Written by Mitch Markowitz and Adrian Cronauuer
Directed by Barry Levinson
Robin Williams is Adrian Cronauer. He’s a member of the Air Force who had a radio show in Greece that garnered the attention of General Taylor (portrayed by Noble Willingham) , who asked for him to be transferred to Saigon.
Pfc. Garlick (portrayed by Forest Whitaker) meets him upon arrival and becomes a close friend. Lt. Hauk (portrayed by Bruno Kirby) is the program director who seems to have a rather unusual sense of humor. Sgt. Dickerson (portrayed by J.T. Walsh) runs the programming on the radio. He has an issue with anyone who thinks outside the box.
Cronauer immediately starts playing the music of the day, including Martha and the Vandellas, The Beach Boys, and James Brown. While his music selection seems to delight listeners, it’s a source of consternation to his superiors, as are his jokes and monologues, which frequently poke at the military. He also finds the news is censored, and the backdrop of the incoming news on the telex machine is effective in showing the escalating conflict in Vietnam, which Cronauer cannot talk about. This, in turn, causes an escalating conflict between Cronauer and his superiors.
Cronauer becomes attracted to a Vietnamese woman and follows her to an English language class being conducted. He manages to take over the class, and at the end meets her brother. The two form a friendship, and he manages to get to meet the family. Unlike other movies that would have Cronauer having a sexual relationship, he is satisfied with the companionship, although by the end of the film, it would seem the two have feelings for one another.
In many ways, the story of the relationship distracts from the main part of the story which is Cronauer’s battle to entertain the troops and get something of the truth out to them. However, that story is needed for Good Morning, Vietnam to reach its inevitable conclusion.
Robin Williams won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Good Morning, Vietnam. Director Barry Levinson basically gave him a microphone for his monologues and let him go. The result is some pretty funny material, much of which caused writer Mitch Markowitz to pull his hair out according to the Production Diary in the bonus features. Williams holds his own throughout the film opposite the rest of the cast as well, especially J.T. Walsh. The two are at opposite ends of the spectrum and form a balance to the story being told.
Good Morning, Vietnam was the first of the movies featuring Williams to have a story like this. The problem in ensuing years is this storyline is a formula to many of Robin Williams’ movies: a funny guy comes in and shakes up the dull, staid, conservative way of doing things. Everything is going his way until some disaster strikes, which makes him question everything he’s been doing, and has his superiors who he has been running roughshod over saying “I told you so”. The fact that this storyline is used repeatedly in future movies shouldn’t detract from this film, but it does.
Levinson managed to keep the pace going fairly well throughout the film. There are moments that it slows quite a bit, but these are moments that also serve to humanize Cronauer and make him a fuller character. There’s no sugar-coating what happens during the war, although I think the scenes probably weren’t as bloody and gruesome as they could have been.
The secondary characters are all great. One performance I appreciated much more watching it again after all these years is Bruno Kirby’s. He’s terrific as someone who thinks he’s a lot funnier than he really is and resents the fact that Cronauer can dazzle the audience in a way he can’t. Forest Whitaker is good as Williams’ sidekick, he just could be doing a lot more in my opinion.
Good Morning, Vietnam is a good film that’s made less enjoyable by Williams’ choice of material in the ensuing years. That’s a shame. I think Williams should have won an Oscar for this performance (that year it went to Michael Douglas for Wall Street, pretty stiff competition), but he received recognition down the line more for his volume of work than his individual performance. If you haven’t seen the film before now, try to watch it and keep Williams’ other films out of your mind – you’ll enjoy it much more.
BONUS FEATURES:
” Production Diary
” Raw Monologues
” Original Theatrical Trailer
” Original Theatrical Teaser Trailer
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Categories: Movie Reviews
I first saw Good Morning Vietnam in an English class when I was about 13. Apparently, one of the other pupils’ parents found out and wrote a letter of complaint to the head of year.
Of all the movies to complain about, this was not one of them.
Seemed odd, but I imagine it was the fact that the Teacher had shown a film with an age restricted certificate.
It’s a good thing, then, that I’ve only seen three Robin Williams films (Popeye, Good Morning, Vietnam, and Hook). That has spared me from the issue you have with this film…that it’s so good that other filmmakers kept casting Williams in similar roles.
Of the three films l listed, I own two: GMV and Hook. I’ve never cared for Popeye enough to buy it on home media, and I only own Hook so I can say I have every available Steven Spielberg film on Blu-ray. (The only one I don’t have is Twilight Zone: The Movie, which has Spielberg’s “Kick the Can” short.)
I think that’s why Williams made a couple of questionable choices for movie roles years after this. He wanted to break character, but in many ways it was too late. Still love him, though.