Continuity mistake: The Vietnamese woman on the sampan has her hair in two ponytails when Chef shoves her. It's in disarray when she falls then in one ponytail as she is shot by Clean. (01:36:25)
Continuity mistake: When Clean fires his machine gun on the Vietnamese sampan Captain Willard ducks for cover then pulls his pistol out of his holster and holds it straight up in the air. In the next shot he takes the gun out of his holster again. (01:36:45)
Other mistake: Lance is standing right in front of Chef who is crouching in the sampan. As the melee starts he re-loads his machine gun and proceeds to fire wildly from left to right aiming downward right at Chef who is never hit. (01:36:55)
Continuity mistake: After shooting up the sampan Clean closes his machine gun twice between shots. (01:37:15)
Continuity mistake: Chief Phillips Orders Clean down onto the sampan to help Chef with the injured Vietnamese woman. We hear Clean talking to Chef as they lift her body but the next time we see the Vietnamese woman Chef is the only one there and Clean is back up at his machine gun. (01:38:05)
Continuity mistake: Before Captain Willard shoots the injured Vietnamese woman on the sampan he's holding onto a metal bar with his left hand. In the next shot he's not holding onto anything. (01:38:25)
Continuity mistake: When Captain Willard shoots the injured Vietnamese woman on the sampan, the T-shirts that we saw before draped over the metal bar in front of Chief Phillips are no longer there even though no one goes near the spot. (01:38:30)
Continuity mistake: As they approach the Do Lung Bridge Chef talks to Lance with his gun muzzle pointing out in front of him. The muzzle isn't near anything but in the next shot it's resting on the flat piece of metal on top of the machine gun. (01:40:35)
Audio problem: As they approach the Do Lung Bridge Lance tells Chef that he dropped a tub of acid and Chef says, "far out " but if you look at his lips he's not saying anything at all. (01:40:50)
Continuity mistake: The day after the USO Playboy Bunny show, the patrol boat canopy is set afire by some pranksters from a passing boat. Yet, that night in the scene at the Do Lung Bridge, the canopy is intact. It goes through some amazing transformations during the remainder of the picture. (01:41:33)
Continuity mistake: Lieutenant Carlsen says, "Get that light off me" as the PBR approaches the shore. Lance, sitting at the front machine gun, starts to move the spotlight before the lieutenant says anything then in the next shot the spotlight is already facing him. (01:41:40)
Audio problem: When the natives start shooting arrows at the boat, Chief is imploring his crew to "fire...fire...FIRE.". Then if you listen to the scenes at Do Lung Bridge, they have reused the sound of this battle as a background sound. Its just after Willard says he needs some information, and to pick him up on the other side of the bridge. It's very clear on the Apocalypse Now (2 CD version) soundtrack, track 1 at 3:06. (01:42:14)
Continuity mistake: The lights on the Do Lung Bridge keep changing between shots. There are many more burned out light bulbs in the shot of Captain Willard and Lance as they leave the boat then there are when we first see the bridge or when the bridge is in the background as they walk past it. (01:42:15)
Continuity mistake: We see a close-up of Lance's face as he talks to Chef on the front of the boat at they approach the Do Lung Bridge. The camouflage makeup around his chin and left cheek is different as he walks across the bridge with Captain Willard. (01:42:35)
Audio problem: As Willard, Lance and Chef are approaching Kurtz's compound, Lance is playing come creepy sounds with 2 tin cans and a drumstick. The sounds do not match the number of times that he hits the cans nor coincide with when he hits them. (01:45:40)
Other mistake: Captain Willard inquires from two soldiers manning a machine gun, "Who's the commanding officer here?" The two can't kill the enemies "out there by the wire" so they ask their friend "Roach" for some help. As "Roach" walks over he turns off a tape recorder playing some Jimmy Hendrix riffs. If you look closely at the buttons of the tape recorder, it was never on in the first place. (01:45:50)
Continuity mistake: After Lance and Captain Willard return to the boat Chief Phillips says, "which way captain". As the captain sits on the front of the boat look closely at his tee shirt, he has something underneath resembling a large newspaper or package. When he takes his tee shirt off there's nothing under there except his dog tags. (01:47:55)
Continuity mistake: Before they leave the Do Lung Bridge Captain Willard yells to Chief Phillips, "Just get us up river". When he does this he's sitting down but in the next shot as the boat pulls out he's standing up. (01:48:15)
Visible crew/equipment: As they pull away from the Do Lung Bridge, look closely and you can see water spraying up and turbulence from the propellers of the camera boat in front of them. (01:48:40)
Continuity mistake: When they leave there are two fires on the Do Lung Bridge as Clean looks on manning the rear machine gun. In the next shot there is only one fire on the bridge. (01:48:45)
Chosen answer: Kurtz was protected by political connections and his military record from being relieved of command, and the Montagnard people whose village he was in were considered American allies, so they couldn't just send a force in to kill him or relieve him of command, but an individual assassin. (The US Government's "official" policy is that they do not engage in assassination, which is why "this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist").
Captain Defenestrator