Humour visits Vietnam

Press, 17 June 1988, Page 28

Humour visits Vietnam

Robin Williams stars as Adrian Cronauer, an unconventional disc jockey, in the comedy-drama “Good Morning, Vietnam,” which starts at the Midcity today. Cronauer arrives in sweltering South-East Asia to take up his post as morning D.J. on the local Armed Forces Radio network. Brought in by the military to boost morale among the troops, he wastes little time in launching a few unexpected changes on the government - controlled airwaves. Abandoning propagandistic news items and . an approved playlist of Percy Faith’s greatest hits for a format of raucous humour and rock ’n’ roll, the Adrian Cronauer Show becomes a favourite with the enlisted men but a problem for the brass, who grow increasingly agitated by the rowdy radio personality An unconventional story that is loosely based on the real-life experiences : of a disc jockey who had a popular rock show on Armed Forces Radio, “Good Morning, Vietnam” marks a departure from the recent spate of movies that have dealt with the American experience in Vietnam. Using humour to punctuate the serious nature of the subject matter, Mitch Markowitz’ screenplay indelibly captures the pivotal year (1965) when, backed by growing uncertainty and fear, the war became something more than a series of “incidents.”