Drama

Born on the Fourth of July

Universal Pictures

A. Kitman Ho Productions

Ixtlan Productions

United States of America

English

Español

Tom Cruise

Raymond J. Barry

Caroline Kava

Kyra Sedgwick

Willem Dafoe

Jerry Levine

Stephen Baldwin

Josh Evans

Rob Camilletti

Vivica A. Fox

Lili Taylor

Tony Frank

Holly Marie Combs

Tom Berenger

Frank Whaley

Mark Moses

Bob Gunton

Cordelia González

Jayne Haynes

Anne Bobby

Richard Panebianco

Tom Sizemore

Michael Wincott

Mike Starr

Ed Lauter

Daniel Baldwin

Brian Tarantina

Dale Dye

Norma Moore

Stacey Moseley

Oliver Stone

Sean Stone

Jenna Von Oÿ

Ellen Pasternack

Joy Zapata

John Getz

David Warshofsky

Jason Gedrick

Bill Allen

William Baldwin

Claude Brooks

James LeGros

William Mapother

Byron Minns

Markus Flanagan

R. D. Call

Corkey Ford

Rocky Carroll

Chris Pedersen

David Herman

Bruce MacVittie

Damien Leake

David Neidorf

Paul Sanchez

Billie Neal

Richard Poe

Jake Weber

Reg E. Cathey

Edie Brickell

Joseph P. Reidy

Beau Starr

Rick Masters

John Del Regno

Melinda Renna

Andrew Lauer

Ivan Kane

J.R. Nutt

Begonya Plaza

Edith Diaz

Anthony Pena

Peter Crombie

Ken Osborne

Alan Toy

Chuck Pfeiffer

William Wallace

Eagle-Eye Cherry

Frank Cavestani

John William Galt

Jack McGee

Jodi Long

Michelle Hurst

John C. McGinley

Wayne Knight

Elizabeth Hoffman

Lucinda Jenney

Annie McEnroe

Réal Andrews

Theresa Bell

Dean Denton

Ron Kovic

Delia Sheppard

Nick Nicholson

Henry Strzalkowski

Norman D. Wilson

Frank Girardeau

Donald Wilson

Craig T. Nelson

Jessica Prunell

Michael Guess

Gale Mayron

Bruno Rubeo

Clayton Townsend

David Brenner

Joe Hutshing

Robert Richardson

A. Kitman Ho

John Williams

Lope V. Juban Jr.

Judy L. Ruskin

Derek R. Hill

Scott Martin Gershin

Jean Ann Black

Jane Bartelme

Chris Brigham

Gil Arceo

Richard L. Johnson

Victor Kempster

Risa Bramon Garcia

Martha Marek Beresford

Robert Dawson

Joey Romero

Billy Hopkins

Dion Hatch

Stephen Lim

Anastas N. Michos

Jimmy Webb

Budd Carr

Kenneth Wannberg

Susan Malerstein

"Born on the Fourth of July" is a powerful, worthwhile, and highly recommended film which shows the real social and familial challenges Ron Kovic faced when struggling to come to terms with the devastating after effects of war and the reality of how the contentious conflict changed him as a person and redefined how he perceived the world. He became dependant on alcohol for a time, but during a sojourn in Mexico while the continuing conflict in Vietnam was becoming more protracted by the day - it eventually becomes overrun by serious lapses in judgement  which results in the ongoing deaths of many more innocent people - he has an epiphany of sorts and upon his return home he joins the anti-war movement and this fact - how this initially staunch supporter of the war embarked upon an extremely personal journey and became active in attempting to bring the war to an end by becoming an incredibly vocal anti-Vietnam demonstrator - is the most startling aspect of his often deeply emotional story which is yet another in the growing collection of insightful and invaluable first hand accounts detailing the damaging long term horrors wrought by the Vietnam war.

CinemaSerf

I think this might be the only film in which I’ve seen Tom Cruise actually act! It’s an inspired piece of casting from Oliver Stone that puts this pretty boy Ron Kovic front and centre as the Vietnam War rages half way around the world from his American home. This lad’s family have history fighting for their country, and despite some reservations from his father (Raymond J. Barry) but with the active support of his mother (Caroline Kava), he enlists. His time in Asia is fraught with danger; their enemy ruthless and tenacious - but he does form a solid bond with his colleagues as they face their daily perils. Those perils impact increasingly more directly on Ron until he is transported back without the use of his legs, or anything much else below his waistline. The doctors are brutally frank with him. No walking and no children. He’s determined, however, not to lose these limbs and it’s that fortitude that sees him returned home to a family ill-equipped to deal with his or their own demons. One of his friends suggests he gets a job, but with a decent government cheque coming in each month he shuns that idea and is soon an unfulfilled drunken drug addict with nobody around him having any idea how to help. Perhaps salvation for this man might come from an unlikely quarter as he begins to fight against the indifference shown by Uncle Sam to it’s veterans once their usefulness has expired. He turns out to be quite an orator and is swiftly galvanising not just the victims but the entire anti-war effort across his country - much to the chagrin of the powers that be. The effort from Cruise here is transformative. He morphs convincingly from the handsome idealistic boy-next-door to the foul-mouthed, scruffy looking, protester with what I think is his most natural of performances. He positively oozes an embittered toxicity against the authorities who now consider him, and many thousands like him, little more than an inconvenience. He is a bit of a pig to be around, is Ron, and that puts enormous pressure on his friends and family - well extolled by Kava, Josh Evans as his younger brother Tommy and by Barry as a father dealing with his own feelings of guilt. Away from the personalities, this film effectively illustrates just how abandoned many injured were. With insufficient medical care, facilities and staff often meaning their recovery process was delayed and the psychological effects of that on both the injured and those charged with their care is writ large, too. Stone understands how to convey the horrors of war and the scarring it causes and the originally adapted screenplay by Kovic himself is gritty and realistic on both a military and personal level. The man has flaws and he knows it, but once he has a conduit for his considerable energy he can become formidable. This isn’t an easy watch, but as an antidote to so much glamorised wartime fiction, it works well.

I think this might be the only film in which I’ve seen Tom Cruise actually act! It’s an inspired piece of casting from Oliver Stone that puts this pretty boy Ron Kovic front and centre as the Vietnam War rages half way around the world from his American home. This lad’s family have history fighting for their country, and despite some reservations from his father (Raymond J. Barry) but with the active support of his mother (Caroline Kava), he enlists. His time in Asia is fraught with danger; their enemy ruthless and tenacious and their command structure isn’t the most cohesive, but he does form a solid bond with his colleagues as they face their daily perils. Those perils impact increasingly more directly on Ron until he is transported back without the use of his legs, or anything much else below his waistline. The doctors are brutally frank with him. No walking and no children. He’s determined, however, not to lose these limbs and it’s that fortitude that sees him returned home to a family ill-equipped to deal with his or their own demons. One of his friends suggests he gets a job, but with a decent government cheque coming in each month he shuns that idea and is soon an unfulfilled drunken drug addict with nobody around him having any idea how to help. Perhaps salvation for this man might come from an unlikely quarter as he begins to fight against the indifference shown by Uncle Sam to it’s veterans once their usefulness has expired. He turns out to be quite an orator and is swiftly galvanising not just the victims but the entire anti-war effort across his country - much to the chagrin of the powers that be. The effort from Cruise here is transformative. He morphs convincingly from the handsome idealistic boy-next-door to the foul-mouthed, scruffy looking, protester with what I think is his most natural of performances. He positively oozes an embittered toxicity against the authorities who now consider him, and many thousands like him, little more than an inconvenience. He is a bit of a pig to be around, is Ron, and that puts enormous pressure on his friends and family - well extolled by Kava, Josh Evans as his younger brother Tommy and by Barry as a father dealing with his own feelings of helplessness and guilt. Away from the personalities, this film effectively illustrates just how abandoned many of the injured were. With insufficient medical care, facilities and staff often meaning their recovery processes were delayed and the psychological effects of that on both the injured and those charged with their care is writ large, too. Stone understands how to convey the horrors of war and the scarring it causes and the originally adapted screenplay by Kovic himself is gritty and realistic on both a military and personal level. The man has flaws and he knows it, but once he has a conduit for his considerable energy he can become formidable. This isn’t an easy watch, but as an antidote to so much glamorised wartime fiction, it works well.

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Born on the Fourth of July

Cast & Crew

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Cast

Tom Cruise

Raymond J. Barry

Caroline Kava

Kyra Sedgwick

Willem Dafoe

Jerry Levine

Stephen Baldwin

Josh Evans

Rob Camilletti

Vivica A. Fox

Box office

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