BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY 37
of films about the Vietnam War, following Platoon (1986) and preceding Heaven &
Earth (1993).
Background
Vietnam combat veteran turned filmmaker Oliver Stone (Platoon) read Ron Kov-
ic’s best- selling autobiography Born on the Fourth of July (McGraw- Hill, 1976) and
deci ded he had to make it into a movie. Stone and Kovic had similar stories: both
men had once been gung-ho American patriots who became bitterly disillusioned
with nationalism and war by their military ser vice in Vietnam. After Stone bought
the rights to Kovic’s book in 1977, the two men became close friends and collabo-
rated on a screen adaptation. A movie version to be produced by Martin Bregman,
directed by William Friedkin ( later replaced by Daniel Petrie), and starring Al
Pacino was supposed to begin production in the summer of 1978, but despite a
bud get of only $6 million, funding fell through. Stone promised a crestfallen Kovic
that he would someday make the picture when he was in a position to do so. Ten
years later, after the huge success of his first Vietnam movie, Platoon (1986), Stone
was able to keep his promise. Now considered bankable, Stone secured a produc-
tion deal with Universal Pictures as director and co- producer with his frequent col-
laborator, A. Kitman Ho. Having achieved superstar status with Top Gun (1986),
Tom Cruise, 27 at the time, was cast as Ron Kovic.
Production
Given the movie’s anti- war and anti- establishment slant in the jingoistic Reagan
era, Universal executives were dubious about its box office potential. Accordingly,
they set the bud get at a modest $14 million. To economize, most of the cast con-
tracted to receive a percentage of the profits in lieu of a salary up front (a highly
lucrative deal, as it turned out). Thirteen years after the fall of Saigon, U.S.- Vietnam
relations were still strained, so Stone could not shoot the film in Vietnam. As he
had done with Platoon, Stone opted to shoot his Vietnam scenes in the Philippines.
Most of the scenes set in Massapequa, Long Island (Ron Kovic’s hometown), and
at the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami were actually shot in Dal-
las, Texas. Wanting to understand Kovic’s life as a paraplegic, Cruise obtained a
wheelchair and stayed in it for many weeks. Stone, following suit, accompanied
Kovic on public outings to see how paraplegics in wheelchairs were treated by the
general public. After viewing a rough cut of the movie, Universal execs, heretofore
parsimonious, ordered the final scene—of Kovic delivering a speech at the 1976
Demo cratic National Convention—to be reshot with a much larger crowd (6,000
extras instead of the 600 Stone had on hand). The $500,000 reshoot was done in
a single day at the L.A. Forum.
Plot Summary
In Massapequa, Long Island, in the summer of 1956, 10- year- old Ron Kovic (Bryan
Larkin) plays war games in the woods and attends a Fourth of July parade. An ide-
alistic patriot, Kovic (Tom Cruise) enlists in the Marines in 1964 at the age of 18.
He almost skips his high school prom after failing to secure a date with his love