Born on the Fourth of July (film)

In 1956 Massapequa, New York, 10-year-old Ron Kovic is playing with his friends in a forest. On his Fourth of July birthday, he attends an Independence Day parade with his family and best friend Donna. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy's televised inaugural address inspires a teenage Kovic to join the United States Marine Corps. After attending an impassioned lecture by two Marine recruiters visiting his high school, he enlists. His decision receives support from his mother, but upsets his father, a World War II veteran who lost many of his friends to the war. Kovic goes to his prom, dances with Donna and kisses her before leaving for recruit training. In October 1967, Kovic is now a Marine sergeant on a reconnaissance mission in South Vietnam, during his second tour of duty. He and his unit kill a number of South Vietnamese villagers after mistaking them for enemy combatants. After encountering enemy fire, they flee the village and abandon its sole survivor, a crying baby. During the retreat, Kovic accidentally kills Wilson, a young private in his platoon. He reports the action to his superior, who ignores the claim and advises him not to say anything else. In January 1968, Kovic is critically wounded during a firefight, but is rescued by a fellow Marine. Paralyzed from the mid-chest down, he spends several months in recovery at the Bronx Veterans Hospital in New York. Conditions in the underfunded and understaffed hospital are poor; the doctors, nurses and orderlies ignore patients, abuse drugs, and operate using old equipment. Against his doctors' requests, Kovic desperately tries to walk again with the use of braces and crutches, only to fall and break his leg, nearly requiring its amputation. In 1969, Kovic, now permanently using a wheelchair, returns home and turns to alcohol to cope with his growing depression and disillusionment. During an Independence Day parade, he is asked to give a speech, but is unable to finish after he hears a crying baby in the crowd, triggering a flashback to Vietnam. Kovic visits Donna in Syracuse, New York, where the two reminisce. While attending a vigil for the victims of the Kent State shootings, they are separated when Donna and other protestors are arrested by police. In Massapequa, a drunken Kovic has a heated argument with his mother, and his father decides to send him to Villa Dulce, a Mexican haven for wounded Vietnam veterans. He has his first sexual encounter with a prostitute, but is heartbroken when he sees her with another customer. Kovic befriends Charlie, another paraplegic, and the two decide to travel to another village after getting kicked out of a bar. After annoying their taxicab driver, they are stranded on the side of the road, and an argument turns into a fight. They are picked up by a passing motorist who takes them back to Villa Dulce. Kovic travels to Venus, Georgia, where he visits Wilson's grave. He then meets the fallen Marine's family to confess his guilt in their loved one's death. The parents are sympathethic but Wilson's widow answers that she can't forgive him and that any kind of forgiveness would be between him and God. In 1972, Kovic joins the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and travels to the Republican National Convention in Miami, Florida. As Richard Nixon is giving an acceptance speech for his presidential nomination, Kovic expresses to a news reporter his hatred for the war and the government for abandoning the American people. His comments enrage Nixon's supporters, and his interview is cut short when police attempt to remove and arrest him and other protestors. Kovic and the veterans manage to break free from the officers, regroup, and charge the hall again, though not successfully. The movie ends in 1976, with Kovic an invited speaker at the Democratic National Convention in New York City, following the publication of his autobiography. ==Cast==

In addition, decorated Marine and Vietnam War veteran Dale Dye appears as an infantry colonel, Oliver Stone appears as a TV reporter, the real Ron Kovic appears as a veteran in a wheelchair in the opening sequence, Chicago Seven anti-war protester Abbie Hoffman appears as a student strike organizer at Syracuse University, and singer Edie Brickell appears as a folksinger in Syracuse. Hoffman died before the film was released, with an "In Memoriam" in his honor shown in the closing credits. ==Production==

Development in February 1987 Al Pacino expressed interest in portraying Ron Kovic after watching the Vietnam veteran's televised appearance at the 1976 Democratic National Convention and reading his autobiography. He also turned down starring roles in the Vietnam War-themed films Coming Home (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979), the former for which Kovic would act as a consultant. Kovic met with Pacino in New York, where they discussed adapting the book to film. In September 1976, Pacino's manager, producer Martin Bregman, contacted Kovic's agent and entered into negotiations for the film rights. The following October, Bregman's production company Artists Entertainment Complex acquired the rights for $150,000. Filming was scheduled to begin in June 1977 with Paramount Pictures acting as distributor, After the project moved to Universal Pictures, Bregman and Pacino left the film. Stone promised Kovic that if his career took off, he would return to Kovic to revive the project. Kovic stated that after the release of Platoon, Stone called Kovic and told him he was ready to return working on the film. The studio entered into negotiations to finance the film in May 1988 with a $20 million budget, but it later withdrew from funding the film. Stone was announced as director in June 1988, and his Ixtlan Productions banner was enlisted as a production company. Stone, in particular, had dismissed his previous film Top Gun (1986) as a "fascist movie", but expressed that he was drawn to Cruise's "Golden Boy" image. "I saw this kid who has everything," he stated. "And I wondered what would happen if tragedy strikes, if fortune denies him ... I thought it was an interesting proposition: What would happen to Tom Cruise if something goes wrong?" At one point during pre-production, Stone suggested that Cruise be injected with a chemical drug that would render him paralyzed for two days; Stone believed that the drug would help him realistically portray the difficulties of being a paraplegic. The insurance company responsible for the film vetoed the idea, believing that the drug would cause permanent incapacitation. Kovic visited the production daily and would often participate in rehearsals with Cruise. Casting directors Risa Bramon Garcia and Billy Hopkins sought more than 200 actors for various speaking roles. They auditioned 2,000 child actors in Massapequa and hired 8,000 extras for scenes shot in Dallas, Texas. For the Fourth of July parade sequences, student protests and presidential conventions, the production employed nearly 12,000 people from the National Paralysis Foundation, Campfire Girls and American Legion to appear as extras. Michael Wincott, who had a supporting role in Talk Radio (1988), plays a wounded veteran in Mexico. John C. McGinley, in his fourth collaboration with Stone, plays an official at the 1976 Democratic Convention. Mark Moses, who appeared in Platoon as Lieutenant Wolfe, plays an overwhelmed doctor at the VA hospital in the Bronx. Stone himself appears as a skeptical news reporter. To prepare the actors portraying Marines, military advisor Dale Dye organized one-week training missions, one in the United States, and the other in the Philippines where the battle sequences were to be filmed. Abbie Hoffman, a Yippie activist, acted as a consultant who educated the cast about the peace movement. He also makes an appearance as a protestor in Syracuse, New York. The film is dedicated to Hoffman, who died on April 12, 1989. The high production costs prompted Stone and Cruise to waive their salaries and instead receive a percentage of the box office gross. Filming began in Dallas, Texas, for scenes set in the United States. The Elmwood neighborhood of Oak Cliff doubled for Massapequa. The Kimball High School band and staff appeared in the parade scenes and the dramatic prom scene featuring Sedgwick and Cruise. The Dallas Convention Center was used to re-create the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami, Florida. The filmmakers also shot scenes at the Parkland Memorial Hospital, which stood in for the Bronx Veterans Hospital in New York. Principal photography wrapped in December 1988, after 65 days of filming. The scene was reshot in July 1989 at The Forum arena in Inglewood, California. Recording sessions took place at 20th Century Fox Studios in Los Angeles, California. Timothy Morrison, a member of the Boston Pops Orchestra, acted as a trumpeter. AllMusic's Tavia Hobbart wrote that the score "literally haunts you as you watch the movie. It's just as effective here." ==Release==

Universal gave the film a platform release which involved showing it in select cities before expanding distribution in the following weeks. To qualify the film for awards consideration, the studio issued a limited theatrical run in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto on December 20, 1989. and expanding to 1,434 theaters by its eleventh week. A heavily edited version of the film was scheduled for broadcast on CBS in early 1991, but was shelved by the network's executives due to the impending Persian Gulf War. The film had its network premiere on January 21, 1992. and DVD on October 31, 2000. On January 16, 2001, it was again released on DVD as a part of the "Oliver Stone Collection", a box set of films directed by Stone. Special features include an audio commentary by Stone, production notes, and cast and crew profiles. A Special Edition DVD was released on October 5, 2010, containing the film, the commentary by Stone, as well as archive news footage from NBC News. The film was released on HD DVD on June 12, 2007, and on Blu-ray on July 3, 2012. The Blu-ray presents the film in 1080p high definition, and contains all the additional materials found on the Special Edition DVD. A 4K UHD Blu-ray was released on November 12, 2024, featuring a new restoration from the original camera negative as well as new special features. ==Reception==

Box office The film grossed $172,021 on its first week of limited release, an average of $34,404 per theatre. More theatres were added on the following weekend, and it grossed a further $61,529 in its second weekend, with an overall gross of $937,946. On its third weekend, the film entered wide release, grossing $11,023,650 and securing the number one position at the North American box office. On its fifth weekend, it earned an additional $6,228,360 for an overall gross of $32,607,294. The film grossed $4,640,940 in its sixth weekend, dropping to second place behind Driving Miss Daisy. The following weekend, it moved to third place, earning an additional $4,012,085. On its eighth weekend, it had dropped to fourth place and earned $3,004,400. It stayed in fifth place for the next three weekends, and by March 4, 1990, the film had an overall gross of $59,673,354. and $91 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $162,001,698. Worldwide, it was the tenth highest-grossing film of 1989, as well as Universal's second highest-grossing film released that year, behind Back to the Future Part II. Critical response attending the 62nd Academy Awards on March 26, 1990. He and Stone received an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay twenty-two years to the day after he was injured. Based on 56 reviews, Born on the Fourth of July holds a score of 84% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.50/10. The website's consensus reads, "Led by an unforgettable performance from Tom Cruise, Born on the Fourth of July finds director Oliver Stone tackling thought-provoking subject matter with ambitious élan." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. David Denby of New York magazine stated that the film was "a relentless but often powerful and heartbreaking piece of work, dominated by Tom Cruise's impassioned performance." Richard Corliss of Time, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also commended Cruise's performance. Vincent Canby of The New York Times said the film was "the most ambitious nondocumentary film yet made about the entire Vietnam experience." Janet Maslin, also writing for The New York Times, praised Stone's direction, writing that he "reaches out instantly to his audience's gut-level emotions and sustains a walloping impact for two and a half hours." Internet reviewer James Berardinelli felt that the film's greatest accomplishment was "its contrasting of the glorious illusion of war as seen from thousands of miles away to the barbarity of it up-close." The Washington Post published two negative reviews; Hal Hinson called the film "alienating", while Desson Howe was critical of Cruise's "whiny" performance. Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times felt that the actor's portrayal of Kovic was lacking in character development. Jonathan Rosenbaum derided the storytelling for "brimming with false uplift", and Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called the film "2 1/2 hours of self-righteousness masquerading as art." Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote, "It's almost inconceivable that Ron Kovic was as innocent as the movie and the 1976 autobiography on which it's based make him out to be ... Kovic's book is simple and explicit; he states his case in plain, angry words. Stone's movie yells at you for two hours and twenty-five minutes." The film also received criticism for its dramatization of actual events, prompted by Kovic's declared decision to run for Congress as a Democratic opponent to Californian Republican Robert Dornan in the 38th congressional district. As a result, Born on the Fourth of July became Stone's first film to be publicly attacked in the media. Dornan criticized the film for portraying Kovic as "[being] in a panic and mistakenly shooting his corporal to death in Vietnam, visiting prostitutes, abusing drugs and alcohol and cruelly insulting his parents". Kovic dismissed his comments as being part of a "hatred campaign", and ultimately did not run for election. In a newspaper column, former White House Communications Director Pat Buchanan criticized the adaptation for deviating from the book, and concluded by calling Stone a "propagandist". Republican State Senator Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, who took part in Syracuse University's 1970 peaceful protest of the Cambodian Campaign, was critical of the film's depiction of Syracuse police as "faceless people brutalizing peaceful protesters". Following the film's wide release in January 1990, Stone wrote a letter apologizing to the city of Syracuse and its police officials. Accolades The film received various awards and nominations, with particular recognition for the screenplay, Cruise's performance, Stone's direction and the score by John Williams. The National Board of Review named it one of the "Top 10 Films of 1989", ranking it at number one. The film received five Golden Globe Award nominations and won four for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director and Best Screenplay, while Williams was nominated for Best Original Score. In February 1990, the film competed for the Golden Bear at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival, but lost to the American film Music Box (1990) and Czech film Larks on a String (1969). That same month, the film garnered eight Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor; its closest rival was Driving Miss Daisy, which received nine nominations. At the 62nd Oscars, Stone won a second Academy Award for Best Director; he had previously won the award for Platoon. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, beating out Driving Miss Daisy, The Bear, Glory and The Fabulous Baker Boys in that category. The February 2020 issue of New York Magazine lists Born on the Fourth of July as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars". On May 10, 2021, Cruise returned all three of his Golden Globe awards to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association due to controversy in its lack of diversity among its membership, including his Best Actor award for this film. ==See also==