The Greatest Beer Run Ever: release date, cast, storyline, trailer release, and everything you need to know.

Peter Farrelly is the director and co-writer of the 2022 American biographical military comedy drama film The Greatest Beer Run Ever, which is based on the same-titled book by John “Chickie” Donohue and Joanna Molloy. The movie, which stars Russell Crowe and Zac Efron, is based on the actual story of Donohue, a young soldier who enters the Vietnam War covertly to bring his buddies some beer while they are performing their duties.

September 13, 2022, saw the international debut of The Greatest Beer Run Ever at the Toronto International Film Festival. Select US cinemas opened on September 23, and Apple Studios released the film on Apple TV+ on September 30, 2022. Critics gave the movie mostly unfavorable reviews.

To drink a beer with your closest friends, how far would you go? While many would go to great lengths to spend enormous sums of money, others, like John Donohue, would go so far as to carry beer to his pals during the Vietnam War. The Greatest Beer Run Ever is a 1967 drama that follows John Donohue, a 26-year-old veteran of the United States Marine Corps, as he works as a merchant seaman. While Donohue is out at a pub one night, someone makes the absurd suggestion that one of them should slip into Vietnam, find their friends who are fighting, and send them letters of encouragement and a can of beer from home.

When Donohue steps up to the plate, the journey starts.

The New York Times best-selling novel of the same name by J. T. Molloy and John “Chickie” Donohue served as the inspiration for The Greatest Beer Run Ever. Skydance Media acquired the film adaptation rights of the book on April 26, 2019. At first, Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner, Teen Wolf) and Viggo Mortensen (Green Book, Crimes of the Future) were attached to the movie. However, it was revealed that Mortensen and O’Brien had left the movie after it was taken up by Apple TV+. The Greatest Beer Run Ever was filmed in New Jersey and Thailand between September 2021 and September 2021.

Peter Farrelly is the director of the war dramedy picture, which he, Brian Currie, and Pete Jones wrote. Along with Farrelly, Andrew Muscato, and Jake Myers, it is produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger on behalf of Skydance Media. Here is everything you need to know about The Greatest Beer Run Ever, including the release date and streaming information, before it opens in theaters.

The Greatest Beer Run Ever: Plot

John “Chickie” Donohue, a retired merchant seaman from the Marine Corps, is a slacker in 1968. He lives in Inwood, New York City, with his family, and enjoys hanging out at a pub run by elderly, rather cynical man known as “The Colonel.” Unlike Chickie and their father, who served in the military, Christine, Chickie’s sister, is adamantly against the Vietnam War. As Chickie and pals attend Johnny’s burial after learning of his death in combat, they hear of Tommy Minogue’s disappearance from the war, another close buddy who Chickie convinced to enlist. Following the burial, Chickie and his companion Red come across Christine during an anti-war protest and engage in a brief physical altercation with several demonstrators.

Resuming their conversation at the bar, Chickie and Red discuss ways to cheer up their server pals. Chickie comes up with the plan to travel to South Vietnam and bring his pals some beer. The following day, Chickie seems to retract this, but Tommy goes against Christine’s advice to go as Tommy’s mother advises Chickie give her son a set of rosary beads if he sees him.

Seeking military policeman Tommy Collins, Chickie boards a ship bound for Saigon with a duffle bag full of Pabst Blue Ribbon cans. Collins is overjoyed to see him when he finds him.

Chickie is reprimanded by Collins’ superior officer that evening for bringing the drinks, and it is later assumed that he is a CIA operative. Despite Collins’ advice for Chickie to stay off the battlefield and head back to his ship, Chickie and his companions devise a plan to contact Chickie’s other friends. Chickie stays to the Caravelle Hotel with the help of a local named Hieu, and there he encounters British and American reporters who are against the war. In the cover of the CIA, he boards a military convoy and travels to Bien Hoa Air Base. From there, he is flown to Danang Air Base and finally to LZ Jane, where he looks for 1st Cavalry Division soldier Rick Duggan.

Duggan is forced to flee under enemy fire while being seen by his sergeant, who radios him to report to the command post. Duggan is taken aback when Chickie surprises him, but he lets Chickie accompany him and his group as they engage the Viet Cong with artillery from trenches. Once darkness falls, Chickie shares beers once more. Additionally, Duggan informs Chickie of the death of Reynolds, one of their buddies. Following their morning separation from Duggan, Chickie boards a helicopter with two CIA agents who severely question and then release a prisoner.

Chickie asks for a ride to Saigon after landing at Kontum Airfield, and an officer responds by saying he might leave his station to accompany Chickie to Pleiku Air Base. Chickie notices that the policeman beside his car has someone concealed in the backseat who is waiting to ambush him when he peeks outside. When he realizes the agents are pursuing him, he flees into the bush and hides there until they give up. Walking by herself, Chickie sees a broken-down jeep and a young girl who flees in terror with her mother. Later that evening, Kevin “Looney” McLoone, an old buddy, finds Chickie after she almost gets crushed by elephants fleeing napalm. Chickie convinces McLoone and his guys to drive him to Pleiku despite their orders to go in the other way from where he is going. As McLoone puts Chickie aboard a helicopter, Chickie tosses him his beer as the aircraft takes off.

The Greatest Beer Run Ever: Cast

John “Chickie” Donohue, played by Zac Efron
Arthur Coates, played by Russell Crowe
As Rick Duggan, Jake Picking
Bobby Pappas, played by Kyle Allen
Ropp, Willy, as Kevin McLoone
Tommy Collins, played by Archie Renaux
Billy Minogue as Will Hochman
Lt. Habershaw, played by Matt Cook
Hieu “Oklahoma” Kevin K. Tran
Christine Donahue, played by Ruby Ashbourne Serkis
The Colonel, played by Bill Murray
Noodle, played by Christopher Reed Brown
Red Macgregor Arney as Brendon, played by Joe Adler
Leary played by Hal Cumpston
Mr. Minogue, played by Kristin Carey
Paul Adelstein in the role of Donahue
Mrs. Donahue, played by Shirleyann Kaladjian
Chancellor Omari K. as Erickson
Robles Goya as Almeida

The Greatest Beer Run Ever: Release Date

September 13, 2022, saw the world debut of The Greatest Beer Run Ever at the Toronto International Film Festival. On September 23, 2022, Apple Studios distributed the film in select cinemas and on Apple TV+ in the United States.

What Is the Greatest Beer Run Ever About?

The official synopsis for The Greatest Beer Run Ever reads,

“Chickie (Zac Efron) does a crazy thing: he personally brings his comrades American beer in order to support them while they battle in Vietnam. What begins as a voyage with good intentions swiftly alters Chickie’s outlook on life. based on an actual incident.

Watch The Greatest Beer Run Ever Trailer

On August 17, 2022, Apple TV+ unveiled the official trailer for The Greatest Beer Run Ever. Chickie, a young man of 26 years old, is presented to us in the trailer as someone who is “sleeping his life away.” Before he notices a group of anti-war protestors, Chickie does not seem to be doing much for himself, which irritates him. The Colonel makes jokes at the bar about how he would want to assist the soldiers by traveling to Vietnam, finding all the neighborhood lads, and buying them beers. Chickie, however, chooses to go on the adventure after giving it some serious thought.

For the Love of Beer and His Buddies

“The Greatest Beer Run Ever” tells the story of Chickie Donohue’s unlikely but true adventure bringing suds from New York to his military pals in 1967 Vietnam.

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Chickie Donohue in Inwood, Manhattan’s Tubby Hook Tavern. About his journey to Vietnam, he remarks, “Obviously, I never imagined it would be a movie.”

After repeating bar stories since he was in his teens, 81-year-old Chickie Donohue no longer must.

It tells the story of his absurdly improbable 1967 trip to Vietnam, where he brought his army pals from their Upper Manhattan neighborhood of Inwood a beer and a supportive hug.

The soldiers were stunned to see their neighborhood friend, dressed in well-worn dungarees and a checkered shirt, suddenly appear in foxholes and tent barracks, offering them a warm one from his duffel bag. The soldiers were stationed with various units.

Over many years, the story spread throughout Inwood saloons and among Donohue’s fellow sandhogs—urban miners who excavate water and train tunnels deep beneath the city’s bedrock—and became well known as well as generally believed.

But now that his story has made the transition from dirty taverns and muddy tunnels in New York to the big screen, Donohue is as shocked as everyone else.

It evolved into an adventure-comedy titled “The Greatest Beer Run Ever,” helmed by Peter Farrelly and starring Zac Efron as Donohue. It debuted on September 23 in theaters and will debut on Apple TV+ on September 30.

Donohue made four friend visits during his four months in Vietnam. All of them made it back home after terrifying war tours. They all still live and frequently get together in New York for supper.

The producers paid for their flights when the movie made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this month. From rations in muddy foxholes, it was a far cry.

Luxurious hotel accommodations, a $250 daily food stipend, a red carpet, and a screening where the lads received a standing ovation were all provided.

During a recent weekday, following his return flight home, Donohue placed a $100 dollar on the bar of the Tubby Hook Tavern in Inwood, with his 74-year-old friend Rick Duggan seated next to him.