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Continuity mistake: As they approach Vin Din Dop in Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore's helicopter there's a close-up of Captain Willard looking out of the helicopter. If you look closely there's no wind because the helicopter is not flying. In the next shot as Colonel Kilgore talks to Lance about surfing, it is and there's plenty of wind. (00:36:15)

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Other mistake: Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore says, "You smell that? Do you smell that? …I love the smell of Napalm in the morning", right after the jet attack and there's no indication that his character isn't smelling exactly what he says he is. There's no way he could possibly smell Napalm in the ten seconds of uninterrupted movie time that has elapsed from the attack. The explosion is several hundred yards away and looking at the smoke canisters, quite a brisk wind is blowing all the smoke away from them and not in their direction. (00:49:15)

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Continuity mistake: Colonel Kurtz sits at the door to the dark room where Captain Willard is being held reading articles to him from Time magazine, and it's obvious that the light is coming from the door in front of him. The door doesn't close nor does the captain stop looking forward, but the lighting changes throughout the scene. In some of the close-up shots his entire face and neck are lit up and in other shots shadows fall across his face and neck. (02:51:15)

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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)

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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)

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Continuity mistake: As they watch Lieutenant Col. Kilgore's helicopter battle from their boat the captain says "It was the air-cav. 1st of the 9th" and Clean appears in the middle of the boat under the flag between shots. (00:24:40)

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Continuity mistake: At dinner, the Frenchmen sitting to the right of Captain Willard says, "Why don't you Americans learn from us, from our mistakes?" When he says this there's a shadow falling on his face but in the next shot his face is lit up again by the sun. (02:10:10)

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Continuity mistake: Right after the helicopter pilot says, "my tail rotors out, I've got control" they blow up the entire Vin Din Dop bridge ending with the side closest to the beach. In the next shot they blow up the same side of the bridge again closest to the beach. (00:44:45)

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Continuity mistake: At the funeral Chief Phillips picks up the flag from Clean's body holding it between his fingers about two inches in on each end. In the next shot he's holding it on the edges and the flag is reversed with the stars and stripes on the right. (02:01:15)

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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)

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Continuity mistake: As Colonel Kurtz reads his poetry out loud we see Dennis Hopper gesturing with both hands as he speaks with the captain. When the colonel gets mad and throws the bowl of bananas at them Dennis Hopper is holding his camera in his left hand. His bandana is also rolled up differently with the corner sticking up in one shot and down in the other. (02:56:20)

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Continuity mistake: When they leave the Do Lung Bridge the flag is visible on the roof of the boat, but several seconds later at the beginning of the next scene, it's gone. (01:48:45)

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Continuity mistake: When Chief Phillips is speared we first see Lance at the helm of the boat and it's going forward. In the next shot after Chief Phillips is speared the boat is going around in circles. (02:22:30)

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Audio problem: On the French plantation dock Lance picks up what looks like the sole of an old shoe and smells it. If you look closely you hear a sniffing sound that isn't in sync with the movement of his chest because he doesn't really inhale while that horrible thing is near his nose. (01:57:05)

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Continuity mistake: There's a pole stored on the port side of the PBR. It's behind Chef after we see Clean's dead body. It's been removed in the next scene when they arrive at the French plantation. This pole has been used before in the movie and is stored in this spot and if it were somewhere else on the boat we would see it. (01:52:25 - 01:55:30)

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Continuity mistake: Just before the warrior throws his spear at Chief Phillips there's a shot of Lance at the helm of the boat and we see the right side of the arrow in his hair pointing straight out and the left side pointing upward. In the previous shot both sides of the arrow were pointing straight out. (02:22:25)

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Continuity mistake: In the first shot of them having dinner at the French Plantation a Vietnamese waiter speaks to the woman at the right of the table. In the next shot he's speaking to the man sitting next to her. (02:02:40)

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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)

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Continuity mistake: Docked next to the sampan Chief Phillips yells at Chef to, "Get on that boat," there's a shirt on the pole with the blue lights on it in the front of PBR. This shirt is in some of the shots and not in others throughout this scene. (01:36:00)

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Audio problem: We see and hear Chef rip the picture from his Playboy magazine of Miss December in half. In the next shot as he tapes it up behind Chief Phillips it's all in one piece. (01:12:05)

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