good morning , vietnam is a 1987 american military comedy-drama film written by mitch markowitz and directed by barry levinson .

set in saigon in 1965 , during the vietnam war , the film stars robin williams as a radio dj on armed forces radio service , who proves hugely popular with the troops , but infuriates his superiors with what they call his " irreverent tendency " .

the story is loosely based on the experiences of afrs radio dj adrian cronauer .

most of williams ' radio broadcasts were improvised .

the film was a critical and commercial success ; for his work in the film , williams won a golden globe award for best actor – motion picture musical or comedy and was nominated for an academy award for best actor .

the film is number 100 on the list of the " american film institute 's 100 funniest american movies " .

good morning , vietnam

good morning , vietnam <EOT> get quick answers from good morning vietnam italian restaurant pizzeria staff and past visitors .

good morning , vietnam proved that robin williams could act and be hilariously funny in the same film .

if you want to answer the questions , " who starred in the movie good morning , vietnam ? " and " what is the full cast list of good morning , vietnam ? " then this page has got you covered .

looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing good morning , vietnam near you .

this cast list of who was in good morning , vietnam includes both lead and minor roles . ( 43 items )

featured in good morning , vietnam / leonard part 6 / eddie murphy raw / housekeeping / siesta ( 1987 ) . see more »

good morning , vietnam cast list , listed alphabetically with photos when available . this list of good morning , vietnam actors includes any good morning , vietnam actresses and all other actors from the film . you can view additional information about each good morning , vietnam actor on this list , such as when and where they were born . to find out more about a particular actor or actress , click on their name and you ' ll be taken to page with even more details about their acting career . the cast members of good morning , vietnam have been in many other movies , so use this list as a starting point to find actors or actresses that you may not be familiar with .

actor robin williams in character as air force disc - jockey adrian cronauer in director barry levinson ' s 1987comedy drama , " good morning vietnam . "

as " good morning , vietnam " takes place two decades ago , one of walker ' s first tasks was to import vintage props and materials .

just how much of the fresh , cheeky williams brilliance was going up the chimney can now be seen in ' ' good morning , vietnam . ' '

actor robin williams , who died on monday , got his breakout movie role in " good morning vietnam , " a fictionalized account of adrian cronauer ' s stint in vietnam as an air force disc jockey .

adrian cronauer , left , shown in a 1987 photo , talks with army times about actor and comedian robin williams , who portrayed cronauer in the 1987 movie " good morning vietnam . "

real - life ' vietnam ' dj recalls williams ' portrayal actor robin williams , who died on monday , got his breakout movie role in " good morning vietnam , " a fictionalized account of adrian cronauer ' s stint in vietnam as an air force disc jockey . check out this story on urltoken urltoken

in looking for a suitable location to film " good morning , vietnam " levinson and johnson , accompanied by production designer roy walker , explored many possible sites before settling on the bustling capital .

in working together on " good morning , vietnam , " robin williams and his lovely co - star , like their celluloid counterparts , learned to communicate with each other without the benefit of a shared language .

what you end up with in " good morning , vietnam " is a peculiar hybrid - - a robin williams concert movie welded clumsily onto the plot from an old danny kaye picture . and neither half works .

" there is no stock footage in ' good morning , vietnam , ' " emphasizes mark johnson . " everything in the film , including the montage sequences that resemble old newsreel material , was created especially for this movie . "

everyone thinks they’re a comedian . or , at least , they do behind the ranks in saigon , vietnam in the 1987 film “good morning , vietnam . ” adrian cronauer ( played by a 36 - year - old robin williams ) is flown in from the isle of crete , to be a radio dj and provide a much - needed morale boost for the american troops . but there’s a war at the radio station when adrian’s quips fail to make some of his superiors laugh . things get political when adrian learns hard lessons about whose side he’s really on during the vietnam war . it’s been 25 years since this bunch of wisecracks teamed up for “good morning , vietnam” and our friends at urltoken find out where they are now . photos : see all the pics of ' good morning , vietnam’ – where are they now 25 years later

recognizing its value as a motion picture property , brezner and client robin williams engaged markowitz to write the screenplay and then approached the team of producer mark johnson and director barry levinson about bringing " good morning , vietnam " to the screen .

stepping off the plane in bangkok , where principal photography on " good morning , vietnam " took place , both the cast and the british - american crew had an immediate " sense of place , " as the temperature registered near 110 degrees .

make no mistake about it : mr . williams ' s performance , though it ' s full of uproarious comedy , is the work of an accomplished actor . ' ' good morning , vietnam ' ' is one man ' s tour de force .

good morning , vietnam made him a movie star . he’d done some movies but they hadn’t worked on a popular basis . the audiences knew adrian cronauer was the role robin was destined to play . the moment it opened he was a movie star .

the first time i met him was a luncheon just before we went to bangkok for four months to film good morning , vietnam . it was a transformative film for barry [ levinson , who directed ] , for robin [ williams ] and for me .

in a strange , subtle way , “good morning , vietnam” is not so much about war as it is about stand - up comedy , about the need that compels people to get up in front of the room and try to make us laugh - to control us .

good morning , vietnam was comedian robin williams’s breakthrough film that transformed him into a major star . loosely based on the true - life experiences of adrian cronauer as a broadcaster for armed forces radio during the vietnam war , the film not only portrays cronauer’s battle with the military censors , but also shows the deadly consequences when censorship is applied in an arbitrary fashion .

robin williams is the heart and soul of everything this film is , finding a perfect balance between his frantic comedy and weighted dramatics . if you ' re going to watch ' good morning vietnam ' , you ' re going to watch it for robin williams and robin williams alone .

biography , " and there was a morning man there by the name of reeves cordick and he sort of owned morning drive - time radio . my conception of what a good morning show should sound like was pretty much what cordick did , so i deliberately fashioned and modeled my show on that . " once he was stationed in vietnam , cronauer tried to duplicate the sound of stateside radio by including top 40 hits with his comic monologues which were usually pre - recorded . however , unlike the character in the film who gets shipped stateside early , cronauer served his full 12 - month tour in vietnam .

robin williams was finally given a showcase for his extraordinary improvisational skills in this , the first comedy set in vietnam . based on the story of real - life armed forces radio disc jockey adrian cronauer , good morning , vietnam begins in 1965 , as cronauer ( williams ) arrives in saigon , imported because his comedic broadcasts have proven a huge morale - booster . . . read more

rounding out the cast is a quartet of actors who are alumni of levinson ' s previous film " tin men ; " bruno kirby , j . t . walsh , richard portnow and ralph tabakin lend their considerable talents and professionalism to " good morning , vietnam " as cronauer ' s fellow servicemen .

unaware of how fertile the land was , walker and his co - workers planted a rice field in the area surrounding their constructed community of huts . the rice grew in so quickly , though , that the " good morning , vietnam " team had to harvest the crop and replant before shooting could begin .

" ' good morning , vietnam ' is not an easy film to label , " concludes mark johnson . " audiences will discover that although it is set against a serious backdrop , it has great humor . i find the co - existence of these two elements in one movie to be very exciting . "

" from the very inception of the project , " remarks producer larry brezner , " the dream was to make ' good morning , vietnam ' as a metaphor for the war . in early 1965 , no one was taking the vietnam situation very seriously , but by the end of the year , the number of troops had increased by the thousands . 1965 was the year that jekyll became hyde . "

for the final week of shooting , the " good morning , vietnam " unit moved to phuket , a lush tropical island located at the southern tip of thailand . it was in the remote area that roy walker and his associates built the vietnamese village that appears in the film as tuan and trinh ' s home .

" it ' s not necessarily the situation that has to be funny , but what the characters do and say in the situation that produces laughter , " comments levinson . " the humor in ' good morning , vietnam ' stems from robin williams ' characterization of a radio d . j . and his outrageous behavior on the air . "

make no mistake about it : mr . williams ' s performance , though it ' s full of uproarious comedy , is the work of an accomplished actor . ' ' good morning , vietnam ' ' is one man ' s tour de force . making ( air ) waves - good morning , vietnam , directed by barry levinson ; written by mitch markowitz ; director of photography , peter sova ; edited by stu linder ; music by alex north ; production designer , roy walker ; produced by mark johnson and larry brezner ; released by touchstone pictures in association with silver screen partners iii . at loews 84th street six , at broadway ; cinema 2 , third avenue at 60th street .

one of the most poignant elements in " good morning , vietnam " is the relationship that develops between adrian cronauer and trinh , the vietnamese girl who captivates the outgoing disc - jockey with her beauty and shyness . as captured by levinson , the scenes between cronauer and the young woman serve as a sensitively - drawn framework around a picture of growing ugliness and violence .

the advance press has suggested that his new movie , " good morning , vietnam , " will change all that . and the movie does live up to part of its billing : it gives us a lot of robin williams . but it hardly delivers on the promise of giving us the pure , undiluted williams - - williams at his best . what ' s more , it ' s not even close to being his best movie . it ' s not even close to being good .

but while he’s assaulting the microphone , levinson is doing something fairly subtle in the movie around him . he has populated “good morning , vietnam” with a lot of character actors who are fairly complicated types , recognizably human , and with the aid of the script they set a trap for williams . his character is edged into a corner where he must have human emotions , or die .

robin williams delivers his quintessential comedic performance as army dj adrian cronauer . deployed to vietnam to host a morning radio show , cronauer ' s hilarious rants are a hit with the troops in the field but a headache for his by - the - book superiors .

located at the center of mui ne , good morning vietnam is an authentic italian restaurant that offers a wide range of superior quality foods at reasonable prices . the natural decor , the well spaced tables and chairs , the pleasant atmosphere and an extensive menu make the restaurant a treat . the restaurant specializes in pizza made fresh from wood fired oven , pasta home made and classic , home made italian desserts , ice cream and italian coffee . the menu varies from imported meats to local seafoods and fish . in addition , a good selection of imported red and white wines exquisitely complements the menu . it opens everyday from morning to late evening , free delivery is available .

robin williams was finally given a showcase for his extraordinary improvisational skills in this , the first comedy set in vietnam .

playing with your emotions until the very end , " good morning , vietnam " is the type of film that will have you thinking a certain way about something until it is completey turned around into something different . beginning as a comedy about a dj who has come to vietnam to run a radio station in hopes to lighten the mood of troops in the war and to give a quirky version of the serious news to people around the country . although it is the reason he is brought in , it may also be the reason they want him to leave . one thing leads to another and the film does a total 180 , turning into an all out drama where robin williams gives one of his best performances ever . extremely well - written , well - directed , and superbly acted by everyone , " good morning , vietnam " is easily one of the best films i ' ve ever seen robin williams in .

good morning , vietnam [ dvd ] [ 1988 ] : urltoken robin williams , forest whitaker , tung thanh tran , chintara sukapatana , bruno kirby , robert wuhl , j . t . walsh , noble willingham , richard edson , juney smith , richard portnow , floyd vivino , peter sova , barry levinson , stu linder , ben moses , harry benn , larry brezner , mark johnson , mitch markowitz : dvd & blu - ray

roger ebert was born on this day in 1942 , and died a little over five years ago . i owe a good part of my success…

i got you ( i feel good ) written and performed by james brown courtesy of polygram special projects a division of polygram records , inc .

i know there are other ways to read this material . “good morning , vietnam” works as straight comedy and as a vietnam - era “mash , ” and even the movie’s love story has its own bittersweet integrity . but they used to tell us in writing class that if we wanted to know what a story was really about , we should look for what changed between the beginning and the end . in this movie , cronauer changes . war wipes the grin off of his face . his humor becomes a humanitarian tool , not simply a way to keep him talking and us listening .

in the role of tuan , the young vietnamese boy who is befriended by cronauer , is tung thanh tran . an eighteen - year - old refugee who escaped from saigon with his family in 1979 , tran was discovered in chicago , where he was attending high school and working part - time in a vietnamese community center . returning to his roots to act in " good morning , vietnam " was an experience the fledgling actor will not soon forget .

the film is distinctive for being hollywood ' s first vietnam comedy and among the first movies to treat the vietnamese themselves as real people .

had come out . vietnam was still considered box - office poison , and not only that - i ' m doing a comedy ! nobody could envision how you could do anything that ' s going to be humorous about vietnam . i think they saw it as some kind of goody comedy , like abbott and costello in vietnam - a service comedy . " regardless , scenarist mitch markowitz ( who had written for the

" this is the perfect role for robin , " says producer mark johnson , who also takes to the boards in " good morning , vietnam " as adrian cronauer ' s compatriot sloan . " nobody else works with the inventiveness , the quickness and the zaniness of robin williams . when he sat down in the control booth to do the scenes involving cronauer ' s broadcasts , we just let the cameras roll . he managed to create something new for every single take . "

we are pizza lovers , can’t live without it but really difficult to find out pizza with good place in mui ne . then i found out your place

the time of ' ' good morning , vietnam ' ' is 1965 . adrian cronauer ( robin williams ) , an armed forces radio disk jockey previously stationed in crete , lands in saigon to breathe a little life into the local programming . until cronauer ' s arrival , the afr saigon station has depended largely on the music of mantovani and percy faith and helpful hints on how to withdraw books from the army ' s lending libraries , interrupted from time to time by sanitized newscasts .

we found this hotel via hostelbookers . it had good reviews and seemed to be in a convenient location and it lived up to its description . rooms were good and clean , the breakfast was basic but good ( coffee unlimited , which is important for me ! ) and the girl on reception couldn ' t have been more helpful . we booked a trip to the cao dai temple and cu - chi tunnels through the hotel and i would recommend that trip and this hotel to anyone .

' ' good morning , vietnam , ' ' directed by barry levinson ( ' ' diner , ' ' ' ' tin men ' ' ) succeeds in doing something that ' s very rare in movies , being about a character who really is as funny as he ' s supposed to be to most of the people sharing the fiction with him . it ' s also a breakthrough for mr . williams , who , for the first time in movies , gets a chance to exercise his restless , full - frontal comic intelligence .

just months after james mccloughan was deployed to vietnam , his courageous actions over two days of close - combat would earn him the nation’s most prestigious military award .

what is inspired about “good morning , vietnam , ” which contains far and away the best work williams has ever done in a movie , is that his own tactics are turned against him . the director , barry levinson , has created a character who is a stand - up comic - he’s a fast - talking disc jockey on armed forces radio during the vietnam war , directing a nonstop monologue at the microphone . there is absolutely no biographical information about this character . we don’t know where he comes from , what he did before the war , whether he has ever been married , what his dreams are , what he’s afraid of . everything in his world is reduced to material for his program .

our first treat the following morning was a cyclo ride . the indian bicycle rickshaw leads with the cyclist , with the passengers seated on high behind him with a restricted view ; the vietnamese have reversed this arrangement , leading with the passenger almost at ground level and the cyclist power unit behind . this may be better from the sightseeing point of view , but is somewhat unnerving at the height of the morning rush hour .

as a heads up…vietnam has wifi everywhere ! i’m currently writing this blog whilst on a bus to the airport for the next leg of our journey . . . .

the 196th infantry brigade lost 1 , 188 soldiers in vietnam , a number that would have been undoubtedly higher if not for the lives mccloughan is credited with saving .

on the dvd : good morning vietnam gets the special edition dvd with digitally remastered audio and picture . extras include a couple of previews - - both the theatrical and a teaser trailer - - as well as a production diary which contains interviews with director levinson , crew and the real cronauer . but the best feature by far is the " raw monologues " : introduced by levinson , this featurette shows the process that robin williams went through to improvise the radio slots and is a valuable insight into the comedic talents of the films star . - - kristen bowditch

the uber - exec’s dna is all over many of hollywood’s biggest hits and success stories . at paramount he oversaw “star trek , ” “raiders of the lost ark , ” “terms of endearment , ” and “beverly hills cop . ” at disney he handled “good morning , vietnam , ” “three men and a baby , ” “who framed roger rabbit , ” and “pretty woman . ” he produced “the little mermaid , ” “aladdin , ” “the lion king , ” and “beauty and the beast , ” the first animated film to be oscar - nommed for best picture .

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 .

it ' s gonna be hot and wet ! that ' s nice if you ' re with a lady , but it ain ' t no good if you ' re in the jungle .

in 1965 , military d . j . adrian cronauer was sent to vietnam to build morale . his strategy : keep ' em laughing . his problem : staying out of trouble .

this is the soundtrack to the film . the music is mainly us hits and from circa 1965 . there are lots of good tracks on this cd . . . including beach boys them james brown and some of adrian cronauer ' s humour which is very irreverent . if you have the film or want to buy it then you must get this cd as its good driving music . recommend .

during the eleven year span from the release of good morning , vietnam till the release of patch adams , robin williams was one of the biggest movie stars around . he was in eight films that reached $ 100 million domestically . he was also in more than a few bombs during that time , while his star power eventually declined when people grew a little tired of the repetitiveness of his schtick . it is this second point that is the most troubling for me . when looking back at his older work , will i be reminded of what made robin william a big star ? or will it feel stale and dated ? more . . .

had this originally in cassette tape ! bought cd as sticking filler for hubby . he loves it ! can ' t beat robin williams when he was on top form . good value & arrived on time .

academy award - winner robin williams shakes up 1965 saigon in the role the critics agree he was born to play - irreverent , nonconformist deejay adrian cronauer . imported by the army for an early a . m . radio show , cronauer blasts the formerly staid , sanitized airwaves with a constant barrage of rapid - fire humour and the hippest tunes from back home . the g . is love him - but the top brass is outraged ! riddled with sidesplitting comic bombshells and studded with hot ' 60s hits , the film depicts cronauer ' s raucous saigon adventures amid a world gone mad . good morning vietnam is a direct hit - the classic robin williams comedy !

comment : the dvd has been used but is in very good condition . the case is intact . thank you for your interest in hospiscare - care and support for the people of exeter , east and mid devon .

when told this , sondheim responded : " oh my god . i mean , don ' t make me cry on camera ! talk about selflessness . gee whiz . that ' s what a good teacher is . "

at the outset of the vietnam war , the eleven military radio stations that were located throughout southeast asia comprised the armed forces vietnam network . with facilities that rivaled nbc studios in new york , the afvn signal became the soldier ' s lifeline , featuring a mixture of eclectic music ( everything from country and western ballads to the soulful sounds of james brown ) and information regarding the status of the war .

within a year of accepting work as a coach and teacher at a michigan high school , mccloughan found himself drafted into the army , sent to basic training and deployed to vietnam from march 1969 to march 1970 .

after a walking tour all morning we needed something other then local food . we ordered a large cold beer and the swordfish tartar to start . server was helpful in ordering just the type of pizzas we all wanted . food was great and quick . so happy . . .

we went to gmv for dinner on our last night in hoi an . we absolutely recommend a meal here if you are local food " out " ! the serves were big and the food authentic and beautiful . service was good too

, earned reviews that were even remotely good . unfortunately , there are only a few smaller releases that are worth checking out , so it ' s a pretty shallow week as well . as far as pick of the week is concerned ,

though mr . williams is the film ' s life as well as its conscience , mr . levinson knows how to present the star without exploiting him to a point of diminishing returns . ' ' good morning , vietnam ' ' surrounds mr . williams with an especially strong cast of supporting actors , including two recruits from ' ' tin men . ' ' they are bruno kirby , as a polka - loving officer who longs to replace adrian cronauer as the station ' s star disk jockey ( ' ' in my heart i know i ' m funny , ' ' he says after his first disastrous broadcast ) , and j . t . walsh , as a sergeant major who ' s offended by cronauer ' s loose ways with regulations .

the trio of talents were immediately excited at the prospect of doing a movie that used the dramatic backdrop of the vietnam war as a setting for a behavioral comedy about a group of characters who are thrown together by circumstance .

" good morning , vietnam " is truly robin williams at his best . as anarchic dj adrian cronauer in 1965 saigon , he makes sure that you never stop laughing . i really liked what he did with the tape of richard nixon ' s speech , and then his comment about the bombing of a restaurant . most amazing is that he ad - libbed the whole thing ( but hey , that ' s robin williams ) . maybe cronauer wasn ' t that wacky in real life , but every one of williams ' comments makes the movie worthwhile . the soundtrack even includes his monologues ( you ' ll go crazy over the imitation of lyndon johnson , and the commentary from " roosevelt e . roosevelt " ) . a comedy classic in every sense .

the hotel is located at the quiet end of the street . the room was clean and nice . the staff were friendly and helpful . breakfast on the top floor has a good view of the river . overall , happy with the hotel .

levinson serio - comedy about vietnam is first and foremost a star vehicle for comedian robin williams , who gives a manic , highly - charged performance as the real - life dj adrian cronauer in the early years of the war .

: good morning , vietnam ! hey , this is not a test . this is rock and roll . time to rock it from the delta to the dmz ! is that me , or does that sound like an elvis presley movie ? viva da nang . oh , viva , da nang . da nang me , da nang me . why don ' t they get a rope and hang me ? hey , is it a little too early for being that loud ? hey , too late . it ' s 0600 what ' s the " 0 " stand for ? oh , my god , it ' s early . speaking of early , how about that cro - magnon , marty dreiwitz ? thank you , marty , for " silky - smooth sound . . .

inspired show about vietnam . at the time , the network passed on the idea - the time was not yet right for a comedic take on the war , which had only ended a few years earlier . adrian j . cronauer , whose experiences as a dj in saigon in 1964 - 65 were the basis for the eventual film , had joined with producer ben moses , who had known cronauer in vietnam , to develop the idea into a feature - length script .

it hardly delivers on the promise of giving us the pure , undiluted williams - - williams at his best . what ' s more , it ' s not even close to being his best movie . it ' s not even close to being good .

as we weren ' t very hungry , so two of us shared a pizza and it was pretty good . half pepperoni and half ham and pineapple with a thin crust . easy to find and worth the effort . reasonably priced so we would recommend .

i tried to find good rating hotel with swimming pool with view in ho chi min . whenever i stayed in ho chi min i always stays no pool hotels . here this mb hotel is awesome ! good view and amazing swimming pool ! in fact pool is very small . but nobody use so i owned all ! ! ! restaurant in the 11th floor is also great ! french manager did it cery well ! he said he stayed here 3 years . this is a paradise in old town of ho chi min city

this is not quite as good as i remember it from the cinema at the time . some of the conflicts with authority seem clichéd and the attitude to the vietnamese borders on patronising . but , what is just as good as i recall , and must be the real reason for buying the film , is robin williams hilarious stream of consciousness broadcasting to the troops . so it is a bit like the marx brothers on film ; sitting through the plot to get at the comedy ( but the music in this is great )

i found the hotel to be very clean and quaint . the staff very helpful andattenttive at all times . the only drawback would be that the ensuite in the room was to small . overall a very good hotel and i would have no problem recommending to other travellers

dear customer , thank you for your good comment about the food . we are sorry for serving the main course too fast , but when the restaurant is busy the kitchen try to speed up all the dishes in order to not let the customers wait long . . .

we had a really nice stay at the millenium boutique hotel for 3 nights . the hotel is pretty new and modern , beds are so comfortable . the staff was so friendly and helpful and all of them spoke english really good ! thank you for these relaxing days !

regardless of what he felt like politically , he recognized the fact nobody seemed to recognize during vietnam , which was that there ' s a difference between the people who are making the policy and the people who are carrying out that policy , the military .

dear ms karolina , thank you for coming and have reported about tasty pizza . regarding the seafood picture on the menu , whenever we missed a good quality picture , we used some not made in our restaurant as we thought the picture is necessary to show which . . .

we chose this place as fancied some italian food . our experience of the food here is very good as the pizza and pasta dishes we had were very nice , in fact one of the best pizzas i’ve had . main issue is the service , not very . . .

we were encouraged to try this place by fellow travelers . there was nothing wrong with the food and i guess if you live in asia , the italian food could be considered pretty good . but , if you tasted genuine italian food , then it misses a bit . . . .

booked through hostelworld , where the map shows the wrong location . i was concerned that place would be hard to find , but the location where the bus from phnom penh dropped us was just very close to the alley ( clean and well lit - lots of hotels / hostels here ) leading to phan lan 2 . reception staff were very friendly and helpful . rooms ok - ac worked fine . shower was good , but managed to spray most of the bathroom when in use - these one room toilets and showers are pretty common in cambodia and vietnam .

first of all , as far as i know , it ' s the first film that began to show americans in vietnam as they really were instead of a bunch of murderers and rapists and baby - killers and dope addicts and psychotics . that was sorely needed at the time .

i stayed two time at this hotel in may 2017 and i was not disappointed . check in was quick and we got a free room upgrade . the hotel is new ( about 2 yo if remember correctly ) and very clean . the restaurant is on the top floor with a great view on the city and the river . breakfast was good , but not enough vietnamese dishes . the pool bar on the roof is nice and the service is good . location is not bad , but about 15 minutes walk from main attractions in the city . the hotel is at the end of a dark dead end , but the area seems safe .

the movie took many historical liberties . in the movie , williams ' character becomes friends with a vietnamese boy who turns out to be a viet cong terrorist . eventually , the fictional adrian cronauer is forced to leave vietnam before the end of his tour . none of which happened in real life .

when you watch this movie you begin to realise the extent of rw ' s talents . his comedic energy and timing is remarkable , and more so because his ability to draw you into his character with that skill is something that so many actors don ' t have . he will make you laugh and cry , within one short rollercoaster ride , in one scene . that mesmerising talent clearly came at a price . he was nominated for the oscar for his portrayal of adrian cronhaur and like us doubtless many feel he should have won . he had drawn on experience of entertaining servicemen something he did repeatedly throughout his career when there were wars and places he had been told not to risk going to . a testament to his soul . a film which was probably met with resistance by the great american powers that be , good morning vietnam will forever be a true classic , and a terrific reminder of war , what goes on behind it , and the efforts of those who want to make a difference .

bruno kirby as steven hauk “that is not what we program , here ! ” lieutenant steven hauk means well , he thinks he’s a funny , politically correct guy . he even has two jokes that “reader’s digest” might publish . but when adrian waltzes onto the show , hauk’s failed attempts at comedy fall flat compared to adrian’s more natural gags . in fact , when hauk takes over during adrian’s suspension , servicemen listeners practically boycott the show in order to get adrian back on the air . poor hauk , if adrian hadn’t showed up , they wouldn’t have known what they’d been missing . bruno kirby perhaps best remembered as pete clemenza in “the godfather part ii , ” bruno kirby’s non - intended comedic performance in “good morning vietnam” made him ideal for the role of jess in “when harry met sally…” ( 1989 ) , best friend to harry burns played by comedian billy crystal . he and billy teamed up again in 1991 for the cult classic “city slickers . ” in 2003 , kirby married the actress lynn sellers , but he sadly passed away in 2006 due to leukemia - related illness .

( edited by david thompson ) . " it ' s funny in retrospect , because now it seems such a commercial project . before we made it , i talked to some people who went , ' my god , making a film about vietnam , that ' s like a death wish . ' of course , this was before

the hai van pass is probably best known to many of us from the top gear special in vietnam , but it is certainly pretty spectacular , particularly when looking back over da nang bay ( which both the french and the americans used to offload men and materials ) . we paused at the summit to take in the view .

within several days of taking over his dawn show , adrian cronauer has become the biggest , most controversial personality in vietnam . out the window have gone mantovani , percy faith , bing crosby and perry como , to be replaced by the raucous laments and urgent innuendoes of james brown , martha reeves and the vandellas and wayne fontana , among others .

the movie , which opens today at the loew ' s 84th street sixplex and cinema 2 , is very much a star vehicle , but it ' s an exceptionally strong one . mitch markowitz ' s screenplay , based loosely on the experiences of a real - life vietnam disk jockey , skids over a melodramatic subplot that would be fatal to any other movie .

she recalled bringing her work to her teacher : " ' ms . rains , i wrote this sentence . is this good enough ? ' and she said , ' well , it can be better . ' and i said , ' well , i ' m not sure how to make it better . ' and she said , ' well . let ' s think through this . ' "

on day two we visited hoa lo prison situated in hanoi city , again this costs 30 , 000vnd to enter . the prison is a great way to get some historical culture about vietnam , it gives you a tour of the buildings including prisoners cells which is very creepy , explains the history of the prison and the story of usa troops who were incarcerated there .

rains said , " i think that approach that says , ' we need to make everybody feel good , ' at the expense of honest accomplishment , actually diminishes students ' self - esteem . i ' ve told students , ' when i tell you to do this again and again , you should see that as a compliment , because it means i know you can do this better . ' "

once levinson establishes that cronauer is an embattled genius , the movie loses whatever starch it might have had . and after cronauer is temporarily suspended for reporting a news story that hadn ' t first been screened by the military , the film ' s tone shifts from irreverent to serious and suddenly the subject becomes " how i went to vietnam and had my consciousness raised . "

just got this album it was listed as having 3 discs with a total of 60 tracks when in reality it is only one disc with nineten tracks most of which don ' t seem to bare with the music that i accociate with the vietnam era . it was agood job it only cost £2 . 08p so not a great deal of money lost , but still irksome .

the next morning we were summoned from the arms of morpheus at an early hour ( one of the many benefits of being billeted near the anchor ! ) and were taken round a floating market ( mainly for wholesale ) where the various boats advertise their fruit and vegetable wares by hanging samples on poles , and then to a noodle - making factory ( this is basically the same process as making rice paper , at which i failed so lamentably ) before being returned to shore and our guides .

having finished with the basic ‘tourist visiting sights’ part of the holiday , we set off the following morning for a cruise on the mekong river . we embarked after a 3 - hour drive from ho chi minh city and spent a pleasant day trundling slowly along the waterway , as small villages and the occasional larger settlement came into , and passed from , view . we paused at one of them for a wander along a fruit - tree laden route while our village host fashioned crickets and grasshoppers out of reeds .

actor robert pattinson shot to superstardom as smoldering vampire edward cullen in the smash hit " twilight " series . but he ' s been warding off typecasting ever since , with challenging roles in such films as " cosmopolis , " " maps to the stars " and " the lost city of z . " his latest film is " good time , " in which he plays a gruff and manipulative bank robber . michelle miller reports .

robin williams received an oscar nomination for giving here what is essentially a stand - up comedy performance . he plays a motormouth disc jockey sent to vietnam to entertain the gis , but , in the event , adds rather more salt , pepper and hot sauce to the place than the military brass would have preferred . based on the case of a real us armed forces dj , the film is distinctive for being hollywood ' s first vietnam comedy and among the first movies to treat the vietnamese themselves as real people . the movie loses its way , however , whenever it tries to get serious , but when williams is behind the studio mike , it offers a decent showcase for his virtuoso talents . if williams is not to your taste , there ' s still the superb 1960s soundtrack to enjoy .

lower floor rooms if you ' ve got old joints : ) ) rooms 103 , 203 , 303 , 403 have windows looking out to the alley . 102 , 202 , 302 , 402 are the smaller rooms . rooms good enough for 3 people . flat screen tv , ref available . towels are a bit thin but manageable . no cnn or bbc on cable . i need the blue slippers explained to me : ) love this place !

all this seems compulsory and condescending . and the flat , soft - focus view levinson takes in shooting these scenes , with their concentration on the quaint vietnamese villagers , comes across as too uncomplicated , too tidy . looking at levinson ' s shots of both the countryside and the city , you can ' t help but think that the worst has happened - - that he ' s turned vietnam into a suburb .

set in saigon in 1965 , the movie introduces us to adrian cronauer ( williams ) , an air force disc jockey who ' sbeen flown in from another assignment to a post at the center of the escalating conflict in vietnam . the character is based on a real deejay who ran afoul of the military authorities in saigon because of the on - air liberties he took with regard to matters of style and language and musical taste .

is a more than usually human take on americas most controversial war , an often poignant and always entertaining fictionalisation of the vietnam years of dj adrian cronauer ( robin williams ) . cronauer is employed as the voice of the us armed forces radio in south east asia , but it soon emerges that his idea of entertaining the troops and the armys are poles apart . this isnt a biopic - - director barry levinson doesnt give any detail of cronauers life before vietnam - - instead its about cronauer discovering a better understanding of the war , the people and himself . interspersed with the radio sequences is a gentle plot which follows cronauer as he teaches english to some vietnamese kids , falls for a local girl and narrowly misses being killed in a terrorist attack . however , it is the sheer frenetic genius of williams largely improvised radio monologues that account for the films box office success .

we spent so much time together during filming . we did everything together . robin would get up in the morning and say , " we have to do yesterday’s work all over again . i’ll pay for it . " i’d say , “what are you talking about ! it worked great . ” spent so much time together after that . we were great personal friends . we would vacation together — his place in tahoe and traveling together — me and my wife , robin and marsha [ garces ] , barry and diana [ rhodes , levinson ' s spouse ] .

though behind - the - lines sabotage is on the rise , and huge numbers of additional troops are arriving daily , the programming of the saigon station reflects a prescribed sunniness that has less to do with the increasingly grim reality of vietnam than with that of a giant rec room for pre - teens of the 1950 ' s . at the top of the charts in this never - never land : ' ' around the world in 80 days . ' '

a new disc jockey is shipped from crete to vietnam to bring humor to armed forces radio . he turns the studio on its ear and becomes wildly popular with the troops but runs afoul of the middle management who think he isn ' t g . i . enough . while he is off the air , he tries to meet vietnamese especially girls , and begins to have brushes with the real war that never appears on the radio . written by john vogel

, starring robin williams – was a peculiar melange ( 13 april , 10pm ) . made to mark the 40th anniversary of the end of that war , it opened with cronauer musing on america’s catastrophist domino theory , which held that “if vietnam did fall to the communists then the next one would be laos , and the next one would be cambodia , and the next one would be thailand , and eventually the communists would attack pearl harbor . . . ”

a new disc jockey named adrian cronauer ( robin williams ) is shipped from crete to vietnam to bring humor to armed forces radio . he turns the studio on it ' s ear and becomes wildly popular with the troops but runs afoul of the middle management who think he isn ' t g . i . enough . while he is off the air , he tries to meet vietnamese especially girls , and begins to have brushes with the real war that never appears on the radio .

this was enlivened by our gamble on 3 hours being sufficient time for a 40 - minute flight ( phu quoc to ho chi minh city ) , baggage collection and changing terminals . it turned out that our inbound flight to phu quoc was delayed , followed by floating about in a holding pattern over ho chi minh city . it was only due to some sterling efforts on the part of vietnam airlines staff that we made it to the gate for the london flight 15 minutes before take off !

if the film were merely a playground for williams - - and if williams were in good form - - it might have been tolerable . but when williams has to play a scene in which cronauer makes contact with real soldiers and is forced to realize just how much he means to them and how petty his battles have been compared with the hardships endured by these brave boys , then you think , " enough ! " it ' s one thing to want to turn robin williams into a star - - it ' s another to turn him into bob hope .

radio funny man adrian cronauer ( robin williams ) is sent to vietnam to bring a little comedy back into the lives of the soldiers . after setting up shop , cronauer delights the g . i . s but shocks his superior officer , sergeant major dickerson ( j . t . walsh ) , with his irreverent take on the war . while dickerson attempts to censor cronauer ' s broadcasts , cronauer pursues a relationship with a vietnamese girl named trinh ( chintara sukapatana ) , who shows him the horrors of war first - hand .


gordon hessler ( 12 december 1925 – 19 january 2014 ) was a british film and television director , screenwriter , and producer .

born in berlin , germany , he was raised in england and studied at the university of reading .

while a teenager , he moved to the united states and directed a series of short films and documentaries .

universal studios hired hessler as a story reader for the alfred hitchcock presents television series .

he became story editor for two seasons ( 1960 – 1962 ) for that series , then served as the associate producer for the alfred hitchcock hour from 1962 until its cancellation in 1965 .

he directed episodes of that series and several other shows , including hawaii five-o and sara .

in 1969 , he directed his debut feature film , the oblong box , starring vincent price .

it was the first of three horror films hessler would direct with the veteran horror star , the other two being cry of the banshee ( 1970 ) and scream and scream again ( 1970 ) .

hessler 's other films include murders in the rue morgue ( 1971 ) , the golden voyage of sinbad ( 1974 ) , kiss meets the phantom of the park ( 1978 ) , pray for death ( 1985 ) and the girl in a swing ( 1988 ) starring meg tilly , an adaptation of richard adams 's ghost story novel .

the majority of hessler 's directorial work from the late 1970s on was in television .

hessler died in his sleep on 19 january 2014 .

gordon hessler

gordon hessler <EOT> gordon hessler : i must say that wilfred josephs ' music held the picture up , it made it more mysterious .

presents this exclusive new interview with director gordon hessler . mr . hessler was kind enough to meet me in person to discuss the four films he did for american international pictures - -

gordon hessler was born in germany , the son of a danish mother and an english father . educated in england , he moved to the us while in his late teens and spent several years working in documentaries . at universal , " i guess because i had an english accent " , hessler was placed under contract to

gordon hessler , the british feature film and television director , passed away in his sleep on sunday , january 19 , 2014 after an undisclosed illness . he was 88 , although most sources erroneously list him as being born in 1930 . the news was confirmed by douglas dunning of cinema epoch , who was a good friend of mr . hessler’s . in addition to director , mr . hessler was also a screenwriter and a producer .

gordon hessler : she made some very well known pictures . again , that was deke heyward ' s idea . she was marvelous , out of her depths and aged at the time , and playing a very strange part . but she gave it her everything .

gordon hessler : hilary dwyer was almost under contract . i don ' t know what the situation was , but they liked her and they kept pushing you to use certain actors . i guess the management must have thought she was star material or something like that .

gordon hessler : yes , it would be 1 . 85 . by that time we were composing the films that way , but we were also conscious of the television ratio . we had to be careful because the soundman would always dip his microphone into the picture frame .

gordon hessler : yeah , it was a gift you know . the gift of hiring the person who had researched all the stuff for a richard burton picture , or a big universal picture of some kind . he would understand the authenticity of what you were trying to do .

gordon hessler , the british - born director who was best known for his horror films but who had a longer career as a producer and director of american episodic television , died on january 19 at the age of 87 . although mainstream outlets have yet to announce hessler’s death , it has been confirmed by his wife yvonne ( via historian tom weaver ) and a friend .

– something of a comedown from the prestigious association with hitchcock . ) hessler worked on the first season of

( 1978 ) . ( oddly , a fangoria post with tributes to hessler from two kiss members appeared ahead of any confirmation of his death . ) of the episodic work , hessler contributed to some good shows :

in its final ( 1966 - 1967 ) season , under executive producer gordon oliver . at least two of those , “the fatal mistake” and “blind man’s bluff , ” were english - flavored suspense pieces that deliberately sought to recapture the

below is an image taken of mr . hessler’s last appearance at the new beverly , with cinema proprietor michael torgan .

de sade with keir dullea is one of mr . hessler’s weirdest films . panned by many but i enjoyed it .

i would also add that , frustratingly , i could not verify which episodes of the chrysler theater hessler produced , beyond the two mentioned above . hessler was at the outset one of four producers working under gordon oliver on just the fourth season ‘s 21 dramatic segments ( the comedies were produced by people drawn from bob hope’s camp ) , the other three being jack laird , stanley chase , and ron roth . later bert mulligan joined the rotation . math would suggest that hessler handled at least one to three other segments ( unless perhaps mulligan replaced him ? ) . does anyone out there have that information ?

gordon hessler : well , i ' m sure he was , he was very careful with money . what aip would do was probably give him a very liberal expense account per week so he could stay at the best hotels . he stayed in tiny little rooming houses , so i ' m sure he was spending the rest of the money on art . deke was buying art too .

gordon hessler : lilli palmer had a big part . she was vital to the plot and by cutting her scenes down , it was like she was an extra in the film . i don ' t know what she must have thought when she saw it , she must have been astounded . she ' s a fantastic actress when you think about all the films she ' s done .

gordon hessler : i always got along well with him . he was very politically adept at handling things at aip . he would protect you from [ sam ] arkoff and [ james ] nicholson because they ' d come into town and stay at the savoy hotel , and then they ' d go in to discuss the picture , or they would see the finished product and make their suggestions .

gordon hessler : i think they were upset with murders in the rue morgue , at least i suspected that . aip started to disintegrate after that point . when arkoff received my letter concerning my thoughts on rue morgue , i ' m sure he wasn ' t too pleased with it , although it was a reasonable letter i thought . but again , we had great fun making those pictures .

the end of the war meant that hessler was entering the workforce just as thousands of servicemen came home to reclaim their old jobs . while still in the army , hessler knocked on doors in the film industry , working as an extra ( somewhere in the background of

, to star clint walker and suzanne pleshette . that production was cancelled at the last minute and hessler moved immediately to another indie ,

hessler also directed theater productions in his spare time . but at universal , competent producers were in shorter supply than directors , and the studio consistently ( and rather cruelly ) blocked hessler’s attempts to transition into directing , even though he made it clear to anyone who would listen that that was his goal . following harrison’s departure in 1963 , hessler was promoted to producer , but even then he was seen as a junior staffer , subordinate not only to lloyd ( now the showrunner , and with whom hessler had a good and lasting relationship ; he cast lloyd in his final film ,

were adaptations of short stories , and as “story editor” hessler was essentially a glorified reader . he did talk his way into directing a single hitchcock episode in 1961 , as well as some actors’ screen tests for universal . hessler didn’t get a regular screen credit until 1962 , when the series expanded into

gordon hessler : yes , deke heyward was a wonderful character , literally running aip in london , which was where they were making all their movies at the time . they had a staff in los angeles , but they weren ' t making any movies , and of course they were very jealous of that london department . deke had a tiny office and since he collected art , he had all these paintings as well as an organ there ( laughs ) .

gordon hessler : herbert lom is a character actor anyway , so he fitted right into the part . jason robards was hired by aip because of his name , and he was quite well respected . most actors like to play a horror part at some point in their life , so he was brought onboard . he was fine to work with , but about two weeks into the picture , he said , " gordon , i ' m doing the wrong part , i should be doing the other part . " i said , " jason , you ' re the star , you could ' ve chosen any part you wanted , you just had to ask for it ! " it ' s always the monster who gets the best part in a horror picture , it ' s much more juicy .

at this point during our 1997 interview i started counting on my fingers , because every reference source gave hessler’s date of birth as december 12 , 1930 . hessler conceded that , having sensed the film industry’s potential for ageism early on , he had subtracted four years from his age at the start of his career .

“i hated the studio system , ” hessler told me flatly . “i was not cut out for it . i liked to freelance . ” leaving universal in 1967

hessler was born in berlin , to an english mother and a danish father , in 1926 . his father died when he was three and hessler , whose first language was german ( but only “kinderdeutsch , ” he said ) , moved back to england with his mother as “things got a little steamy there” in germany . as a teenager he studied aeronautical engineering , and “at the tail end” of world war ii he was conscripted into the british army , although the war ended before hessler saw combat .

hessler , with his sheepish grin and self - effacing air , was a genial and always accessible friend to film historians . he came across as so quintessential an english gentleman to americans that i fear hessler’s quiet ambition , and his attitudinal kinship with the “angry young man” generation of his countrymen , have been overlooked in accounts of his career .

fordel films employed some fellow english expatriates , and hessler worked his way up to “running the company , [ as ] sort of a vice president of directing pictures , ” hessler said . he made documentaries in atlanta ( about the school system ) and annapolis ( about st . john’s college ) . the tv listings of the may 20 , 1956 edition of

hessler was out of work for a year before mca , which was expanding in conjunction with its acquisition of universal studios , hired him in june of 1958 , initially as an assistant to story editor mae livingston . he became one of four or five people who “floated around the lot , ” assigned to various producers ( including , in hessler’s case , former

hessler worked as an editor first for a company called films for industry and then for fordel films , in the bronx . “i had no formal education on editing , ” said hessler , who scrambled to learn the trade from anyone who would show him . the first film he was assigned was directed by jack arnold , who would soon go to hollywood to make pictures like

flavor , and thus bore hessler’s clear fingerprints . he also got to direct “blind man’s bluff” – it was his second episodic television credit as director , only six years after the first .

than any other series , perhaps a definitive signal that hessler’s enthusiasm and good taste didn’t align with first - rate opportunities as often as he , or his admirers , might have hoped .

gordon hessler : well no , that ' s not true actually . you see , they have wonderful costumes in england . when they would make a classic period film , something like a shakespeare film with richard burton , all those costumes that were made would go back to the rental house , and they ' re ready to be rented . and of course you ' d get them for practically nothing , so we got all the best costumes . you couldn ' t get that in hollywood rental places , everything they had was just awful . mgm studios had their own costume place , but the rental houses in hollywood had nothing .

on a personal note , hessler was one of the first people i interviewed at length when i was a film school undergraduate in los angeles . he invited me up to his lovely home overlooking sunset boulevard not once , but twice , enduring many of the same questions a second time after i discovered that a mysterious tape recorder malfunction wiped out most of the first go - round . gordon also generously brokered introductions to norman lloyd and ray bradbury , both of whom i suspect would otherwise have been inaccessible to me at that point . how , i ask , can you not hold in special esteem the person who brings ray bradbury into your life ?

gordon hessler : oh , marvelous , he was a marvelous man , highly intelligent . i remember at shepperton studios , during the oblong box , we had an african prince who was the head of this tribe . so we put them in the film for this dance sequence . i asked vincent if he wouldn ' t mind having lunch with this african prince , or king , or whatever he was . you know , most actors always talk about themselves ; vincent was completely the opposite . he talked to him about african art , and all about the various art he knew about and so on . i was just stunned at the conversation and his knowledge . what a unique man .

gordon hessler : i got on very well with christopher lee . he became even more talented as he moved on in his career . i was quite surprised at how good he was in certain movies . when you ' re shooting , you ' re so busy and you never really get to know the actors very well . you meet them and they get a sense of what you want , and then you don ' t see them again because they ' re off doing another picture . i think that the thing with a horror picture is that you have to convince your actors to believe in what they ' re doing . you really have to get embellished in it and enjoy it .

gordon hessler : well , he never really understood scream and scream again . i don ' t think he liked it . he was very upset that he wasn ' t in murders in the rue morgue , but i had nothing to with that . i really don ' t know the contractual details though . i know that when we did cry of the banshee , he was very upset with aip . when we had the wrap party , he didn ' t want to come if arkoff was there . i told him that i wouldn ' t dream of having the party without him . so he came , and of course he was quite drunk . it was most embarrassing ( laughs ) .

gordon hessler : i imagine it was a contractual tiff of some kind . i never knew what it was about exactly . these after - picture parties are usually so boring , so i requested that everyone dress in costumes , we had hundreds of these period costumes left over . i wanted everybody in costume , including arkoff and nicholson . i think we had a naked ( or semi naked ) girl pop out of a huge cake . but vincent really didn ' t want to come if arkoff was there . he did finally agree , and when we were looking for the knife to cut the cake , vincent said , " take the knife that ' s in my back and use that ! "

drawing - room suspense niche . this , his second feature , was filmed at the end of 1967 but released two years later . by that time , hessler had taken a job at aip , in what at first appeared to be another staff producing role . happily , it evolved into an opportunity to direct a series of english horror pictures that starred the genre icons of the day : vincent price , christopher lee , peter cushing . those four films became the works for which hessler is best remembered :

gordon hessler : well , spain was a very cheap place to film . hollywood made a great deal of their large pictures in spain , where you could get the crowds cheaply and horses , etc . all the david lean pictures for columbia were being made in spain . you would bring in a skeleton crew - - either from hollywood or london - - and the rest was a very elaborate , well - trained spanish crew , and they would give you anything you wanted . we shot that in toledo , and the streets there are so similar to paris . you couldn ' t shoot that in london unless you built sets . we just shut down toledo when we made tha , and shot in the streets and in this theater - - it was a very french - looking theater . so that ' s why i chose that .

gordon hessler : well , they didn ' t know what the film was about and were always questioning what i was doing . the editor kept assuring them that everything was fine , but they didn ' t quite know what they had as a picture . i ' m sure they were a little queasy when that film came out because arkoff had to try and sell it . we knew we had a good film . it was different . it was a science fiction film really , but the thing is , although the pulp book was very badly written , once chris wicking had put the nucleus of that idea into it , it elevated the whole picture and made it much more interesting . but all these pictures were made so quickly with so little money , i think we shot that in three or four weeks . but we had fun making it .

although he directed clusters of little - known features in both the early seventies and late eighties , hessler spent much of the time in between directing american episodic television and movies of the week . of the latter , the best known fall , fittingly , into the horror genre : 1973’s

gordon hessler : it ' s amazing . deke was the one who put that animation in , always being way in advance of everyone else . about the music , i suspect that les baxter was a great friend of somebody high up at aip and was doing scores for them at the time . perhaps he or someone else saw it and criticized the music , so they were advised to change it . wilfred josep hs is perhaps not the greatest composer in the world , but he certainly did a good job . the music is very important to these movies , and to take it off after spending so much money was a huge decision by somebody . but to have les baxter do a kind of period picture where you have minuet dancing and that sort of thing , it ' s ludicrous . you really have to have somebody who has an idea of that time period .

gordon hessler : no , i was only on it shortly on a production level . then i was totally concentrated on this horror picture , which is kind of a formula script . the way they worked , i assume , because hammer worked the same way , is they ' d have a poster drawn with their star in it and present it to the distributor as their next picture . the script was then written around that . it happened to be an english writer / director who had written the script , lawrence huntington . i never met him , it was just a script that arrived . christopher wicking was brought in originally by michael reeves , and that ' s how i met him . wicking did an enormous amount of re - writing on the oblong box . so my association with him began as a result of working on this film together . then he worked on all the pictures that i did for aip .

under the legendary director’s banner . the hands - on producers were joan harrison , who was english , and new jersey - born norman lloyd , whose mid - atlantic erudition was so cultivated that he was often taken for an englishman . hessler assumed that he got the job simply because his accent fit in .

. like the chrysler theatre s , this carried some dna from his hitchcock gig : the film was based on a novel – jay bennett’s catacombs – that had been rejected for hitchcock , and hessler brought in joel murcott , one of the series’ regular writers , to do an uncredited rewrite of daniel mainwaring’s screenplay . )

, he lurks ) and talking his way into a meeting with alexander korda’s right - hand man . but he observed that “there was a depression in england in the film business . it was pretty tough – you couldn’t get financing . ” hessler opted to emigrate to the united states , figuring he’d have a better chance to break into filmmaking there .

gordon hessler : no , he hated the project and he loathed the script . of course , it was a big comedown because he was going to do the biggest picture they had before he got sick , and then he was to do this standard horror picture . when i met with him , he was doing electric shock treatment . i was staggered ! i assumed he had some sort of mental health problems of some kind , i don ' t know what it was . i never got to know him that well . he was very talented , extremely talented . witchfinder general is a wonderful picture . i didn ' t really meet with him that much because gradually , he just couldn ' t do the oblong box . eventually i took the whole project over and directed and produced it . aip didn ' t care at the time about this picture because they were too involved with all the production problems of de sade . that film , we moved it from munich to berlin to shoot . so i actually went to berlin for two or three works before going to england to do the oblong box .

his last film , journey of honor ( 1991 ) , was released on laserdisc here in the states . it was also known under the titles of kabuto , mayeda , and shogun warrior . below is a photo of mr . hessler next to douglas dunning and sho kosugi at the world premiere of the film , which was titled shogun mayeda , in january 1991 .

gordon hessler : i really didn ' t get to know him because he was put into the picture . that was deke heyward ' s idea . deke would try to find some well known actor to dress up the picture - - who at least americans would be familiar with - - which was a good idea . he did the same thing with lilli palmer in murders in the rue morgue . when i was doing the aip pictures , i tried to keep a stable of actors and give them different roles . they were so wonderful , and they had to work for practically nothing . since i was producing and directing , i had to go to the actors and tell them that i could only offer them so much , and that they could take it or leave it . it ' s not that i was in a situation to bargain with them . i just didn ' t have it in the budget . when you only have £70 , 000 and you ' re working in a large studio , everybody else got screwed - - these actors . hopefully they get some residuals of some kind , i ' m not sure .

when hitchcock went off the air in 1965 , hessler was still under contract to universal and left more or less to fend for himself in terms of attaching himself to existing shows or developing new properties and getting the studio to green - light them . ( lloyd found himself in a similar limbo , and ended up producing a few early made - for - tv movies and some episodes of

. “i couldn’t put the thing together ! ” hessler remembered . “the film looked awful . i went to the optical lab and said , ‘you’ve got to help me . it’s my first picture . ’ they said , ‘jack arnold shot the whole thing incorrectly . he didn’t know what he was doing . ’ all the pieces were facing the wrong way . all i could do to make it work was flip the film . ”

“i was making really a tremendous amount of money at that time for a young guy , and i gave it all up to come to los angeles , ” hessler recalled . “i’d had awards with my documentaries . i thought , ‘god , this is going to be easy , taking these pictures and showing them to [ executives ] . ’ nobody was slightest bit interested in even looking at them ! no matter what awards i’d won . ”

in new york , he took a night shift job at an automat ( possibly the famous horn and hardart ) while looking for movie work during the day . warner - pathe news hired him as a driver , “which was perfect for me , ” hessler said . “i took the film to all the editors , and each editor i met , [ i’d ask ] , ‘could you hire me ? ’ finally i got hired in the documentary business . ”

“i was so arrogant in those days , ” laughed hessler , who felt keenly the generational divide between himself and the established producers and directors for whom he worked . “i was assigned to paul henreid as sort of a gofer . they’d say to look after him , so i would go over there , take him to lunch , and make sure he had everything . i thought , ‘oh , god , when can i get away from this old duffer ? ’

gordon hessler : well , the oblong box was very successful for them . they were in tremendous trouble with de sade . they didn ' t get along with cy endfield and all sorts of other problems existed . it was the greatest piece of luck that i was fired from it . when i did the oblong box , they left me alone , there was nobody there . the day i started , nicholson came on the set and said , " good luck . " that ' s it , and he was off . that film was made for £70 , 000 , which is about $ 250 , 000 . at shepperton studios , you could shoot from 8 am until about 4 pm because of the union . if you wanted to do overtime , you ' d have to let them know by lunchtime that you were going to take it one more hour . and only if all the union leaders agreed would they go along with it . it was a very tough assignment to shoot and get finished . actually , when we were finishing it , i had three or four more days left . they [ aip ] said , " look , we like what you ' re doing , take an extra week . can ' t you make this bigger ? " this never happened to me before , so i was happy with the situation and i took an extra week at the studios and built up certain sequences . i can ' t remember which , but whatever we were shooting , we elaborated on it . and the film did very well for them .

gordon hessler : he ' s a highly intelligent fellow , very witty . he ' s a wonderful guy . on scream and scream again , he did extraordinary work on the script . that was really a pulp book , a throwaway book that you read on a train . there was nothing in it , just empty pieces of action . but it was chris who gave it a whole new level by using it as a political process of what might happen in the future . that is what made the picture , he ' s the one that came up with all those ideas , yet he still managed to keep the nuances of the sort of pulp fiction novel . he was a fine writer , i thought . he had some very good ideas . it ' s funny because we never thought much of those films . they were just formula pictures as far as we were concerned , but we enjoyed making them . the problem was what do you do with a script , how do you solve a problem ? cry of the banshee had the same problem . we got the script from aip - - somebody had written it and sent it to us , and we were asked to make it . the film was sold and we had to have it finished by a certain time . chris wicking and i went to scotland to make a whole different picture about witches . the whole of aip got so alarmed because we were changing it so much . they came down on us and said that we could alter it 10 percent , but no more than that . so all of our work went down the drain on cry of the banshee . out of all the films i did for aip , i think it ' s the least interesting .

gordon hessler : i ' m amazed that mgm had the instinct to do this version of it after so many years . i was appalled when i originally saw the theatrically released version . i wrote a five - page letter to arkoff . i knew it was his picture and he could do what he wanted with it , but i asked him to do certain things so it would at least make more sense . but by that time , it was already out and released . there ' s another film that i did - - which i feel very strongly about - - called girl on a swing that was terribly mauled . it ' s awful what miramax did . they spliced ten or 15 minutes out of it , and it didn ' t make any sense . we all wanted to take our name off of that picture . in my contract , they had to give me a 35mm print of the original version - - it ' s the only one in existence . but as far as murders in the rue morgue , it seems that someone at mgm is doing some researching or something , releasing my cut of the film . this cable tv version - - which i haven ' t yet seen - - is apparently the original . i remember the flashbacks were originally never tinted , but aip tinted them for the theatrical release . the whole idea was not to tint them so that you wouldn ' t know when you ' re more or less in a dream sequence or just being puzzled by it . the whole trick in that was instead of it being a flashback , this would be a flash - forward , which people really hadn ' t done before at that time . it was a premonition of what was going to happen . when it ' s tinted , it ' s just so obvious . audiences picked up on it immediately .

gordon hessler : i was asked to produce a film , de sade , for aip while i was in los angeles that was taking place in munich , germany . i flew into london and met the writer , and the director was supposed to be there , but he never showed up . he didn ' t come to the meeting ; he was sick or something like that . having met the writer , i flew to munich to set up the film about eight weeks before they were going to start shooting . i was there preparing the production and then i was told that the original director was not going to make the picture . so we waited for a while , and finally the american director who did zulu , cy endfield , came in to do it . this was a big picture for aip , which usually made very cheap pictures , and i was an outsider . i was not an employee , just a freelance director . my position got very shaky there , even though i was very friendly with everybody . i was actually fired from the job because the local people employed by aip wanted to produce the picture rather than have an outsider like me . but they did give me a consolation . they said , " look , we want to put you on another picture in ireland and you can produce that . " so , i thought that was fine as it was going to be a horror picture shot in ireland . they sent me to ireland , i looked at the facilities , and decided to bring the production to london , at shepperton studios . i had a pretty free hand because everybody was concentrating on de sade at the time . and michael reeves , who was supposed to direct that picture , was to direct this one , the oblong box . he was on it for a short while , but then he got sick . he must have been already sick with some mental health problems .

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although he was born and raised in england , he and his family moved to the united states during his adolescence . he got behind the camera for a series of short films and then progressed to documentaries before working for universal studios as a story reader and story editor on alfred hitchcock presents .

he got into feature filmmaking with the woman who wouldn’t die ( 1965 ) , the last shot you hear ( 1969 ) , and a series of well - known horror films : the oblong box ( 1968 ) , scream and scream again ( 1970 ) , cry of the banshee ( 1970 ) , and murders in the rue morgue ( 1971 ) . the golden voyage of sinbad followed in 1974 , along with much television work such as the strange possession of mrs . oliver ( 1977 ) and the infamous kiss meets the phantom of the park ( 1978 ) .

arguably considered to be his best work ( yours truly agrees ) is his often maligned 1988 film adaptation of richard adam’s 1980 novel the girl in a swing , a romantic ghost story which stars meg tilly in the title role and rupert frazier as the man who falls for her . the film was released unrated here in the states by millimeter films , a subsidiary of miramax , and received a vhs and laserdisc release . truncated and marred by the addition of a voiceover by actor frazer in an effort to fill in the blanks , the uncut version has remained largely unseen . it is my hope that it finds its way to blu - ray and is rediscovered by a new generation of fans who have never heard of it because it deserves to be seen .

can anyone provide a uk release date for the oblong box . cheers , rob

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lakeith stanfield and his sorry to bother you crew reveal their most soul - crushing jobs in our freewheeling interview .

- the world ' s oldest motive ( 1965 ) . . . ( producer )

- the photographer and the undertaker ( 1965 ) . . . ( producer )

himself / himself - director , ' scream and scream again ' / himself - director / . . .

[ talking about working with actor hugh griffith ] hugh was a terrific guy , and he was in a number of big pictures , too , like " tom jones " . but at the time ( of filming " cry of the banshee " ) , he was an alcoholic , and a person would have to assist him on the set and make sure that he didn ' t receive any alcohol , otherwise he ' d be drinking the whole time . a great shame .

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) and tasked with coming up with ideas for series to pitch to the networks .

– which meant that he had to start binge - reading novels instead of short stories .

, twenty - some years later ) but to various other studio producers who were assigned batches of hitchcock episodes during the final two seasons .

( “the spanish moss murders” ) that is routinely cited as the best of its twenty episodes . but he directed more for

i had the great pleasure of watching “the spanish moss murders” the night of its original broadcast , which along with the original abc movie of the week “don’t be afraid of the dark” turned me into a lifelong horror junkie .

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george reis : there are often rumors that you actually directed parts of de sade . is that true ?

george reis : most critics say that about cry of the banshee , but i quite enjoy it .

george reis : when you say that they didn ' t want the script altered , who did you report to , louis m . " deke " heyward ?

george reis : obviously they were happy with you , as you continued to wor k with them .

george reis : you often used the same actors and actresses in your aip films , such as hilary dwyer .

george reis : i ' m sure you ' re aware that your director ' s cut of murders in the rue morgue has been restored and remastered by mgm and recently aired on u . s . cable tv .

george reis : aip also removed a lot of lilli palmer ' s scenes .

george reis : murders in the rue morgue was shot in spain . why did aip decide to do it there rather than england ?

george reis : scream and scream again is an extraordinary film , very different from the typical poe / price cycle . was aip happy with it ?

george reis : you had christopher lee in small parts in the oblong box and scream and scream again . how did you get along with him ?

george reis : you also worked with peter cushing in scream and scream again .

george reis : in cry of the banshee , you had elisabeth bergner who was a silent film star .

george reis : did you know that the american version of cry of the banshee was severely altered ? for instance , terry gilliam ' s opening animation sequence was removed and the wilfred josephs score was replaced with one by les baxter . mgm home video thankfully released the uncut british version on vhs and i take it they will eventually do the same on dvd .

george reis : was banshee lower - budgeted that the other aip films you did ? i always heard that they re - used costumes from another film .

george reis : the films you did in england had an authentic look to them .

george reis : in victoria price ' s book about her father , you were quoted as saying that you didn ' t think vincent understood the films you did with him . what did you mean by that ?

george reis : when your aip films come out on dvd , they will be presented in the 1 . 85 : 1 aspect ratio . is this the true ratio you were shooting in ?

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