ABSTRACT
The North Vietnamese military had entered Saigon as Americans hastily climbed aboard helicopters in the evacuation of the US Embassy compound. A few reporters stayed, watching the "Stars and Stripes" lowered as the last evacuees disappeared from sight. Motion pictures critical of the Vietnam war still were generally unthinkable in Hollywood, until Coppola broke the ice. The media attention would prove to be a mixed blessing. While keeping public interest alive, the coverage suggested the account of Vietnam involved superhuman insight and promised more than any film could possibly deliver. The action film was nominated for four Academy Awards, but picked up only one for Best Original Song, "Take My Breath Away". The soundtrack was issued by Atlantic in early March 1987 with little fanfare. Good Morning Vietnam was considerably more modest. Good Morning loosely fit that description as well. Good Morning may have distressed some die-hard West-prelandites, but overall it served as an iconoclastic footnote to the Vietnam misadventure.
