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Kilgore: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore delivers
this line to Captain Willard on the beach after ordering a destructive
helicopter strike on a Vietcong-controlled coastal village. Kilgore
delivers the line in an uncharacteristic, matter-of-fact tone, but
characteristically he doesn’t flinch when a bomb explodes loudly
behind him. This chilling quotation adds to the uncanny and invulnerable
quality of Kilgore’s character while signifying the far-reaching
effect war has had on his mentality. The quote also speaks to the
idiosyncrasies of war by describing and even celebrating the unique
smell of napalm. Kilgore also says the smell is like “victory.”
In typically absurd fashion, the havoc-wreaking Kilgore follows
up his napalm-glorifying remark by leaving the film on a bright
note. However, since we are aware that the Vietnam War did eventually
end but that it is known historically as a great failure for the
United States, the optimistic tone and the use of the word
