Great Scene: “Good Morning, Vietnam!”

It’s Adrian Cronauer’s first broadcast … and the thrill of watching Robin Williams’ improvisational skills.

This 1987 movie was directed by Barry Levinson and written by Mitch Markowitz.

IMDb plot summary: In 1965, an unorthodox and irreverent DJ named Adrian Cronauer begins to shake up things when he is assigned to the U.S. Armed Services radio station in Vietnam.

As this scene demonstrates, the script features Markowitz’s dialogue which inspired Williams, but his performance on screen is pure Robin Williams.

Here is the movie version of Cronauer’s first appearance live on radio.

Here is Barry Levinson talking about how he worked with Williams taking advantage of the actor’s improvisational genius.

Here is a video featuring the real Adrian Cronauer.

We miss Robin Williams and are thankful for scenes such the one above from Good Morning, Vietnam! to remind us of his extraordinary talent.

For more posts in the Great Scene series, go here.