His voice continues oscillating with fervour and wit, turning even the most warn-torn swamps into a layback.
War is ugly business, and in between the horrible shifts when bullets are whizzing past your eyeballs and your ears are shattered by shellshock, those intermittent periods back at base, you need something to keep yourself distracted from the high-pitched whining in your ears. Try scoring some marijuana from the locals, and if that doesn’t do it for you, then some opium will do. But if access to either is difficult, try the radio. But god fucking forbid you have to listen to the sleep-inducing drivel of some boring DJ. In such situation, strap your radio to some heavy artillery and send it shooting. These wide-eyed, dazed and crazed troops need a good DJ to make them laugh, to give them something interesting to listen to, because god knows they’ve been barked at for long enough.
Get rid of the old guy and put Adrian Cronauer in the seat. This eccentric lunatic man is tasked as a DJ on the Armed Forces Radio Service in Saigon and is immediately a hit with the troops. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) is his catchphrase, no matter what time of the day. Naturally, his superiors take offense to his brand of humour and music tastes so they try to bring the hammer down on him as often as they can manage. When not on the air, Cronauer teaches an English class to some of the locals, and of course, he upstages the previous wooden stiff teacher and tutors these people in English slang, making a friend. As the conflict in Vietnam escalates, his situation becomes more complicated by the day.
Robin Williams is the stellar soul of the film, without him it would just be a war film about a radio station which is a good enough premise as it is, but he elevates it to something special. His improv on the radio cements him as one of the funniest people alive at that time in my opinion. The range of this highly accomplished actor, going from high-flown comedy to poignant drama-tinged seriousness is vast, making his performance a beautiful sight. Compared to Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), where his antics are mostly physical, here the focus on his snappy silver-tongue and verbal comedy takes the spotlight. I’ll even go as far as saying that this is my favourite performance of his.
His character is such that he is stands against the grain of the institutions. From the moment his arrives at the radio base, rules start to get broken and his superiors raise eyebrows. They have pre-selected music for him to play which he refuses to, because frankly it’ll make the troops fall asleep while carrying explosives and that won’t be a pretty sight. He must always read news that has been checked and officialised, making the news completely filtered and biased. Well, he does it anyway, playing rock-n-roll music and reading unofficial news or just outright making the news up if they won’t let him read what’s happening, while his superiors punch their desks in virulent reproach over his “irreverence”. This autocratic institution represents soulless control and order, while Cronauer is an anomaly in this system, doing what he wants because he can, and let me tell you it’s a delight to watch.
I get it, without discipline, what’s the point of a military, but some play by the book with such superfluous dedication that it stinks up the air with systemic ass-kissing.
During all of his radio broadcasts, shots of troops hanging out on boats, at base or on trucks, listening to the radio can have more connotations than one. Contradictory to my opening paragraph, to me it just seems like the troops are lounging around, doing absolutely nothing, which is pretty much the whole reason why the American’s moved into that country in the first place. But visually the luscious green of the jungle is always a welcome sight.
One of my favourite scenes in the film is when he gives a spontaneous radio broadcast to the troops in person just before they drive out into battle. Aside of Williams’ hilarious quips, the way the scene ends is beautiful, the soldier’s blurring from distinguishable faces into a faceless streak of greens, whites and blacks as they drive away, portraying that his radio show is for the individual solider and the whole army. Or it could also mean that to the institution itself, there are no faces, just numbers. Depends on what interpretation you’ve got.
Although the Vietnam war is just the backdrop of this film and no actual battles take place, this film is up there among my favourite Vietnam war films. Witty humour and superb acting make this a marvellous film to dedicate your eyes and ears to for two hours.
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