Airman Adrian Cronaur (Robin Williams) has come to Saigon to help facilitate moral amongst the soldiers fighting in Vietnam. He’s one of the signature voices of Armed Forces Radio, and although his distinct style and unusual sense of humor doesn’t suit his commanding officer (J.T. Walsh) or immediate superior’s (Bruno Kirby) respective tastes, that doesn’t mean those out in the field feel remotely the same.

CRITIQUE

My dad never got to Vietnam and I’ve always felt that a part of him regrets that fact. He’s an incredibly gifted mechanic, and by all accounts the Air Force thought highly of him (he finally retired from the reserves just a couple of years ago), but his asthma (at least, I think it was his asthma) kept him from being transferred overseas, he and my mother stationed at McCord Air Force Base just outside of Tacoma, WA for the duration of the war.

This long prologue is important because it sheds light on both my childhood and also adds insight into why I became a critic. After my sister was born my dad would make it a point to take me to every movie about the Vietnam War no matter what it was. Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Rambo: First Blood Part II, heck, we even went to Missing in Action. Sure, we headed out to other military movies as well, most notably Top Gun and Das Boot, but the ones about Vietnam were our bread and butter, the thing the two of us did together and only together, and while I didn’t completely understand all of them I knew he was there to answer my questions and quell my fears afterwards and that’s all that truly mattered as far as I was concerned.

Platoon and Full Metal Jacket may be the two best pictures we ever saw, but without question Good Morning Vietnam was my absolute favorite. I’ve watched countless times since that first viewing as an adolescent, and for whatever reason it just gets better and better each and every time I get a look at it. Sure, it isn’t accurate, and by no means does it follow Armed Forces Radio superstar Adrian Cronaur’s actual life story, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining. For that matter, also no less dynamic, director Barry Levinson and writer Mitch Markowitz chronicling an aspect of the war few, if any, other stories on the subject ever have.

Williams is brilliant. Even better, it isn’t the first half of the picture where Levinson lets him run wild as if the movie was his own personal one-man show that resonates most. It’s the second half, the portion when the biggest facets of the story kick in, the portion where Cronaur lets his friendship with the brother (Tung Thanh Tran) of a Vietnamese woman (Chintara Sukapatana) he’s been romancing get the better of him, that packs the biggest wallop. It is here the movie starts showcasing a world unlike any other similar films of the period thought to go to, and it is here that Williams does his absolute best work. Stripped away from his comedy, having to be himself and not one of his creations he’s manufactured for the radio waves, the actor finds depths and nuances I’d argue he’s never found in any subsequent performance.

The film has a great supporting cast, of course, Forest Whitaker, Robert Wahl and numerous others all making quite the imprint. Kirby is the most memorable, however, finding quirky little insights into his pipsqueak Napoleonic military man that are suitably delightful. The picture is also incredibly well directed by Levinson in his trademark laconic style that so suited Diner, Avalon and Wag the Dog, the filmmaker knowing when to leave well enough alone and let his actors soar as well as when to take control and add his own little insights and idiosyncrasies.

But the biggest reason I probably adore the movie so much is due to the fact of the importance of that first viewing. Some memories mold you, form you, make you what you are, and those journeys to the theatre to see those features with my dad fit that description beyond perfectly. Good Morning Vietnam is a great film, a borderline masterwork, but more than that it is deeply personal and important to me, and because of that it ends up meaning far more to me than it maybe would have otherwise.

THE VIDEO

Good Morning Vietnam is presented on a dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video with a 1080p 1.85:1 transfer. This is a problematic transfer, not without its plusses, and this is certainly the best the movie has looked since its original theatrical release, but it isn’t without its copious amount of minuses, either. DNR has been used here, quite extensively at times, and edge enhancement can be a bit problematic at times. At the same time, close-ups, which there are a ton of in this picture, look pretty fantastic, and color levels are rich, distinctive and consistent. One would like a more film-like transfer, but overall, and considering the low pricepoint, there’s still plenty to crow about here.

THE AUDIO

Good Morning Vietnam comes to Blu-ray in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1 and includes optional English SDH and French subtitles. It’s a very front-heavy mix, but considering the film was made in 1987 that’s not too much of a surprise. The music sounds fantastic in this new lossless mix, however, and dialogue is consistent in tone and always understandable. All-in-all, considering the film’s age Disney has done an extremely nice job on this audio transfer.

THE EXTRAS

Extras here are ported over from previous DVD additions and include:

·         Production Diary (35 minutes) – Six-part making of featurette that can be played in individual snippets or all at one time. The best parts here are interviews with the actual Adrian Cronauer, whose delightful bon mot to the question as to how accurate the film is to his actual true Vietnam story is beyond priceless.

·         Raw Monologue (13 minutes) – Uncut take of the film’s first radio monologue featururing Robin Williams at his most manic and uncontrolled.

·         Original Teaser and Theatrical Trailers (4 minutes)

For a 25th anniversary edition, I really wish Disney would have spent a bit more time assembling some new extras and putting a bit more meat on this disc’s bones. It’s all fine, but fans are going to want more. Considering I’m a big fan, personally, I wanted much, much, much in the way of said more.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Good Morning Vietnam is one of Robin Williams’ best films and, in my opinion, is probably his best cinematic performance. While this disc could be better, and while I wanted more, it is the best this movie has arguably ever looked, and considering the price it’s a hard one for me to not recommend.