Born on the Fourth
of July (1989)
- Director: Oliver Stone
- Based on the book by Ron Kovic
- Cast: Tom Cruise, Bryan Larkin, Raymond J Barry, Caroline Kava, Kyra Sedgwick, Frank Whaley, Jerry Levine, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Lily Taylor
- Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
- Tom Cruise – Edge of Tomorrow, Oblivion, Valkyria, War of the Worlds, A Few Good Men, Rain Man, Cocktail
- Bryan Larkin – Edward Scissorhands
- Raymond J Barry – The X Files, Dead Man Walking, Insignificance, The Good-bye Girl
- Frank Whaley – School of Rock, Pulp Fiction, Swing Kids, The Doors, Field of Dreams, Ironweed
- Tom Berenger – Inception, Eddie and the Cruisers, Looking for Mr Goodbar
- Willem Dafoe – Murder on the Orient Express, John Wick, Mr Bean’s Holiday, Paris je t’aime, American Dreamz, Manderlay, The Aviator, Once upon a Time in Mexico, American Psycho, eXistenZ, Lulu on the Bridge, The English Patient, Wild at Heart, Cry-Baby, Born on the Fourth of July, Mississippi Is Burning, The Last Temptation of Christ, Platoon, Streets of Fire
- Lily Taylor – Public Enemies, Six Feet Under, High Fidelity, A Slipping-Down Life, I Shot Andy Warhol, The Addiction, Arizona Dream
- Why? Anti-war
- Seen: Once or twice before. Now 28 February 2020
Patriotism, religion, machoism, fanatical
sports, military glorification all pressure Ron Kovik (Cruise) into joining the
US Marines and going to Vietnam.
War, he discovers, is hell. He comes home
in a wheelchair, for life. Still patriotic, proud of the war, and bitter over
the protesters.
But his old girlfriend Donna (Sedgwick)
is active in the movement. He goes to a demonstration with her and witnesses
police brutality. He starts to see things differently. It tears him apart.
He becomes one of the leaders of the
Veterans against the War movement. He writes a book. Bruce Springsteen reads
it. The film is made.
It’s all history.
‘What is war good for? Absolutely
nothing.’ Edwin Starr.
4½
* of 5
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