Born on the Fourth of July (film)

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Born on the Fourth of July

original film poster
Directed by Oliver Stone
Produced by A. Kitman Ho
Oliver Stone
Written by Ron Kovic (book)
Oliver Stone (screenplay)
Starring Tom Cruise
Kyra Sedgwick
Raymond J. Barry
Caroline Kava
Jerry Levine
Frank Whaley
Willem Dafoe
Music by John Williams
Editing by Joe Hutshing
David Brenner
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) December 20, 1989 (U.S.) March 2, 1990 (U.K.) February 8, 1990 (Australia) March 1, 1990 (Germany)
Running time 145 min.
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Budget $14,000,000
Gross revenue $161,001,698 (worldwide)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Born on the Fourth of July is a 1989 film adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic. Oliver Stone (himself a Vietnam veteran) co-wrote the screenplay with Kovic, and also produced and directed the film. Stone wanted to film the movie in Vietnam, but because relations between the United States and Vietnam had not yet been normalized, it was instead filmed in the Philippines.

Born on the Fourth of July is considered part of Oliver Stones "trilogy" of films about the Vietnam War — along with the Platoon (1986) and Heaven & Earth (1993). The film was given Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Film Editing.

Contents

[edit] Plot synopsis

The film opens when Ron Kovic is a young boy living in Massapequa, Long Island, New York. He grows up in a patriotic and Catholic household, instilling within him a strong sense of pride in his country and his religion. As a teenager, and a member of his high school's wrestling team, he proves himself physically fit and athletic, as well as an exceptional student academically. When local Marine recruiting NCOs visit his school and give Ron and his fellow seniors an impassioned lecture about the Corps, Ron decides to enlist. He misses his own prom, because he's unable to secure a date with his love interest, Donna. He confronts her at the dance, kisses her, then says goodbye.

The film then moves to Kovic's second tour in Vietnam. Now a sergeant and on patrol, his unit massacres a village of Vietnamese citizens, believing them to be enemy combatants. During the retreat, Kovic becomes disoriented and confused and accidentally shoots one of the new arrivals to his platoon, a younger private named Wilson. Despite the frantic efforts of the medics present who try to save him, Wilson later dies from his wounds. Overwhelmed by guilt, Kovic appeals to his executive officer (XO) who tells him to forget the incident. The meeting has a negative effect on Ron who is crushed at being brushed off by his XO.

The platoon goes out on another hazardous patrol a few weeks later. During a firefight, Kovic is critically wounded and trapped in a field for what seems like several hours, facing sure death until a fellow Marine rescues him. Paralyzed from the mid-chest down, he spends several months recovering at the Bronx Veterans Administration hospital. The living conditions in the hospital are horrific; rats crawl freely on the floors, the staff is generally apathetic to their patients' needs, doctors visit infrequently, drug use is rampant and equipment is too old and ill-maintained to be useful. He desperately tries to walk again with the use of crutches and braces despite warnings from his doctors. He suffers a bad fall that causes a compound fracture of his thighbone. The injury nearly robs him of his leg and he vehemently argues with the doctors who briefly consider amputation.

Ron returns home, permanently in a wheelchair, with his leg intact. At home, he begins to alienate his family and friends, complaining about students staging anti-war rallies across the country and burning the American flag. Though he tries to maintain his dignity as a Marine, Ron gradually begins to become disillusioned, feeling that his government has betrayed him and his fellow Vietnam Veterans.

In Ron's absence his younger brother, Tommy, has already become staunchly anti-war, leading to a rift between them. Ron's parents also seem unable to deal with Ron's new attitude as a resentful, paralyzed veteran. Ron's problems are as much psychological than physical and he quickly becomes alcoholic and belligerent. During a parade on July 4, he shows signs of post-traumatic stress when firecrackers explode (sounding like gunfire) and when a baby in the crowd starts crying (which reminds him of the massacre of the Vietnamese village). He reunites with a high school friend, Timmy Burns, also a wounded veteran, and the two spend Ron's birthday sharing war stories.

Ron visits Donna at her college in Syracuse, New York. The two reminisce and she asks him to attend a vigil for the Kent State shootings. Ron does not; his chair prevents him from getting very far on campus because of curbs and stairways. He and Donna are separated after she and her fellow students are captured and arrested by the police at her college for demonstrating a protest against the Vietnam War.

Ron's disillusionment grows severe enough that he has an intense fight with his mother after returning home drunk one night after having a barroom confrontation with a World War II veteran that fought on Iwo Jima who expressed no sympathy to Ron. Ron travels to a small town in Mexico ("The Village of the Sun") that seems to be a haven for paralyzed Vietnam veterans. He has his first sexual experience with a prostitute he believes he's in love with. Ron wants to ask her to marry him but when he sees her with another customer, the realization of real love versus a mere physical sexual experience sets in, and he decides against it. Hooking up with another wheelchair-bound veteran, Charlie, who is furious over a prostitute mocking his lack of sexual function due to his severe wounding in Vietnam, the two travel to what they believe will be a friendlier village. They're kicked out of their taxi for annoying the driver and are stranded on the side of the road. They quarrel and fight, knocking each other out of their wheelchairs. They're picked up by a man with a truck and eventually driven back to the "Village of the Sun".

On his way back to Long Island, Ron makes a side trek to Georgia to visit the parents and family of Private Wilson, the Marine he killed during his tour. He tells them the real story about how their son died and confesses his guilt to them. They seem understanding and even somewhat sympathetic to Ron's plight, especially Wilson's father, who himself was a former Marine and a veteran of the Pacific theater during World War II. Wilson's widow however, now the mother of the deceased soldier's toddler son, states that she can't forgive Ron for killing her husband. In spite of this ostensibly cold gesture, the confession seems to lift a heavy weight from Ron's conscience.

Ron joins Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) and travels to the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami. He and his compatriots force their way into the convention hall during Richard Nixon's acceptance speech and cause a commotion that makes it onto the national news. Ron himself tells a reporter about his negative experiences in Vietnam and the VA hospital conditions. His interview is cut short when guards eject him and his fellow vets from the hall and attempt to turn them over to the police. They manage to break free from the police, regroup, and charge the hall again, though not so successfully this time.

The film ends with Kovic speaking at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, shortly after the publication of his autobiography.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reception

The reviews of the film were extremely positive. As of April 1, 1990, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 88% of critics gave the film positive reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film "four stars" and calling it "One of the best films of the year". Metacritic reported that the film had an average score of 75 out of 100. The New York Times says that "It is a film of enormous visceral power with, in the central role, a performance by Tom Cruise that defines everything that is best about the movie".

[edit] Themes

The most prominent theme of the film centers on the physical and mental anguish Kovic suffers. He is robbed of his ability to walk, a particularly vicious wound since he was an athlete in high school. He is also unable to have "normal sex" due to his paralysis, and can never have children.

The mental stress that Ron experiences, specifically post-traumatic stress disorder, is not uncommon among Vietnam veterans. Along with his guilt over shooting his fellow Marine, he must also come to terms with combat situations that required him to kill not only North Vietnamese soldiers but also innocent civilians. As we see during the July 4 birthday celebration the town veterans association holds for him, he can't shake the reminders of combat, like the crying infant or fireworks that sound like gunfire or hand grenades. It also shows the pain he endures from the American government for not listening to the veterans about the conditions in the hospitals.

[edit] Box Office

The film was release in December 22, 1989, grossing $172,021 at its opening week. At its second week, it grossed $492,236. At its third week of release it grossed $11,023,650, ranking #1 in Box Office. The film stayed #1 in Box Office for its fourth and fifth of release. The lowest position it reach was in its last week of release, ranking #11 in Box Office. The film stayed in the position on the top ten grossing films of 1990 until its last week of release. The film gross $70,001,698 domesticly and $161,001,698 worldwide.

[edit] Awards and Nominations

[edit] DVD

The film was release in DVD in April 29, 1998. The DVD contains Commentary with Director Oliver Stone. The special edition DVD was release in October 19, 2004. The DVD contains Commentary with Director Oliver Stone and The Original NBC Documentary of the Making of Born on the Fourth of July. In June 12, 2007, the film was release in HD-DVD.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Awards
Preceded by
Rain Man		 Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama
1990		 Succeeded by
Dances with Wolves
v • d • e
Films directed by Oliver Stone
Feature films
Seizure (1974) • The Hand (1981) • Salvador (1986) • Platoon (1986) • Wall Street (1987) • Talk Radio (1988) • Born on the Fourth of July (1989) • The Doors (1991) • JFK (1991) • Heaven & Earth (1993) • Natural Born Killers (1994) • Nixon (1995) • U Turn (1997) • Any Given Sunday (1999) • Alexander (2004) • World Trade Center (2006) • W. (2008)
Documentaries
Persona Non Grata (TV 2003) • Comandante (2003) • Looking for Fidel (2004)