#136 - "Good Morning Vietnam" (1987) with Nicholas Pepin & Chad Sheppard

This episode of 80s Flick Flashback revisits the 1987 hit "Good Morning, Vietnam." The film marked a pivotal moment for Robin Williams, showcasing his dramatic range beyond his established comedic persona from "Mork & Mindy" and "Popeye." Loosely based on the true story of Armed Forces Radio DJ Adrian Cronauer, the movie is set in 1965 Saigon as the Vietnam conflict escalated. Williams' portrayal of the irreverent, rock-music-loving Cronauer, who clashed with superiors, earned him his first Oscar nomination and contributed to the film's significant success. Join Tim Williams, Nicholas Pepin, and Chad Sheppard as they jump in their military jeep, crank up the radio, and discuss this iconic 80s film.

Here are some additional behind-the-scenes trivia we were unable to cover in this episode:

• ​In one of his spontaneous news segments, Robin Williams mentions Hanoi Hannah, referring to her as the "wicked witch of the north." Hanoi Hannah was the alias of Trinh Thi Ngo, a female broadcaster from North Vietnam, who gained notoriety on both sides of the conflict for her thrice-daily broadcasts in English that served as propaganda. Although her carefully crafted messages aimed to mock and demoralize American soldiers, many GIs viewed her segments, filled with misused American slang, quirky cultural references, mispronunciations, and exaggerated claims of nonexistent victories, as a source of absurd amusement.
• ​At one point, there were plans for a sequel titled "Good Morning Chicago," which would have featured Cronauer as a reporter at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Although a script was written, the proposed sequel was ultimately scrapped.
• ​

Sources:

Wikipedia, IMDB, Box Office Mojo

https://www.cracked.com/article_36357_the-screenwriter-of-good-morning-vietnam-shares-the-inside-story-of-robin-williams-first-dramatic-hit.html

Some sections were composed by ChatGPT

 

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Episode Transcript

(00:04):
From Touchstone Pictures In 1965, DJ Adrian Cronauer was
sent to Vietnam. He immediately broke.
All the rules. He's disobeyed orders, as I'm
getting you my pretty. He's read unofficial news.
Big dogs lending on my face. What's he going to be?
Like when he's 10 times as popular, but even though he made
waves, he made a difference to everyone around him.

(00:27):
Robin Williams, Good morning Vietnam.
Too much rated R. Starts.
Friday at a theater near you. Check newspapers for Showtime.
By December of 1987, Robin Williams had established himself
as a prominent figure on television with his role in Mork
and Mindy and in films such as Robert Altman's Popeye.
However, this particular 80s flick marked his first

(00:49):
significant dramatic role, showcasing that he could deliver
more than just his high energy comedic style.
The movie is loosely based on the real life story of Armed
Forces Radio disc jockey Adrian Cronauer, who often frustrated
his superiors by playing rock music and displaying a bold
sense of humor on air. Set in 1965, the film depicts
the US Armed Forces subtle escalation of the Vietnam

(01:12):
conflict as tensions began to rise.
It became one of the top films of 1987 and earned Williams his
first Oscar nomination. So jump in the military Jeep,
crank up the arm versus radio station, and don't forget to
flip them to bird as Nicholas Pepin, Chad Shepherd and I
discuss Good Morning Vietnam from 1987 on this episode of the

(01:33):
80s Split Flashback Pocket, Sean.
Hughes and all his teen dreams, monsages and themes in Ferris
Hands City fans living life. It's like it.
Never ends and 18 bikes to the sky but this club just getting

(01:55):
by. Radical dreams and daring
quests. Back then we were all very bad
but every day is just your fine booties.
Never say die. They're your minds and those
things we lose our minds. All right, welcome in 80s Flick

(02:18):
Flashback fans. I am Tim Williams, the creator
and host of the 80s Flick Flashback podcast.
So excited to have you with us today.
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(02:42):
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awesome 80s Slick Flashback merch and original designs.
We've got a double dose of awesome joining us on the 80s
Slick Flashback episode this time.
First up, he's a man who knows agood story when he hears 1, and
he's definitely not broadcastingfrom Saigon.
Please give a warm welcome to the fantastic Nicholas Pepin

(03:03):
from Pop Culture Roulette. How you doing Nicholas?
It's all right. Yeah, Wisconsin.
Definitely not Saigon. Big, big cultural difference
there and rounding out our dynamic duo.
He's ready to tell it like it iswith no sensors needed.
Get ready to salute the insightful Chad Shepherd.
How you doing, Chad? Doing good.

(03:24):
Glad to have you both. So good morning, Vietnam.
I will go ahead and say it. This is one of my favorite Robin
Williams movies. It's it's not my top favorite,
but it's definitely one of my favorites.
And I have a lot of nostalgia for this one.
So it's going to be fun to talk about.
Let's jump right in. Nicholas, when did you see Good
Morning Vietnam for the very first time?
I guarantee you that we rented it.

(03:47):
I would have been too young to be going to see in the theaters,
but my dad being a Vietnam vet and being a giant Robin Williams
fan, there's there's not a chance that we didn't rent this
movie when it came out. So I, I guarantee you I saw it
for the first time, you know, probably in 88.
Yeah, what about you, Chad? The first time I saw, I've seen

(04:09):
bits and pieces of this movie for like probably since 87, but
my my recollection of seeing theentire movie in its entirety,
well, it wasn't entirety. It was on television.
OK, it was either it's it's two possibilities.
Either it was we were on a vacation in Florida and we had
to stay in the hotel room, so wejust watched a movie instead, or

(04:32):
it was when my dad was servicingwas was in service during the
Desert Storm. He got sent to Valdosta because
of the guy the chaplain there got sent to Desert Storm.
You know, I saw it down there, but I saw it in its entire in a
in a hotel room. It was on TV.
They saw the edited version but.Gotcha, gotcha.

(04:53):
Yes, I remember seeing it. One of my favorite Robin
Williams movies too. I've I've had the I've had the
CD longer than I've had the movie.
Oh, the yeah, the the soundtrack.
I had the soundtrack, yes. Yeah, I had the soundtrack on
cassette and then I think I had the CD later, but yeah, that was
yeah. It's funny because if you don't
know, the soundtrack has a lot of snippets of Robin Williams,

(05:18):
like as Adrian Cronau are in between certain songs.
So there's a lot like when I watch the movie again, like I
know certain segments like by heart, just because I listen to
it so many times on the soundtrack.
I saw this. I was trying to, I was thinking
earlier today. I was like, I have a vague, very
vague memory. I think of seeing it in the
theater. If I did, it was like I went and

(05:39):
saw it with my dad because we typically saw like, so I don't
think we saw a lot of Vietnam movies, but we we, we usually
went to movies together and we were both, I was a huge Robin
Williams fan from work and Mindy.
I was a big fan of that show. And I hadn't really seen, I'd
seen Popeye, but I don't think I'd seen many of his other 80s

(06:01):
movies before then that I can remember.
I remember, I remember seeing itand, but I remember when we
first bought AVCR, which was probably late 1988 at the, we
were on base at Fort Meade and we bought the VCR on base and
they had the VHS movies you could buy.

(06:22):
And I was like, we bought AVCR, we need to buy some movies and
the 1st 2 movies we bought, and I may have mentioned this
before, was Lethal Weapon and Good Morning Vietnam.
So I watched those two movies over and over and over and over
and over again. So I knew those movies backwards
and forwards from being the first two VHS movies that we
owned. Of course we would still rent
stuff like every weekend, but those are the first VHS tapes

(06:45):
that I remember us purchasing so.
So I have once again, very fond nostalgic memories of this
movie. So when did you last see it
before you're watching it for the podcast, Nicholas?
You know, it's not a movie that I, I, I watch all that often.
So I, it's been a while. I can't tell you exactly when,

(07:08):
but it's yeah, I probably caughtit on TV, you know, or you know,
but because it's I mean, it is ait's one, I mean, obviously
since he was nominated for an Oscar, it's one of Rodney
Williams best of best roles, butit's not one that I want to
revisit all that often. It's it's a little bit, it's not
quite, you know, missed out fireor.

(07:28):
Right, right. Aladdin or even, you know, yeah.
Yeah, it definitely gets heavy towards the end, like it becomes
a heavier movie on the back halfof it.
I'm sure we'll get to it, but what about you, Chad?
When was the last time you watched it?
Gosh, it, it's been, it's been along time.

(07:48):
It, it wasn't that, that, that showing that I saw it in Florida
or wherever I was because I've seen it, I've seen it since
then, but I, I can't even remember.
So, like, I'd forgotten I signedup for this episode, actually.
But yeah, I had a feeling when yesterday, what movie are we
doing? So which movie is that?
Yeah, sorry about that. It's all right.

(08:10):
No. Hey, at least you had time to
watch it. Could have been the day of.
Yeah, I, I looked for streaming.Nope.
I had to go to my my dad's houseto go get my DVD.
And if you, if you could see me on camera, which you can't
because my camera's not working,I would show you the the DVD
cover that I have. So.
I actually got it on Blu-ray like maybe just a couple of

(08:30):
months ago because I knew we were going to do the episode.
I knew we were going to do it this year.
And I think at that time I was looking at 4 on streaming and I
couldn't find it anywhere. So I was like, oh, I'm going to
go ahead and get the DVD or the Blu-ray.
So I'll have it. And so, and because he was one
of like, I know I'm going to watch it again.
It's going to be one that I'm going to watch, you know, more
than once for the podcast. But I think it was probably,

(08:53):
man, it's probably been 10 yearsago now.
My friend Ron, who has been on the podcast before, he had never
seen it. And I've kind of picked this up
from him like usually on like a Memorial Day or July 4th, like a
patriotic holiday, He'll like, he'll want to watch a military
or like a war movie that he's not seen before.
And so he was like, I've never seen Good Morning Vietnam.

(09:13):
Have you seen it? I was like, yes, I've seen him
many times. And so we watched it on like, I
think it was like a Memorial Day.
We were both home from work and I came over and and we watched
it. That was his first time watching
something. That was the last time I watched
it all the way through. And even watching it then I was
like, I remembered all the the funny stuff.
Because once again, listen to the soundtrack over and over

(09:33):
again. That's what you mainly hear is
the funny stuff. So when it got to the back half
where it got much more serious, I was like, man, I kind of
forgot how how much drama is in the movie we're watching it
against. Because all the, the more
important parts that they, they show and of course they put it
in the, the soundtrack too, are his, you know, his radio checks.
So you know, his openings and his Closings and, and in between

(09:57):
songs and stuff. So yeah, you, you forget that,
you know, there's a whole drama between him and his the, the
friend that he gets and, and hissister that he likes and right.
Right, We kind of talked about the Vietnam movies and I thought
about this earlier and I've justpulled it up as like, of course,
the 80s was like the height of Vietnam movies.

(10:18):
And so this of course was one ofthem.
And it kind of got kicked off like really like middle.
I don't want to say Rambo kickedit off, but Ram, you know, first
Blood and Rambo are probably oneof the, you know, first ones.
You know, in the 80s, of course,you're coming out of the 70s,
you had like The Deer Hunter andApocalypse Now, but in in the
80s, some of the biggest ones that people know about or

(10:39):
remember is Full Metal Jacket from 87 Platoon in 86, Hamburger
Hill at 87 that I remember watching Born on the 4th of July
in 89. I always forget.
That's an 80s movie. I was looking it up in the 90's.
The Killing Fields in 84, Casualties of War in 89,
Uncommon Valor in 83. So those so that's just a
handful. There were so many of course,

(11:00):
you know, missing in action, which are a little, you know,
more actiony than really about the war itself.
And so and there was a show on the of the time called Tour of
Duty that I was a big fan of watching so.
And the A-Team. And the A-Team.
Yeah, exactly. I forget, You know, you kind of

(11:20):
forget until you. I wasn't like watching that.
That's where they're kind of like, that's how they got got
together was in Vietnam. So I remember watching this
movie as a kid and of course, being a huge Robin Williams fan,
of course I was drawn to the comedy.
But watching it now as an adult and knowing more of the history
of Vietnam and knowing more about, you know, the conflict

(11:41):
and everything, more of the backstory, what was happening around
at that time, it really puts in a different perspective.
And so it's yeah, it's, it's it gets gets gets a little rough
towards the end and what's but Iwill say that.
But at the same time, you go back and watch movies like
Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, and this is a very light Vietnam

(12:04):
movie. Like it's it's not as violent,
of course, or as graphic as those movies are, but it has its
moments in this one too. Without having done any research
on that side of it, it's rare orit was rare at the time to have
a, a, a comedy about war. I mean, it's it's, I mean it, I
feel like it's a little bit morecommon now.

(12:26):
Oh, yeah. But but you know, then like it
was, you know it and I know 1 and I'm sure it's in your notes
somewhere, that it was one of the things that people were a
little reluctant to even do the movie because they're like, why
would we let Robin Williams do awar movie?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
And even on the Blu-ray that I have, it's like one of the

(12:48):
little, you know, like little critic things like one of the
best warm war comedy since MASH.I'm like, it might be the only
war comedy since MASH when this came out.
So. So they did somewhat have, you
know, they knew that it could bedone from that.
And I honestly, I don't think I've ever seen the movie MASH.
I've seen the TV show, of course, because it was on all
the time as a kid. But I don't think I've ever

(13:09):
watched all of the movie versionof MASH.
MASH all the way through so. It's it's everybody.
It's hard to watch the TV show. Or maybe even more so.
Right, right. Yeah.
They say comedy. I remember laughing out loud.
There's definitely funny parts, but like.

(13:30):
Yeah, I wasn't saying I think the movie is more definitely
more dramatic than funny, where I think they they learn more on
the funny side on the TV show. But hey, they made Hogan's
Heroes was a comedy and it was about prisoners in a Nazi camp,
so you know. Yeah, that's a whole nother
podcast in of itself. Right.
We will. We're not going to go that,
we're not going to dive into that one.

(13:51):
But yeah, so all right, well, let's jump into story origin and
pre production. We kind of talked a little bit
about some of the setbacks, but I did find some interesting
things here. But as I mentioned in the intro,
it is based on a real life person, Adrian Cronauer, who in
1979 actually pitched A sitcom based on his experiences as an
American. I mean, sorry.

(14:13):
Yeah, American Forces, radio DJ.Although one of the most popular
television programs of the era was the Korean War period, Peace
MASH. The networks were not interested
because they did not see war as comedy material.
Cronau revamped his sitcom into a script for ATV Movie of the
Week, which eventually got the attention of Robin Williams.
Very little of Cronau's originaltreatment remained after writer

(14:35):
Mitch Markowitz was brought in. And so I found an article where
Mitch Markowitz talks about, youknow, getting the job.
And so this is his, this is, youknow, quoted from him.
He said my path to getting to write Good Morning Vietnam began
with Norman Norman Lear. He was like, he was actually ATV
scriptwriter. He said one summer around 8485,

(14:56):
I was in Vermont and I'd heard that Norman there was
vacationing near a place that I was staying.
I'd worked on a show he producedand then met him a couple of
times. So I called him up and we got
together. He asked what I've been doing,
and I told him I'd written a couple of spec scripts.
One of them eventually became a movie called Crazy People.
Norman liked the script, and he said he had a deal with a
producer who was Robin Williams's manager, and he
recommended that I meet with him.

(15:17):
When I did, he pitched me an idea for a buddy comedy about
Hollywood hair designers, which I spent a couple of weeks on.
But then when I came back to pitch it to him, he could tell I
wasn't very enthusiastic about it.
I admitted that I didn't understand it, and it seemed for
a second like I was going to give up my first job writing a
movie. But as I stood up to walk out of
the office, he said, well, I've got something else.

(15:38):
He told me about this movie about a guy named Adrian
Cronauer who had a radio show inVietnam in the 60s before things
heated up in the Vietnam War. There wasn't a treatment or
anything, it was just a one linedescription.
I was interested though, and I was hired to write it soon
afterwards. He then says, I met the real
Adrian Cronauer once, maybe twice.
Honestly, he wasn't interesting to me.
He was a nice man, but he was very square, a nerdy type guy.

(16:01):
I listened to some of his tapes of his show too, but they
weren't very humorous or inspiring either.
So I just went off and did my own thing, Which makes sense
because if you read any of that,there's a lot, there's a lot of
stories out there, like interviews with Adrian Konauer
and he'll talk about how much the movie is not really his life
at all or his experience in Vietnam.
But but yeah, I think I've seen a couple interviews and he's not

(16:25):
very charismatic at all, so. Does it seem to you or it does
to me that maybe Adrian, the real Adrian Cronow, are they
based him with Bruno Kirby's character, the way the way that
sounds? He thought he was funny but kind
of wasn't so. I didn't see anything that said

(16:46):
that, but that would that seems likely.
Like maybe that's why they wrotethat character for for Bruno.
Right, right, or. Or had that character in the in
the in the movie. So the real life, Cronauer said.
I'm very happy with the movie. Of course, it was never intended
to be an accurate point by pointbiography.
It was intended to be a piece ofentertainment and Robin Williams

(17:07):
was playing a character named Adrian Cronauer, who shared a
lot of my experiences, but actually he was just playing
Robin Williams, which I think isfairly accurate.
Williams stated that his portrayal of Cronauer in the
film was only about 5% characterand 95% of himself.
Commenting on his betrayal in the film, Cronauer added.
Anybody who's been in the military will tell you that if I
did half of the things in that movie, I'd still be in

(17:29):
Leavenworth right now. A lot of Hollywood imagination
went into the movie. I was a disc jockey in Vietnam
and I did teach English in my spare time.
Cronauer said that the film misrepresented him to make him
seem anti war when he was, in his own words, anti stupidity.
In fact, Cronauer, who later became a lawyer and died in
2018, became an active Republican, was a vice chairman

(17:51):
of the 2004 Bush Cheney reelection campaign.
None of the people in the film are actually based are based on
actual people who Cronin are met, although he described the
mystereotypes of military personnel who existed at the
time. For the scenes in which Crone
Our teaches his class to swear anew street slang, his pursuit of
a Vietnamese woman and his Jeep being blown up in the jungle,
among others, are constructs forthe plot and never happened to

(18:13):
Crone Our. He did, however, witness the
bombing of a restaurant that he'd only recently left and
clashed with Army censors when prevented from reporting it, so
that part was somewhat true. I.
Don't know if I saw Robin Williams character as anti war.
I don't either. I yeah, Going back and watching
it again, I was like, I didn't really feel that way about it.

(18:34):
Right. I don't I don't really feel like
he had an opinion of the War Oneway or the other.
He just wanted to report the facts and they wouldn't let him.
Like it wasn't like he was like,you know, oh down, you know, it
was just kind of, I could see the anti stupidity thing.
Yeah. Exactly, Yeah.
I never saw this one as an anti war movie like you know Full
Metal Jacket would have been or.Right, Right.

(18:56):
Yeah, I agree with that. According to Cronauer, he and
Robin Williams were forbidden byBarry Levinson, the director, to
meet each other because Levinson, quote UN quote, was
afraid that if Robin and I met, that Robin would somehow start
to do an unconscious imitation to me, which would change his
characterization. They eventually met at the
film's New York premiere. Yeah, I feel I feel more of his
stuff on especially on the air where it was more more like his

(19:20):
stand up. Yeah.
Oh yeah, stuff that you've seen on a stand up and more than
what? A ADJ.
You know, being one for myself. Oh yeah.
I would, yeah. That's more about like a stand
up routine than than anything. And you had said that like, they
had massively changed the scriptfrom what Adrian Cronow had
written to what the other guy wrote.

(19:43):
And then I don't know how much of what he wrote actually made
it into the film because Robin Williams kind of just did his
own thing, at least in the radiobits like.
Yeah, yeah, like the behind the scenes on the Blu-ray, Barry
Levinson says. Like, you know, he let Robin do
a lot of improv improvisation, but there were certain beats
that that that needed to be done.

(20:04):
So they have scenes of him like doing like lines of jokes while
he's on the air. But you can see he's reading
from notes, like certain things he's got to mention because it's
time of that time. Like the bits about Lyndon B
Johnson, the bits about the Queen of England, the Pope, Pope
on a rope. Like those kind of things, like

(20:24):
there are other variations of those jokes that he goes
through, but he's looking, you can see him looking at a piece
of paper like, OK, I got to talkabout this, talk about that.
But he's still adding his own, you know, comedic style and
impressions to like you. So it's like it feels like some
of the jokes are kind of alreadywritten, like just kind of small
parts and he's just taking that core of the joke and then
elaborating on it. So it's kind of interesting to

(20:45):
watch because I was like, it seems in the movie, it just
seems like it's so spur of the moment off the top of his head.
But then watching that, it's like, oh, there was there's a
lot of other pieces that they didn't use because they were
pulling the best of what they ofof what he did.
So which we talked about that inDead Poet Society.
I don't know on that episode, but.
Yeah, I was on that one episode,yeah.
Kind of the same thing where, you know, they they let him,

(21:06):
they let him roll and you can tell where even in this one you
can see some of the cuts was like, OK, he wasn't standing
there at that point. Or he you know, they almost have
to make it a montage because youhave to chop so much stuff up
you can't get it in one shot, so.
And I do wonder how much they cut of him teaching English,
because I've got you, those scenes went on for way longer.

(21:28):
Yeah, the the one guy. Gosh, I don't, I don't know
anybody's name. Yeah, yeah, the guy, the guy,
the guy was blah, blah, blah, blah.
He he seemed the most natural, like he was just like, I don't
think he would. To me it didn't seem like he was
actually acting. The the older guy that wanted to
play baseball. I think so, yeah.

(21:48):
He's the one. He's the one who would, toward
the end, he would ask him a question and he was like, no,
no, I don't want to do that. Yeah, something.
Yeah, he was. He's like somebody comes up to
you and they're they're trying to pick a fight with you.
What are you going to do? I just take it like I'm not
doing nothing and they're all laughing or.
Whatever. Oh, yes, That, that.
Yeah, that. And then, like Robin laughing at
all of them, like they were actually having a good time.

(22:09):
And. Yeah, yeah, I did.
I did really like those things too.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Like some of those, like, how
much of that was him really, like, just teaching them things
like what? How much of that was actually
scripted? How much was he just totally
riffing? And they're just going, you
know, following along. But the 80s Flick Flashback
podcast will return after these messages.

(22:35):
What seems to be the problem, pal?
There's so much pain in the world, so many issues, I don't
think I can bear it. Hell, friendo, it sounds like
you could use a dose of pop culture roulette.
Pop culture roulette? What's that?
Some sort of pop culture theme podcast or something?
That's right, Sonny boy. When hope seems far, dive into
some PCR. But I already get my

(22:55):
entertainment news from Variety that's pretty good if you're a
shucklehead. PCR gives you news you need
condensed, unfiltered and raw from three Nerd who know a
little something about something.
Wow, OK sign me up. That's the spirit.
Pop culture roulette. New episodes every Monday,
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(23:18):
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on the other side of the page. All right, well, let's jump into
casting. So of course, the great, the

(24:24):
late great Robin Williams. He received his first leading
role, leading film role in Popeye in 1980.
He was nominated for I'm Sorry. He won the Academy Award for
Best Supporting Actor for Goodwill Hunting in 97.
His other Oscar nominated foam roles included this one, Dead
Poets Aside in 89 and The FisherKing in 91.
We've done this filmography before.

(24:45):
I won't recap it, but you know how great Robin Williams is.
As Nicholas mentioned earlier touched on, pictures who are
part of the Disney empire considered the casting and Robin
Williams a bit of a gamble during production as he had yet
to become an A list actor and appeared in a string of
commercial flops for other studios.
Plus he had well publicized problems with alcohol and drugs
in the past. The film would also feature a

(25:07):
fair amount of profanity and rude humor which worried the
board. Plus it had a fair size budget.
It was thought that the film. If the film failed badly at the
box office, then Touchstone might either fold or go back to
making family friendly comedies like Splash Fortune.
The film became a financial and critical hit and propelled
Williams into a major name actor.
That wasn't the part about they were concerned about there being

(25:28):
a a war comedy, but. It's it's funny to think of they
thought of Splash as a family friendly comedy.
Go. Back and listen to that episode.
Yeah, yeah. And not as family friendly as I
remembered. As a kid, that is true.
Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, we've heard a few of those
lately. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Yeah. All right.

(25:49):
And then we've got Forest Whitaker as private at Private
Edward Garlic. After making his film debut in
Fast Times Original High, he went on to earn a Platoon, I'm
sorry, earn a reputation for intensive character study work.
Films such as Platoon in 86, Bird in 88, The Crying Game in
92, Phenomenon in 96, The Great Debaters in 2007, Panic Room in

(26:11):
2002, and Black Panther in 2018.So once again, Forest Whitaker,
another great actor. This is probably the first movie
that I this is probably the first movie I was introduced to
him because I didn't see Fast Times original high until much
later. So so whenever I would see him
again after this movie, I'd be like, oh, there's that guy from
Good Morning Vietnam. I remember him from that movie.

(26:32):
So any thoughts on Forest? I mean, we've covered him on at
least fast times. Yeah, I think we covered him in
Blood Sport too, because he has a big part.
Oh yeah. It's true, OK.
You and I've talked about him a couple times.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, well, well covered
already. One of my favorite characters,
Bruno Kirby as Lieutenant Stephen Hawk.

(26:53):
He's best known for his roles inCity Slickers, When Harry Met
Sally, The Godfather, Part 2, The Freshman Sleepers, and
Donnie Brasco. Yeah, he was one of my favorite
characters for sure. Lieutenant Steve.
Lieutenant Steve? Yes, Frenchie like that.
That whole bit is. Terrible.
I know in my heart I'm funny. Yeah, yeah.
No, you're not. No, I I love when he leans back.

(27:15):
It's like, I think some apologies are in order and
they're like, they're all looking like, dude, you're
that's so bad. It's so, so bad.
Any thoughts? I mean, I Bruno Kirby is
awesome. I love city slickers.
I love when Harry met Sally, like everything he's been in.
He's he's great. So I'm definitely a fan of Bruno
Kirby for sure. Yeah, I think this was my
favorite Bruno, Bruno Kirby role, definitely.

(27:39):
Yeah, it's tough because he's good.
I mean, he's great in City Slickers, he's great in Hermit
Sally as far as comedy movies. But yeah, this is this was this
the the character he plays is just so funny.
It's like that total, that totalawkward humor, like like Steve
Carell in the office or something like that.
It had that cringe factor. That's that's more what I what I

(28:01):
got gathered from him, but very,very cringy.
I was like, oh gosh, this guy, he doesn't know.
I love this whole bit about why don't you guys ever salute me.
Yeah, I am a Lieutenant, yeah. All right.
And then we got Robert Wool as Sergeant Marty Lee Drywitz.
Of course, we know him from Batman.

(28:23):
Bull Durham, we've covered on the podcast already, so you can
go back and listen to those episodes, but he's great in this
too. Another one of my favorite roles
for his like this one in Bull Durham are probably my my two
favorite with him. He's good in Batman too, but
these are more iconic. I mean, these are more him
being, he stands out a little bit more in in these these two,

(28:45):
I think. But that laugh that you have?
Doing that, sucking in the air. Yeah, drove me nuts.
And then JT Walsh, Sergeant Major Phillip Dickerson.
His many films include Ten Men in 87, a Few Good Men in 92, one
of the best ever, Hoffa 92, Nixon 95, Sling Blade in 96,

(29:09):
Breakdown in 97, in Pleasantville in 98.
But he is so good in this as thethe conniving Sergeant major
he's. So mean.
Yeah. Yeah, he did that so good.
And seemingly just for no reasonlike.
Yeah, yeah. They don't really give.
Yeah, They don't really give himany kind of back story to kind

(29:31):
of know why he's the way he is. But I love the line at the end
when he gets reassigned to Guam.Guam.
There's nothing going on in Guam.
He's like, I always let you do stuff because I thought you
were. I thought you were weird.
And I just realized you're just mean in this radio, you know,
like, that's just like a great, like, like I, you know, I've,
I've covered for you a lot, but I realized you're just mean.

(29:51):
And that's it. He was just a mean person.
So, yeah, I love it. And what was it?
Forest Whitaker says, you know, the rumors got shot in the butt,
but nobody's been able to confirm it.
Like, why He's why the way he is.
Yeah. Yeah, when I saw him in a Sling
Blade, I immediately thought that's the guy for that's the
that's the guy from Good MorningVietnam.

(30:14):
I was like, AI didn't like him in that.
Well, I didn't like the character like he did.
He did a great job playing the character that I didn't like.
He did. He did the same for Sling Blade
too. So good actor.
Just he made me hate his character and that's what he
was. You know I lost his job.
He has one of those like just a like he's more of a that guy.

(30:37):
I mean, he's I mean, because he doesn't necessarily play the
same character in every movie, but like he has the like he's
kind of typecast. Like he definitely he has a role
and he tends to fit it. And I bet you he's like the
complete opposite in real life because that's just how it seems
to be. But like, he's very good at

(30:59):
being that guy or that that kindof.
Yeah, very stern, like very straight laced kind of a
character. Like that's just, you know,
because even in A Few Good Men, he's not necessarily bad.
He's almost like the whistleblower kind of, but he's
still very like stoic and stern.Like he doesn't really show a
lot of emotions. Maybe it's what I'm trying to

(31:21):
say. Yeah.
Yeah, and then another. That guy who's been a ton of
stuff, Noble Willingham as General Taylor.
He's been in more than 30 feature films, including
Chinatown in 74, Grease Lightning in 1977, Norma Ray in
79, The Howling in 81, La Bamba in 87, City Slickers again in

(31:41):
91, The Last Boy Scout in 91, Let's see Ace Ventura Pet
Detective in 94. So yeah, but he's.
He's he was the owner, wasn't he?
The owner of the Dolphins. Yes, yeah, but just that Texas
drawl, like that southern drawl is just is that's that's what's
iconic about it. Every every role he plays.

(32:02):
Like I that just the way he the way he talks is just iconic.
But I I love him in as the bad guy in the last Boy Scout.
Like that's one of my favorite roles of his, just being the the
big baddie. And and and this is not a 80s
nor a flicks but he was in Walker Texas Ranger.
That's right. That's right.
That's what I remember him. He fit that mold very well.

(32:25):
Texas. He I'll never forget the line,
though. It's the it's the episode where
Haley Joe Osment was on there. Yeah.
And then it's very, very popular, mean now it's where
he's like, hey, little guy, how's it going?
Walker told me. I have AIDS and he's like, well,
part of my friends would. I'll be to him and he's got that

(32:47):
saying, yeah, that like you said, that guy, Texas draw.
I just saw that that clip like acouple of days ago was on.
Oh really? Yeah.
It's like a rant. It was like, I think Conan
O'Brien was like showing clips from Texas Walker, Texas Ranger,
and that was when they showed. So it's.
Oh yeah. He's.
Conan used to have the. I know this is a very off topic.
Conan used to have a, he had a, a handle next to the desk and he

(33:10):
said it was the Walker, Texas Ranger handle.
And then every time he would pull it, they'd play like a clip
from the Ranger. And that, that clip was like the
biggest one ever. I got the most laughs.
And yeah, yeah, anyway, sorry. No, that's that's fine.
So another that guy, Richard Edson.
I would never know that's this guy's name.

(33:31):
But that's Private Abbersold, I guess the right hand man to
Lieutenant. Where'd he go?
Lieutenant Hawk? Yeah, Lieutenant Hawk, But
you've seen him in Ferris Bueller's Day Off as the parking
garage attendant man at the newspaper stand and desperately
seeking Susan. He was Richie and Howard the

(33:53):
Duck, which I don't remember himat all In that one.
He was an 8 man out. He also appeared in Platoon
Tougher than Lever Leather, Let It Ride.
He was also in Do the Right Thing at 89, and he was in the
Super Mario Brothers movie in 1993 as Spike King Koopa's
cousin. He's definitely one of the
another one of those, one of those guys.
Yeah, like I said, Richard Edson, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be

(34:14):
able to pull that name ever for him.
So And then the last one I have on the list, Richard Portnow as
Dan the man Levitan. He's been in several films and
TV shows, including Barton Fink,Kindergarten Cop, Man of the
House, Sister Act 7, The Spirit,Law Abiding Citizen, Hannah

(34:35):
Montana, The Nanny, Underdogs, Boston Legal is, yeah, none of
that guy, but I definitely remember him as like, he too
plays like AI know he's like oneof the hench men and sister Act,
but yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, looking for web app
that's I forgot that I didn't realize it was him.
OK, Yeah, I. Rewatched Sister Act back around

(34:57):
Christmas and I completely forgot that Harvey Keitel is in
Sister Acts. Like, this is like unexpected,
like, let me watch this fun comedy.
And there's Harvey Keitel playing the gangster.
And like, that was interesting casting in 1991.
What? What a surprise.
Harvey Geitel playing a gangster?
Yeah. Yeah, in a comedy, though, in a

(35:17):
comedy, a musical comedy at that.
So he's got range. So I didn't mention the actors
that played the brother and sister that are kind of main
characters because they really didn't do anything else outside
of this movie. Like they had a few small roles,
but they were kind of, this was their kind of 1 and done film.

(35:38):
But I thought the the brother did really well.
Like I thought he was really good in the movie.
Yeah. I was kind.
I was kind of surprised to see that he didn't do more because
he did such a good. Job that last scene where you
know, he, you know, Adrian confronts him in the village or

(35:58):
whatever, he's crying and telling the story about what
happened to his family. Like I was like, man, how did
this kid not do anything after this movie?
He was so good. So anybody else in the cast that
I've missed or what want to talkabout?
I like Jimmy, the owner of the restaurant.
Oh yeah. Jimmy.
Jimmy Wan. Jimmy.
Wan yeah. Another one that didn't really
do much. I I thought he I really thought

(36:19):
he was like a like a Vietnamese actor, like he had just such a
presence of like being like that, you know, I've been in
movies kind of thing. But yeah, that is a funny
character, funny character. His, like I was saying, Walter
Brennan. Like I was saying before, a lot
of the the Vietnamese actors like him and and the people in
the classroom are just very natural.

(36:40):
So yeah, like for them not to doanything else, maybe they did
and maybe they did in their own country.
Or. Yeah, or, or something like
that. But yeah, but they were.
They're all really good, I thought.
Yeah, because this was actually filmed in Thailand.
They couldn't film in Vietnam, Iguess are too expensive, but
they filmed in Thailand. So it might have been a lot of

(37:01):
like Thailand actors. They're playing those roles.
Yeah, I didn't. There wasn't much on them what I
could find online for. Sure.
Well, according to Back to the Future two, it was after 2015
you were able to go to Vietnam and film or go on vacation.
Forgot. About that, yeah, it's like I'm
probably right. I just don't remember.
It's been a no. There was just in back future

(37:22):
too. There was a big sign that said
Vacation Vietnam. Right, right, and.
That was a big Dick because nobody went over there after the
war. So sorry.
No, you're right, because I mean, this is kind of somewhat
off topic because you mentioned it in that in that interview
with the screenwriter, he talkedabout how he wanted to go to
Vietnam to write the script, buthe wasn't able to because you

(37:43):
couldn't go there at that time. Like it you weren't allowed.
And he wasn't able to go until like 10 years or a couple years
after this movie came out. And he said when he went, it was
kind of a let down. He said because everybody
walked, there were no cars. Like a there was still like a
lot of army tank, American military army tanks just there
that were never removed. So it was like he's like a

(38:04):
really, it was really kind of depressing to see what Vietnam
became after the conflict was over.
So all right, let's talk iconic scenes.
So if someone says good morning,Vietnam, what's the first thing
that pops in your head? I think it's the same one
probably for all of us, but I'lllook.
I'll let Chad go first. Well, you know, that's that's
got to be all the the the actualradio scenes for just.

(38:28):
Him saying good, good morning, Vietnam, right?
Yeah, it it, it seemed like it got more and more.
He was like kind of like even even the scene where where
Forest Whitaker was like, hey, hey, guys, it's it's it's him.
It's Adrian Cronauer, Right. And like, they're like, OK, do
the thing, do the thing. And he's like, no, come on,
guys. And like, he got kind of tired.

(38:49):
But that first one, the first good morning and and the whole
like joke after joke after joke,stand up that he was doing.
That's that's, that's the iconicscene.
Are you Nicholas? Yeah, I mean, I, I was, I was
struggling to find iconic scenesbecause like, other than Good

(39:09):
Morning Vietnam and the way he said it, like there wasn't like
a lot of, and there's a lot of really good stuff in the movie,
but there wasn't really just any.
Like, I think that's just what people think of, you know, just
the way he he says, you know? Good.
You know, he really breaks into it, you know?
Yeah, yeah, I agree like I thought So I said, I kind of

(39:29):
seem like we're all going to saythe same thing.
It's it's that it's his first time saying, giving that my
first time on the radio that first, you know, opening scene
of him saying good morning Vietnam for the first time.
So. So let's talk about favorite
scenes. I really liked what we've kind
of already had. We talked about a few already.
I. Think we talked about most of
the him teaching English yes I mean any any time or any of the

(39:53):
radio scenes where he was just you know just riffing and going
into the you know and him being smart enough to like I mean,
granted some of it was scripted,but just the way his.
Because I've seen enough of his stand up, some of the older
stuff and some of the newer stuff, you know, the, you know,
the in between to know that likesome of those characters were
already in there, like, you know, the hairdresser character.

(40:15):
You know. Like the, you know, so like that
is just it was him kind of doinga stand up but being able to
work in all the historical accurate, you know, but I really
like that baseball scene at the end right before he was getting
shipped out. Like it was just him kind of
getting one last go with his students.

(40:36):
Yeah, well, he made a promise because like the very first
class, because we want to play baseball.
I want to play baseball. I'm going to try to work it out.
Like he kind of like brushed it off at the beginning, but he was
like, you know, I I need to fit,you know, like I said, he needs
to bring finality or some closure to that class and for
them to actually play baseball. And it it wasn't on the behind

(40:56):
the scenes, but actually saw a TikTok video where they were
interviewing. It might have been the script,
the scriptwriter, I don't remember.
I don't think it was Barry Levinson, but he was talking
about that scene, the baseball scene.
And he said that a lot of the class people were like, like,
they weren't all actors. They were like just regular
people they had picked up to be in the movie.

(41:16):
And so when it came to that scene, they literally were out
of money, so they couldn't get any baseball equipment.
And so somebody was like, what'sthe closest thing we can get?
And they literally looked down the street and saw like a stand
with all these like, you know, round fruit is like, let's use
that. And so that scene was kind of
like thrown together. And even the scene where he
comes up the the old guys come to like, you know, it's not a

(41:39):
big, real big, real baseball. It's too big.
He's like, that wasn't scripted.That was the guy.
Like, he just like he thinks that he thought that like Robin
Williams was the real English teacher.
Like he was like, like having that conversation.
You can see like watching it again, you can see Robin's like
doing the best I can. We, we have no money.

(41:59):
You know, it's like he's, I mean, he's almost like he almost
like he doesn't realize that thecamera's rolling.
He's like, we got to finish thisscene, man.
You know, I got to get on a plane or whatever.
So it's just, it's such a that, and I was going to say that's,
that is one of my favorite scenes.
And like now, knowing the story behind it makes it even better
because it it, it feels so natural.
I like that. Like the one of my favorites was
the well, just it's just a joke.When he was picked up at the

(42:23):
airport, him as far as Whitaker were driving and he he sees the
Asian woman and like, oh, there's the there's the my
future wife, there's the love ofmy life.
Right, right. They saw another one.
Wow, how'd she go so fast? It's just a different girl.
That was hilarious. I did.
I did. You mentioned it earlier too.
When when Lieutenant Hawk filledin, that was as as awkward as it

(42:47):
was. It was still it was still pretty
funny. That was a good scene too.
I guess being the radio guy, allmy favorite scenes are the radio
stuff. Yeah, I mean those, I mean,
those are those are for sure highlights of the movie for
sure. But yeah, I agree.
Like, but yeah, the the the first classroom scene of him
teaching them and then of coursethe one where he's teaching them
all the slang words and the one guy is like always behind

(43:08):
everybody else and flip them thebird.
So that that always makes me laugh.
But yeah, the base, the baseballscene at the end is probably my
all time favorite scene. So you got some favorite lines
in dialogue, ones that we can say on the.
OK, It's like there's my favorite line in the movie.
I can't remember. I can't.
Yeah. There's a few that I'm like, I
can't say this. All my my favorite line in the

(43:29):
movie is there at the end when he goes.
You're the in most desperate need of.
A yeah, yeah, the the white man in the most desperate need of
service. Yeah, yeah.
There we go. Services rendered.
That that was just that was thatwas that line the way they
delivered and then the tag when when the.
Yeah, the when the general, yeah, general says it in.

(43:50):
The general says it again, just laughing to himself.
Yeah. That good?
I got it. Funny.
Now that's funny. Yeah, yeah.
Gosh, one of my I don't even. I probably can't say it because
it's just the and then the culture we live in.
What is a predictive something? It's somebody wearing
comfortable shoes. Oh yeah.
So I I deleted some of the choice words, but that I love

(44:15):
that joke until now, I guess because I would, I would, I
would say that actually would, would tell some of my my lesbian
friends that joke and they're like, what what I was like.
It's from good morning Vietnam. Isn't that funny?
Like, no, not really. Probably not.
Yeah, not to me, Right. I thought it was funny.

(44:37):
Yeah, yeah, different time. Yeah, yeah.
There's always those cringey moments in the 80s movies.
We have to. Yeah.
Exactly so. It's it's not necessarily like a
favorite line or a favorite, youknow, like scene, but like, I
think being an adult now, I really appreciated that they
didn't force the relationship. Yeah, yeah, right.

(45:00):
They, they let it like he was trying to get with her and he
was courting her and going through that process.
And then like they didn't like force the scene where like, you
know, something had like they just, they just kind of were
like, Oh well, we, we were neveractually meant to be together,
but you know, that's just part. And like they basically just
like kind of shook hands. Like they didn't like it.

(45:22):
Just I really appreciated that they didn't force.
Yeah. Yeah, you know, a a love story
where I didn't really need to bepast where, where it went.
You know, it just it made more sense.
Yeah, I agree. No.
I agree because it was like at the beginning, like, oh gosh,
this is going to be another trope of, you know, typical

(45:45):
movie. And then even that conversation
where he was like, can we just be friends?
Just like, no, I can't be friends with you.
And it's like, but there's also scenes where they're with the
family where like the family's like trying to present her to
him, like we want you to marry her and take her away and, you
know, give her a better life. That what kind of where I took
it from. But she was like, no, I'm not,
you know her. But she was still standing
strong. Like, no, I'm not going to do

(46:06):
that. Whether that's because she knew
what her brother was doing or ifshe felt the same way that her
brother did that, you know, American killed, killed my
family. So why would I want to marry 1
SO or be in a relationship with the 1 SO?
So many movies just fall for, you know, fall into the trap of
the forced love story, you know,just having having a

(46:28):
relationship that just kind of ran its course, like naturally
like and didn't really have a lot of the elements that get
forced in there that a lot of other action movies or war
movies do for no, for no reason.Yeah, which I think makes the
baseball scene even better, because in any other movie that

(46:49):
would have been like the scene of him saying goodbye to her
after they'd fallen in love or whatever and had this
relationship, they couldn't continue.
And instead, like she wasn't even at the game.
Because of her, he met the classand the class became like this
extra family he had or these friends that he made while he
was there that he could connect to.
And so that was almost a better relationship than just having a

(47:11):
a girlfriend relationship. Yeah, she was barely in the end
of the movie. Like he can't, he found her,
right? You just ask her, hey, where's
your brother? When they found out about him
being a part of the the bombing and stuff.
So. And well, some of some of the
lines already on my my favorite joke that I I got.
Most of these are jokes, but wasand I understood this better as

(47:33):
I got older. But when he's him and Sergeant
Major Dickerson or, you know, inone of their moments and he
calls him Sir, he's like, Sir, he's like, what does 3 up and
three down mean to you Airmen? End of an inning.
And so it's like, and so in the feeling of my dad retired as a
Sergeant major. So when I would see his his

(47:55):
patch, I was like, you know, three up and three down.
I get, you know, I get the reference and then I'll have to
edit this one too. But one of my favorites is when
Lieutenant Hawk and Dickerson are talking to General Taylor
about reinstating Cronauer, talked about him making fun of
former VP Richard Nixon and Stephen Hawks is respectfully

(48:18):
Sir, the former VP is a good man, a decent man, and he says
bull. I know Nixon personally.
He loves a train load of crap behind him that could fertilize
the Sinai. Why wouldn't buy an apple from
that son of A and I consider hima good close personal plan that
just one of the best lines. It is just like that is so funny
when Lieutenant Hawk is like I guess fussing at the the airmen

(48:44):
about and then some at the the the PC the press conference and
Forest Whitaker's like you know,he likes to say PC instead of
press conference. And so while they're talking and
then Hawk goes. And if they do?
And if they do? And then after that scene when
they all leave, you hear all theguys and then you do like they

(49:05):
imitating, which I thought was hilarious.
That's one of my favorites too. So that's what I got for my
favorite. Favorite lines I got.
Of course I have another one, but I'm saving that for the end.
So hope hopefully you got. I was hoping you guys wouldn't
bring that one up. So I hit a few of these.
The rest I'll put in the show notes for the sake of time.
So twice in the film, Adrian hasseen pulling out The Beatles
help album from the station's collection, but no Beatles songs

(49:28):
are ever heard in the soundtrack.
No Beatles songs are played because at that time, the
copyrights of their songs had not been released for use in
movies or any other media outlets.
I didn't notice that. That's the help album.
Yeah, Michael Jackson had. Michael Jackson hadn't bought
those. Yeah, right, right.
He sold them to Nike first. Anyway, it was going to be more
money. Well, Paul told me to do it, so

(49:48):
I didn't. Let's not, let's not speak I'll
of the late, great Michael Jackson.
Anyway. According to director Barry
Levinson, the scene where Cronauer entertained the
truckload of GIS during a traffic jam was written during
principal photography. He realized there needed to be a
scene where Cronauer connected with the troops face to face.
Many of the extras portraying American soldiers in the scene

(50:09):
were not Americans who spoke no English, but Robin Williams's
enthusiastic physical comedy still made them laugh.
That's hilarious. Yeah, they didn't get the joke,
but he was just so enthusiastic about it and laughed anyway.
Right? That's all.
That's just talent. I meant to go back and like see
if this is a true fact. So this will be my rumor fact of

(50:30):
the of the show. After Adrian Kronora left Armed
Forces Radio, several disc jockeys would take over a show
on Armed Forces Radio, opening the show with the famous line
Good Morning Vietnam. One of those disc jockeys would
be none other than 22 year old Pat Sajak who did the show from
1968 to 1969. Somebody Fact Check and let me

(50:50):
know if that's true or not. Send us an e-mail.
I had read that as well, but I Ialso didn't independently Fact
Check it. Yeah, it's like it seems like it
seems like a cool story if it's true.
But I didn't, I didn't, I didn'tFact Check it.
So the 80s Flick Flashback podcast will return after these
messages. What's up, dudes?

(51:10):
I'm Jerry D of Totally Rad Christmas, the podcast that
talks all things Christmas in the 80s.
Toys, movies, specials, music, books, fashion and fads.
If it was gnarly during Christmas in the 80s, he's got
it covered. Wait, is there a lot of things
to talk about for the 80s and Christmas?
Well, you got the movie giants like Christmas Vacation,
Scrooged and A Christmas Story. There are TV specials like

(51:32):
Muppet Family Christmas, Claymation Christmas Celebration
and a Garfield Christmas Special.
Plus classic shown every year. You also jam out to last
Christmas. Do they know it's Christmas and
Christmas in Hollis? But most of all, it was a time
for the most bodacious, best selling Christmas toys ever like
he man GI Joe Transformers. And Cabbage Patch Kids.
Yes, them too. We cover them all plus much

(51:54):
more, including standard segments like Hap Hap, Happiest
Memory, Gagging with the Spoon, The Other Half of the Battle and
Chant with the Littles. So TuneIn to Totally Rad
Christmas everywhere you get your podcasts, turn the clock
back and dive into those warm and fuzzy memories.
Later, dudes. Let's jump in the box office

(52:16):
start Wrap this one up. Good Morning Vietnam had a
limited release at just 4 theaters for Christmas of 1987,
but opened nationwide on January22nd, 1988.
It landed at #1 at the box office and remained in the top
spot for nine straight weeks. Wow, 9 weeks in a row.

(52:36):
It was #1 It was one of the mostsuccessful films in 1987.
Become the becoming the fourth highest grossing film of the
year. And it didn't get a wide release
until 88. Right.
Yeah. But it won 87.
That's that's. Yeah, I thought, I thought that
I was like, I guess, I guess if it were even if it releases an
87, they consider the full box office run rings it for 87.

(52:59):
Because I know I think about we saw that before like movies that
come out in in December, like how can you still be listed in
the 87 even though most of your money was made in 88?
But I guess it's based on the release date, not when it was
taken out of the theaters. That seems spurious at best.
Yeah. But yeah, it was like it was
yeah, for like 4 weeks. It was at 4 theaters and then

(53:22):
the week before the full wide release, it was like in 700
theaters and it's still made it to #1 when that week and then
the following week it was like over 1000 theaters.
So I used the 22nd was when it actually went to like 1000
theaters, so almost a full monthbefore it went wide.
Thinking probably back then it had to be released before 88 to

(53:44):
be eligible for the Oscars for that award season because it was
in the 88 Oscars. So all right, well, let's talk
about. Let's jump to the rewatch
ability nostalgia meter. It's our new segment.
We take a look at how well the 80s flick holds up today.
It's our way of measuring how enjoyable a movie is for repeat
viewings along with the waves and nostalgia it brings.
Here's how it works. It's a one to 10 scale.

(54:06):
Any number between 1:00 and 10:00 will do.
But there are a few parameters to help you decide because I
think this is the first time Chad's been on an episode with
the rewatch Ability nostalgia meter.
Number one, you can say is I sawit once and that was enough.
Right in the middle of #5 is a good rewatch every couple of
years. And at the very top of the
meter, the highly coveted 10 is a highly rewatchable and full of

(54:28):
nostalgia film. So I'll.
So since it's Chad's first time,I'll let Nicholas go first so we
can kind of think about it. But Nicholas, where does Good
Morning Vietnam land for you on the rewatch Ability nostalgia
meter? I have to put some caveats here.
I figured you would go for it. Because I'm going to give it a.
5. But that's go ahead, but that's.

(54:52):
Not. Not I'm not saying it's not a
great movie. It's not one of Robin Williams
best. It's just not a movie that I'm
going to sit down and rewatch all that often.
It's not, it's not a fun like a,you know, like it's not a fun
rewatch. Like it's, it's not like the the
movie as a whole is not a fun. Yeah.
Not a not a fun movie as a. Whole as a rewatch, I mean, it

(55:15):
is better than a lot of other movies that I've definitely
given higher scores to. I'll use more than one of the
more recent episodes that I did with you.
UHFI gave. I gave that one.
AI think I gave that. One A10 you did?
Wow, but. That's because I can sit down
or. Rewatch UHF like without having

(55:36):
to pay attention to it or without you know, you know, I'm
you know, you guys apparently also have military fathers.
You know, my my dad's getting closer to 80 and so he him and I
have spent some time talking about his time in Vietnam.
We recently did the Honor Flightthing that so you know my dad.
And I last summer. Went and and toured the Vietnam

(55:59):
War memorial there in DC and andspent so like yeah, he he
finally opened up and told me a lot of stuff so that it had
there's a different tint to thismovie now than there would have
been. So this is not a movie that like
it's a very good movie. It's very you know I understand
why Robin Williams got nominated.
I think I also understand why hedidn't win that one, but at the

(56:23):
same. Time like.
I don't know if I could. Just like, it's not like on a
Saturday afternoon, I'm going tobe like, you know, what movie I
really want to watch. Yeah.
So that's. So like I said, like it we're
good the two different scales that we, you know, I've talked
about on past episodes, like there's the great movie scale
and then there's like the rewatchable scale.
And you're asking me rewatchable.

(56:44):
So I'm giving it A5. If this was on like the great
movie scale, I'd probably be giving it like an 88.5.
And that's what the skill. That's what that's why.
The meter was created by me because it's nostalgia and
rewatch ability like how does itrank and that not where does it
land with the critics as being aquote UN quote, perfect movie or

(57:05):
great movie. So, right.
All right, Chad, you're up. Where does it land for you?
I think I'm going to have to saythis to.
Me, I'm I'm right there with with with a necklace was saying
on all that, but being being in in the radio business and and
kind of just like, Hey, I I wantto go to work every day and be

(57:27):
Robin Williams. I'm not right, I mean, but you
know, if I went, as long as you're not Lieutenant Hawk, I
think you're OK. I I hope I'm.
Not I really. Hope I'm not.
I don't claim I'm funny. Let me on.
I'm funny, right, No, but but being that you know, you know,

(57:50):
and the great music that I likedin it, like a lot of the stuff
that I grew up with, the oldies that were in it that I grew up
with, I'm going to have to say A7 OK, from for mine.
And. Yeah, yeah, my dad was in in
Vietnam as well. He talks about some some things.
Not, not a lot of stuff. I don't I'm not sure exactly.
I don't think anything crazy happened to him, but he has told

(58:12):
me some interesting stories. But but yeah, but watching it
for the radio aspect and if you and if you're just Robin
Williams being Robin Williams and and like I said, doing a
stand up and pretty much, you know, I have to say seven.
Yeah, yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm.
Kind of I'm definitely closer toChad than Nicholas on this one.

(58:34):
But I think even though it's nothighly rewatchable, like it's
not one I'm going to want to watch every year.
I'll probably watch it every couple of years.
But the nostalgia factor is veryhigh for me because mainly
because of the soundtrack, because I listened to that so
much and heard those, the DJ bits that were on there, That's
what I remember. And that's like watching it

(58:55):
again, like being able to quote those things with him and
knowing what he's going to say. It ranks pretty high, but it
can't over it can't overlap the rewatch ability because it's a
rewatch ability in the in the nostalgia meter.
So I'm going to give it about a I'm going to give it like a 7.5.
I was almost going to give it an8, but I think because it's not
one that I'm going to watch likeas frequently like, and this is

(59:17):
good. I think it's I'm with you,
Nicholas. This is a good one to put on
like every five or six years, like every couple years.
It's good to rewatch because youhaven't seen in a while, but
it's not one like I said it because it gets heavy on that
back end. It's not something I'm going to
want to watch on a regular basis, but it does bring up it
does bring up a lot of nostalgiafor me.

(59:39):
That's enjoyable. So so 77.5 for me.
Well, listeners, where does it rate for you?
Please let us know. Send us a message on Facebook,
Instagram, not Twitter, on YouTube.
Or you can send us an e-mail at [e-mail].
Want to hear what you think about it and where it lands for
you? So, all right, gentlemen.

(01:00:03):
I think we've covered. It anything else you want to add
about Good Morning in Vietnam before we wrap it all the way
up? Think I've covered.
Everything I want to cover. Like so.
All right. Good deal.
Well, thank you both. For joining Nicholas, what you
got coming up on the Pop CultureRoulette podcast for the end of
May going into Memorial Day weekend, We don't tend.

(01:00:24):
To plan as far out as you do, wejust.
Kind of take things as it goes. So, you know, I think because of
the Mother's Day episode, we just did that.
We did. I'm probably going to be forced
to do a Father's Day episode. OK, So that's going to be coming
up in June. That's.
That's going to be coming up in June.
OK, something to look forward to.
I like it. And Chad, how are things in the

(01:00:46):
radio world? Very good.
Very good. I don't.
I'm not sure if I've been. On since I don't know when the
last time I was actually on yourone of your shows.
It's been a minute. I know you were doing
afternoons. Yeah, yeah.
I just started started. Doing afternoons about almost a
year ago then of this month all done Been been there doing it a
year. Full full afternoon.

(01:01:08):
So very cool, having a good time.
And still enjoying. It yeah, so so if you're in the.
Georgia South of Atlanta area near Jackson.
That's where Chad is on the radio station, so you can plug
the station if you want to. It's WJ.
GA 92.1 FM Yep, and it's in the afternoon.

(01:01:30):
Yeah. And so it's, it's all different
types of music. Like it's not a specific type of
radio station. Yeah, we it's our our slogan is
we play. Whatever we like.
Yeah, sometimes it is. Sometimes it's not.
We also have. You know.
We have gospel programs that I used to do just on Saturdays,
and we also have church programming.

(01:01:51):
But during the week, yeah, it's.We do.
It ranges from country to oldiesto classic rock to, you know,
all kinds of different, different styles, genres of
music. Yeah.
Something for everybody. Exactly, Exactly.
All right, gentlemen, thanks so much for being a part of the.
Podcast, thank you everybody forlistening.

(01:02:12):
Thanks for tuning in. I'm Tim Williams for the 80s
flick flashback podcast. Excuse me Sir, seeing how the VP
is such AVIP, shouldn't we keep the PC on the QT?
Because if it leads to the VC, we could all invent Mia and then
we'd be put on QP, yes. I got it in one breath.
Yeah, that's awesome. Dude talking.
The 80s we will run. Where every day is just pure

(01:02:36):
fun. Cooties never say thy they're
your minds. In those films, we lose our
minds. John Hughes and all.

(01:03:00):
His teen dreams, monsages and simple themes.
In fairest hands, the city bends.
Living your life like it never ends.
You still here? It's over.

(01:03:21):
Go home. Go.