Robert Duvall discussed the popularity of ‘Apocalypse Now’ in an exclusive 1984 interview
Duvall talked tense on-set special effects and how it seemed everyone had heard about the movie.
That’s right, yeah, so many people come up to me, as one of the most famous lines that they’ve heard from me or in *** lot of films, and my assistant was calling, doing some research for me, some for some preachers throughout the United States. I’m gonna do *** project on preachers, and *** lot of preachers don’t go to films, you know, and she talked to this man in down in Smymyrna, Georgia, and he said, Oh, I think I’ve heard of Robert Duvall. I, I, I don’t go to movies, but I’ve heard of him. Didn’t he have *** famous line in the movie that went something like, I love the smell of gasoline. So, yeah, actually it was gasoline that was napalm for the actual special effects. It had *** quarter mile. I could feel that heating back of me when that thing began to go. Wow, it was intense. You really do unusual movies. You aren’t that particular as long as you like it. You don’t care whether it’s gonna be big box office as long as you enjoy doing it. Is that it? Yeah, well, you know, it’s hard to, to get that rare, you know, that rare combination of selling *** lot of tickets and plus being *** good movie like, say, The Godfather. That doesn’t happen that often, so you might as well go and do what you, what, what you really like or attract because, you know, nobody has ***. *** patent or guarantee for what’s gonna sell. Motion pictures have unusual histories. Wasn’t The Great Santini originally released on airplanes? Yeah it came out on airplanes and it came out on HBO *** year later at the same time it opened in theaters in New York City. Strange the way that was handled. Do the critics suddenly say, here’s *** great picture and why isn’t it in theaters or, or what happens to these things? How does I think somebody did. I think that Rex Reed or some, I think it was Rex Reed got behind that. He wrote about *** review every day and liked it and helped it and then then the business, *** business guy got behind it as well, and I think, I think they, there were special efforts made to, to put it in the theater that the studio wasn’t doing, you know. Yeah, now Tender Mercies is almost the same thing. It’s being plugged like crazy on HBO and um that wasn’t even gonna be brought out in this country. It wasn’t. I found that out from good sources, yeah. Where were they gonna show it? Europe, Europe, Europe, I guess, and I guess some of the people at Universal didn’t even like it, but then they, they stuck with it and brought it out, you know. They must be kicking themselves now that because. The Oscar thing and all that and now it’s in video cassette stores and instead of going to theaters they’re gonna all run out and rent the video cassette uh-huh. Well, I guess when you get *** film like that, I mean, I, I mean, I, I, I, uh, I wish it had been handled differently, but, uh, I guess when you get *** film that some people like *** lot in *** studio, I don’t know much about the distribution end of it, but you just don’t know what to do with *** film like that perhaps, so they don’t put *** lot of effort or money into it since they have other films that they’re gonna make more money for them, so they show that.
Robert Duvall discussed the popularity of ‘Apocalypse Now’ in an exclusive 1984 interview
Duvall talked tense on-set special effects and how it seemed everyone had heard about the movie.
Updated: 2:06 PM EST Feb 16, 2026
Actor Robert Duvall reflected on his films and studio treatment in a 1984 KCRA interview.He told a funny story about how everyone, even people who didn’t like movies, seemed to have seen “Apocalypse Now.” He recalled intense on-set effects, saying, “From a quarter-mile I could feel that heat on back of me when that thing began to go,” when describing the gasoline-based napalm used for a scene.Duvall also discussed other movies and criticized studios for uneven distribution. He noted that “Tender Mercies” and “The Great Santini” had unusual release paths compared to his box-office successes such as “The Godfather.”WATCH the full interview in the video above.Robert Duvall died on Sunday at the age of 95.
Actor Robert Duvall reflected on his films and studio treatment in a 1984 KCRA interview.
He told a funny story about how everyone, even people who didn’t like movies, seemed to have seen “Apocalypse Now.”
He recalled intense on-set effects, saying, “From a quarter-mile I could feel that heat on back of me when that thing began to go,” when describing the gasoline-based napalm used for a scene.
Duvall also discussed other movies and criticized studios for uneven distribution. He noted that “Tender Mercies” and “The Great Santini” had unusual release paths compared to his box-office successes such as “The Godfather.”
WATCH the full interview in the video above.
Robert Duvall died on Sunday at the age of 95.