It doesn’t surprise me at all that Good Morning Vietnam was originally pitched as a T.V. show. It has a real sitcom sensibility, like a more offbeat Vietnam War equivalent to M*A*S*H. Similar to M*A*S*H, it has a sharp, sardonic, and subversive lead character and a solid cast of supporting characters, including a couple comically obtuse antagonists clashing heads with the lead. The show was pitched by Adrian Cronauer himself, the Radio DJ it would be based on, and it is an interesting idea that might have made for a good show –but it was not to be. Instead, screenwriter Mitch Markowitz (who incidentally wrote on M*A*S*H) revamped it as a movie script after Robin Williams became enamoured with it.
Following a series of flops that began with his 1980 movie debut in Robert Altman’s Popeye, Good Morning Vietnam, directed by a fresh off of Young Sherlock Holmes Barry Levinson, is widely considered Robin Williams’ breakout film. It was a movie that showcased both his immense talent for improv and his Julliard-honed dramatic capabilities, in addition to setting the formula for a lot of his subsequent movies including Dead Poets Society, Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, and Jakob the Liar. He was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor, back when the Academy wasn’t afraid to acknowledge performances in comedies. And it was probably because of just how unfiltered and natural the performance was, Williams’ first chance to pretty much play himself in a movie and demonstrate some untapped depth to his talents -giving audiences a persona to love who wasn’t Mork.
That persona manifested itself in Good Morning Vietnam as enlisted airman Adrian Cronauer, a comedian assigned to work for the Armed Forces Radio Service as a DJ in Saigon. His irreverent wit and envelope-pushing style makes him quickly popular with the troops despite the heavily censored news reports he’s forced to read. But his straight-laced superiors take an equally swift dislike of him for his mockery of war and military subjects. Through supplementing his radio work with teaching an English class, Cronauer also befriends a young Vietnamese boy called Tuan (Tung Thanh Tran), inviting even more controversy.
The reason I chose to look at this movie this month is because I was once again feeling the absence of Robin Williams following the recent Aladdin remake, missing his humour, his energy, his (seemingly) relentless positivity, and his completely one-of-a-kind charm. And Good Morning Vietnam is a film that epitomizes all of that. As much as any true life resemblance to Cronauer and his experiences is rendered purely incidental, Williams’ take on the character is exceptionally entertaining and endearing, in large part because of how much it is an extension of his own personality, sensibility, and values. Most of his ad libs on their own aren’t massively funny, as ad libs often are, but his enthusiasm for them and sheer commitment keeps you as engaged with his ramblings as his in-movie listeners. Though of course neither we nor the troops are so enthralled just for the jokes. The subversive side of his comedy, in addition to being funny, serves an important character purpose, where unlike its brief but distracting application in Dead Poets Society and utter misuse in Patch Adams, underlines the principles beneath Cronauers’ (and Williams’) funny-man persona. He’s not taking to the job with the propaganda-spouting fervour Major Dickerson (a humourless J.T. Walsh) hoped, embodying much more of the anti-Vietnam sentiment in his shots at the military, political, and journalistic foibles of the Vietnam campaign, more comfortable back in the States. However, the troops do take to it, angering the upper crusts even more. It positions Cronauer, and by association Williams, as a just rebel speaking truth to power, culminating in him being taken off the air for reporting the censored truth. Complimenting these ethics is his willingness to sympathize with Tuan, who most around him see as the enemy. While they certainly meet in a tacky way -there’s a little bit of a sly conman to Cronauer in his Jeff Winger approach to meeting a woman; the friendship is played as noble and Cronauer virtuous, even after his trust of Tuan blows up in his face. It’s a very good look for Williams, and so palatable because of its authenticity it’s no wonder Hollywood kept returning to it over the next decade and a half.
I have to say I was surprised by the direction taken in the last act, and the choice to make Tuan a Viet Cong operative, the climax of a plot beat that looked to be set up as just another attempt to discredit Cronauer. That would have been the more conventional way to go, but then Good Morning Vietnam was already steering away from convention by boldly showing the realities of living in Vietnam during the height of the war, even if in the relative security of Saigon. The actual fighting, traumas, and guerilla tactics aren’t shown, as that wasn’t the focus of this movie (also, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket were recent enough to satiate any interest in seeing that side of the war), but for Cronauer’s defiance to mean anything there needed to be evidence of violent circumstances. However putting Tuan at the centre of them wasn’t necessary -and yet it hits harder. It asks if Cronauer’s peers were right, if he shouldn’t have trusted Tuan, if it was wrong to reach out and build a relationship. I think the movie comes down on the side of validating Cronauer by making Tuan sympathetic. It condemns his actions without necessarily condemning him, which makes the difference.
This kind of maturity and consideration elevates Good Morning Vietnam above other dramedies about rebellious upstarts vs. authority figures. Because it ends with the authority figures being right, but also so very wrong, as can often be the case in life. It doesn’t bow to any fiction that the Viet Cong weren’t cruel or ruthless, but it doesn’t other them enough to cater to racists -just the opposite in fact. It plays up the complexity of the war but doesn’t disrespect it. Even at his most unorthodox, Cronauer never made fun of the war itself or its victims. One may argue the film needn’t have taken this precaution -even twelve years after it ended, the conclusion that it had been pointless wasn’t an uncommon one among American citizens and vets. But it sticks to its propriety, being ultimately less satirically reactionary and surprisingly more pro-military as an institution than I would have expected -certainly a lot more so than M*A*S*H which came out in the throes of the war and didn’t give a shit about mocking every last ounce of it. We see this sincerity in the upbeat nature of Cronauer’s cohorts. Though Forest Whittaker, Robert Wuhl, and Richard Edson play largely flat characters, essentially existing as Cronauer’s entourage, they also represent average servicemen, in direct contrast to the pencil-pushing Lt. Fuzz of a by-the-books twerp played by a perfectly odious Bruno Kirby (a character who, to top it all off, thinks he’s as funny as the seasoned comedian). Ingratiating itself even more is a lively soundtrack featuring everything from “I Get Around” to “I Got You” to the always melancholic “What a Wonderful World.”
All of this coalesces I think due to a certain distance from the war. Good Morning Vietnam definitely feels like an 80’s movie looking back, more than an attempt to capture the spirit of Vietnam and the atmosphere as less removed movies from its defeat such as The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now did. That could perhaps be why it was so comfortable with playing fast and loose with accuracy (Cronauer stated that if he had done half of what is depicted in the film, he would have been in Leavenworth for decades), and its twist ending. What’s for certain though is it was the perfect vehicle to reintroduce Robin Williams to the world as a movie star. Barry Levinson is not a great director, but he knew how to work with Williams and his unique approach; and the result is the formation of a singular movie identity, both joyously childish and emotionally wise, that would be a staple of the next couple decades of Hollywood -spawned out of a movie that is still heartfelt, funny, and meaningful.
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