Good Morning, Vietnam

 Good Morning, Vietnam 1987

• Director: Barry Levinson
• Seen by this director: Liberty Heights, Rain Man
• Based on the book by: John Guy
• Cast: Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, J T Walsh
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Robin Williams – The Butler, House of D, Insomnia, Good Will Hunting, Hamlet, Hook, Dead Again, Awakening, Dead Poets Society, The World According to Garp
• Forest Whitaker – Black Panther, Rogue One, Arrival, The Butler, Out of the Furnace, Repo Men, The Great Debaters, The Last King of Scotland, Smoke, The Crying Game, Bird, Good Morning Vietnam, Platoon, Fast Times at Ridgmont High
• J T Walsh – Pleasantville, Sling Blade, The Client, Red Rock West, The Grifters
• Why? Remember it as good.
• Seen: Once before. Now 5 August 2022      

       For those of us who were young during the Vietnam War this doesn’t seem so long ago. For today’s youth it’s ancient history.

       Saigon 1965. This was before the anti-war movement got going. I remember only starting to become concerned. Later I became active in the movement. Eventually my husband Hal and I moved to Sweden in protest against the war and much else that was wrong with the US. We have never regretted it.

       But the film. Williams plays Adrian Cronauer (a real person), a hyper maverick comedian deejay for the US military forces in Vietnam. He’s hated by the brass, who expect mild humour and Lawrence Welk and Perry Como. He’s loved by the soldiers for his vulgar humour and Martha and the Vandella’s ‘Heat Wave’ and James Brown’s ‘I Feel Good.’

       Meanwhile the war escalates.

       I can understand why I liked it the first time but now I find the brash humour borderline homophobic, racist and misogynistic. However, there are political points made. The film does have a place among the key films about the Vietnam War, but I don’t think it’s as important as it thinks it is. It’s a bit too formulaic, too many clichés. Still, it has its merits, not the least of which are the glimpses of the brutal maleness of the US military and its war against the Vietnamese people.  

 3* of 5