'Good Morning Vietnam'

It shocks me that Robin Williams somehow made it onto the 1,001 list.

To my knowledge, it's the only film included that has Williams in a prominent role. Not that he was doing Oscar-caliber work or a bunch of well-produced indie films ... but somehow Good Morning Vietnam made it, so who's to say something else wouldn't?

I did not see this film when it was released. I was far too young and all I remember are the television commercials with Williams animatedly screaming "gooooooddddddd moooorrrrrnnnniiiiinnnngggg Vietnaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmm!"

I continued to watch Williams' movies through the years. He almost always played someone that was at least 20 years younger than he actually was. He almost always had kids that were far too good looking to be his and married to a woman that would never marry a guy as ugly as he was, even if it was Sally Field. He played Peter Pan.

He also took dramatic roles or he played silly characters that had these really dark tendencies or circumstances. It was unfair. There's this silly guy and when he attempts to get angry or serious, all you want to do is laugh.

Good Morning Vietnam gives us two things. First, it's another chapter in 1980s films in which we got entirely too sentimental for the 1960s and the music. Films from this decade had more 20-year-old songs than they did songs from the era. Ferris Bueller danced to "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles.

It also gives us funny-serious Williams. This is the Williams that believed that a good joke could cure all ills. Like the Vietnam War. Either Williams' character is genius. Or he's a shortsighted idiot.

We'd like to think that laughter is a cure-all. Williams wants to laugh all the problems in the world away. That doesn't work. Naturally. So, Williams gets angry. He chases the Vietnamese terrorist seeking answers. He gets in fights and yells at people.

Meanwhile, I just laugh because no one is taking this guy seriously. He can't even act angry. Chances are, he was too high on coke anyway to be genuinely pissed.