Born On the Fourth of July

Theatrical Release Date: 1989 12 20 (USA)

UPC: 025192613524

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Not For Children, Profanity, Sexual Situations, War Violence]

Summary: The second of three films by co-writer/director Oliver Stone to explore the effects of the Vietnam War (Platoon and Heaven and Earth are the others), Born On The Fourth Of July tells the true story of Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise), a patriotic, All-American small town athlete who shocks his family by enlisting with the Marines to fight in the Vietnam War. Once he is overseas, however, Kovic's gung-ho enthusiasm turns to horror and confusion when he accidentally kills one of his own men in a firefight. His downfall is furthered by a bullet wound that leaves him paralyzed from the chest down. He returns home, spends an appalling, nightmarish stint in a veterans' hospital, and follows an increasingly disillusioned and fragmented path that ultimately leaves him drunk and dissolute in Mexico. However, Kovic somehow turns himself around and pulls his life together, becoming an outspoken anti-war activist in the process. The film is long but emotionally powerful; many consider it Stone's best work and Cruise's best performance. Both were nominated for Oscars, as was the film itself, but only Stone, who co-wrote the film with Kovic from the latter's book, won for Best Director. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: In Competition – Berlin International Film Festival Golden Berlin Camera – Berlin International Film Festival Best Picture - Drama – null Best Director – null Best Screenplay – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – null Best Original Score – null Best Screenplay – null Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Cinematography – American Society of Cinematographers Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Score – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Screenplay – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Screenplay – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Director – Directors Guild of America

Features: Feature commentary with writer/director Oliver Stone
NBC news archives: Back story - Born on the Fourth of July

Born On the Fourth of July

Format: DVD

Release Date: 10/19/2004

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS Digital Theater Systems

Runtime: 145 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. The Yankee Doodle Boy (Main Titles) [16:26]
2. The Right Decision [11:07]
3. Vietnam [4:29]
4. The Wrong Man [5:18]
5. A Casualty of War [7:26]
6. The Veterans Hospital [14:02]
7. Home Again [9:45]
8. The Local Hero [11:37]
9. Donna's World [:01]
10. The Wrong War [8:38]
11. All for Nothing [4:55]
12. Mexico [5:32]
13. Wilson's Family [17:23]
14. The Rebel [8:52]
15. Maybe We're Home [9:20]
16. End Titles [3:01]

Matthew Doberman

Much of modern America's understanding of the Vietnam War has been shaped by films, not the least of which being Oliver Stone's Platoon. In Born on the Fourth of July, Stone revisits the topic to show us the damage the war did back home. Aiding him is Tom Cruise, whose powerful performance as real-life veteran Ron Kovic earned him the right to never again be thought of as "just a pretty face." Both were nominated for Oscars for work which many claimed was the best of their careers; Stone took home the Best Director trophy. Based on the autobiography of Kovic, the film is a brutally honest account of how the devastation of war extends far beyond the battlefield. In our somber hindsight, we may have less ideological, patriotic innocence than the all-American Kovic at the start of the movie -- but also like Kovic, we certainly don't have much left by the film's end. Stone brilliantly portrays the nowhere-to-turn rage of the Vietnam Vet: angry at the war, angry at the military, yet often hated by those who feel the same way but have never worn a uniform. Like Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July is a historical drama that truly merits the word "important," the kind of film that future generations should watch so as to never forget their past. Despite its pain, however, the film is inspirational, a story of one man's triumph over hate, self-pity and his own personal demons. By rising above his own hardships to make certain the nation recognized and remembered its mistakes, Kovic proves he's still an all-American boy after all. ~ Matthew Doberman, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Stephen Baldwin  Actor 
Claude Brooks  Actor 
Peter Crombie  Actor 
Abbie Hoffman  Actor 
Samantha Larkin  Actor 
Gale Mayron  Actor 
Kevin Harvey Morse  Actor 
Jessica Prunell  Actor 
Melvin Allen  Actor 
Eagle-Eye Cherry  Actor 
Markus Flanagan  Actor 
Wayne Knight  Actor 
Bruce MacVittie  Actor 
Willie Minor  Actor 
Chris Pederson  Actor 
Brian Tarantina  Actor 
Sean Stone  Actor 
Lane R. Davis  Actor 
David Carriere  Actor 
Richard Grusin  Actor 
Elbert Lewis  Actor 
Lorraine Morin-Torre  Actor 
Anthony Pena  Actor 
Bob Tillotson  Actor 
William Hubbard Knight  Actor 
Paul Abbott  Actor 
Michael Compotaro  Actor 
Greg Hackbarth  Actor 
William Mapother  Actor 
Pamela S. Neill  Actor 
John Pinto  Actor 
Harold Woloschin  Actor 
Seth Allen  Actor 
Robert Camilletti  Actor 
John del Regno  Actor 
Jason Gedrick  Actor 
Lucinda Jenney  Actor 
Ed Lauter  Actor 
Jack McGee  Actor 
Billie Neal  Actor 
Jenna von O˙  Actor 
Ron Kovic  Actor 
Real Andrews  Actor 
Vivica A. Fox  Actor 
David Herman  Actor 
Michael McTighe  Actor 
Ken Osborne  Actor 
Eduardo Ricardo  Actor 
William Wallace  Actor 
Peter Benson  Actor 
Reg E. Cathey  Actor 
Ivan Kane  Actor 
Damien Leake  Actor 
Sean McGraw  Actor 
J.R. Nutt  Actor 
Beau Starr  Actor 
Oliver Stone  Actor 
Ryan Beadle  Actor 
Geoff Garza  Actor 
Ed Jupp, Jr.  Actor 
Chip Moody  Actor 
Jimmy L. Parker  Actor 
Sergio Scognamiglio  Actor 
Ben Wright  Actor 
William Baldwin  Actor 
R.D. Call  Actor 
John Galt  Actor 
Elizabeth Hoffman  Actor 
Andrew Lauer  Actor 
Annie McEnroe  Actor 
Mark Moses  Actor 
Paul Sanchez  Actor 
Lili Taylor  Actor 
Dale Dye  Actor 
Philip Amelio  Actor 
Amanda Davis  Actor 
Richard Haus  Actor 
Kevin McGuire  Actor 
Karen Newman  Actor 
Melinda Ramos Renna  Actor 
Joy Zapata  Actor 
Daniel Baldwin  Actor 
Claudio Brook  Actor 
Holly Marie Combs  Actor 
Corky Ford  Actor 
Rick Masters  Actor 
Norma Moore  Actor 
Begonia Plaza  Actor 
Michael Wincott  Actor 
Richard Poe  Actor 
SaMi Chester  Actor 
Michael Smith Guess  Actor 
Richard Lubin  Actor 
Stacey Moseley  Actor 
Chuck Preiffer  Actor 
Norm Wilson  Actor 
Michael Miller  Actor 
Cody Beard  Actor 
Edith Diaz  Actor 
Erika Geminder  Actor 
Jodi Long  Actor 
James LeGros  Actor 
John C. McGinley  Actor 
David Neidorf  Actor 
Tom Sizemore  Actor 
Christopher Walker  Actor 
Joseph P. Reidy  Actor 
Lisa Barnes  Actor 
Dan Furnad  Actor 
Michelle Hurst  Actor 
Christopher W. Mills  Actor 
Kristel Otney  Actor 
Keri Roebuck  Actor 
Bob Gunton  Actor 
Bill Allen  Actor 
Tom Berenger  Actor 
Frank Cavestani  Actor 
John Falch  Actor 
Frank Girardeau  Actor 
Byron Minns  Actor 
Richard Panebianco  Actor 
Mike Starr  Actor 
Jake Weber  Actor 
Alan Toy  Actor 
Edie Brickell  Actor 
Fred Geise  Actor 
Jason Klein  Actor 
Liz Moore  Actor 
Ellen Pasternack  Actor 
Michael Sulsona  Actor 
Don "The Dragon" Wilson  Actor 
Ron Kovic  Screenwriter 
Joseph P. Reidy  Producer 
Oliver Stone  Director 
Oliver Stone  Screenwriter 
Clayton Townsend  Producer 
John Williams  Composer (Music Score) 
Dave Freeman  Screenwriter 
Tom Cruise  Actor 
Raymond J. Barry  Actor 
Caroline Kava  Actor 
Kyra Sedgwick  Actor 
Willem Dafoe  Actor 
Brian Larkin  Actor 
Jerry Levine  Actor 
Josh Evans  Actor 
Jamie Talisman  Actor 
Anne Bobby  Actor 
Frank Whaley  Actor 
John Getz  Actor 
David Warshofsky  Actor 
Rocky Carroll  Actor 
Cordelia Gonzalez  Actor 
Tony Frank  Actor 
Jayne Haynes  Actor 

Country: USA