Born on the Fourth of July

"A true story of innocence lost and courage found."

1989 2h 25m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

🍅

84%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★7.0TMDB · 1,960🍅84%Rotten Tomatoes●75Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 120,847

DramaWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“A true story of innocence lost and courage found.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Tom Cruise
Ron Kovic
Raymond J. Barry
Mr. Kovic
Caroline Kava
Mrs. Kovic
Kyra Sedgwick
Donna
Willem Dafoe
Charlie
Jerry Levine
Steve Boyer
Stephen Baldwin
Billy Vorsovich
Josh Evans
Tommy Kovic

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Oliver Stone
Writers: Oliver Stone, Ron Kovic
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $161M — a 11.5× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

37 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Oliver Stone, shot by Robert Richardson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor David Brenner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Tom Cruise and Raymond J. Barry and Caroline Kava carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A true story of innocence lost and courage found.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Oliver Stone directs. Robert Richardson behind the camera. John Williams scores. David Brenner cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $161M — a 11.5× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
237 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
4Directed by Oliver Stone, shot by Robert Richardson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by John Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor David Brenner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Tom Cruise and Raymond J. Barry and Caroline Kava carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A true story of innocence lost and courage found.".
9IMDB entry: tt0096969 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 14 themes, including "vietnam war", "vietnam veteran", "post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)", "1970s".

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert Richardson
Original score: John Williams
Editing: David Brenner
Production design: Bruno Rubeo
Costume design: Judy L. Ruskin
Makeup / hair: Martha Marek Beresford
Stunt coordinator: Gil Arceo
Runtime: 145 min · 2h 25m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $14,000,000
Box office: $161,001,698
Return: 1150% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Rotten Tomatoes: 84% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 75/100
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 120,847 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Won 2 Oscars. 15 wins & 26 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Best Director
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Oliver Stone

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Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

kevin20192025-02-28
★ 10/10
"Born on the Fourth of July" is a powerful, worthwhile, and highly recommended film which shows the real social and familial challenges Ron Kovic faced when struggling to come to terms with the devastating after effects of war and the reality of how the contentious conflict changed him as a person and redefined how he perceived the world. He became dependant on alcohol for a time, but during a sojourn in Mexico while the continuing conflict in Vietnam was becoming more protracted by the day - it eventually becomes overrun by serious lapses in judgement which results in the ongoing deaths of many more innocent people - he has an epiphany of sorts and upon his return home he joins the anti-war movement and this fact - how this initially staunch supporter of the war embarked upon an extremely personal journey and became active in attempting to bring the war to an end by becoming an incredibly vocal anti-Vietnam demonstrator - is the most startling aspect of his often deeply emotional story which is yet another in the growing collection of insightful and invaluable first hand accounts detailing the damaging long term horrors wrought by the Vietnam war.
CinemaSerf2025-07-27
★ 7/10
I think this might be the only film in which I’ve seen Tom Cruise actually act! It’s an inspired piece of casting from Oliver Stone that puts this pretty boy Ron Kovic front and centre as the Vietnam War rages half way around the world from his American home. This lad’s family have history fighting for their country, and despite some reservations from his father (Raymond J. Barry) but with the active support of his mother (Caroline Kava), he enlists. His time in Asia is fraught with danger; their enemy ruthless and tenacious - but he does form a solid bond with his colleagues as they face their daily perils. Those perils impact increasingly more directly on Ron until he is transported back without the use of his legs, or anything much else below his waistline. The doctors are brutally frank with him. No walking and no children. He’s determined, however, not to lose these limbs and it’s that fortitude that sees him returned home to a family ill-equipped to deal with his or their own demons. One of his friends suggests he gets a job, but with a decent government cheque coming in each month he shuns that idea and is soon an unfulfilled drunken drug addict with nobody around him having any idea how to help. Perhaps salvation for this man might come from an unlikely quarter as he begins to fight against the indifference shown by Uncle Sam to it’s veterans once their usefulness has expired. He turns out to be quite an orator and is swiftly galvanising not just the victims but the entire anti-war effort across his country - much to the chagrin of the powers that be. The effort from Cruise here is transformative. He morphs convincingly from the handsome idealistic boy-next-door to the foul-mouthed, scruffy looking, protester with what I think is his most natural of performances. He positively oozes an embittered toxicity against the authorities who now consider him, and many thousands like him, little more than an inconvenience. He is a bit of a pig to be around, is Ron, and that puts enormous pressure on his friends and family - well extolled by Kava, Josh Evans as his younger brother Tommy and by Barry as a father dealing with his own feelings of guilt. Away from the personalities, this film effectively illustrates just how abandoned many injured were. With insufficient medical care, facilities and staff often meaning their recovery process was delayed and the psychological effects of that on both the injured and those charged with their care is writ large, too. Stone understands how to convey the horrors of war and the scarring it causes and the originally adapted screenplay by Kovic himself is gritty and realistic on both a military and personal level. The man has flaws and he knows it, but once he has a conduit for his considerable energy he can become formidable. This isn’t an easy watch, but as an antidote to so much glamorised wartime fiction, it works well.
CinemaSerf2025-07-27
★ 7/10
I think this might be the only film in which I’ve seen Tom Cruise actually act! It’s an inspired piece of casting from Oliver Stone that puts this pretty boy Ron Kovic front and centre as the Vietnam War rages half way around the world from his American home. This lad’s family have history fighting for their country, and despite some reservations from his father (Raymond J. Barry) but with the active support of his mother (Caroline Kava), he enlists. His time in Asia is fraught with danger; their enemy ruthless and tenacious and their command structure isn’t the most cohesive, but he does form a solid bond with his colleagues as they face their daily perils. Those perils impact increasingly more directly on Ron until he is transported back without the use of his legs, or anything much else below his waistline. The doctors are brutally frank with him. No walking and no children. He’s determined, however, not to lose these limbs and it’s that fortitude that sees him returned home to a family ill-equipped to deal with his or their own demons. One of his friends suggests he gets a job, but with a decent government cheque coming in each month he shuns that idea and is soon an unfulfilled drunken drug addict with nobody around him having any idea how to help. Perhaps salvation for this man might come from an unlikely quarter as he begins to fight against the indifference shown by Uncle Sam to it’s veterans once their usefulness has expired. He turns out to be quite an orator and is swiftly galvanising not just the victims but the entire anti-war effort across his country - much to the chagrin of the powers that be. The effort from Cruise here is transformative. He morphs convincingly from the handsome idealistic boy-next-door to the foul-mouthed, scruffy looking, protester with what I think is his most natural of performances. He positively oozes an embittered toxicity against the authorities who now consider him, and many thousands like him, little more than an inconvenience. He is a bit of a pig to be around, is Ron, and that puts enormous pressure on his friends and family - well extolled by Kava, Josh Evans as his younger brother Tommy and by Barry as a father dealing with his own feelings of helplessness and guilt. Away from the personalities, this film effectively illustrates just how abandoned many of the injured were. With insufficient medical care, facilities and staff often meaning their recovery processes were delayed and the psychological effects of that on both the injured and those charged with their care is writ large, too. Stone understands how to convey the horrors of war and the scarring it causes and the originally adapted screenplay by Kovic himself is gritty and realistic on both a military and personal level. The man has flaws and he knows it, but once he has a conduit for his considerable energy he can become formidable. This isn’t an easy watch, but as an antidote to so much glamorised wartime fiction, it works well.