Born on the Fourth of July

    Born on the Fourth of July
    1989

    Synopsis

    Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, Ron Kovic becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.

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    Cast

    • Tom CruiseRon Kovic
    • Raymond J. BarryMr. Kovic
    • Caroline KavaMrs. Kovic
    • Holly Marie CombsJenny
    • Kyra SedgwickDonna
    • Tom BerengerRecruiting Gunnery Sgt. Hayes
    • Rob CamillettiTommy Finnelli
    • Stephen BaldwinBilly Vorsovich
    • Mark MosesArzt
    • Vivica A. FoxHooker

    Recommendations

    • 100

      Chicago Sun-Times

      Nothing Cruise has done will prepare you for what he does in Born on the Fourth of July. His performance is so good that the movie lives through it. Stone is able to make his statement with Cruise's face and voice and doesn't need to put everything into the dialogue.
    • 100

      Empire

      Some will find it overly long, but with such a pivotal performance by Cruise and a veritable platoon of Hollywood elite supporting, who can begrudge a bit more screen time?
    • 100

      Rolling Stone

      But Stone has found in Cruise the ideal actor to anchor the movie with simplicity and strength. Together they do more than show what happened to Kovic. Their fervent, consistently gripping film shows why it still urgently matters.
    • 100

      The New York Times

      It is a film of enormous visceral power with, in the central role, a performance by Tom Cruise that defines everything that is best about the movie.
    • 100

      Variety

      Oliver Stone again shows America to itself in a way it won't forget. His collaboration with Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic to depict Kovic's odyssey from teenage true believer to wheel-chair-bound soldier in a very different war results in a gripping, devastating and telling film about the Vietnam era.
    • 100

      Boston Globe

      Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July is a knockout, a huge angry howl of movie that uses a crippled Vietnam veteran's disability as metaphor for a country's paralysis. [5 Jan 1990, p.67]
    • 60

      Washington Post

      Stone has created a film whose overblown parts add up to far less than the epic whole he had in mind.
    • 60

      Washington Post

      This is an impassioned movie, made with conviction and evangelical verve. It's also hysterical and overbearing and alienating.

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