Good Morning, Vietnam (DVD)

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Director Barry Levinson and screenwriter Mitch Markowitz could have just let Williams go on for two hours improvising skits on the radio show, with the location shooting in Thailand lending a note of authenticity to the proceedings, but they figured the movie audience might want a plot, too. And therein lay the problem for them and the movie. The story line tries to combine Williams' impromptu stand-up act with a slight variation on the movie "M.A.S.H." It's no "M.A.S.H." Williams and the movie are better off when they stick to improv. When the movie ventures into plot, it becomes melodramatic and close to maudlin. When it stays on the airwaves, it's far more engaging.

Video:
The picture quality was decent on the previous edition, but this time out it's better. Buena Vista again remastered the film in something close to its original 1.85:1 screen ratio, nicely filling out a 16x9 television with its anamorphic dimensions. With a higher bit rate than before, the colors are deeper and less washed out, with just a tinge of grain across the image. It's an improvement over the glassy tones one sometimes finds in DVD transfers, even if the image is still a little soft in its object delineation.

Audio:
The sound is pretty much as it was the first time around, with the English soundtrack coming up well in Dolby Digital 5.1, at least in the front channels. However, the surrounds are used only sparingly. There is some especially deep bass that will satisfy the listener who owns a good subwoofer, but for the most part the audio is pretty subdued. For this special edition, the French track is now also in DD 5.1.

Extras:
On their initial DVD release of "Good Morning, Vietnam," Buena Vista offered virtually no extras. This time out, they've added several bonus items, which probably say as much about the film as we need to know. The main item is a thirty-four-minute "Production Diary," divided into six chapters: "How the Movie Came to Be," "Actor Improv," "Music of the Movie," "Origin of the 'Good Morning, Vietnam' Sign-on," "Shooting in Thailand," and an "Overview of the Film a Year Later." Of the bunch, I most enjoyed listening to the real Adrian Cronauer explaining how he created the sign-on, with his emphasis on a very long "Goooooooooooooooooooooooood" to cover for his occasional lack of preparedness in the mornings. The "Diary" is followed by about thirteen minutes of raw monologues, basically nonstop Williams from which many of the movie's clips were taken.

The extras conclude with ten scene selections, down from twenty-two in the previous edition (do chapter stops take up that much space on a disc? I dunno); an original theatrical trailer and teaser, both in fullscreen; Sneak Peeks at seven other BV titles; English and French spoken languages; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Parting Shots:
"Good Morning, Vietnam" is a movie that probably only the improvisational Robin Williams could have pulled off. He's irreverent, impulsive, and often amusing. But don't expect another "M.A.S.H.," which made a strong antiwar statement without ever taking itself too seriously. Skipping the last twenty minutes of "Good Morning, Vietnam" might not be a bad idea (and DVD makes it easy to do). Williams can be a joy in any case, even if the movie gets too heavily, too obviously, and too often into pure "message."

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