Born on the Fourth of July

Name: Born on the Fourth of July
Genre: Biography, Drama, War
Released: December 20, 1989
Duration: 145 min
Rating: 75
Cast: Tom Cruise

1989

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Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 84 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 84 Ratings

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Born On The Fourth Of July

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 20, 1989 | R

Starring: Tom Cruise

Summary: Based on a true story, the film follows the young Ron Kovic from a zealous teen who eagerly volunteers for the Vietnam War, to an embittered veteran paralyzed from the mid-chest down. Deeply in love with his country, Kovic returned to an environment vastly different from the one he left, and struggled before emerging as a brave new voiceBased on a true story, the film follows the young Ron Kovic from a zealous teen who eagerly volunteers for the Vietnam War, to an embittered veteran paralyzed from the mid-chest down. Deeply in love with his country, Kovic returned to an environment vastly different from the one he left, and struggled before emerging as a brave new voice for the disenchanted. (Universal Studios)
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Director: Oliver Stone

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, War

Rating: R

Runtime: 145 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Staff (Not Credited)

Oliver Stone again shows America to itself in a way it won't forget. His collaboration with Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic to depict Kovic's odyssey from teenage true believer to wheel-chair-bound soldier in a very different war results in a gripping, devastating and telling film about the Vietnam era. Read full review

100

Peter Travers

But Stone has found in Cruise the ideal actor to anchor the movie with simplicity and strength. Together they do more than show what happened to Kovic. Their fervent, consistently gripping film shows why it still urgently matters. Read full review

100

Roger Ebert

Nothing Cruise has done will prepare you for what he does in Born on the Fourth of July. His performance is so good that the movie lives through it. Stone is able to make his statement with Cruise's face and voice and doesn't need to put everything into the dialogue. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

The critique of masculinity is far more thoughtful and compelling than the vague ruminations about war. Nonetheless Cruise's impassioned performance as Kovic is an impressive accomplishment. Read full review

Desson Howe

Stone has created a film whose overblown parts add up to far less than the epic whole he had in mind. Read full review

Sheila Benson

Possibly because Stone empathizes so enormously with co-writer Kovic, who came back from Vietnam at the age of 21 paralyzed from the chest down, the director has lost the specificity that made "Platoon" so electrifying. In its place he uses bombast, overkill, bullying. His scenes, and their ironic juxtapositioning, explode like land mines. [20 Dec 1989, p.1]

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Worst of all, the movie's conventional showbiz finale, brimming with false uplift, implies that the traumas of other mutilated and disillusioned Vietnam veterans can easily be overcome if they write books and turn themselves into celebrities. Read full review

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User Reviews

gracjanski

Mar 9, 2021

What a performance by Tom Cruise and also what a story. Surely one of the best anti-war movie of all time, that doesnt even show much of the war itself.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Ben

Mar 31, 2009

This may not be a movie you revisit very often, but it is an extremely inspiring tale of Ron Kovics life. It gives Vietnam Veterans a true face, and is a great movie to watch for anyone wondering about the political terror of the vietnam war. Also, Tom Cruise gives his finest performance as This may not be a movie you revisit very often, but it is an extremely inspiring tale of Ron Kovics life. It gives Vietnam Veterans a true face, and is a great movie to watch for anyone wondering about the political terror of the vietnam war. Also, Tom Cruise gives his finest performance as Kovics, and the film is not as in your face as some of Stones other work.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

alejandro970

Mar 5, 2020

Based on life of Sargent Ron Kovik, who for his love to his country, fought against an invisible enemy in an unfair, unwanted and cruel war, and come back home embittered and crippled. Worth to see due a mature Tom Cruise in his best role in career.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

FranzHcritic

Jan 17, 2014

A true and pragmatic story of how our government took zealous young men and transformed them into cynical alcoholics by using them for their own greedy purposes. As far as we all should know, Vietnam was solely for profiting of oil. Stone's direction and script is feisty and captivating, byA true and pragmatic story of how our government took zealous young men and transformed them into cynical alcoholics by using them for their own greedy purposes. As far as we all should know, Vietnam was solely for profiting of oil. Stone's direction and script is feisty and captivating, by affectively making each scene dramatic and not corny. Although, I can still see no aberration from Stone's previous work, as it's all on contentious and widely distributed ideas and topics. Cruise is a revelation as Ron Kovic, a man whose life is more auspicious and pessimistic than any normal person. Stone seems to be the only one who can make war and political dramas that don't become clichéd… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Spangle

Jun 10, 2017

Most war films are focused upon the horror of war as it is experienced in the battlefield. The accidental killing of civilians, friendly fire, and the terror facing the enemy are all well-trodden territory and Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July portrays them through the eye of RonMost war films are focused upon the horror of war as it is experienced in the battlefield. The accidental killing of civilians, friendly fire, and the terror facing the enemy are all well-trodden territory and Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July portrays them through the eye of Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise). However, what separates this film from other war pictures is that it quickly moves away from those horrors. As hinted in the film's nostalgic and sentimental 1950s America first act, this is not a film about the carnage of war as it relates to the carnage itself. Rather, it is a film about what that carnage does to a person's mind, their body, and their spirit. How one encounter with the enemy can damage them for the rest of their life and alienate them from the world that one embraced them so eagerly. Born on the Fourth of July is a film about the things that many wish to overlook as being facts of war and the fact of fighting on behalf of one's country. This is a film about the dirty details that are inconvenient regardless of the side you are on.

Ron Kovic, a real man who wrote the book upon which the film is based, is a paraplegic from the chest down. Unable to walk or have sex, he feels like he is not a man anymore. Worse, he killed one of his own men in Vietnam and was partially responsible for the death of babies while there. In the hospital, he is greatly mistreated with nurses fighting him, threatening him with amputation, and telling him his sacrifice was worthless. Doctors never see him, all because they are overloaded due to demand with no budget whatsoever. At home, he is alienated from his family as they struggle to adjust to his paralysis and as he struggles to acclimate back into life at home. Drowning his sorrows in alcohol and prostitutes while feeling ostracized from anti-war protesters who hate what he represents and pro-war folks who hate that he is a reminder of the human cost of war, Ron Kovic is a truly tragic figure throughout the entire film. His tale is a moving and powerful one that calls to attention the one element we always forget: our veterans.

As an anti-war person myself, it is easy to see why veterans in America have been forgotten. As Ron figures out, nobody wants him. Too often anti-war protests turn against those who fought instead of focusing on the true source of evil: the government that corrupted those boys and girls minds and convinced them that this was worth their life. On the other side, the pro-war folks ignore the veterans equally as much as they are a reminder of the fact that war kills, maims, and damages completely. Politically, this winds up being the democrats who do not support veterans out of fear of seeing too pro-war to their base and republicans who do not support veterans because, well, they should be able to pay their own way and not rely on handouts (in essence, passing the buck so they do not need to think about them). The only ones who get hurt by this are veterans. It is tragic to see this film come out in 1989 and, yet, we are still here in 2017 wondering why the VA is awful and why we let so many veterans become homeless and unemployed.

In portraying this character, Cruise approaches it with great sensitivity. Perhaps, his turn as Ron Kovic is the most nuanced performance he has given in his career. Deftly portraying him as an unquestioned patriot before the war to a man who slowly realizes he was fed lies all these years, Cruise's depiction is heart breaking and entirely moving. Alongside him, however, both Raymond J. Barry and Caroline Kava give terrific performances as his parents. Both lost and confused about how to handle their son after the war, the two try their best. Eli (Barry) acts like a father and builds Ron everything he needs. He tries to essentially rebuild his son, which he knows to be futile, but he tries anyways. Patricia (Kava) struggles more openly, especially when Ron's anger and PTSD gets into full swing and he lashes out at everybody around him. For her, her son died in Vietnam and the man that came back in his place is a cruel and mean impostor. It is a nearly impossible mental hurdle to overcome and Kava's raw performance embodies just how challenging it is to see somebody you love be so impacted by something you wish you could fix immediately for them.… Expand

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amheretojudge

Jun 28, 2018

resurrected for incarcerating..

Born On The Fourth Of July Starring : Tom Cruise, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava and Willem Dafoe Screenwriter : Ron Kovic and Oliver Stone Director : Oliver Stone 3 and a half out of 5 Born On The Fourth Of July is a character driven feature whoseresurrected for incarcerating..

Born On The Fourth Of July

Starring : Tom Cruise, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava and Willem Dafoe Screenwriter : Ron Kovic and Oliver Stone Director : Oliver Stone

3 and a half out of 5

Born On The Fourth Of July is a character driven feature whose protagonist goes through a challenging emotional phase in his life after encountering some inedible and gut-wrenching truth back at the war. Such war based features often follow a rudimentary process that undermines the creativity or the originality of the material, but in here, it stands along on its format, as each single lose thread of the feature is reconnected or used up again wisely by the makers attaining the perfect balance of the drama of the characters and the brutality of the practicality projected in here. The camera work is plausible even though it could have been shot with more appetizing or at least attention seeking work, and it may be short on background score, sound effects and art design but is perfectly edited.

Oliver Stone; the screenwriter-director, keeps the audience engaged through its brilliant execution skill and his manipulative dramatic shots that easily breaks down into tears. Tom Cruise is in his A game (especially break down sequence where he confesses his sins) and doing some of his career's best work despite of not getting the essential support from the cast except for Willem Dafoe who helps him survive a mid-act sequence.

Born On The Fourth Of July is resurrected on incarcerating, both the good and bad deeds, whose unexpected influence led humankind to its doom.… Expand

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LordNaseby

Sep 27, 2011

If you want to go see Tom Cruise complaining about how unfair life is to him then this is definitely the movie for you. I know it is supposed to be another powerful Oliver Stone Vietnam film and I have respect for Platoon. But really did this film need to be so friggin' long? This was one ofIf you want to go see Tom Cruise complaining about how unfair life is to him then this is definitely the movie for you. I know it is supposed to be another powerful Oliver Stone Vietnam film and I have respect for Platoon. But really did this film need to be so friggin' long? This was one of Cruise's worst roles and that is saying something. If you want to see a good Cruise film, try Tropic Thunder. Otherwise ignore this bloated, over-long, poorly acted mess of a film that didn't deserve any Oscars that year much less best Director.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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