Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

Director:

Barry Levinson

Writer:

Mitch Markowitz (written by)

Release Date:

15 January 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | War

Tagline:

Time to rock it from the Delta to the DMZ!

Plot:

An unorthodox and irreverent DJ begins to shake up things when he is assigned to the US Armed Services Radio station in Vietnam.

Plot Keywords:

Radio | Vietnam | Vietnamese | Teaching | Reference To Ethel Merman

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Robin Williams	...	Adrian Cronauer
Forest Whitaker	...	Edward Garlick
Tung Thanh Tran	...	Tuan
Chintara Sukapatana	...	Trinh
Bruno Kirby	...	Lt. Steven Hauk
Robert Wuhl	...	Marty Lee Dreiwitz
J.T. Walsh	...	Sgt. Major Dickerson
Noble Willingham	...	Gen. Taylor
Richard Edson	...	Pvt. Abersold
Juney Smith	...	Phil McPherson
Richard Portnow	...	Dan 'The Man' Levitan
Floyd Vivino	...	Eddie Kirk
Cu Ba Nguyen	...	Jimmy Wah
Dan Stanton	...	Censor #1 (as Dan R. Stanton)
Don Stanton	...	Censor #2 (as Don E. Stanton)

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #28046) | Brazil:Livre (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/12 (Q) | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

The script went through a number of revisions after it was originally drafted by Adrian Cronauer in 1979. Cronauer first pitched it as a TV series, then a Movie-of-the-Week. It was the latter treatment that landed in the lap of Robin Williams, who realized the DJ role would be the perfect outlet for his brand of comedy. The original treatment by Cronauer was completely re-tooled for Williams.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In a scene where Adrian is being chewed out by an officer, a golf bag leaning against a wall has Ping cavity-back irons in it, which weren't available in the 1960s.

Quotes:

Lieutenant Steven Hauk: I understand you're pretty funny as a dee-jay and, well, comedy is kind of a hobby of mine. Well, actually, it's a little more than just a hobby, Reader's Digest is considering publishing two of my jokes.
Adrian Cronauer: Really.
Lieutenant Steven Hauk: Yeah. And perhaps some night we could maybe get together and swap humorous stories, for fun.
Adrian Cronauer: Oh, why not? Maybe play a couple of Tennessee Ernie Ford records, that'd be a hoot.
Lieutenant Steven Hauk: That's a joke, right?
Adrian Cronauer: Maybe.
Lieutenant Steven Hauk: I get it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V)

Soundtrack:

Liar Liar

Robin Williams' breakthrough movie?

What's the best thing about the movie "Good morning, Vietnam"? In my opinion it's the fact that it offers a whole new approach to the war in Vietnam. That's why it's an important part of the war movie history although it clearly isn't a war movie in a traditional way. I've never seen it as the greatest Robin Williams movie. "The Fisher king" is much more stylish and clever than this one, "Awakenings" is more touching, "Dead poets society" more profound, hell, even "Mrs. Doubtfire" is at least funnier than this.

For some strange reason, 16 years later "Good morning, Vietnam" looks a bit dated. I'm definitely not trying to say this is a bad movie because it will always be one of the most important films of a great actor and a fantastic comedian Robin Williams (of course lot to do with the fact that many consider this as his official breakthrough in movies). But it's not as funny as it's meant to be and I'm pretty sure it tries to make a some sort of a statement but I really can't figure out what. Still, reasonably fine film.