Born on the Fourth of July

Rating:
Summary: THEY ALWAYS BLAME AMERICA FIRST
Review: In 1989 Oliver Stone came out with "Born on the Fourth of July", the true story of Ron Kovic, a gung-ho Marine who is paralyzed in combat in Vietnam. The film is realistic and compelling. Stone is a master and Tom Cruise as Kovic gives one of his best-ever performances, proving him to be a bona fide acting talent. The film depicts the heartbreaking American experience in Vietnam, and the character arc of Kovic is as complete as any ever captured. He returns home, desperate to believe that his sacrifice was in a noble cause, but this is chipped away by the well-known elements of '60s radicalism. The "generation gap" between longhaired youths and crew cut, religious parents is profound. Kovic sinks into the depravity of drugs and alcohol, but battles back to become a "hero" of the anti-war Left. He wheels into the 1972 Republican National Convention, where he tries to tell the clean-cut, well-heeled patriots that they are wrong and he is right. The idea is that they are all warmongers who have not fought, while he is a pacifist because he has. While there is truth to the premise, in choosing to tell this story, Stone establishes Hollywood as the home of solidly liberal ideas. In 1972, Nixon won 49 states over the ant-war McGovern. The idea that all those Americans, subject daily to reports from Peter Arnett and Dan Rather, the bias of Walter Cronkite, and the hate of the New York Times and the Washington Post, chose Nixon because they were bloodthirsty imperialists is just malarkey. Furthermore, Nixon had made 18-year olds eligible to vote. The concept that all of American youth protested in the streets is a myth. The anti-war movement was propped by TV that made pockets of outrage look like a widespread movement. The Silent Majority spoke out in '72. Big time.
Stone's depiction is fair in and of itself, but he takes advantage of the power of his medium in creating a mindset that such horrors as Kovic experienced are just part of the "Vietnam experience." Kovic's life mirrors soldiers going back to the Roman Legion and beyond. The Left has taken Vietnam as one of those core issues and stuck to it, just as they found themselves wedded to Alger Hiss, Bill Clinton and now the losing side of the War on Terrorism. McCarthy was going after genuine Communists, and genuine Communists were trying to enslave South Vietnam. It took some fighting to stop them. Nixon and Kissinger had the best plan available to them at the time, and the public recognized it. Watergate killed them and the Democrats used it to abandon our allies. Millions died because of them. Democrats will have you believe that we "created" the "killing fields." They have to say things like that, to cling to this nebulous theory, somehow unable to blame the rabid haters and murderers of Communist history, apparently because they are wedded to McCarthyism. Their movies are their best tool in perpetuating their lies. Not on my watch.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Limey Vision
Review: Flint Westwood Here - its late here in Limey Land - the 51st State of the US of A. I am quite shattered at this stage. As for Mr Cruise, he ROCKED in this movie. The beard never suited him though, although, he looked much better with a beard in Collateral. This was his mistake, not getting his beard trimmed. I think he must have thought he was a hippy at the time. Led Zep all looked like extras from Catweasle around 1972. Whats Catweasle I hear you Yankees cry. Its a Brit show about a crazy looking wizard from the 13th Century. Cruise's beard looks just like Catweasle's. Perhaps Cruise should have been a time traveller like Dr Who. Never mind.

FLCW 9.2.2005

Rating:
Summary: Welcome antidote
Review: 'Born On The 4th Of July' was originally supposed to have been made in the 1970's with Al Pacino playing Ron Kovic. However, after major financial backers pulled out of the project the film collapsed, but Stone made a solemn promise to his fellow Vietnam veteran that when he became more successful, he would try a 2nd shot at it.

We see the innocence of early 60's America in Cruise's eyes as well as a heavy dose of Polish Catholic guilt. 'Born On The Fourth Of July' acts as a useful antidote to hero worship. Cruise's performance is powerful and unrelenting and Stone manages to pull off something poigniant in his writing, (personal relationship dialogue has never been his strong point).

Although many seem to disparage the film on historical grounds, both Kovic and Stone are veterans of Vietnam, which in my mind lends the film a tinge of authenticity. Stone has chosen to be a popular film maker and popular film is always more emotional than intellectual. He has used Kovic's experience as a symbol of the U.S. experience of Vietnam in general. Stone himself has even admitted that there were inaccuracies in the film and that he has used 'generic' historical moments. But the fact that there were protests against the Vietnam war cannot be denied.

As a popular film-maker Stone knows that the majority of his audience do not read history books. If film can make history come alive more than books can and help drive the discussion about the war among a mainstream audience, then Stone has done his job.

Rating:
Summary: Platoon is better.
Review: Tom's performance is the best thing in this movie, the score is good, the cinematography is good, its pretty powerful and has some shocking things in it, it also explains alot about the truth of vietnam, everything else is good but not great. There is some smut that could have been taken out, it also ends to abruptly and i would like to know what happened to him, did he die, or live happily or well as happily as he could ever after, what happened? Besides those 2 flaws its pretty good, but platoon is better. Toms best performance is in The Last Samurai which is also a better film. I hope Alexander proves to be Stone's best which i think it will be. 7 out of a 10 for this movie.

Rating:
Summary: A powerful, engaging film
Review: Ron Kovic, Oliver Stone and Tom Cruise form a creative triumvirate (as story source, director, and lead actor, respectively) in this moving Vietnam War saga. Together they achieve a piece de resistance in filmmaking. Cruise's performance is particularly scintillating in the role of crippled war veteran Kovic. Under the aegis of Stone he efficaciously moves through the vicissitudes of Kovic's life and personal ethos. Cruise's style lends itself well to a character that has one enduring passion that does not diminish in intensity, but does change focus (the strength of purpose is just as strong as he explains to his father why he must go to war as when he denounces the conflict to reporters at the Republican convention).

As for Stone he adroitly avoids trying to parlay the `period piece' aspect of the film, and instead concentrates on the bitter ironies (a friend gives the recently paralyzed Kovic some trite business advice `you've got to walk before you can run') and adumbrations (a man brags that his family has participated in all that nations wars and will continue to as the camera shows his grandson). And by keeping the actual Vietnam combat footage in perspective with the whole of Kovic's experience he avoids making `Platoon II' (not an easy feat by the way considering that Tom Beringer and Willem Defoe play key roles in the movie, and some other cast members of Stone's previous Vietnam epic sneak in and out of scenes)


Rating:
Summary: A very surprising Cruise
Review: Regardless of what your politics are - or what you think of Oliver Stone's politics - Born on the Fourth of July, which is based on a gritty memoir by Vietnam war veteran Ron Kovic, is an engrossing movie, not least because of Tom Cruise's performance. Up until starring in this movie, he was always acting as some young hot shot - an attorney, a pool player, a car dealer, it doesn't matter - someone young and arrogant and hot-headed who usually wound up committing himself reluctantly to a greater cause. Here he begins the movie as an idealistic teenager aspiring to serve his country and winds up totally unravelled, in what is one of his most wild and tortured performances. It's incredible (and very disturbing) to watch. Here is one of the rawest portrayals of a man struggling to deal with the impact that war has had on his life.

Rating:
Summary: Rent it...and you'll want to buy it
Review: Im not big on directors or actors; i love a movie with a great story, and an important message. But...BoTFoJ is a great movie because it has an amazing combination of all four elements. Oliver Stone did a superb job, Tom Cruise becomes Ron Kovic, the story is great (and the fact that it is based on real events makes it that much better), and what can i say about the message: truly remarkable. I must admit, the movie starts fast, then slows down for a while, until about the last 30 minutes of the movie. That's when all the loose ends start to come together, and you really feel the full effect of the movie's message. Im not going to give a run down of what it is...that would ruin the best part of the movie for all of you. I mean, the message is subtle in a lot of ways. You just have to look a little deeper, look back upon the movie's events, and think about how it all relates to the ending. I think for those of you that want a movie that has something to say about the hypocritical basis of the Vietnam War (and U.S. self-perpetuated myths), take a look at BoTFoJ. One of my favourites for sure.

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: To sum it all up....I cant believe Cruise didnt win the Academy Award for this one. Just an incredible performance.