Apocalypse Now (1979) Terminate With Extreme Prejudice

This is from the beginning of the movie where Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is being briefed at Nha Trang by a group of intelligence officers. He is ordered to "terminate with extreme prejudice" Walter E. Kurtz, a renegade green beret colonel played by Marlon Brando.

Willard is asked point blank by Colonel Lucas (Harrison Ford) if he works as an assassin and if he killed a government tax collector. He denies "any such activity" and "wouldnt be disposed to talk about it, if in fact such a mission did exist"

Satisfied that he is a man of few words, the officers ask him to take a mission to travel the Nung river into Cambodia to take out the colonel who has strayed from military control.

Colonel Lucas concludes the briefing by stating: This mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist."

In voice overs, Willard can be heard asking how many people had he really killed and what did they really have against Kurtz



Quotes:

LUCAS
"You have worked a lot on your own, haven't you ?"

WILLARD
"Yes, sir. I have."

LUCAS
"Your report specify intelligence,counter-intelligence,with ComSec I Corps."

WILLARD
"I'm not presently disposed to discuss these operations, sir."

LUCAS
"Did you not work for the CIA in I Corps ?"

WILLARD
"No, sir."

LUCAS
"Did you not assasinate a government tax collector in Quang Tri province, June 19th, 1968 ? Captain?"

WILLARD
"Sir, I am unaware of any such activity or operation - nor would I be disposed to discuss such an operation if it did in fact exist, sir."

(....)
Colonel Lucas: Your mission is to proceed up the Nung River in a Navy patrol boat. Pick up Colonel Kurtz's path at Nu Mung Ba, follow it and learn what you can along the way. When you find the Colonel, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and terminate the Colonel's command.

Willard: Terminate the Colonel?

General Corman: He's out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct. And he is still in the field commanding troops.

Civilian: Terminate with extreme prejudice.

Colonel Lucas: You understand Captain that this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist.

WILLARD (v.o.)
"How many people had I already killed? There was those six that I know about for sure. Close enough to blow their last breath in my face. But this time it was an American and an officer. That wasn't supposed to make any difference to me, but it did. Shit...charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500. I took the mission. What the hell else
was I gonna do? But I didn't know what I'd do when I found him."