Born On The Fourth Of July (DVD)

Originally released in 1989, Tom Cruise plays Ron Kovic, who as a teenager was excited by the prospect of serving his country, as he believes that the Hollywood war movies are true to life and went to Vietnam as a patriotic Marine. However, things do not go to plan, and he returns home as a paraplegic, and also a man now very bitter with the world around him and the people who live in it. As a child growing up in Massapequa, Ron loved watching the 4th of July parades, and playing war games with his friends. After listening to a very vocal recruiter played by Tom Berenger, Ron decides to enlist. We are quickly moved from scenes of innocent childhood, to the ...  Read the complete review

Vietnam films are ten a penny however this one by Oliver Stone focuses more on the aftermath of the war and the effect it had on those soldiers returning to a country where many people saw them as a painful reminder of a war that they lost. Tom Cruise stars as the initially idealistic Ron Kovic who enlists in the 60's and is promptly sent to Vietnam where the reality he finds is far removed from the gloosy way army life was presented to him by the recruitmanet pitch he bought into. Based on a true story he becomes injured while on service and must come to terms with living out the rest of his life severly handicapped. Kovic is so disgusted by the ...  Read the complete review

Born on the Fourth of July was released the year I went to France on Holiday, I cannot recall the year, I can only remember that where ever I went There were hundreds of posters fro the film. As the second in a trilogy of Vietnam films from Oliver Stone (Platoon and Heaven and Earth being the other two), this one focuses on the aftermath of the war and its effect on the surviving American soldiers. Raised in a patriotic, all American family, Ron Kovic decides to join the Marine Corps in the late 60's, he is soon sent over to Veitnam were is envisions of a great and glamorous job in the war soon changes when he sees the true brutal colours of the war. After ...  Read the complete review

The film to remember every time Tom Cruise turns out another plastic, grin-filled performance; this is a strong contender for Oliver Stone's best film, a one-sided, passionate drama about the harshness of war, the difficulties of disability, and the indomitable nature of the human spirit. Ron Kovic (Cruise), a gung-ho Vietnam soldier, has two disasters while at war - he accidentally shoots a fellow American, and is then crippled by an enemy bullet - and his life collapses as a result. Gradually, his uncritical love of country is shaken out of him by the poor treatment he receives back home, and after an interlude with other dropout veterans in Mexico, he starts to ...  Read the complete review

‘Born On The Fourth Of July’ is Oliver Stone’s second movie (of three) about Vietnam, the first being the exceptional ‘Platoon’ and the third being the frankly disappointing ‘Heaven & Earth’. In this instalment Stone brings to the screen the biography of Vietnam vet Ron Kovic who is played by Tom Cruise. Cruise gives an outstanding performance as Kovic who, after being paralysed in the Vietnam war feels deceived by the same country he was once so willing to fight for and becomes an anti-war campaigner. It’s a powerful drama, very emotional; some scenes will more than likely have you reaching for the tissues. This ...  Read the complete review