GOOD MORNING VIETNAM

US, 1987, 119 minutes, Colour.
Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, Bruno Kirby, J.T.Walsh.
Directed by Barry Levinson.

Good Morning Vietnam is one of several films about the Vietnam War which emerged during the mid-'80s: the Oscar-winning Platoon, Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill as well as many other minor films. However, this is a comedy. While it is in the tradition of M*A*S*H, an irreverent look at the Vietnam War, it is also realistic enough and presents the situation in the mid-'60s and the atmosphere of the escalation of the American presence. It is a prelude to 1968 which was the subject of the other films.

The film was directed by Barry Levinson, a writer-director whose credits include Diner, Young Sherlock Holmes, The Natural, The Tin Men. Robin Williams, as Air Force officer Adrian Cronauer, won an Oscar nomination for his zany performance as the offbeat, spontaneous disc-jockey who livened up morale in Saigon for several months in 1965. It is an excellent tour de force performance. Williams is supported by Forest Whittaker as an engagingly friendly assistant. The rest of the little-known cast is excellent in portraying a range of American officials.

The film has a great deal to say about American presence in Vietnam - via the comedy of Cronauer's radio broadcasts, via the characterisations, the building up of tensions and the situations which were to become familiar.

One of the best films of 1987.

1. The new spate of Vietnam war films in the mid-'80s? The retrospect of the films of the late 1970s? reassessment?
Twenty years after the events? Memory,

2. The film based on a true story, personality? In the tradition of Robert Altman's M*A*S*H? The zaniness needed to survive in war? The madness and mayhem? Comedy as an opportunity to re-assess history?

3. The use of Thailand locations and the re-creation of the '60s: Saigon, the city, the environment, the jungle? The escalating war? The musical background - and the wide range of both popular songs and the rock and roll favourites of the period? The use of Louis Armstrong's version of 'It's A Wonderful World' for the collage of battle?

4. The performance of Robin Williams, his comic skills? Comic, spoof, mimic? The serious side of his performance and its persuasiveness?

5. The importance of humour: the M*A*S*H tradition? The discussion in the screenplay about the nature of comedy and its effect, its qualities, what is funny and not, spontaneous humour and forced humour? The self-image of the comedians and the would-be comedians? Their humanity, wit? Boistrous humour? Irony? The truth through humour? The effect? On troops; morale? On the authorities? '60s humour, '80s humour?

6. The importance of radio in Vietnam? The broadcasts during the credits, tone; information, communication, music? Soft music? The viewpoints presented? Hauk and Dickerson? Taylor and his authority and administration of Radio Saigon?

7. Adrian Cronauer's arrival: his clothes irreverent attitudes, the friendly meeting with Ed Garlick? Robin Williams' presence and style? Type, the initial jokes, looking at the girls? Meeting each of the officers at the station? Their resentment? Orders? His adapting to Vietnam? Knowledge of the culture, ignorance, adaptation? His relationship with the technicians, the other DJs? With the twin censors? His task? The title and his use of the phrase - people's reaction, for and against? His first broadcast, taking off: imitations, patter, film references, fashions, The Wizard of Oz, Ethel Merman, the DMZ? The range of his comments, his manic and zany entering into things? Throwing away old records? Belting out rock and roll - and the difference in volume registration? His friends' reactions, official reactions, the immediate briefing afterwards? The assistant staff and their enjoyment?

8. The collages of the troops in Vietnam enjoying the broadcasts? The glimpses of troops, the range of behaviour of the Americans in Vietnam? A glimpse of the war? The news entries and the escalation? The reactions of people, laughter? The quality of his shows? The importance of Nixon's visit - and the humour of the edited tape of Nixon's interview and its sexual overtones? Gomer Pyle and the interviews about various wars? authorities and the Pentagon?

9. Adrian and Ed and their friendship? The quality of the bond? The hopes? Adrian attracted to the girl, buying the bikes and chasing, Ed's puffing and panting? The discovery of the school, Adrian paying to take over? His classes, teaching the group American slang? The humour of their participation, the lessons? The mother-figure and her enjoyment? The serious elderly student and his taking everything literally? Cronauer's popularity?

10. The approach to the girl, her distance, meeting her brother, the interaction between the two, the brother's supervision, questions of friendship? His taking him to the bar? Supporting him against the military prejudice? The build-up to the brawl in the bar? His going to meet the girl, the family, the family as chaperones, their going to see Beach Blanket Bingo and the Vietnamese reaction? The classes? The bond between Adrian and the brother? The brother coming to save him from the blast in the bar? Saving him from being stranded in the jungle after the jeep crash? The significance of the truth about his belonging to the enemy, to the revelations about his terrorism, chasing him, the confrontation and the words about the deaths on both sides? The farewell to the sister?

11. The portrait of the bar, the types there, the girls? The brawl? The manager and his dandy style? His living destroyed? The deaths and the impact on Adrian? The information being censored? His telling it as censored? The consequence and suspension?

12. The authorities' attitude to his suspension, the letters coming in from the men? Adrian drinking and opting out? Hauk taking over, his deadpan humour and the reaction of the others, his playing polkas? The letters continuing to come in? Dickerson and his hostility? Taylor and his handling of the situation? Putting Hauk off the radio?

13. Ed trying to persuade Adrian to come back? Their chance meeting of the troops in the trucks, their reaction to Adrian, his warming to their responses, his performance for them, the jokes, the insights? His playing the records for them? The significance of the segment with Louis Armstrong singing 'It's a Wonderful World' with the collage of the war, the explosions, the napalm? Dickerson and his mean-mindedness, the
information about the dangerous road and sending Adrian and Ed on it? The ambush? Audiences fearing they were dead? Their being lost, going in circles, saved?

14. Adrian getting the sack, Dickerson's information about the Viet Cong? Taylor supporting the decision? Politics and morality? Enjoying Adrian's final taunt at Dickerson? Transferring Dickerson to Guam?

15. Adrian leaving, playing baseball, the bonds with the people? The possibility of bonds between American and Vietnamese? Farewell to the girl? Ed taking over and playing Adrian's final irreverent tape? The references to The Wizard of Oz?

16. Themes of Vietnam and the war, the various,-.points of view, the American presence? Military personnel, decisions, temperament? The importance of morale? The Americans fighting in alien situations? The prelude to the '70s? Judgements in retrospect?