The film won Best Director for Stone with Cruise being nominated for Best Actor, perhaps more importantly, it illuminated the courage of Ronnie Kovic's journey from negative darkness into positive light.Ĭosting $40 million and exhausting its director and stars. "Escaping" to a remote Mexican town, a haven for outcast crippled vets, we encounter Kovic's kindred spirits, among them Willem Dafoe and Tom Sizemore, they introduce him to the alcohol soaked life they now wallow in, along with the dark skinned whores who in their own way help to exorcise the demons and uplift the deflated spirits of those shorn of precious manhood.Ĭruise reaches dark recesses as the tears flow for real during his liaison with a Mexican whore, it is here in a oasis of hope in the desert that the character finally decides to face his predicament. The picture is justifiably long, chronicling the stages of positive shift in the characters mind, the camera-eye of Stone always ensuring dramatic quality with a knowledge of human spirit and behaviour. Portraying a character that has undoubtedly groomed him into the respected actor he is today, Tom Cruise is excellent, searching within his soul to feel the pain and anguish that is Kovic's life. Kovic returns to a mixed welcome, it seems he and other vets are part of the problem and his high school love (Sedgewick) is deeply involved in the rallies, they are reunited somewhat and through her, he discovers the reality behind the war, and his mind begins to alter his views on the country he loves. President Nixon fails to act on the anger and bitterness seen across campus demo's, with alienated students protesting against conflict. Society rages at their countries involvement in the war.
The yankee doodle dandy patriotism he believes will prevail turns sour when Kovic is wounded and crippled in battle, what follows is his struggle to be accepted both in his own mind and on return to his homeland. Recreating two-thirds of the man's life, Stone's widescreen epic sees the young Ronnie at high school competing hard in the wrestling team, his desire for glory and success lead him to submit to the ultimate sacrifice.Īfter a visit from Tom Berenger's, uniformed Marine Sergeant at the high school, Kovic decides to leave his loved ones behind and enlist, just as his father had.
Here was a proud Marine who gave half his body, manhood and future for the war, he would be the sole focal point in 'Born On The 4th Of July' an unrelenting moving account of his struggles through pain, courage and the burdens of patriotism. After his foray into the world of sarcastic talk show hosts who ridicule their callers in 'Talk Radio' (1988), Stone returned to his war-torn experiences with another masterpiece, the story of Ron Kovic's (Cruise) personal odyssey from the American dream through to the nightmare that was Vietnam.
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