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- A kid who's been grounded uses his remote-controlled toy helicopter to deliver an order and pickup from McDonald's. The opening scene has him lying on his bed ala Captain Willard and imagining the helicopter flying against the sunset, before leaping into action to the sound of Ride of the Valkyries.
- Gate: During the Battle of Italica, JSDF soldiers play Ride of the Valkyries on a radio and imitate the "How come all you guys sit on your helmets?" "So we don't get our balls blown off." scene. They grin and make it clear what they are referencing, while their commanding officer sighs at his subordinates being a bunch of geeks.
- Foxtrot: When Peter's English teacher assigns Heart of Darkness, Peter gasps, "The horror! The horror!" The teacher says he'd think Peter was being clever, except Peter says the same thing about every reading assignment.
Fan Works
- In The Killer Dame, a parody of the Star Trek: Voyager episode "The Killing Game", Janeway gives "The Horror!" line after discovering the only coffee available in the World War Two simulation is ersatz.
- The Descent replicates the scene at the end where Martin Sheen rises out of the water covered in blood, but with its main protagonist, Sarah, who is in a pool of blood.
- In Dune (2021), The Bald of Evil Baron Harkonnen exits a sauna rubbing his head the same way Colonel Kurtz does, both while monologuing. Later, he rises from a pool of oil akin to Willard at the film's climax.
- The scene in GoldenEye where a helicopter is superimposed on James Bond opening his eyes below it was stated to be a reference to the film's opening.
- Hot Shots! Part Deux: As Topper (Charlie Sheen) is riding on a boat towards his mission on one part of the river, we see Willard (Martin Sheen) heading on a boat on the river heading in the opposite direction, and they're both musing in voice-over. As the boats cross paths, the two then say to each other, "I loved you in Wall Street!"
- According to Pat Casey co-writer
of Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), Robotnik shaving his head with a piece of metal is a reference to Marlon Brando's character. - Troop Beverly Hills: On cookie selling day, sergeant-esque troop leader Velma remarks "I love the smell of cookies in the morning!"
- Tropic Thunder as a whole is a parody of the Troubled Production of Apocalypse Now.
- In Friend of the World, Diane refers to Gore as Colonel Kurtz.
- In Carl Hiaasen's Tourist Season, when Brian, the protagonist, is taken captive, he's brought to the woods, where the Big Bad is hiding out, and Brian compares him to Kurtz.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer has referenced the movie a couple of times:
- In the third season episode "Gingerbread", as police officers are removing Giles' books from the library, Snyder comes in and declares, "I love the sound of desperate librarian in the morning."
- In the fourth season finale "Restless", Xander's dream partly involves him appearing in an Apocalypse Now-like war film, with Snyder as Kurtz.
- Farscape. In "Look at the Princess: I Do, I Think", John Crichton shouts that you should never get off the boat, right before jumping out the airlock without a space helmet to escape an exploding spacecraft.
- Herman's Head. When Herman falls in love, his Lust is all for it until his Intellect points out the implications: marriage, commitment, having sex with only one woman! Lust promptly goes into shock. "The horror!"
- Let the Blood Run Free. Mad axe-murderer Bill Schwarzenhameneggenberger has a Vietnam War flashback in which his crewmates locked him up in a cupboard as a prank and forgot about him. Naturally he says, "The horror!"
- Seinfeld: "The Chicken Roaster" has Elaine going to consult with Peterman in Burma, where the initial meeting scene between Kurtz and Willard is played out.
- Veronica Mars: In the first season episode "An Echolls Family Christmas", when Veronica visits Logan in his room and sees him playing video games, she snarks, "I love the smell of testosterone in the morning."
- The X-Files. In "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", the young soldier who will one day become the CSM is briefed by military officers for the Kennedy assassination, with almost identical dialogue to Willard being assigned to kill Kurtz.
Video Games
- Antimatter Dimensions: One ticker message says, "Ahhh I love the smell of particle annihilation in the morning."
- Death Stranding: The intro to Cliff's third and final boss fight features him rising out of a tar pit similar to the famous shot of Willard doing the same.
- In Metal Gear Solid V, you can set your support helicopter to blast "Ride of the Valkyries".
- The Animaniacs episode "Hearts of Twilight" parodies not only Apocalypse Now but the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse about its Troubled Production. The Warners are sent to the depths of the Warner Bros. Studio lot to find Mr. Director, who has refused to finish his movie until he has decided on an ending. Mr. Director has become a spoof of Col. Kurtz, complete with a cult of assistants led by a caricature of Dennis Hopper's photographer character.
- Arthur: In the Lice Episode "The Lousy Week", the lice outbreak is portrayed as an army of louse soldiers led by a general. At one point the general remarks that he "loves the smell of hair gel in the morning".
- The Critic: "All the Duke's Men" briefly has Jay covering a musical version (entitled Apocalypse Wow!) on his review show. The featured clip is of Kurtz doing a musical number, being accompanied by heads on pikes and the photographer.
- Duckman: The subplot in "In the Nam of the Father" is Duckman supposedly having Shell-Shocked Veteran-type flashbacks of his military service, though it turns out he was just a stateside unit's projectionist and is instead remembering movies relating to Vietnam. One of the supposed flashbacks involves him arriving at Kurt's Kill Your Own B.B.Q. and getting scared off by Kurtz's inane ramblings (which, incidentally, feature references to Brando's various other movies).
- Eek! The Cat episode "Eekpocalypse Now" is a parody of the film, with Eek traveling up the McTropolis river to find Sharky, who has gotten incredibly fat and taken up with a tribe of stray dogs. Elmo fills in for Kilgore, attacking a mutant alligator spot so he and his men can barbecue.
- The Simpsons:
- One Itchy & Scratchy cartoon is named "Esophagus Now".
- In "Homer To The Max" when Homer bemoans having a television character that shares the same name as his go from debonair to stupid, Marge tries to console him by citing that he was meant to be the comic relief of the project, just like Marlon Brando's character in "Apocalypse Now".
- Young Justice (2010). Mongol shrugs off a face-full of Knockout Gas fired by Arsenal and sneers, "I like that. It smells like...victory!"
