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89 comments in total

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37 out of 41 people found the following comment useful :-
A great morale booster!, 15 March 2002

Author: SmileysWorld from United States

Vietnam without a doubt was a dark period in our history.Any comedy film surrounding Vietnam would indeed have to be done delicately.This movie pulls it off.What amazes me most about the film is the flawless, improvisational radio dialog from Robin Williams.This,as most of you may know,was completely unscripted to allow Williams an opportunity to work his magic.Also,it had to be timely,for the movie is,of course,set in 1965.The fact that he was able to do this is nothing short of amazing.The supporting cast was also incredible,with great performances by Forrest Whitaker,Bruno Kirby,and the late J.T.Walsh as "Sergeant Major Dickerson",the man you love to hate.Although some of the horror that was Vietnam is here,it's only giving you a taste of it,as it concentrates more on the Williams character's quest to make our beloved soldiers forget their horror,at least for a while.Highly recommended.

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18 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
good morning and (a very good) day, 12 January 2006

Author: Lee Eisenberg (eisenberg.lee@gmail.com) from Portland, Oregon, USA

"Good Morning, Vietnam" is truly Robin Williams at his best. As anarchic DJ Adrian Cronauer in 1965 Saigon, he makes sure that you never stop laughing. I really liked what he did with the tape of Richard Nixon's speech, and then his comment about the bombing of a restaurant. Most amazing is that he ad-libbed the whole thing (but hey, that's Robin Williams). Maybe Cronauer wasn't that wacky in real life, but every one of Williams' comments makes the movie worthwhile. The soundtrack even includes his monologues (you'll go crazy over the imitation of Lyndon Johnson, and the commentary from "Roosevelt E. Roosevelt"). A comedy classic in every sense.

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19 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Robin Williams does his thing well in this comedy that makes us think. ***1/2 (out of four), 14 November 2000

Author: Blake French (film321@altavista.com) from USA

GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM / (1987) ***1/2 (out of four)

By Blake French:

Robin Williams is about as good as they come at doing stand up comedy, and in "Good Morning, Vietnam" director Berry Levinson gives him everything he needs to make the film go above and beyond the average satire. From his outgoing sense of humor, to his aggressive personality, and dozens of vocal effects, he portrays his character with interactive zest. Who can resist the awakening voice of Williams on the radio yelling "Good Morning Vietnam." This is a film that conquers the test of time.

"Good Morning, Vietnam" tells the story of a lively disc jockey who gets a job on Armed Forced Radio during the Vietnam War. Robin Williams is the fast-talking Adrian Cronauer, and who better to play the part than he. Although this character is one-dimensional (we are never informed on his background, marital status, where he comes from, what he did before we meet), as the movie continues he gradually begins to change into a deeper, more meaningful person.

The story moves along smoothly; the narrative through-line is consistent as each scene relates to the next. Although little momentum or suspense can be noticed, the film does have several underlining themes, often viewed upon in a Stanley Kubrick style: sarcastic and uncompromising. We see how much a little humor and jazz can greatly enlighten the hard-core atmosphere of the military during Vietnam, and how it can thoroughly confuse the bleeding heart officials.

The film hangs by the skin of its teeth for active conflict tension. Beyond people objecting to the actions of Williams' character, there is just not a lot of tension within the story, and at some points my interest wandered. "Good Morning, Vietnam" is merely a portrait of Robin Williams releasing his perennial comedy, and unfortunately that does happen to get old quite quickly; the majority of an audience can only watch the humor for so long until it becomes old and somewhat stale.

"Good Morning, Vietnam" is definitely not a flawless film, but we do empathize for the main character, the scenes effectively capture the attitude and mood during the war, and the dialogue and writing feel accurate and involving. Barry Levinson has directed a marvelous comedy, one that is not all about making us laugh, but also makes us think.

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19 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
The definitive Robin Williams film, 6 May 1999

Author: Neil Ferris (n.ferris@uea.ac.uk) from Norwich, England

There never has been, and probably never will be, another film which shows both sides of Williams to such a great degree.

As the wise-cracking disc-jockey, Williams shows his undisputed wild comedic talent, but the bomb scene and scenes of rural Vietnam life, truly allow Williams to such his dramatic acting ability. They look at the conflict, without getting in too deep.

A superb cast as well including Bruno Kirby and the late great J.T. Walsh gives a solid backdrop, and are beautiful foils to Williams.

Overall, a wonderful movie, add it to your collection.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Effective movie that is neither too funny nor too grim, 30 July 2006

Author: S.R. Dipaling from Topeka, Kansas, USA

I just sat through a DVD of this movie,the second(?)time I'd seen this film. The last time I could recall seeing this,it was on pay-per-view television in a hotel(the Red Lion I think it was) room,August of 1988,so my memories of this film could use a refreshing. I'm glad I got refreshed.

In 1965,Airman Adrian Cronauer(Robin Williams,in the first of his four Academy Award nominations)is brought on to do an Armed Forces Radio stint in Vietnam. Behind the microphone,Cronauer lets loose,much to the surprise and delight of many of the troops and servicemen around the area of combat. His combination of off-the-wall humor,impressions,sound gags and quick wit,mixed with his love of free-wheeling Rock music of the era,is pretty much welcomed in the area,save for a few angry sorts: a Napoleon-complexed intermediate CO named Hauk(Bruno Kirby,unrecognizable but for the voice) and a stiff-lipped,quietly vindictive middle commander named Dickerson(J.T.Walsh,so good here it would seem like this typecast him). As this is going on,Cronauer becomes smitten with a local girl(Chinatra Sukapatra,spelling?)and befriends her brother(Tung Thanh Tran),which leads the popular DJ down a road of self-discovery.

With excellent support from Forrest Whitaker(one of my favorites!he ends up sort of counter-balancing Williams' manic frenzy with nerdish normalcy as his buddy/assistant/guide),Richard Edson,Noble Winnigham,Robert Wuhl and Cu Ba Nguyen(as the oily GI bar proprietor)among others,this film,directed by Barry Levinson(whose work hasn't been this good in what feels like forever,certainly not since Avalon or Rain Man) and written by Mitch Markowitz,it is arguable one of the deftest films to create and maintain a balance between the horrors and inhumanity of war and the humor and pathos that are very much present in it. Robin Williams' fans may get much more out of this that those who aren't,but I think even many of those who don't consider themselves fanciers of his talents should be able to appreciate this. The images were powerful enough that they stuck with me some after the first time I saw GMV and after a second time I feel like can appreciate even more out of this movie.

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Funny and real, 29 October 2005

Author: Grann-Bach (Grann-Bach@jubii.dk) from Denmark

Let me be perfectly frank and say right away that I watched this to experience Robin Williams at his best. That guy has so much comedic talent, it's unreal. I mostly got what I expected from this movie... but I found that it also contained some truths about the Vietnam war. The movie has plenty to offer on both fronts. Any fan of Williams' comedy will definitely enjoy it, and I think most war-movie buffs will too... if they can keep an open mind, and accept a slightly different approach to the genre. The way the seriousness of war is underplayed for most of the film really works to enhance the effect of it when it is shoved right in our faces, when we are forced to acknowledge it. We forget how serious and all-consuming war is, just like Adrian had(not necessarily the real one, I know nothing of him except of what the film told me, and as far as I understand, that's not that accurate a portrayal of him), only to be confronted with it. More effective than several big war movies. The plot is very good. The pacing is great, the movie keeps moving pretty much all through the film. The characters are well-written and credible. The acting is good pretty much all-round, and Williams proves once again that he can do drama just as well as comedy. The humor is typical Robin Williams. A very good film, and an unusual war movie. I recommend this to fans of Robin Williams and war movies. 7/10

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Robin Williams' breakthrough movie?, 9 May 2003
Author: Mika Pykäläaho (bygis80@hotmail.com) from Järvenpää, Finland

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.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Really smart and somewhat humbling film that entertains and amuses., 23 September 2008

Author: johnnyboyz (j_l_h_m@yahoo.co.uk) from Hampshire, England

Made at a time when films on the Vietnam war were being produced by America at a healthy rate, Good Morning, Vietnam comes across as the sort that falls into both 'types' that were being produced at the time. Platoon got under the skin of Vietnam, telling the events from an individual's perspective through voiceovers without relying on a lot of causality, rather the everyday tasks and events that occur. Full Metal Jacket was an interesting beast in the sense most of its more intense scenes didn't actually happen in Vietnam but rather at home on the training ground. But both were in a sensible tradition and took attention away from the Reaganism inspired 'action' films that were Rambo: First Blood Part II and the like.

Good Morning, Vietnam falls into both these sorts of Vietnam war films. On one hand it is a serious film about the war and deals with serious issues such as morale and how dangerous conflict with the enemy actually is without doing what Rambo did by turning the war genre into a sub-division of the action genre. At one point in the film, DJ and lead character of the film Adrian Cronauer (Williams) finds himself in a hostile area out in the jungle and you do feel the shift in atmosphere the film briefly moves into in the sense this guy is not a soldier but he is in a dangerous position and he isn't equipped with how to get through it. There is another scene in which a street side bomb goes off and Adrian is caught up in the middle of it, further reminding us of the war zone and cleverly shifting the aura.

But the film does fall into the genre of comedy and while it does so, it never distracts us from the fact this is taking place during a war unlike First Blood: Part II which could really have been an action film set amongst any backdrop. Good Morning, Vietnam does not ignore its comedy roots either and gives us genuinely entertaining disc jockey rants from Williams who shines with his animation and ad-libbing, further reminding us of a later film of his, Aladdin, and how he really was the star of that piece.

The best parts of Good Morning, Vietnam actually raise issues to do with oppositional reading. As a character, Adrian is one of those charismatic individuals who is perhaps more focused on entertaining his audience first but when repercussions to do with that want to entertain arise, it is an oppositional reading to something that seems innocent enough. There are a couple of scenes and incidences that deal with this theme of oppositional reading. One that springs to mind takes place in a bar in which Adrian has brought a Vietnamese friend whom he teaches in an English class. The trouble is, it's a G.I. bar and certain soldiers have an issue with the Vietnamese person being there. It is Adrian's carefree and relaxed attitude to letting the individual come with him to the bar that has upset certain others around him, resulting in an oppositional opinion on whether the Vietnamese person should be allowed there. One says he can, others say he can't and conflict erupts.

This battle is constantly going on within the boundaries of the radio studio and exists between Adrian and the censors who blank out all the bad news such as deaths and bombings, failing to deliver the real news, and instead keep morale from going below a certain point. Adrian's style of giving the people what they should hear in a charismatic style also rubs off spawning a sub-story revolving around a small school that teaches Vietnamese people the English language. Before hand, they were learning very basic words and phrases but after Adrian takes over, New York City slang or 'jargon' is the name of the game and while you wouldn't find English as a foreign language classes doing this sort of thing, Adrian brings his charismatic style to a class, turning it from formal to informal.

The theme here is that he's giving them exactly what he feels they need to know, not what the curriculum demand they know. It is the same with the radio station and the news censorship; giving people what they have a right to know vs. what a higher power say they should know. The principal foil for Adrian is Lt. Steven Hauk (Kirby) who is against Adrian's style of parody and constant joking but when he is put on air, the best he can do is adopt the voice and role of a Frenchman as he mocks and plods his way through airtime. It is a battle that the oppositional readers loose since morale falls drastically after Adrian is taken off and he is forced to be reinstated because of this.

Good Morning, Vietnam carries a pumping soundtrack which is what you'd expect for a film about a DJ and an emphasis on radio and its constant referencing to popular culture, gliding from The Wizard of Oz to Eleanor Roosevelt makes Williams' scenes consistently fun to watch. But other than this, it gives some political stances without ever feeling forced with the 'Wonderful World' montage over wartime action and juxtaposes James Brown's music over other scenes of wartime action. The film is a success in comedy and drama, a rarity of sorts given Dr. Strangelove supposedly set the standards.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
A perfect showcase for Robin Williams' unique improv, 25 October 2007

Author: DAVID SIM from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Good Morning, Vietnam is undoubtedly the film that propelled Robin Williams to the A-list. Beforehand he was only known as Mork from Ork, and the films he'd been asked to appear in (except perhaps Moscow on the Hudson) were ones not really giving him an opportunity to flex his true muscles as an actor.

But GMV changed all that, because it was the first time Williams had been given a character that finally allowed him to showcase his unique brand of improv. In this case, a DJ.

Its what Williams does with the part that makes GMV so compelling. His live-wire performance transforms the entire movie. Without Williams, GMV would be a considerably lesser film than it is.

Barry Levinson's film is rather unique because it was the first (and only) one to add a bit of comedy into the Vietnam War. Taking a leaf out of MASH's book, it uses the conflict in Saigon as a backdrop for William's barnstorming impressions and impersonations. And for the most part, its a sweet package.

Williams plays Adrian Cronauer, a funny man shipped to Saigon to be the new host of a morning radio show. Adrian's irreverent antics in front of the mike raises a few eyebrows among the straight-arrow US military, but the troops love him!

All the while, Adrian gets to know Vietnamese culture up close and personal. Something that leads to romance, friendship and eventually a betrayal that changes Adrian's life forever.

It was the decision to put Robin Williams at the centre that makes Good Morning, Vietnam such a great movie. Williams is a master of improvisation. He can slip from one impersonation to the next effortlessly. And the best part is, none of it is scripted. Williams improvises routines right out of thin air. You know he's just making this up as he's going along, and its a remarkable thing to see.

Levinson knows Williams needs no script or cue cards to work from. All he does is position the camera in front of Williams behind the mike, give him the line Good Morning, Vietnam and then go from there. And its like watching a comic whirlwind. Any scene with him on his radio show provides non-stop laughs. He has seldom been better in anything else.

What I also liked about GMV is its humorous approach to the misguided Vietnam conflict. Its when it tries to be a little more serious and dramatic that the film falls down. Yes the war in Vietnam was a terrible tragedy. Especially because it represented the American's sabre-rattling mentality at its narrowest. But the dramatic elements offer nothing particularly enlightening about the war. The comedy elements however do.

When Good Morning, Vietnam is funny its very funny. But when it tries to make serious points it slows the film right down. Its Williams irreverent commentaries on the conflict that give the film its life. Even when he's doing impressions of Richard Nixon and even Elmer Fudd there's a thinly disguised veil of contempt against the US military's participation in the Vietnam War. They're wrapped up in sharply satirical comic material, but they make more of an impact than the film's outright heavy-handed approach. Subtlety makes all the difference.

Robin Williams is the heart and soul of the entire picture of course. Whether he's delivering manic rapid-fire monologues on the air to teaching native Vietnamese the hip aspects of the English language, he holds the attention whenever he's around. He was deservedly nominated for an Oscar. An Oscar he should have won really.

Levinson surrounds Williams with talented character actors. The most engaging are Forest Whitaker and Noble Willingham. Whitaker plays Edward, a timid young man who learns to loosen up after spending time in Adrian's company. And Willingham plays Gen. Taylor, the only one among the top brass who takes a shine to Adrian's unorthodox methods. He brings depth to what could have been an easily clichéd character.

On the downside, JT Walsh plays exactly the type of character Willingham is so skillful at avoiding. A pompous, self-important bureaucrat who takes an instant dislike to Adrian's free-thinking spirit. I have to admit I found it a bit hard to swallow that Walsh's character Sgt Major Dickerson (tee-hee!) would actually try to get Adrian killed in VC territory. No matter how much he hated him. His is an unnecessary character really. The film could have done just as well, and arguably better without him.

Nethertheless, the ending is still quite sad when Adrian winds up being shipped back to the US because one of his Vietnamese friends is a terrorist. Williams performance is so faultless that even when you can see the mechanicals of the plot clicking into place, you still feel sadness for him. His closing message is the perfect blend of cutting humour and acute pathos.

Good Morning, Vietnam would have been better if it had stayed true to the comic route. But despite a few bumps in the screenplay, Robin Williams' quite excellent (even virtuoso) performance keeps things remarkably on course. He made a questionable detour into sentimental schmaltz in the following 90s, but this film shows you what Robin Williams can be capable of when given the right material to work with.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Dual Morals, 2 January 2004
Author: Angry_Arguer from Shermer, Illinois

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This movie is silly and childish, but there is so much good thanks to Williams and a bit of cleverness by Levinson to keep things more than interesting. Why couldn't Weir have been as inventive with 'Dead Poets Society'?

This is your only spoiler warning...

In comedies, characters learn nothing because often they are stereotypes with nothing to offer.

In war movies, the characters learn one lesson: war is hell. This follows two hours of fireballs, bullets, blood, and noise.

Here we have a twofold take on war. There is the blunt and obvious as depicted in the Armstrong montage (copied by Peter Jackson in 'Return of the King') where the hard lessons are taught through suffering. This is the weaker message of the two.

Then there is the message of what wartime and big, bad evil censorship does to creativity. Williams is once again a rebel and better than his all-too-predictable role in 'Society'. See this and you'll never need to see another Weir or Levinson again.

Overall, not only is 'Good Morning, Vietnam' funny, but it is worth your time as an alternative take on a subject nearly beaten to death. Perhaps the best war movie of the 80s.

Final Analysis = = Learn from this...

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