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 | Bicycle | Reference To Ethel Merman

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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 | South Korea:15 | 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:

This movie was filmed in Thailand, not Vietnam. On the back cover of early copies of the film, street signs can be seen in Thai.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Cronauer and Trinh are in the market on their first date, the clothing items her family hold up are on plastic/PVC hangers which were not available in the 1960s.

Quotes:

Sgt. Major Dickerson: [Pointing to his rank insignia] What does three up and three down mean to you, airman?
Adrian Cronauer: End of an inning?

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Good Evening Vietnam (1988)

Soundtrack:

It's Alright

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.