Robin Williams Tribute Month: Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

With the exception of Apocalypse Now, Good Morning, Vietnam is possibly the best Hollywood movie about the Vietnam War. Although it doesn't really have a lot of war in it, it captures the feelings of the country (especially the people of Vietnam) during the war. It is also the first time in a movie that Robin Williams played a character that was closer to his stand-up persona. Indeed, a lot of his dialogue is lifted straight from his stand-up.

Adrian Cronauer (Williams) has been stationed in Saigon to become a new DJ at a radio station for the troops. Cronauer is immediately seen as subversive by his superiors, but is liked by both his fellow DJs and the troops in the field. He also falls for Trinh (Chintara Sukapatana) and meets her brother Tuan (Tung Thanh Tran).

I've always found this movie to be hilarious. Williams banter with both Forest Whitaker and Robert Wuhl is fantastic and he once again relies on his amazing improvisation skills for all of his radio dialogue. Bruno Kirby has a fantastic part as Lieutenant Hauk, Cronauer's immediate senior officer, who believes that he is much funnier than Cronauer, but ultimately fails when he tries his hand.

As funny as this film is, it is incredibly poignant too. There are so many touching scenes in this movie that hit me hard. When a bomb goes off at a cafe where many GIs hang out, the scene showing the aftermath is chillingly realistic. Another in which a jaded Cronauer realises how his work has been affecting troop morale. His final broadcast is also one that made me choke up.

It would wrong of me to talk about this movie without talking about its soundtrack. I listened to this soundtrack so many times as a kid and knew every song and piece of dialogue way before I saw the movie. The songs are perfectly chosen from the many rock hits of the 60s and in a way make this movie so special. Songs like "California Sun" and "I Got You" add to the comedy of many scenes, while Louis Armstrong's classic "What A Wonderful World" has the most impact in one of the film's most violent scenes.

Verdict: A really powerful film about the Vietnam War that has a surprising number of classic one-liners from Robin Williams.