Williams Film To Premiere Tonight Here

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals tonight will host an advance showing of "Good Morning, Vietnam" followed by a question-and-answer session with the movie's director and producer.

The free screening, to be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Carpenter Center, is part of the theatricals troupe's two-year-old Director Series which has brought two other premieres and their directors to Harvard this year.

Barry Levinson, the director of "Good Morning, Vietnam," and the film's producer. Mark Johnson, will discuss the movie which stars actor-comedian Robin Williams as Adrian Cronauer, an irreverent and immensely popular dise-jockey on the Armed Forces Vietnam Network.

The screening is the first one in the Series that the producer has attended as well as the director, said Joshua Goldstine '90, the coordinator of the event.

"The director is too much of an invisiblecharacter, especially since this is his creation,"Goldstine said. "Students also want to know whatthe producer does, especially when they have thesemulti-million dollar budgets."

The film has been described as a comedy-dramathat depicts the uncertainty and fear of theAmericans and Vietnamese in Saigon during 1965.

"`Good Morning, Vietnam' is not an easy film tolabel," said Johnson in a press statement."Audiences will discover that although it is setagainst a serious backdrop, it has great humor."

Levinson is best known for hissemi-autobiographical comedy-dramas "Diner" and"Tin Men," and "The Natural. The screenplay for"Good Morning, Vietnam" was written by formerM*A*S*H screenwriter Mitch Markowitz.

Goldstine said he hoped to bring NormanJewison, the director of "Moonstruck" and "Fiddleron the Roof," to speak before a screening of hislatest movie.

"Directors have been very eager to come for theSeries," Goldstine said. "Having the audienceright there and getting the feedback immediatelyis very appealing to them."

Last year, the Hasty Pudding Theatricalsconsidered cancelling the Director Series, afterthey sponsored four unprofitable presentations.

But Goldstine has managed to keep the Seriesfinancially solvent, by securing funding from eachfilm's studio. Touchstone Films, a subsidiary ofThe Walt Disney Company, is underwriting tonight'sevent.

The Hasty Pudding earlier this year broughtLeonard Nimoy and Peter Yates to Harvard todiscuss their films, "Three Men and a Baby" and"Suspect", respectively