Good Morning, Vietnam
Is it possible to make a comedy on the backdrop of the
Vietnam War? Today I suppose the answer is “Why not?”, but in the eighties the
Vietnam War was still a touchy subject and a comedy in that setting might well
press any number of wrong buttons. Yet this is the tightrope “Good Morning,
Vietnam” tries to walk and although you can sense how it tries not to be
insensitive, it works decently well.
The story is based on a real radio host, Adrian Cronauer,
played in the movie by Robin Williams, who was a big thing on the radio waves
in Vietnam in 1965. This apparently is also about as far the true story goes.
The movie’s Cronauer lands in a radio studio where half the staff, including
Cronauer’s assistant Edward Garlick (Forest Whitaker), is wildly supportive of
Cronauer’s irreverent style, while the other half, including Cronauer’s
immediate superiors Steven Hauk (Bruno Kirby) and Phillip Dickerson (J.T.
Walsh), are vehemently opposed to Cronauer.
And yes, Cronauer is a riot. One thing is his choice of
music, but it is what he does in between that sets him apart. Williams was
given free reign to just ramble away and he took the opportunity and knocked it
out of the park. Cronauer soon learns that while his style causes some opposition
among the conservative staff, there are news he simply is not allowed to use,
which happens to be anything relevant to the G.I.s in Vietnam. Cronauer balks
at that and tries to find ways around it. Half the comedy of the movie is Williams
doing his thing, while the other half is the reactions from Dickerson and,
especially, Hauk. Hauk considers himself a comedian, but when Cronauer gets
suspended and Hauk takes over, it is hilariously evident that Hauk is an embarrassment,
not least when he tries to argue that polka goes down very well with a certain
segment of the listeners.
Outside the radio studio, Cronauer meets the reality of
Vietnam. That is where the comedy largely disappears and the movie runs with a
different message. Cronauer meets the crude attitude of American soldier to the
local population on the local bar, and he befriend some locals at an English
class, especially a brother, Tuan (Tung Thanh Tran), and a sister, Trinh (Chintara
Sukapatana) who open his eyes to some harsh realities.
“Good Morning, Vietnam” takes place in a realistic universe
where some characters may be slightly on the side of caricatures but with enough
verisimilitude that we accept them. This means that Cronauer is a funny man in
a very much not funny setting. The effect of this clash is both humorous and
extra tragic and it gives an unexpected depth to the movie, but may also pull
the rug from under the levity. Jokes are not so funny when people are dying,
but maybe so much more necessary.
Robin Williams is so central to “Good Morning, Vietman” that
it largely stands or falls with his performance. Luckily, Willams is in great
shape in this movie, and it catapulted him into stardom. I do not always find
Robin Williams funny, there is this particular edge to his comedy I am not fond
of, but here it works very well. It may be the setting that works for him here,
perhaps.
A curious detail is that most Vietnam movies of the eighties
show plenty of explosions and soldiers, but very little of Vietnam itself. “Good
Morning, Vietnam” is shot in Thailand and the local Vietnamese are actually
Thai, but at least it is trying to present the country and the people it is
supposed to take place in. The result is that Cronauer, representing the
western visitor, is surprised to find how little he knows about the country in which
he is fighting and how unwelcome his army actually is.
“Good Morning, Vietnam” has moments that works fantastic as comedy and moments of depth, but also seem nervous at trying to hit the right balance. There is a feeling of driving with the hand on the brakes, but it may be that it is this consideration th
