Continuity mistake: Captain Willard and the men get off the PBR and walk to their right about 30 feet in the direction of the hut that is destroyed by the boat with the teeth painted on it. In the next shot when they run into Francis Ford Copola they're back to where they started as we see the boat directly behind them. (00:25:50)
Continuity mistake: After the Captain passes Francis Ford Copola he walks up to a helicopter unloading some soldiers. There's no one near the captain but in the next shot after the helicopter takes off he bumps into a soldier. (00:26:05)
Continuity mistake: As the Captain passes Francis Ford Coppola there's a flame throwing tank burning down a hut behind him. In the next shot after the helicopter takes off the flamethrower is gone and some Vietnamese wagons are there instead. (00:26:10)
Continuity mistake: Captain Willard walks up to a soldier and asks him, "Where can I find the CO". At first he has his right hand on the soldier's left arm then in the next shot he's not touching him at all. (00:26:20)
Continuity mistake: When we first see colonel Kilgore's helicopter there's thick black smoke behind it. In the next shot the smoke is grey and sparse. (00:26:25)
Continuity mistake: When Kilgore's chopper lands, Captain Willard is holding his rifle with the strap around his left shoulder so that the butt comes up above his head. In the next shot he's holding it in his left hand and the strap is not around his shoulder anymore. (00:26:40)
Continuity mistake: Clean starts out to the left of Captain Willard, then just before Colonel Kilgore lands he's behind the Captain chasing his helmet. In the next shot as the helicopter lands he's now in front of the Captain. (00:26:45)
Continuity mistake: As Kilgore's chopper lands it blows orange smoke over the men when we see their backs. In the next shot looking in the direction of the helicopter the smoke is nowhere near them. (00:26:45)
Continuity mistake: As Captain Willard walks up to Lt. Col. Kilgore's helicopter there's rain on the windshield. In the previous shot we see the windshield as the helicopter lands and it's dry. (00:26:50)
Visible crew/equipment: The boom mike reflection can be seen in the pilot's side window of the helicopter as Captain Willard walks up to Kilgore. (00:26:55)
Visible crew/equipment: The boom mike, camera and lights can be seen in Lieutenant Kilgore's sunglasses as he gets out of his helicopter. (00:27:05)
Continuity mistake: Colonel Kilgore walks away from his helicopter saying, "Body cards, bring my body cards." Behind him is a radioman and an antenna that is kinked at a 45 degree angle. Two shots later the antenna is standing straight up without adjustment. (00:27:10)
Visible crew/equipment: As the boat crew steps ashore to find Kilgore, the obvious shadows of two crew and their equipment are seen moving across the backs of the soldiers and then the raised netting slightly further away. This isn't the documentary crew they meet shortly afterwards, who are further onto the mainland. (00:27:20)
Suggested correction: In this scene, the boat crew immediately encounter a camera crew filming the soldiers. This is their shadows.
While they do encounter a documentary film crew, this does not happen until a few seconds after the mistake occurs. The shadows of the film crew are shown when they are walking onto shore, whilst the documentary film crew are shown more onto the main land. Plus, it seems a little weird Francis Ford Coppola would decide to randomly include shadows of a documentary film crew when the cameo doesn't happen until a few seconds later. Clearly this is the shadow of the camera and cameraman cast on them, and is a valid mistake.
Audio problem: Right when Captain Willard introduces himself to Colonel Kilgore, the audio track for the background battle sounds cuts out for few seconds. (00:27:20)
Continuity mistake: Captain Willard introduces himself to Colonel Kilgore and says, "I carry priority papers from Com-Sec intelligence, II Corps". There are three guys in Kilgore's helicopter watching the filming by the side door. This is a wide shot and no other soldier is there but three seconds later another soldier appears standing by the pilot's window. (00:27:25)
Continuity mistake: In the first few scenes with the air cavalry commander, his black hat has a lieutenant colonel rank and a small crossed-sword emblem on it. Later, as his helicopter lands on the beach, his hat has no rank and is emblazoned with a very large crossed-sword Cav emblem. (00:27:26)
Factual error: The scene depicting Lieutenant Kilgore throwing out death cards onto the dead VC is not accurate. Real death cards were printed in packs that contained just the ace of spades on each card and had messages written in Vietnamese on the other side. (00:27:55)
Character mistake: When Colonel Kilgore is handing out death cards to the dead VC he says, "eight of spades". If you look closely at the card that he throws as it flies threw the air it's the six of spades. (00:28:00)
Continuity mistake: Captain Willard picks up one of the death cards that Lt. Col. Kilgore threw on a dead body and it's the seven of hearts. This is not one of the cards that Kilgore threw down though. As he was naming each one as he threw it and Captain Willard was walking close behind him. (00:28:05)
Continuity mistake: Martin Sheen's fingers are shown many times in close-ups of him reading files such as after the "Satisfaction" surfing scene. They all look the same except for when he picks up Kilgore's death card. The thumbs on this person's hands are much longer than we see throughout the movie and are not Martin Sheen's. (00:28:10 - 01:13:55)
