The Incredible True Story Behind Zac Efron's New Movie 'The Greatest Beer Run Ever'

Image source: Everett Collection

Portraying a real character is not out of place for Zac Efron. The actor previously transformed into terrifying but charismatic serial killer Ted Bundy for Netflix's "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," and now he's returning to the screen in another true story adaptation, "The Greatest Beer Run Ever". The upcoming Apple TV+ movie is based on the 2020 memoir "The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War" by Joanna Molloy and John "Chickie" Donohue, the latter played onscreen by Efron . /p>

Directed by 'Green Book' and 'Dumb and Dumber' filmmaker Peter Farrelly, the film follows Donohue as he travels to Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War to bring beers to his friends in battle . Seriously. The plot itself sounds crazy, so let's dive into the real story behind "The Greatest Beer Run Ever," which hits Apple TV+ on September 30. Here's what really happened.

Who is John "Chickie" Donohue?

Donohue was born in 1941 and raised in Inwood, NY, as reported by The New York Times. From 1958 to 1964, he served in the United States Marine Corps as a merchant marine, although he did not enlist in the Vietnam War upon his return from the Philippines and Japan. By 1967, Donohue had already lost countless neighborhood friends and childhood buddies to the war and was angered by the growing anti-war protests across the country, which he deemed disrespectful to those who fought. p>

One night in November 1967, Donohue sat at Doc Fiddler's, an Inwood bar he frequented, and watched the anti-war protests unfold on the television screen in front of him along with other patrons. Upon seeing the report, bar owner George Lynch reportedly expressed his support for the soldiers and said (via the New York Post): "Someone should go to 'Nam, meet our neighborhood boys and bring a beer each. !"

Donohue took Lynch's comments to heart — literally. He has made it his personal mission to bring beers to his Inwood friends in Vietnam. But how to get there? The old adage "Where there's a will, there's a way" certainly applies to Donohue, who got a job as a tanker on the Drake Victory, a ship responsible for delivering munitions from New York to Vietnam.

With a duffel bag full of beer and information on where to find his fellow soldiers, Donohue set sail to accomplish his mission.