It is funny, entertaining, sad and thought- provoking in equal measures.

Rating: 9/10 (4 May 2016)

'Good Morning Vietnam', starring the late American comedian and movie mega-star, Robin Williams, is probably the most telling and memorable anti-war film made about the Vietnam war.
I have mixed feelings about Williams as a comedian – I suppose I struggle a little with him in much the same way as Americans struggle with many British comics. He was undoubtedly a very gifted, genuinely funny man and when I succeeded in following his very fast repartee, I can laugh along with the best of them. But sometimes, his delivery is fast, and so 'American' that I just can't follow what he is saying, so most of his clever humour goes over my head. I do remember once watching him being interviewed on UK's Michael Parkinson chat show, some years ago and he was utterly hilarious and took the whole show over with his brilliant antics and 'one liners'. Maybe he slowed down his delivery a bit for us slow-witted Brits. He is also no slouch as a movie actor and has a string of successful hits to his name. I was never a great fan of Mrs. Doubtfire but I thought his performance in Dead Poets Society was truly inspirational.
I like Williams a lot in Good Morning Vietnam and his wacky, spontaneous sense of humour was absolutely perfect for the role of the irreverent, entertaining DJ who was shipped over to Saigon to shake things up at the armed services radio station. The movie is based on the true experiences of a DJ who was sent there during the early days of the war, and he states that the story is about 40% accurate – but which 40%? Of course, we will never know. I still had problems with Williams' rapid-fire delivery and 'one-liners', when he was broadcasting 'on air' and sometimes I was lucky if I caught one joke in five of his deliveries. But that didn't matter, as he was in character and was playing the part of this crazy, funny DJ and I have no doubt that the GI's had no problems in understanding what he was saying.
Interestingly, like The Deer Hunter, the entire Vietnam sequences (which are prevalent throughout the movie) were all shot in Thailand. I had not realized this until I read the closing credits, although I should have known something was amiss - the traffic was all driving on the left-hand side, whereas in Vietnam they drive on the right. The Deer Hunter did not really deal with the Vietnam war as such, but merely used the war as a background to show the effects the war had on a group of blue-collar workers from America's hinterland. 'Good Morning Vietnam' on the other hand, was clearly an anti-war, anti-military bullshit-bureaucracy, where tin-pot, ignorant, myopic officers abused the power they had over their fellow soldiers. We can make some allowances for a certain degree of dramatic licence in the interest of a good story. But even so, the background to the movie was totally believable and certainly provided an interesting insight into how seeds were being sown, which would eventually lead to America's greatest military disaster. When the Williams character arrived in Saigon in 1965, the conflict in Vietnam was regarded as a local little skirmish, but by the time he was thrown out of the country, it had already developed into a full-scale war, even though news of the daily bombings in Saigon by Viet Cong terrorists and the general war escalation was kept from the local radio airwaves.
Ironically, along with many other milestones, the Vietnam War eventually became the first war where the world could watch the 'action' from the front lines as they ate their dinner at home every night. It was the first time that unimpeded access was granted to journalists and TV crews.
'Good Morning Vietnam' is funny, entertaining, sad and thought- provoking in equal measures. Enough time has now passed for the viewer to resist the urge to become too judgmental about the 'villains' of the piece' – the US military; but nevertheless, it remains an interesting film which helps us to understand why America's 'Dunkirk' will probably remain part of their psyche for many years to come. If you haven't yet seen it, I recommend you give it a go.