MovieChat Forums > Good Morning, Vietnam (1988) Discussion > Attention all posters! I need your help ...

Attention all posters! I need your help to resolve a disagreement.......

posted 20 years ago by mitchmitchell
77 replies | jump to latest

Okay, here it is.

I am of the opinion that this movie is not a Vietnam movie, but my colleague disagrees with me.

His point is that it is a Vietnam movie because A: It has Vietnam in the title and B: it's set in Vietnam.

My point is that it's not a Vietnam Movie because, well, it's just not. It's a Love Story, that is set in vietnam, but is not actually a Vietnam Movie.

If someone says that last night they saw a Vietnam Movie, you wouldn't ask them if they saw this movie, you'd probably ask if they watched 'Platoon' or 'Apocalypse now' or even 'full metal jacket'.

Anyone see what I'm saying here? A Vietnam movie is about a guy or a couple of guys who get thrown into the darkest, deepest, world of hell you could ever imagine. They shoot a couple of people, get into more trouble, smoke some ciggarettes, shoot some more people, wade through water with guns held high, get bitten by a snake, get drunk, get laid, get their legs blown off, shoot some more people and by the end of the movie - they have changed their perspective on life, war and Jimi Hendrix.

THAT'S a vietnam movie.

Not some DJ chasing after a girl, cracking jokes.

Ay, don't get me wrong, Robin Williams is a great actor an' all, but this is no Vietnam Movie!

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Okay, all I need is a few good posters, to agree or disagree, be as detailed as you like, but this argument needs resolving FAST.

Thanking you all in advance,

MM

[–] laranadtony 19 years ago

I am not political at all but I believe this movie is about the secrecy the media was under and one man's determination to let it be known that it was much worse than we were being told.It did not surround a love story.It surrounded the idea that the soldiers were being lulled into a false sense of security by not being told what was happening over there.The "love story" was a side note ,nothing more.

Anyone who watches "Pulp Fiction" should get a phone call in which someone says"seven days"!!

[–] KingKongCompany 19 years ago

This is totally a Vietnam movie. Mundane as it is to agree with all these other poster, i feel like pitching in my "two cents".

To say it is not a Vietnam movie, is to narrow the definition of what a Vietnam movie is. Yes it is not focused on the grunts eye view of the conflict. But does a conflict involve purely grunts? If you define it as invovling purely grunts, then the question your actually asking is, is it a Vietnam war film.

But to say that it wasnt about the Vietnam conflict, and was a love story? That just seems puzzling, what about the social commentary on the military media censorship. The struggle seen from the Viet Cong perspective. (albeit, there wasnt much shown in this film, but its more than is shown in the entire plot of Apocalypse Now and Platoon put together)

Secondly, the Vietnam conflict threw up a whole mileau of issues. There was the battle on the homefront over whether the conflict should be even taking place. So therefore a film about the Vietnam conflict can take place in any of these arenas.

A war isnt just fought on a battlefield.

[–] lester-peters 19 years ago

To me it's a Vietnam film because it's based on the very real DJ Adrian Cronauer who really was drafted into Saigon. Sure, it's centre of attention is Cronauer and not the war but that doesn't stop it being a Vietnam film.

[–] TheWarlock1176 19 years ago

OK...I'll be the major dissenter and say that it is NEITHER...

This is a satire of war and the military and the "military mind"...

It is not a Vietnam movie...nor is it a love story...it is intended to show the folly of war and regulations in a chaotic environment such as the Vietnam war.

[–] holly-strop 19 years ago

It is based on a true story about a soldier who was in Vietnam durning the war. It is Vietnam movie--with a romantic adventure.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tallard 19 years ago

It's a vietnam movie cuz it was the beginning of caucasian men getting horny over asian women. I liked this movie when it came out, I have since changed my mind.

[–] MovieGeek124 19 years ago

It's a Vietnam Movie.

[–] Elmware 19 years ago

It's a movie about a guy who made a difference to the soldiers who fought in Vietnam by doing what he did best, and that is to make people laugh every morning. This guy gave the soldiers something to look forward to the next day which helped to reduce the amount of casualties on their own side. So I'd say this was a vietnam movie, but not a war movie, eventhough the US Army was in it.

I don't disagree about the part of it being somewhat of a love story. It's too bad that she was supposed to be an enemy.

[–] JoJo31 19 years ago

It's a Vietnam movie . . .