Continuity mistake: Roxanne continues to prepare the pipe for Captain Willard and says, "he would rage and he would cry, my lost soldier, and I said to him there are two of you". In the shot of them from the foot of the bed Roxanne's head is almost touching the captain's but in the next shot over the side of the bed she's about a foot away. (02:16:55)
Continuity mistake: As Captain Willard takes a smoke from Roxanne's pipe the pillow he's lying on is light green. Later after they're finished as he lies on his back the pillow is now light red. (02:17:20)
Continuity mistake: As Captain Willard takes a smoke, the shadow of the pipe is on Roxanne's face but in the next shot as she looks at him the pipe's shadow has disappeared. (02:17:30)
Continuity mistake: As Roxanne unties the curtains around the bed the scarves draped over the light on the left of Captain Willard are not the same ones we just saw in a previous shot as the captain took a smoke from the pipe. The ones before were red and yellow but now the middle one is primarily green. (02:19:05)
Continuity mistake: After they leave the French plantation Chief Phillips maneuvers the boat through some thick fog and says, "I said I can't see a thing captain I'm stopping this boat, I ain't riskin' no more lives". When he says this line he's looking directly at Captain Willard but in the next shot his head is turned as he looks over towards his right. (02:20:15)
Continuity mistake: As they begin to break out of the fog bank Chef says, "watch it over here, chief, got a stump". Here he's helping Chief Phillips steer the boat with a long pole that he places back on the floor of the boat after the uses it. You can see that it's not hanging over the right side of the boat behind Chief Philips but at the beginning of the arrow attack it's back extending out over the side. Then a few shots later as Captain Willard runs to the back of the boat to stop Chef from firing it's gone completely. (02:20:55)
Continuity mistake: As they begin to break out of the fog bank Chief Phillips says, "Lance on the 50s". Lance doesn't move from where he is on the roof of the boat but Chef goes to the machine gun twice between shots and points it in different directions each time. (02:21:00)
Continuity mistake: As Lance is on the top of the PBR Captain Willard says to himself, "He's close, he was real close" and they shuttle between shots of Lance and close-ups of Chief Phillips at the helm. The straw hanging down from the roof of the boat behind Chief Phillip's head is is hanging down differently in both of these shots. (02:21:05)
Continuity mistake: Lance comes down from the roof of the boat and we get a good close-up look at his makeup. Fifteen seconds later as the arrows start flying his facial makeup is entirely different (neck, nose, ears, bandanna). (02:21:15)
Continuity mistake: Captain Willard says, "Whatever was going to happen, it wasn't gonna be the way they called it back in Nha Trang". Note the light pole in the center of the boat, the second blue light from the top is shot out however there hasn't been any battles since the French plantation scene when all four blue lights were intact. (02:21:25)
Continuity mistake: As he says, "so when you ask me why we want to stay here, Captain" Hubert's face and jacket go from being in the light to being in a shadow between shots. (02:21:30)
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the arrow attack Chief Phillips yells, "Chef, open up, fire". Before he says this we see a wide shot of the shoreline with no vertical poles sticking up. In the next close-up shot of Chief Phillips there's a red spear stuck in the mud on the shore. (02:21:35)
Continuity mistake: As Chef is firing the rear machine gun there are two belts of ammo on the 60 caliber gun behind him, one hanging out of the gun itself and the other one draped over the gun's protective metal side. In the next shot as the captain runs up to him there's only one belt of ammo. (02:21:35)
Continuity mistake: During the arrow attack Chief Phillips yells "Lance, fire" and we see a shot of Chef on his machine gun ducking the arrows. Look closely at the unmanned machine gun to his right. First it's pointing into the air, then in the next shot it's aiming downward. (02:21:40)
Continuity mistake: During the arrow attack as Chef is firing the rear machine madly Captain Willard walks from the front to the rear of the boat to try to stop him. Just as he swings into the back part of the boat he slips and falls backwards. In the next shot he's up and running toward Chef. (02:21:50)
Continuity mistake: During the arrow attack Lance shouts out, "Cut it out, quiet". The boat is traveling straight ahead but 10 seconds later Lance shouts out again, "Quiet" and the shoreline behind him is the exact same spot. (02:21:55)
Continuity mistake: As Captain Willard tries to get Chief Phillips to stop the men from firing he says, "They're just little sticks. They're just trying to scare us". Watch the Captain's left hand closely as his rifle becomes arrows between shots. (02:22:00)
Continuity mistake: After Willard kills Kurtz, and Willard is leafing through some papers that belonged to Kurtz, he opens the memoirs halfway through the stack. As he closes the stack, the visible page changes to a different page and different placement. (02:22:00)
Continuity mistake: During the arrow attack Chief Phillips grabs a machine gun and starts shooting. At first he and Chef's guns are both pointing in the same direction, starboard. In the next shot one gun is facing one way and the other is facing the opposite way. (02:22:15)
Continuity mistake: Chief Phillips yells, "You son of a bitch" as he shoots wildly. After he says this and Lance guns the engines look closely at the back of the boat because Chef is not at his machine gun. In the next shot he reappears where he should be firing the rear machine gun "Canned Heat". (02:22:20)
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