Good Morning, Vietnam (1988)

Sadly Over-hyped

Highly Overrated But Still Good

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

About 3 years ago, a true comic gem decided to leave us far earlier than we expected. He made us laughing so much we never imagine that behind that love for life, there was a much darker hidden side which ultimately took him from us. That man was Robin Williams.One of the characters he'll be always remembered for is without a doubt the radio host he incarnated in Good Morning Vietnam. This role was made for him as he could show his tremendous comic and acting talent. The fact that the scenes when he's hosting his radio show are all improvised is speaking volumes of the huge sense of imagination and comedy Robin has displayed throughout his career. But he can also show that he could be a very dramatic actor as well. The scene when he comes back to the radio station after witnessing the bar bombing is truly heartbreaking especially when you see him all alone completely down while the rest of the world keeps going on and the machines are getting frenzy.But it would be unfair to not cheer the rest of the cast who is supporting Robin so greatly especially Forrest Whittaker as Private Garlick, Tung Than Tran as Tuan, Bruno Kirby as Lt Hauk and J.T. Walsh as Sgt Major Dickerson.The latter is particularly distasteful as this very rigid Sergeant who is managing the radio station in Saigon. He's the true antagonist of the movie as he sees Adrian Cronauer as an uncontrollable burden and he's trying to get rid of him with any means necessary including sending Adrian on an assignment in an area controlled by the Viet-Cong.The late Bruno Kirby is bringing a second source of comic relief as this goofy lieutenant who is acting as Adrian direct supervisor boasting about his own comic genius which is in fact truly dreadful. There are some very memorable scenes he's a part of which are truly funny though.What I also like in this movie is they are not showing the Vietnamese people as the bad guys. They are displayed as a poor and rejected people with a true sense of friendship and humor willing to share the beauties of their culture to the Americans. The last scene when they are sharing a baseball game with Adrian before he goes back to Washington is truly moving.All of this is making this movie a gem and Robin Williams is bringing it among the stars. God bless your soul Robin.

Let me begin with the fact that I believe that this is a good movie. The soundtrack is fitting, the cinematography is generally well done, and the script, for the most part, is believable and well thought out. There are, however, some issues that take me out of my immersion in the movie. For example, the speech given by Tuan at the end of the movie was cheesy and forced. This is where I see that the movie understands what it is. The movie points out the needless presence of the military in Vietnam and that's the point of the move. Between the constant censorship and the multiple references to the distrust between the Americans and Vietnamese, the movie plainly shows the message that the Vietnam war was pointless and hurt relations with Vietnam. This does set up one great scene that I feel was the best in the movie. The montage of Tuan's friends getting captured and shot while Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonder World" was a beautifully shot scene that perfectly summed up what the director wanted to show.

Robin Williams stars as Adrian Cronauer, an Air Force Dee-jay who has been brought to Vietnam to be on the airwaves there, ostensibly because he was funny when he was a Dee-jay in Crete. There is a real Adrian Cronauer, and this story is based on him, but the marketers never advertise this as based on a true story, so you know this must be mostly Hollywood at work.Cronauer's style is unique, wild, wacky, crazy, with tons of voice impressions and just off-the-wall stories and personalities streaming out of the head of Williams/Cronhauer into the ears of the troops. It's a huge departure from the typically monotone, boring, and heavily censored radio entertainment, and the troops love it!Forrest Whitaker also stars as Ed Garlick, a fellow radio Dee-jay and kind of the mentor to Cronauer. Once Cronauer gets settled, the story centers around two themes: 1\ his battle against the uptight stations owners, played beautifully by J.T. Walsh (See Breakdown - great bad guy) as the Sgt Major and Bruno Kirby as Lt. Haulk who desperately wants to be funny, and believes he is, but no, he's just not. And 2\ his attraction to a young Vietnamese woman he sees passing on the street, Trinh (played by Chintara Sukapatana who went on to become an actress with some credits). Cronauer develops a friendship with Trinh's brother Tranh, and Cronauer slowly realizes that the cultural division between him and Tranh is wide and probably insurmountable. Barry Levinson directs this masterpiece, with excellent taut movement from scene to scene - not much wasted moments here. See Rainman and The Natural from some of his other gems.In the end, what happens is pretty much what you might expect, but it doesn't make it less heartfelt an emotional pull for the viewer. I wouldn't describe this as an anti-war film, but more so, as a film that encourages you to question the status quo as you go through life, which is certainly what Cronauer did, in spades. Enjoy this fine film!

This movie has a special meaning for me, I was a 20-yr-old college student in Air Force R.O.T.C. in 1965, we all knew of the Vietnam war, most of us were starting to think about what it would be like to go. I ended up not going, but many of my friends did, and those who returned were changed by the experience. Seeing this movie and the scenes, although not filmed in Vietnam, bring back those memories.In one of his defining roles Robin Williams was Adrian Cronauer, an Airman who was a radio disk jockey for the military, coming into Vietnam from Crete. On his first day he starts his 6AM radio show with his now famous 'Good morning viet-nam.' This is actually accurate. And a few other things are accurate, but as Cronauer says that if he had done all the things depicted in the movie he would still be in Leavenworth prison (in 2008, when he said that). But what is realistic is that the radio personalities were supposed to help keep up the spirit of the GIs, many who had never left home before and were now in this very foreign place. So hearing some American humor and music would help take their minds off where they actually were.For me the most memorable part of this movie is when Louis Armstrong's rendition of "A Wonderful World" was playing while the film clips showed fighting, destruction, and killing. That is the political message of this movie.Forest Whitaker was also great as what became Adrian's sidekick (at least in the movie) as Edward Garlick, and who would take over the spot after Adrian was drummed out for misbehavior. In reality he was not drummed out, he followed his orders, and served his full one year there.So the movie is mostly fictitious in the way Adrian was depicted but is is more entertaining than it would have been if they had simply shot it in documentary style.