Good Morning, Vietnam

Name: Good Morning, Vietnam
Genre: Biography, Drama, Comedy, War
Released: January 15, 1988
Duration: 121 min
Rating: 67
Cast: Bruno Kirby, Chintara Sukapatana, Forest Whitaker, J.T. Walsh, Juney Smith

1988

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Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Ratings

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7.8

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7.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: January 15, 1988 | R

Starring: Bruno Kirby, Chintara Sukapatana, Forest Whitaker, J.T. Walsh, Juney Smith, Noble Willingham, Richard Edson, Robert Wuhl, Robin Williams, Tung Thanh Tran

Summary: In 1965, an unorthodox and irreverent DJ named Adrian Cronauer begins to shake up things when he is assigned to the U.S. Armed Services radio station in Vietnam.

Director: Barry Levinson

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Comedy, War

Rating: R

Runtime: 121 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

Good Morning, Vietnam works as straight comedy and as a Vietnam-era MASH, and even the movie’s love story has its own bittersweet integrity. Read full review

Vincent Canby

Good Morning, Vietnam, directed by Barry Levinson (Diner, Tin Men) succeeds in doing something that's very rare in movies, being about a character who really is as funny as he's supposed to be to most of the people sharing the fiction with him. It's also a breakthrough for Mr. Williams, who, for the first time in movies, gets a chance to exercise his restless, full-frontal comic intelligence. Read full review

Empire Barry Mcilheney

One of Levinson's best films, and one of Hollywood's best films on the whole Vietnam subject. Read full review

Jay Scott

The first comedy about that war, Good Morning, Vietnam manages to be uproariously funny without ignoring or trivializing the tragedy. It's awkwardly contrived here and there, especially during its recon patrols into Vietnamese life, but for the most part Mitch Markowitz's skeletal script is smart enough to dig in, hunker down and stay out of Robin Williams' line of fire. [22 Dec 1987]

Staff (Not Credited)

Offering only hackneyed insights into the war, the film makes for stodgy drama. But Williams' manic monologues behind the mike are worth anybody's money. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

The film itself--a dramatic comedy based on the 1965 Saigon gig of irreverent Armed Forces disc jockey Adrian Cronauer--is good-hearted but shallow. It's a piece of programmed irreverence, photogenic torpor, prefab compassion. But Williams, as Cronauer, is so blazingly brilliant that he detonates the center, exploding it in berserk blasts of electronic-age surreality. Read full review

Pauline Kael

The way the story line has been directed it's a clumsier versions of the plots of 50s musicals.

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FilipeNeto

Jan 17, 2022

This film is a comedy set in wartime and based, very fictionally, on the life of a real person, radio announcer Adrian Cronauer, who spent some time in South Vietnam, in Saigon, in the service of USAF Military Radio. Despite the truthful bases, most of the things we see in the movie areThis film is a comedy set in wartime and based, very fictionally, on the life of a real person, radio announcer Adrian Cronauer, who spent some time in South Vietnam, in Saigon, in the service of USAF Military Radio. Despite the truthful bases, most of the things we see in the movie are fiction, as Cronauer himself mentioned. However, without this fictional component, I doubt the film would have been as successful.

The film's story begins with Cronauer's arrival in Saigon to take up a radio job. He will soon capture the soldiers' sympathies, with his contagious joy and a rebellious, sharp and irresistible sense of humor. However, it also becomes evident that he will not be easy to control, and high ranks will have difficulties in dealing with him and imposing the limits they think he must respect. At the same time, he will socialize with the Vietnamese, learn local customs and even teach English. But the enemy is subversive, and not even in the city they can know where he will attack, or where he will be.

Despite being a comedy, the film does not treat war lightly. There are several moments when we feel that danger lurks, and enemy agents can be anywhere. Despite the way Cronauer wins friends, the grim faces of the population reveal the prevailing antipathy, understandable among a population that feels that their land has been occupied by foreigners who, supposedly, came to help them defend themselves, but who then treat them with suspicion, when not with violence. The film paints an acidic portrayal of the war in Vietnam, with cruelties committed by both sides. By the way, there is one scene that is particularly critical, and where war scenes are accompanied by the Louis Armstrong song “What a Wonderful World”. To be more ironic, it's impossible.

Robin Williams was the ideal man to bring Cronauer to life, and the right person to revive his sense of humor. With this character, Williams was able to let his imagination run wild and invent the craziest puns and jokes. It is not by chance that the film became a classic of the 80s comedy, and one of the most memorable films of this actor's career. With him, we have an excellent Forest Whitaker, a great Robert Wuhl and an obnoxious, but equally funny, Bruno Kirby. The film also features splendid collaborations by Tom T. Tran, Noble Willingham and J.T. Walsh.

Technically, the film doesn't have any major demerits, but it knows how to keep a low profile, leaving humor to take center stage. Even so, I think it's fair to highlight the exquisite quality of the visual and special effects and the exceptional soundtrack, with a series of songs that we can easily recognize. Set in a military context, the film has good props, costumes and sets that automatically transport us to that environment and period. Finally, a word of praise for the cinematography and editing.… Expand