The Big Picture

• The presence of Harrison Ford in Apocalypse Now is an homage to George Lucas, unnoticed by Lucas himself.
• The film serves as a send-off to the New Hollywood movement, showcasing ambitious directorial visions.
• Ford's brief role in the film highlights the chaos of wartime and the lack of integrity in the Military-Industrial complex.

Undeniably one of the finest achievements in cinematic history, Apocalypse Now is famous for many things: an explosively ambitious vision by its director, Francis Ford Coppola, the troublesome production behind the scenes that nearly killed Coppola and its star, Martin Sheen, and its plethora of iconic lines and images. The film was a culmination of the New Hollywood movement, a period when the vision of auteurs was unyielding. This era was at its last gasp, making Apocalypse Now the ideal send-off to a chaotic reign in Hollywood. When watching the film today, modern audiences are sure to be puzzled by the random and innocuous presence of Harrison Ford. How could a star of his eminence be reduced to such a minuscule role early in the film? Interestingly enough, Ford's appearance in the film is an homage to the director's colleague and friend, George Lucas, who elevated Ford's popularity to new heights thanks to Star Wars.

Harrison Ford Plays a Military Colonel Giving Orders in 'Apocalypse Now'

Apocalypse Now, based on the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, follows a disturbed U.S. Army officer, Captain Willard (Sheen), that is assigned to assassinate a renegade Special Forces Colonel, Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has positioned himself as a god among a tribe in the jungles of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Coppola paints the war as a hallucinogenic nightmare. The farther Willard moves into the jungle, the more his sanity is put to the test. The officer who assigned Willard this harrowing mission was Colonel Lucas, inconspicuously played by one of the most beloved movie stars in modern history, Harrison Ford.

Ford's lone scene, which occurs early in the film before the main course of events, depicts Willard being called into Colonel Lucas' office. The Colonel is accompanied by General Corman (G.D. Spradlin). Where Lucas serves a perfunctory role by detailing the specifics of his foray into Cambodia, Corman deeply reflects on the psychological burden that war would have on an emotionally tortured officer like Kurtz. Coppola's film comments on the country's Military-Industrial complex's lack of integrity and responsibility over its soldiers, and this scene underlines this theme. Interestingly enough, the Corman character may also be an homage to a professional colleague of Coppola, as the director worked for prolific B-movie producer Roger Corman during his early filmmaking days.

Ford in Apocalypse Now does not evoke the public image and perception of Ford that has lingered in pop culture for nearly 50 years. Ford, who routinely used his "getting-too-old-for-this" attitude to convey a grizzled and weathered look, never looked younger on screen than he does in Apocalypse Now. He plays an authority figure, but he looks like he should be receiving orders from Martin Sheen. Colonel Lucas appears quite mild-mannered, which is akin to Ford's reticent personality away from the camera. Nonetheless, the actor is effective in this brief role. For such a peripheral role, why was the face of Han Solo and Indiana Jones signed on to give orders and never be seen again?

Francis Ford Coppola Paid Homage to George Lucas in 'Apocalypse Now'

Nearly 50 years later, the impact of Star Wars hasn't escaped pop culture, for better or worse. In 1979, the year of the release of Apocalypse Now, the taste of George Lucas' groundbreaking space opera was still on everyone's breath. The phenomenon was so consuming that when Harrison Ford briefly appeared in Apocalypse Now, there would have been more confusion than excitement. When Francis Ford Coppola launched the fateful production of Apocalypse Now, a film intended to be directed by Lucas before being sidetracked by Star Wars, no one predicted the heights both filmmakers achieved.

Filming began in 1976, three years before the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and arrived in movie theaters. As usual with Coppola's films in the '70s and '80s, the behind-the-scenes production was a disaster. The final product was sidelined by a musical chair routine in the casting process for the role of Willard, a typhoon hitting the Philippines, the lack of cooperation from the U.S. military, accommodating time for Marlon Brando, and a heart attack suffered by Martin Sheen. During this chaos, Lucas had enough time to construct an entire galaxy far, far away, and make it into a blockbuster. Walter Murch, sound editor for Coppola and Lucas, stated "Star Wars was George’s version of Apocalypse Now."

When Ford shot his lone scene in Apocalypse Now, he was merely part of the American Zoetrope stock company. The private distributor and production company, founded by Coppola and Lucas, was a hub of creative exploration and innovation meant to counter the assembly line nature of the major studios in Hollywood. Casting director Fred Roos, who also produced many films for the Coppola family, both Francis and his daughter Sofia Coppola, discovered Ford when he was a struggling actor working as a carpenter on the side.

Roos' influence on the two maverick directors resulted in Ford being cast in Lucas' American Graffiti as the hot-shot street racer, Bob Falfa. A year later, Ford appeared as the assistant to an ominous corporation spying on a couple in Coppola's The Conversation. American Graffiti, in particular, presents Ford as an untapped resource of sheer charisma, as his performance retroactively serves as a blueprint for Han Solo. When it came time to cast the wisecracking bounty hunter and smuggler in Star Wars, Roos was adamant that Ford was the ideal candidate. The rest, as they say, is history, and Ford is forever grateful to Roos.

George Lucas Did Not Recognize Harrison Ford in 'Apocalypse Now'

Considering their kinship, Coppola honoring his friend and colleague George Lucas in Apocalypse Now was only right, even amid the disorder of the film's production. Naming Ford's character "General Lucas," is a touching nod — further exemplified when the name is abbreviated to "G. Lucas." However, this callback flew right by Lucas' head. Revealed in the book, Harrison Ford: The Films, not only was Lucas oblivious to the reference, he didn't even recognize the star when he first watched the film. "I'm an actor," Ford responded in typical taciturn and modest fashion. "You weren't supposed to recognize me." Regardless, Ford was happy to pay homage to the director who shaped him into a global superstar, as the book revealed that he requested that Apocalypse Now's wardrobe department apply a patch to his character's uniform that reads "Lucas."

Apocalypse Now is about as grand and operatic as a film can aspire to. Every frame of Francis Ford Coppola's triumphant opus is like a work of literature. Beneath the weight of the Vietnam War epic is a flurry of minor touches and nuances, including clever additions such as a character named General Lucas played by Harrison Ford. The actor's appearance in the film is no secret these days, as when the director's cut, Apocalypse Now Redux, was released in theaters in 2001, Ford's one scene was enough to earn him a credit above the title on the poster. Cashing in on the Harrison Ford brand is a good rule of thumb in the industry.

Apocalypse Now is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video in the U.S.

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