Born on the Fourth of July poster & wallpaper

Tom Cruise, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava

True story of Ron Kovic, a Marine wounded in Vietnam, covering his life from childhood in New York, through his 1964 enlistment and tour of duty in Vietnam, to his harrowing stay at a veterans hospita...( read more  read more... )l in the Bronx and eventual transformation into a well-known anti-war activist.

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70% liked it

21,765 ratings

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89% liked it

35 critics

R, 2 hrs. 24 min.

Directed by: Oliver Stone

Release Date: December 20, 1989

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DVD Release Date: April 28, 1998

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Flixster Reviews (1,604)

  • SirPant
    September 24, 2009
    SirPant
    A more honest account this time from Stone which shows the brutal reality of the Vietnam war, it?s far superior to Platoon. Possibly the only time I think Cruise has really been great!
  • sononothing
    March 3, 2009
    sononothing
    Some movies act like a microcosm of history. They take one little part of an enormous picture and use it to show how the little piece of the big picture affected each other.

    With Born on the Fourth of July Oliver Stone shows us how gung-ho America was going into the Vietnam war ...( read more)and how that conflict affected millions of lives by looking at one life in that war: Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise). The film opens with the youngster Kovic watching a Fourth of July parade in the 1950's that reeks of apple pie and Eisenhower. Kids played soldier in the woods to mimic their dads and uncles stories from Europe in the decade before. Jump ahead to Kovic near graduation and deciding to join the Marines. He is still gung ho and ready to die for his country in a war in Vietnam that will be "over before we get there". He goes to Vietnam where two tragic events change his life forever in which one of them is taking a NVA bullet that renders him paralyzed from the chest down. He returns to a different America, polarized by the war and finds himself slowly seeing that the war wasn't as honorable as he thought it was.

    Tom Cruise finally got some respect from this film, proving that he could be more than the guy in his underwear dancing to Bob Seger or flying airplanes. By his return home he is a beaten man and it shows in his appearance. To me, this is Tom Cruise's first great performance. The remainder of the film from his return is mainly Stone showing Kovic's reaction to the turmoil that was the late '60's and the early '70's. The film shouts at us that this is how a million people reacted to it by looking at this one, lone man. It's a fascinating journey that Stone takes us on with ups and downs and the resentments and triumphs that go along with it. A terrific biopic.
  • hypathio7
    November 19, 2008
    hypathio7
    This movie left me shaken and choked up! It pays homage to The Best Years of Our Lives and perhaps some other films about vets returning home. But specifically Best Years, I think, with the shot of Ron Kovic after he has become paralyzed and finally returns to his parents' hous...( read more)e staring at his high school wrestling picture in his old room. Harold Russell in Best Years does the exact same thing becoming lost in the old picture from his high school athletics career when he felt he was a whole person. Both of these movies deal with men who have lost some part of themselves and have to discover how to gain strength and courage and acceptance to be a whole man again. By exploring Ron's youth, Born on the Fourth of July shows that the story is really about pressure and failure and confusion and how we deal with those things. This is an epic story with a tremendous supporting cast. It's about a boy who becomes a soldier, a soldier who becomes paralyzed, a paraplegic who becomes an outcast all the while searching for his humanity!! Sometimes it takes an outcast to speak the truth, someone who has been paralyzed to really stand for something, a soldier to fight for life, and of course it's the natural progression of things for a boy to triumphantly become a man!
  • drago25
    February 8, 2008
    drago25
    It certainly seems like this is a film that got lost in the shuffle - overshadowed by more popular films about Vietnam, such as Platoon (also done by Oliver Stone) or Full Metal Jacket or even The Deer Hunter. It's interesting because like The Deer Hunter (which is also excellent...( read more)), Born On The Fourth Of July focuses not on the events of the war itself but on the after-effects. I had wanted to see it for the longest time mainly because it's one of Tom Cruise's early roles, and I love Tom. It's also in my opinion his first truly great, or major role. Though he had good roles in The Color Of Money and Rain Man before this, it's Born where he really gets to show his chops as an actor for the first time. The film, based on the true biography of the main character, Ron Kovic (who was involved in the making of the film based on his book), is definitely an ambitious one, spanning much of the very involved life of Mr. Kovic and featuring a large ensemble cast. Stone, as he is able to do most of the time, handles the ambitious project very well. However, the film largely rests of the shoulders of Cruise, and he was obviously very up to the challenge, even this early in his career. This is one of the films that is just so vast it's almost hard to critique - but I know that I enjoyed it very much, and it featured some awesome surprises such as Willem Dafoe's role. Basically you have to see this if you enjoy Vietnam films or Oliver Stone or Tom Cruise or any combination thereof.
  • DrZeek
    February 6, 2008
    DrZeek
    Ron Kovic: People say that if you don't love America, then get the hell out. Well, I love America.

    Tom Cruise stars as Ron Kovic in the second of director Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy. Stone worked with the real Ron Kovic in order to try and capture what happened in his life,...( read more) from his early childhood, through his tour in Vietnam, and up to the eventual outcome surrounding his injury and what people thought about the war when he came back home.

    The movie starts off by showing us Kovic in his home town, desiring to become a marine and be a war hero like his father and the other WWII vets that he sees.

    We then shift to Vietnam, where Kovic sees and is a part of things that shock and hurt him. He is also shot, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

    This leads to the bulk of the film, which is better than what came before it. Kovic goes back home to a changed country. People take sides as to how effective this war really is and what to think about the government.

    Kovic also goes through mental anguish involving a number of things including what it means to be seen as a war hero, the loss of his legs, what America thinks of him, how he should think of America, and so on.

    He goes through a tough odyssey of sorts involving the things he is forced to deal with concerning his life and family, and what to do next.

    Cruise is very good in this role, probably among his best work as an actor. What would now easily be considered Oscar bait, playing a war hero paraplegic, is a testament to how good someone has to be to pull it off. His performance in this movie is probably overshadowed by Gary Sinese a few years later as Lt. Dan in Forest Gump, as that is probably more of a memorable film, but that shouldn't take away from how good Cruise is.

    There is also a good supporting cast that includes Raymond J. Barry as Kovic's father, Kyra Sedgwick as the girl he left behind, a number of people that were all in Platoon, including Willem Dafoe, who comes in late in the film to spice things up.

    The score of this movie, which I picked up pretty quickly as being from John Williams fits well with the themes of this movie. This goes with the style of the film visually as well. There are a lot of neat 'Stone' moments that one can recognize from the way they are setup.

    Stone, always being recognized for his editing style, makes that apparent here again for having a picture that flows well enough and moves into each scene appropriately.

    While verging on too depressing at times, mixed with enough profanity to hold anyone over for a week, this is a good story with a great performance from Cruise.

    Ron Kovic: Sometimes, Stevie, I think people, they know you're back from Vietnam, and their face - changes: the eyes, the voice, the way they look at you, you know.
    Steve Boyer: I know what you mean, Ronnie, but people here - they don't give a shit about the war! Yeah! To them it's just a million miles away. It's all bullshit, anyway. I mean, the government sold us a bill of goods and we bought it, and got the shit kicked out of us, and for what, huh?
    Ron Kovic: What do you mean, "we," Stevie? You were in college, man.
  • mattman1989
    November 1, 2009
    mattman1989
    A great insight into what Vietnam vets had to face on their return to America. Insightful, a great performance by Cruise and one of Stone's finest films.
  • FilmAddykt
    October 27, 2009
    FilmAddykt
    This is a very good movie and Cruise's best performance. I was very surprised to see this particular actor getting so passionate and actually caring about the role but I think that the story of the man he had to depict was so powerful that you just have no choice but to embrace i...( read more)t and care for it. This the true story of Ron Covic, a Vietnam veteran who returned home being paralyzed, having killed a friend and having all the ghosts of the war haunting him. Needless to say his life was ruined. Stone's direction is also very good in a way that reinforces the story with every single visual aid he use. Also I believe that Oliver Stone is a very good actors director and certainly an extra push for the wonderful acting by Cruise. This movie is probably the best one that shows what war does to innocent people. Because Ron was innocent and he believed he had to help his country but that war didn't deserved his support or the support of anyone. So it just put everyone in to a huge struggle to return to their normal lives after the scars it gave them. The story of Ron Kovic is probably the best way to make us all realise the aftermarth of war.
  • pinnakvinna
    October 24, 2009
    pinnakvinna
    This is the true story about Ron Korvic who joins the Marine Core and gets sent to Vietnam. In Vietnam he gets injured and is cripled in his legs. He doesn't get treated like a human being in the hospital and soon feels the inhospitality of the people he loves because of their op...( read more)inion of the war. He soon developes to an anti-war activist in order to make a big change to the US way of governing the country. This really is a touching story and very authentic. You really feel sypathetic for Ron. I don't know why I didn't watch this movie before today.
  • dukeakasmudge
    October 23, 2009
    dukeakasmudge
    5 Star film about a Vietnam War veterans struggle with PTSD
  • friskyflugette
    October 3, 2009
    friskyflugette
    A great film which has so much going for it. Cruise is simply superb in one of his better and more serious roles. He tackles each scene with such gusto it makes Tom Cruise disappear and Ron Kovic emerge. The story itself is told beautifully in the very capable hands of Oliver Sto...( read more)ne, marking his second Oscar win for direction. A fantastic film which gives the best performance of Tom Cruise I have seen.

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Critic Reviews

May 12, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Stone has found in Cruise the ideal actor to anchor the movie with simplicity and strength. full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Nothing Cruise has done will prepare you for what he does in Born on the Fourth of July. full review

View more Born on the Fourth of July reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • ajischillin
    July 15, 2008
    ajischillin
    http://www.tomcruise.com/tom-cruise-born-on-the-4th-of-july-movie.html
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  • Which 1989 Oliver Stone movie was based on the life of Ron Kovic?  Answer »
  • "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) is a story of a man, Ron Kovic, paralyzed in the Vietnam war, who goes on to become an anti-war activist. Who played him?  Answer »
  • Tom Cruise has been nominated for 3 oscars.But what is the name of the Movies he has been nominated?  Answer »
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