Customer Reviews

Good Morning Vietnam [VHS]

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Many have tried to dismiss this film as nothing more than a comedic vehicle for Robin Williams. The concept of making light of the horrors of war, particularily Vietnam since it's still so recent in the minds of many turns alot of viewers off to the important potential lessons to be learned in this wonderfully insightful movie.

Based on the true life accounts of Air Force officer and D.J. Adrian Cronauer we get a birds' eye view into the strict and ridiculous bureaucracy that can at times reign over military policy and in effect hamper the morale and efforts of the American military.

Cronauer provided a much needed spontaneity to the air waves of Vietnam radio and brought however briefly to the American soldiers the contemporary music they wanted to hear. There is alot to laugh at in this film, what else could you expect with the likes of Robin Williams in the lead role. However there is much more going on than what first meets the eye. The concepts of acceptance, friendship, trust and love soon become entangled into the comedic elements which lead to the sad and poignant realization that cultural differences can't always be overcome by good intentions. A bittersweet truth so poignantly conveyed by the beautiful Trinh when rebuffing the romantic advances of Cronauer with the statement, "Vietnam ladies not friends."

This film will definitely make you laugh. It will also make you cry and even more importantly make you think. In the final analysis that's what it's all about. There are many wonderful performances in this movie complimenting Robin Williams amazing tour-de-force. My two favorites are Tung Than Tran as 'Phan' and Chintara Sukapatana as 'Trinh.'

Highly Recommended!!

This review refers to "Good Morning Vietnam"(VHS/Touchstone)

The V.P., a V.I.P., the P.C., on the Q.T, the V.C, MIA and K.P.
Who else can take all these initials, string them into one sentence and have us in hysterics. Only Robin Williams. The one liners are fast and non stop. He's absolutely perfect as he portrays the real life Adrian Cronauer, an armed forces DJ who shakes things up a bit in Saigon 1965.

Cronauer is a hip DJ, who tries to the chagrin of his lieutanant, to bring a little fun into the lives of the weary soldiers in Viet Nam. He livens up the base and surrounding Saigon with funny characters,absurd news stories(the real ones are edited), and some Rock and Roll, as the Vietnam War occurs around them. The Lt. is more of a Lawrence Welk/Jim Nabors kind of a guy and is appalled at this DJ's style.But nothing can stop this wild and crazy guy from his mission. The script is rollicking good fun, and of course all that great music from the 60's is on tap. But there are poignant moments and a serious nature to this film as well. The war still goes on, and for the people of Saigon it is tragic.As Cronauer finds out when he befriends the townspeople.

Williams' immense talent explodes in this film. He is both funny and compassionate. But he is not alone in making this film the classic it has become. It is directed by the brillant Barry Levinson(Rain Man/The Natural),who always knows how to pull us into a story and keep us there.The supporting cast is marvelous and play right to Williams. It includes the wonderful character
actor Noble Willingham, Bruno Kirby,Forest Whitaker, Robert Wuhl and I must also make mention of Tung Thanh Tran, who plays Tuan/aka Phan Duc To.

A story of Vietnam like no other. It's one I can pull out and watch anytime without tiring of it. The VHS is a good quality. It has nice picture and hi-fi Stereo sound.It has closed captioned for hearing impaired as well. If you haven't seen it in a while, watch it again, and remember why you liked it so much the first time around. For those that have not seen it, you
are in for a real treat.

Thanks and enjoy...Laurie
recommended reading:
Into the DMZ A Battle History of Operation Hickory, May 1967, Vietnam(see my review for bnook details)

i love good morning vietnam because robin williams does an amazing job of balancing humor and drama. this is one of my favorite movies of all time, and i highly reccommend it to everybody. you've got to watch it more than once, because you'll see something new or catch another sly joke each time.

Robin Williams is exceptional (as usual) as the controversial radio disc-jockey Adrian Cronauer who is sent to Vietnam during the war to lift the military morale with his special brand of on-air banter. Cronauer's improvised, lightning-speed monologues keep getting him into strife with his superiors, yet are adored by the soldiers who avidly listen to him. While stationed in the war-torn country, Cronauer meets and gets to know some of the locals intimately, and learns about the catastrophes and disasters that lie beneath the airwaves through which his flippantly humourous broadcasts are transmitted.

Cronauer's radio persona is an accurate mirror of Williams himself, yet he also portrays well the man who becomes more human and vulnerable as a result of his exposure to the situation in his new environment.

GMV is both side-splittingly hilarious, touching and at times devastating, as we witness the horrors of war contrasted against the light-hearted satirical entertainment of Cronauer's on-air speeches. There has also never been a more ironic use of Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" than here, played as a background to a heartbreaking montage of tragic images.

The soundtrack is also excellent, blending some appropriately upbeat period tunes with snippets of Williams funniest monologues.

My 1* rating is for the DVD, not the movie which is 5*.

Most poeople will have seen this film on video and tv and enjoyed it, some of you old folks may have even seen it at the cinema. I think that this is a great film and it belongs in my favourite collection.

A lot of reviews here talk about the film so I wont. I just bought the DVD and watched it, although I have the video as well.

The picture quality was bad, fuzzy and grainy in many places, and I mean the picture, not the mpeg compression.

It was possible in quite a few places to see the mpeg rings. The sound was average, not brilliant but not poor.

There are no real extra features to talk about.

So given that this movie has a great following in many countries I would have expected the DVD conversion crew to have done a much better job.

With no extras and not been a really long film there is no reason to allow compression rings to be visible, where they are visible the conversion people just have to lower the compression rate for that part, and us the viewers would never know.

It appears that all they did was to copy the old movie onto a DVD without any effort, knowing that many people will buy the DVD. I think that the video copy I have matches the DVD for picture quality, not for sound of course.

If you have Good Morning Vietnam on video treasure it and save yourself £15 ($20). Maybe in the future a 'special' anniversary edition will be released that the producers will have invested both time and money in to give us a DVD worth buying, of course they could just release it again as is for all us muggs to be ripped off again.

An excellent film, Good Morning Vietnam, brings to the screen the story of a US airman that gets transferred from Crete in Greece to Saigon in South Vietnam as the war in S.E. Asia is escalating.
It is 1965 and the USA is sending more and more troops to S. Vietnam in an effort to live up to its commitments and treaty obligations (SEATO), and turn the tide against communism. The US Army, worried about the G.I.s' morale, flies in Airman Cronauer from Europe to be a radio deejay and entertain the troops. Things get a bit more complicated when he begins going around the censors by playing Rock and Roll and giving the news as it is...
The plot has elements of both comedy and drama making it rather difficult to label it as one or the other; it's actually a bit of both.
Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, and the rest of the cast, have truly outdone themselves with their performances, which are outstanding to say the least! All the actors, without exceptions, give it their 100% and it really shows (the chemistry is AMAZING)! Very well written and very well presented, it allows for a highly entertaining movie that can be watched over and over again! The film does a great job of describing war-ravaged Vietnam as well as people's (including soldiers') every day lives and the problems they face under such conditions.
The setting, the plot, the dialogues and the MUSIC are all wonderful!
In short, Good Morning Vietnam is a movie definitely worth watching and one to seriously consider adding to your movie collection!
Recommended along with The Quiet American, starring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser.

This is one movie experience that you shouldn't miss! Get a dose of Robin Williams' outstanding comic yet brilliant acting for this Barry Levinson film about the era when war torn out Vietnam. I have seen this fil for four times already and I could say that this movie truly capitulates the importance of humor in the middle of tense and severe situation. Yeah, we all know that we shouldn't take this situation as funny but hey, life isn't all about struggle...humor lightens it.

This flick really put Robin Williams on the map, and deservedly so- he's freakin' hilarious in this movie! Good acting jobs by all major roles; Forest Whitaker also does nicely as the "protege".

However, the fault of this movie is where it tries to be serious. Williams's politics are thinly veiled, as the only people who oppose anything he does (VC's, bully GI's, "the brass") are stereotypes. Nothing Haup or Dickerson say or do is ever pleasant or reflective of any redeeming qualities whatsoever. In addition, after picking oneself up from the floor from laughing at Williams's brilliant jokes, one can step back and understand (empathize?) why people might not have liked such comments as "If it's being done well, here or abroad, it's probably *not* being done by the U.S. Army!" Now, maybe that's true, maybe it's not, but a lot of people work (and worked) very hard to be sure that what the U.S. Army did is/was done well, and these people wouldn't be the jerks that Dickerson and Haup (sp?) are in this film if they took offense to a deejay like Williams's portrayal of Cronauer.

In short, watch this movie and enjoy the humor, but think twice before taking any sort of "deeper meaning" more seriously.

Robin Williams, one of my favorite actors, is great as the crazy DJ who shakes things up for the soldiers of Vietnam. With his ability to do so many voices, love the Cronkite, and also his talent to convey some of the most diverse emotions, Robin Williams leads the movie. William's character is a radio dj, as I mentioned, who seems in his own world, and happy with it. Yet, with the violence of vietnam but also it's appeal, which to him is the Vietnamese people themselves, he is torn. One of the more uplifting stories about Vietnam this movie is very good and very funny, as only William's, even early in his career, can be.

The real strength of this movie is that it lets Robin Williams be Robin Williams in a way that few of his other films do. Fans of the stand-up comedian will find him in top form, as he adlibs his way through his numerous bits as a manic DJ on US Services radio. (OK, so in this movie, he's more of a sit-down comedian.) He does the black voice, the gay voice, the cracker voice...you know the routine. And it's as rapid-fire as his own performances, so even if one gag's a dud, you're laughing hysterically 15 seconds later.

The plot itself is creaky, and as sentimental,in it's wiseacre way, as some of his more recent schlocky efforts. Beneath the mania of a Robin Williams (or a Jim Carrey, as we've seen of late) beats a heart of pure mush. Luckily, in this film, the mania predominates.