|
| Born on the Fourth of July | 
| Category: Movie
Buy New: $7.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  84 reviews
Sales Rank: 16699
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 145 minutes
ASIN: B000I9VO30
Theatrical Release Date: December 19, 1989
Release Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 We Don't Wat This WAR! June 24, 2006
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is a great movie I rate 4 stars and a half or 9/10.It is included in the 1000 Best Movies on DVD by Peter Travers, and won 2 Oscars: Best Director, and Best Film Editing. Oliver Stone goes beyond his first movie about Vietnam telling the story of Ron Kovic, who wrote his own experience in Vietnam in a book that I highly recommend.
Kovic served twice in Vietnam (I wished nobody had gone...) and was paralized after being shot twice. Coming back to the US, he is treated worse than a pig in a farm in a hospital for Viet vets. At the beginning, he is a strong supporter of the cause of war (I don't recall this being told in the book), and uses the "Love It or Leave It" BS that I've heard some other place (I mean, is there anything more American than speak freely? Isn't that Democracy?) Soon, though, he realizes how that war is a big lie, and starts joining demonstrations against the war.
As in Platoon, we see waht war does with men. You are not a human being anymore. There are some very tough scenes that would make anybody cry. The toughest in my opinion is the one at the village, when they kill innocent women and children. Then, Kovic shoots, by mistake, an American soldier, blinded by the sun, and, also, by the brutality and ferocity or war.
Cruise is absolutely gorgeous in this movie, and Oliver Stone won an Oscar for best director. In my opinion, this movie is better than Platoon, because we get to see the life of a soldier before he becomes a soldier. Then we see him fighting, and afterwards, when he is a Vet. So we have the whole picture, and that makes more sense to me than Platoon (even though Platoon is an excellent movie). Tom Berenger and Dafoe have both short appearences here. And that is nice!
This movie should be mandatory in all High Schools in America. If there were no soldiers, there would be no wars, and the war in Iraq looks a lot like the war in Vietnam. USA is making the same mistake again, and the government is so blind to see that (or maybe they don't care about the people, just about the business all the weapons' companies -Bush' frieds- are making out of it!). But let's be smart, let's just ignore the government. They always get their way. Let's be smart and close all ROTC programs from schools. How can we be so hypocrites and have those programs in schools? Is that the education we really think our children deserve? That does not happen any other place in the world, not even in Cuba. Let's invest that money on education. REAL education. How many trilion dollars have Bush wasted in Iraq so far? How much money does the government invest on education? On health? For the people who live and work in America? Parents: teach your children. Nobody should join the Army. Let the politicians -real leaders, not the bunch of idiots we have today spread all over the planet- do the job, we'll see how many would go. Let the Commander in Chief go to war himself. There is no question about it: there would be no war. They wouldn't go. They would try to negotiate, and try to solve conflicts peacefully.
Again, this is a GREAT movie everybody should watch. A masterpiece that is just not that, but also makes us think, and educates us. Everybody should ask themselves: war ... is it worth it? What for ... ?
The corrosive gaze! May 3, 2006
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
There have been many similar movies around this theme (Coming home still remains by far as the unbeatable film about his delicate issue) but what it confers this gripping and awful story that touch of grandness is the merciless, intense and real approach so typical of Oliver Stone.
There are three remarkable aspects that basically, consolidate and reaffirm this movie as the best artistic achievement of Stone; the crudeness and incisiveness of this bitter script; the best performance given by Tom Cruise in his career and the unforgettable devastating images along the film, as that mesmerizing and metaphorical fight on the desert of Cruise and Dafoe.
To my mind I must insist, this is the majuscule achievement in Oliver Stone's career.
I couldn't watch this movie until now-16 years later! December 19, 2005
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
When this movie was released in 1989, I had been married for the second time for one year. I was involved in marriage, family, career and had left the 60s behind for awhile. I had the privilege of doing that; Ron Kovic could not. Reading the reviews at that time, I knew this movie would be too intense for me, and a few years later, when my husband would suffer a major stroke and become partially paralyzed himself, causing both of us to endure years of rehabilitation, I deliberately avoided the movie whenever it aired on TV. What I had glimpsed was too raw and authentic--I had enough of that in my own life.
But I watched it tonight on AMC and marvelled at the film--Stone's brilliant directing, Kovic's terrible honesty about his journey, Cruise's willingness to "go there." This is perhaps Stone's greatest movie, thoughtful to the tiniest artistic detail; director is too shallow a title for his achievement with this film. Kovic--it is his story that inspires me to write this review. Three years after my husband died--he lived nearly 10 years with his disability--I understood all too well Kovic's path. The fact that he kept going, that he didn't give up even when life was dark, painful, and utterly bizarre is simply amazing. Having to face "aloneness" and "dependence" and life without "equipment" is the most terrifying experience one can deal with. My husband had me. He knew he was loved everyday. Ron had none of that, but, thank God, he found a community and a mission--one that he sought and created. What kind of strength is that? It comes only when you face that awful test in life that none of us wants, that we'll do anything to avoid. Those who have encountered it are either dead by choice or alive and transformed. Kovic went through it, came out the other end, and I'm in awe.
Classic Film by Stone and Cruise December 19, 2005
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Oliver Stone was at the top of his game when this film was made in 1989 starring Tom Cruise. It follows the true story of Ron Kovic's life from 1950s idyllic childhood to Vietnam Veteran war protestor. Beginning during a fourth of July parade in 1956 we cut to the JFK inaugural address (oops, five years later and young Ron hasn't aged). His mother says she had a dream that Ron was speaking before a large crowd saying important things. This dream turns out to be prophetic and the ending is always moving.
Cruise gives a great portrayal as Ron who's paralyzed by wounds and transforms into a spokesmen for Vietnam Vets.
Vietnam is long over, but the effects go on. Those of veterans and those of lessons learned and not learned. Will our country ever learn that war is wrong?
 Apparently I'm the minority - I didn't like it. June 23, 2005
4 out of 16 found this review helpful
To say that Cruise and Stone are seasoned is an understatement, so I expected this to be a classic that I had been missing for the last 15 years. Well, not really.
This film was really exhausting for me. I thought it was too long, and I started to lose interest about 90 minutes in. It actually took two sittings for me to be able to finish it. The performance that Cruise offers is outstanding, but the not-so-subtle political narrative really struck me as routine and very predictable for Hollywood.
The film skips a large portion toward the end in which Cruise emerges as a notable public speaker, but it isn't explained how or why. The film concludes, framing his story as a triumph of character not too dissimilar from Forrest Gump. I wish I had enjoyed it more.
Top Gun and The Color of Money remain my choice Cruise films from the 80's.
|
|
|
Wildlife, nature and the Environment
Sponsored Links
Learn how to get your own Amazon Book shop | |
