: Look at the poster and write down six words (more if you like) that you think of as you look at it. Share the words with your partner(s). Why did you choose them?

2. STORY: Talk about what you think the story of the movie is – the start, beginning, end, etc. Change partners and share stories.

3. CREDITS: Look at the credits on the poster (the actors, director, producer…) and talk about them with your partner(s).

4. MUST-SEE: Talk with your partner(s) about whether the poster and movie title are good and make you want to see the movie.

5. STARRING YOU: Imagine you are one of the stars of the movie. Talk about your role with your movie star partner(s).

APOCALYPSE NOW TRAILER

1. RETELL: Watch the trailer and retell what you saw to your partner(s).

2. CHUNKS: Watch 10-to-15 second chunks of the trailer and retell what you saw to your partner(s).

3. QUIZ: Watch the trailer and write down some quiz questions for your partner(s). Watch a second time to find the answers to the questions.

4. VOCABULARY: Make a note of words in the trailer that you see or hear. Talk about them with your partner(s).

5. GOOD / BAD: Watch the trailer and write down why you think the film might be good or bad. Share your ideas with your partner(s).

  MATCHING

SYNONYM MATCH

1.	epic	a.	unbelievably
2	central	b.	period
3.	assassin	c.	outshines
4.	insane	d.	hitman
5.	era	e.	main
6.	incredibly	f.	general opinion
7.	consensus	g.	quoted
8.	audacious	h.	blockbuster
9.	towers over	i.	mentally ill
10.	cited	j.	bold

PHRASE MATCH

1.	a 1979 American epic	a.	insane
2	an assassin sent to	b.	era
3.	presumed	c.	in Vietnam
4.	into the Vietnam War	d.	Conrad's Lord Jim
5.	the film version of	e.	over everything
6.	an incredibly	f.	most audacious
7.	cinema at its	g.	war film
8.	analyzing our experience	h.	masterpiece of Hollywood
9.	It towers	i.	kill the renegade
10.	regarded by many as a	j.	high 99% rating

  LISTENING / READING GAP FILL

Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American (1) ___________________ the Vietnam War. It was directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola and stars Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Martin Sheen. The (2) ___________________ Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard (played by Sheen), an assassin sent to kill the (3) ___________________ insane Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Brando's role). The screenplay by John Milius and Coppola came from Milius's idea of adapting Joseph Conrad's novel (4) ___________________ into the (5) ___________________. It also draws from Michael Herr's Dispatches, (6) ___________________ Conrad's Lord Jim and Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972).

On the review website Rotten Tomatoes.com, Apocalypse Now has (7) ___________________ 99% rating. The consensus is: "Francis Ford Coppola's (8) ___________________ Vietnam war epic is cinema at (9) ___________________ visionary". In his original review, Roger Ebert wrote: "Apocalypse Now achieves greatness not by analyzing our experience in Vietnam, but by re-creating, in (10) ___________________, something of that experience." The Los Angeles Times' Charles Champlin wrote: "It towers over everything that (11) ___________________ an American filmmaker in a very long time". The movie is widely regarded by many (12) _____________________ Hollywood, and is frequently cited as one of the greatest films of all time.

  CORRECT THE SPELLING

Paragraph 1
1.	set iudngr the Vietnam War
2.	the eacrltn character
3.	US Army special sepitnaoor officer
4.	an aisssans sent to kill the renegade
5.	presumed naesin
6.	ndgiatpa Joseph Conrad's novel
Paragraph 2
7.	an lecriidybn high 99% rating
8.	Coppola's aihugntn, hallucinatory Vietnam war epic
9.	agnlayniz our experience in Vietnam
10.	It rwteso over everything
11.	regarded by many as a ierempsctea of Hollywood
12.	fyrequltne cited as one of the greatest films of all time

  PUNCTUATE & PUT CAPITALS IN THE TEXT

apocalypse now is a 1979 american epic war film set during the vietnam war it was directed and produced by francis ford coppola and stars marlon brando robert duvall and martin sheen the central character is us army special operations officer captain benjamin l willard (played by sheen) an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane special forces colonel walter e kurtz (brando's role) the screenplay by john milius and coppola came from milius's idea of adapting joseph conrad's novel heart of darkness into the vietnam war era it also draws from michael herr's dispatches the film version of conrad's lord jim and werner herzog's aguirre the wrath of god (1972)

on the review website rotten tomatoescom apocalypse now has an incredibly high 99% rating the consensus is "francis ford coppola's haunting hallucinatory vietnam war epic is cinema at its most audacious and visionary" in his original review roger ebert wrote "apocalypse now achieves greatness not by analyzing our experience in vietnam but by re-creating in characters and images something of that experience" the los angeles times' charles champlin wrote "it towers over everything that has been attempted by an american filmmaker in a very long time" the movie is widely regarded by many as a masterpiece of hollywood and is frequently cited as one of the greatest films of all time

  INSERT THE VOWELS

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  MARK THE SPACES

ApocalypseNowisa1979AmericanepicwarfilmsetduringtheVietnam
War.ItwasdirectedandproducedbyFrancisFordCoppolaandstarsMarl
onBrando,RobertDuvall,andMartinSheen.ThecentralcharacterisUS
ArmyspecialoperationsofficerCaptainBenjaminL.Willard(playedbyS
heen),anassassinsenttokilltherenegadeandpresumedinsaneSpecial
ForcesColonelWalterE.Kurtz(Brando'srole).ThescreenplaybyJohnMi
liusandCoppolacamefromMilius'sideaofadaptingJosephConrad'snov
elHeartofDarknessintotheVietnamWarera.ItalsodrawsfromMichael
Herr'sDispatches,thefilmversionofConrad'sLordJimandWernerHerz
og'sAguirre,theWrathofGod(1972).OnthereviewwebsiteRottenTom
atoes.com,ApocalypseNowhasanincrediblyhigh99%rating.Thecons
ensusis:"FrancisFordCoppola'shaunting,hallucinatoryVietnamware
piciscinemaatitsmostaudaciousandvisionary".Inhisoriginalreview,R
ogerEbertwrote:"ApocalypseNowachievesgreatnessnotbyanalyzing
ourexperienceinVietnam,butbyrecreating,incharactersandimages,s
omethingofthatexperience."TheLosAngelesTimes'CharlesChamplin
wrote:"IttowersovereverythingthathasbeenattemptedbyanAmeric
anfilmmakerinaverylongtime".Themovieiswidelyregardedbymanya
samasterpieceofHollywood,andisfrequentlycitedasoneofthegreates
tfilmsofalltime.

  DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	__________________________________________________________________
2.	__________________________________________________________________
3.	__________________________________________________________________
4.	__________________________________________________________________
5.	__________________________________________________________________
6.	__________________________________________________________________

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	__________________________________________________________________
2.	__________________________________________________________________
3.	__________________________________________________________________
4.	__________________________________________________________________
5.	__________________________________________________________________
6.	__________________________________________________________________

  APOCALYPSE NOW SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about Apocalypse Now in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	Student 1 __________	Student 2 __________	Student 3 __________
Q1.
Q2.
Q3.
Q4.
Q5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

  WRITING

Write your own movie review. Show your partner your letter. Correct each other's work.

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

  HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google's search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET INFO: Search the Internet and find more information about "Apocalypse Now". Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about "Apocalypse Now". What are (did) critics and moviegoers saying (say) about it? How good were the actors' performances? What was good and bad about the movie? Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

4. "APOCALYPSE NOW" POSTER: Make a poster about "Apocalypse Now". Make sure you put tag lines, audience and critics' reviews, why people should see it, etc.  Show it to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your posters.

5. MY PREQUEL / SEQUEL: Make your own prequel or sequel for  "Apocalypse Now". Make sure there is a good mix of things to do. Find some good online activities. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback.

6. CHARACTER STORY: Choose one of the characters from the movie. Imagine you are that character. Write your story about what you did in the movie. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback.

7. ONLINE SHARING: Use your blog, wiki, Facebook page, Twitter stream, or any other social media tool to get opinions on "Apocalypse Now". Share your findings with the class.

  ANSWERS

SYNONYM MATCH

1.	epic	a.	blockbuster
2	central	b.	main
3.	assassin	c.	hitman
4.	insane	d.	mentally ill
5.	era	e.	period
6.	incredibly	f.	unbelievably
7.	consensus	g.	general opinion
8.	audacious	h.	bold
9.	towers over	i.	outshines
10.	cited	j.	quoted

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Please check for yourself by looking at the movie review article at the top of the page.
(It's good for your English ;-)