The only originality of Apocalypse Now was the part where they played Flight of the Valkyries on loudspeakers during the attack to capture the beach for the grunt to surf. Robert's Duvall's character saying "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" is the "highlight" of the movie, IMO.
The movie was loosely based on the classic novel Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.
The movie is not so much about war, but rather, the depravity of men and their lust to rule and be ruled.
In its attempt to paint the extremes of men it paints the US Military and the Vietnam War in a very bad light.
In many ways it was a crappy movie, but it had potential, if they would have toned down the weirdness and cheapshots at the Military.
-Gene Shallot :-)