Why did Chief Phillips try to kill Willard?

Why did Chief Phillips try to kill Willard? - Crop businessman signing contract in office

Nearing the end of Apocalypse Now a spear pierces Chief Phillips's body and Captain Willard tries to ease his fall, but the fatally wounded soldier seems to attempt to impale the Captain with the penetrating spearhead.

Why does he do that? Are we supposed to think that this was due to envy the fatally wounded soldier had for someone who would live longer? If not, what was the motive of Chief Phillips to attempt to harm Willard?



Best Answer

This is an interesting question and quite an intense moment indeed. Yes, it does very much seem like he is actively trying to kill Willard by pulling him towards him. But it's not necessarily envy for the living, or not in general. You don't generally see soldiers trying to drag their comrades into death with them, rather on the contrary, they'd try to protect their teammates even when dying.

And in fact this brings us to the true reason he tried to kill Willard. Captain Willard was not part of his crew, in fact he was (at least according to Chief Phillips) responsible for their certain deaths.

Then there was Phillips, the chief. It might have been my mission, but it was the chief's boat.

From the very beginning Chief Phillips was opposed to Captain Willard and his mission. For him, Willard basically took his boat and his crew and went with them on some obscure top secret mission noone else in the crew was allowed to know anything about. At various moments throughout their odyssey Phillips questions the value of the mission, but he's bound to Captain Willard's command.

Phillips: These boats are running supplies. I'm going to take a look.
Willard: Chief, my mission's got priority here. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me.
Phillips: Until we reach your destination, you're just on for the ride.

And then at the end basically everyone on Phillip's boat was about to get killed in an attack, including Phillips himself. And for what? For nothing! For some useless suicide commando in the middle of nowhere. And at this point Chief Phillips tries to kill the man who dragged them all there with him and make him pay for what he brought upon them (and possibly also to end this mission there and then and maybe save his remaining crewmates this way).




Pictures about "Why did Chief Phillips try to kill Willard?"

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Why did Kurtz kill Willard?

Willard succeeded in his mission only because Kurtz, himself broken mentally by the savage war he had waged, wanted Willard to kill him and release him from his own suffering. Kurtz also murdered Jay "Chef" Hicks by severing his head.

What happened to Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now?

Willard, slipping into Kurtz's compound, hacks him to death as outside, the Montagnards, hack a water buffalo into pieces as part of their rituals.

Why did they kill chef in Apocalypse Now?

Unfortunately, after Kurtz throws Willard into a cage, Chef tries to follow Willard's orders and call in an airstrike. But before he can successfully complete the call, Kurtz\u2014or one of his followers (it's not clear who)\u2014kills Chef and beheads him.

Why did Kurtz let Willard live?

Kurtz sees Willard as a receptacle for the philosophy that he has lived out in Cambodia. Kurtz wants to die but must first impart his knowledge to Willard so that the assassin will be able to denounce the war after he completes his mission.



Apocalypse Now - Understanding the \




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Images: Andrea Piacquadio, Brett Sayles, Tatiana Syrikova, Andrea Piacquadio